The Jordan Harbinger Show
Episode 1235: Oobah Butler | A Trickster Turns Deception Into Art and Insight
Release Date: November 6, 2025
Guest: Oobah Butler (British filmmaker, writer, social engineer)
Theme: Turning deception, performance art, and pranks into cultural commentary and insight about trust, media, and the digital age.
Episode Overview
In this engaging and offbeat episode, Jordan Harbinger talks with Oobah Butler, famed British filmmaker, social engineer, and professional trickster. Oobah is best known for transforming a shed into “London’s top-rated restaurant” and packaging Amazon driver urine as the #1 Amazon energy drink—all as part of elaborate stunts that highlight the blurred line between reality and deception in the digital age. Together, they unpack Oobah’s wildest projects, including his viral Vice documentaries, his infiltration of Amazon’s inner workings, his take on corporate loopholes, and why his performance art matters now more than ever.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
Who is Oobah Butler? (03:27–03:59)
- Hard to categorize: filmmaker, writer, social engineer, provocateur, sometimes called “comedian” or “journalist” but sees himself as a hybrid.
- Early work leaned “nihilistic and fun”; now aims for deeper critique while retaining humor and absurdity.
"I quite like social engineer." – Oobah Butler (03:27)
The Fake Restaurant: “The Shed at Dulwich”
Origins & Setup (06:09–12:51)
- Oobah got his start writing fake reviews for TripAdvisor, realizing how easy it was to influence rankings and public perception.
- Created The Shed at Dulwich—a non-existent, appointment-only restaurant—in the garden shed where he lived, complete with a burner phone and a fake website.
- The menu sold “moods” instead of meals, and all food photos were staged using everyday items (like “an egg on my foot” for a gourmet dish) to mock the superficiality of food culture.
- Sourced reviews from friends/family with a style guide emphasizing exclusivity and mystique.
Virality & Human Gullibility (19:09–27:02)
- Within weeks, The Shed soared from #18,000 to #1 on TripAdvisor with only 30–60 fake five-star reviews and zero real customers.
- Real people (locals, foodies, tourists, TV execs) started desperately hunting for reservations, echoing the narrative Oobah had seeded in the style guide.
- Eventually held a single “real” night: actual customers served microwaved supermarket food, dressed up with edible flowers, surrounded by actors who raved about the meal.
- Most guests avoided criticizing the food, unwilling to trust their senses over online hype.
"Maybe a fake restaurant is possible – not just a fake review. ... I turned my shed into London’s top-rated restaurant on TripAdvisor."
—Jordan reading Oobah’s narration (12:15)
"People were repeating the kind of terms of my mythology...parroting back to me like it was gospel."
—Oobah Butler (20:12)
Takeaways: The Nature of Truth and Influence (31:27–34:31)
- The experiment showed how easily social proof, fake scarcity, and manipulated reviews override direct experience—even among “savvy” consumers.
- Oobah’s work is cited academically and culturally as a warning of the digital misinformation age.
"It was about all of us... They were conduits for us to talk about the cultural environment that we’re living in."
—Oobah Butler (34:15)
Exposing Amazon: Warehouses, Urine Bottles, and Dangerous Loopholes
Undercover in the Warehouse (39:34–44:35)
- Oobah worked covertly in an Amazon warehouse for Channel 4, documenting harsh conditions, scanning, NDAs, and stories of workplace injuries.
- Described as “dystopian”—employees under constant surveillance, facing punitive measures for sick time or accidents.
The Urine Bottle Energy Drink (48:14–55:13)
- Discovered drivers peeing in bottles due to unrealistic quotas, then discarding bottles outside fulfillment centers worldwide.
- Collected bottles, bottled and branded as an energy drink, and managed to list and sell it as “Amazon Driver’s Urine” on Amazon’s own platform.
- Became a #1 category drink, relying on the same viral/review/algorithm “juice” as with the fake restaurant.
- Exposed Amazon’s lack of consumer safeguards—dangerous/bizarre products can slip through.
“You would have thought that the biggest e-commerce platform on the planet might have infrastructure that would protect its consumers from that. Didn’t say nothing."
—Oobah Butler (55:13)
Loopholes with Age-Restricted & Dangerous Products (58:50–61:10)
- Demonstrated how Amazon’s fulfillment-by-Amazon allows children to receive prohibited items (knives, poisons) via lockers or unverified delivery, violating safety laws.
- Regulators, though legally able to fine Amazon, confessed to lacking resources to police or sanction violations—an imbalance repeated across other platform abuses.
Critiques of Platform, Hype, and “Making It Rich”
Performance Art as Social Critique (05:23–05:49, 75:19–77:19)
- Oobah’s pranks—whether restaurant, Amazon exposé, or viral product—serve as lucid, darkly humorous commentary on how easily platforms, consensus, and hype can be manipulated.
“Million in 90 Days”—Chasing Viral (72:22–81:50)
- Channel 4 tasked Oobah to earn $1 million in 90 days by any means—exposing the get-rich/“hustle” culture.
- Attempted to create Hypebeast brands, fake education, and provocations in the style of companies like Mischief/Banksy.
- Discovered the reality behind Instagram/LinkedIn virality: millions of views and press don't guarantee real profits ("We sold one in the first 24 hours").
- Compared people’s fantasies (affiliate marketing, dropshipping, meme coins) with reality—true riches, he finds, come from leveraging artificial value and institutional loopholes, as practiced by the genuinely wealthy.
"The whole film is me almost asking myself the question, how much of this is bollocks?" —Oobah Butler (75:19)
“What the people with real money are doing is leveraging a scenario. They create value and borrow against it.” —Oobah Butler (80:15)
Tax Avoidance, Corporate Games, & the Real Lessons (67:19–71:32)
- Inspired by Oliver Bullough's Moneyland, Oobah uses Amazon’s own products/return policies to “help them pay taxes”—filling potholes with Amazon cement, refunding the purchase via an offshore Belize shell company—mirroring legal global tax avoidance.
- Learned: True business innovation isn't always clever products—often it's gaming the system.
“If you come after me [for fraud], you are yourself admitting that you're operating here too. Right. So you should be paying tax here.”
—Oobah Butler (71:32)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “How much we live in a just false reality... McDonald’s isn’t going to show how they actually make the burger, it’s gross. You wouldn’t put that in the commercial.” —Jordan Harbinger (18:07)
- “It's so easy to convincingly lie to people and to have that inform the way they feel about the world. Me included. I'm not saying I'm above this.” —Oobah Butler (32:29)
- "[With Amazon]… There’s so many benefits... If I'd have earned that million in the UK, I'd have paid 450,000 in taxes. If I'd have leveraged it and borrowed it…I’d have paid zero.” —Oobah Butler (81:26)
- "You just need a burner phone from the drugstore and a computer that can register a domain.” —Jordan Harbinger (15:25)
Key Timestamps
| Segment | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------------|:--------------:| | Oobah on defining his craft | 03:27–03:59 | | Fake reviews & “The Shed at Dulwich” begin | 06:09–12:51 | | Constructing the fake restaurant reality | 13:31–16:59 | | The experiment grows; anticipation/phone | 20:12–22:19 | | “Opening night” and reaction | 27:02–34:31 | | Social proof/lines/hype | 34:31–35:47 | | Amazon warehouse infiltration | 39:34–44:35 | | Amazon driver urine “energy drink” | 48:14–55:13 | | Listing dangerous products, regulatory issues| 58:50–61:22 | | Tax avoidance with pothole stunt | 67:19–71:32 | | Commentary on get-rich-quick/influencer culture| 72:22–81:50 | | Lending/borrowing: the wealthy’s secret | 80:15–81:50 | | Upcoming projects/closing thoughts | 84:02–85:13 |
Tone and Style Highlights
- Playful, irreverent, and self-aware: Oobah pokes fun at himself, his audience, and the systems he manipulates.
- Candid critique: Both host and guest shine a light on the structural absurdities and ethical gray areas of modern media, commerce, and “success.”
- Curiosity over cruelty: The tone is never mean-spirited or condescending; instead, Oobah’s pranks invite all of us to question our assumptions.
Conclusion
Oobah Butler’s wild, controversial, and hilarious pranks are more than internet stunts—they’re powerful case studies on belief, identity, and exploitation in the digital age. This episode unpacks how platforms and perception can be gamed, why most of us are susceptible, and the uncomfortable truth that most “innovation” happens in legal loopholes, not tech. Oobah’s career, part viral prank and part philosophy, holds up a mirror to a world where fact and fiction are paper thin—and offers us an entertaining, essential warning.
Recommended if you:
- Appreciate clever, subversive social commentary
- Want to see how easily digital trust can be manipulated
- Like learning through jaw-dropping, hilarious, but thought-provoking examples
For more from Oobah Butler, visit the episode show notes at jordanharbinger.com.
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