News Digest

French woman’s pregnant tourist hoax angers Australian public

The Australian public was left angry and confused after a French woman who claimed she was pregnant and trying to find the father of her baby, confirmed the whole thing was a hoax. In a follow up video admitting the whole thing, the girl, going by the name Natalie Amyot, appears with another man who says that it was a marketing stunt for lettings company ‘Holiday Mooloolaba’. Andy Sellar, then explains he owns a company called Sunny Coast Social Media which aims to create viral videos for businesses. Mr Sellar explains the 'twist’ and says that they wanted to put Mooloolaba on the map and that the young girl was a volunteer actress for the stunt. His speech has not silenced critics who were not happy with the stunt which went viral in a very short space of time.

I know there is going to be a lot of you that are upset by this and maybe not too happy but this young lady was just a volunteer in this. I did all the Facebook, the YouTube and all the answering, she had nothing to do with that, she was literally just an actress.

Andy Sellar.

YouTube commenters made their feelings clear underneath the coming clean video. TVNZ has reported on the money that 'Natalie’ could have made from the viral video which was reported by national and world media yesterday. Skeptics were quick to declare the the whole thing as a hoax and have said the girl’s real name is actually Alizée Michel and that she set up fake social media accounts. A girl looking very similar to the one in the video also appeared in a photo in the Sunshine Coast Daily newspaper in June under the name Alizée Michel. The Herald Sun also reports a man has phoned a Sunshine Coast radio station this morning claiming she is a Sunshine Coast marketing student.

I hope your business becomes ruined beyond repair. Your scam made a joke of our lovely Sunshine Coast and it’s locals and showed nothing more than your lack of ethics towards the holiday consumers.

A YouTube commenter posted once the confession was made public.