TikToker conducts social experiment, fabricating tragic story of finding out his best friend was a paid actor
TikToker Lawson Spolansky recently made headlines after he posted a video to his page titled ‘Who TF Did I Marry: Friend Edition’. Considering the fact that the entire internet was gripped with the Reesa and Legion chronicles, netizens were naturally curious about Spolansky’s own story. In his video, the creator delves into a bizarre and completely outrageous tale, one that reveals that a friend he had for almost ten years was actually a paid actor hired for the role. And you won’t believe who allegedly paid that stranger to get close to Spolansky.
The creator began his video by stating: “Here’s how I found out my entire decade-long relationship was a lie.” Spolansky went on to explain that in 2012 when he was five, he went through many social and behavioural issues. On one particular day, after he had been sent home from school for throwing pencils at the teacher, Spolansky’s aunt visited him and told him he had to become “a better man.”
Then, just three days later, the TikToker explains how he was at the playground and plucked up the courage to go on the monkey bars. Not long after he attempted them, he fell and was soon approached by a little blonde boy, whom he refers to as Dexter, and his mother who helped him with his knee that was bleeding. While the moment wasn’t overtly memorable, Spolansky then goes on to say that Dexter ended up sitting next to him in class at the beginning of the new school year. The pair quickly developed a close friendship.
Fast forward to 2018, and Dexter invites Spolansky on an incredible all-expenses paid trip to Paris, Spain, and California. However, the trip is quickly cancelled and during the video, the creator makes note of how far his friend was going to try and make up excuses as to why the trip couldn’t take place. Fast forward another few days and Spolansky is shocked to see an Instagram photo of Dexter, Dexter’s mum, and his own aunt. His father, his aunt, and Dexter make up bizarre excuses as to why the trio were pictured together and Spolansky promptly moves on to the next chapter of the story.
In August 2021, it came to light that Spolansky was in a relationship with a guy who happened to be the pool boy for Dexter’s mother. One day, when Dexter and his mother were speaking, Spolansky’s boyfriend overheard the pair discussing how Spolansky’s aunt had hired Dexter to be his friend, and, even more bizarrely, his manager was actually the one playing his mother. It turns out that Spolansky’s aunt owned a production company and she was in fact best friends with Dexter’s real mum.
Rather than being interested in becoming Spolansky’s friend, Dexter was simply playing the part. Concluding his video, the creator stated: “Now I’m left heartbroken. I have severe trust issues and I feel like I never really went anywhere.”
Netizens immediately rushed to the comments to express their shock. One user wrote: “WTF? WTF is going on in your family? Holy crap… talk about a total mind-fok. I’m so sorry for you to have been taken advantage of.” Another user simply stated: “This is absolutely insane.”
However, as it turns out, the entire story was made up. Shortly after Spolansky’s series went viral, the TikToker posted one final video explaining that the entire thing had been fabricated as a part of a social experiment. Indeed, in an email Spolansky sent to SCREENSHOT, the creator stated exactly why he decided to pursue this online lie: “It was a visual expose on the horrors of misinformation and quickly accessible media coverage. On how fake news spreads faster than a wildfire in the desert of California. And how millions of people hear what they want to hear versus them conducting a proper investigation.”
