'Terrifying' BBC manosphere doc that makes Louis Theroux's look tame

Louis Theroux's Inside The Manosphere has been at the top of the Netflix most-watched charts since it first launched on the streaming service last week. 

Louis, 55, met with a series of content creators, with thousands of followers across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, to discuss their shock views on masculinity, women and society in the feature-length special.

The documentarian went behind the scenes at the forefront of a fast-growing cultural movement of extremist influencers targeting young men with misogynistic, homophobic, antisemitic and racist views online in Inside The Manosphere. 

He travelled across the globe to meet the most prominent figures of the movement, who fill their digital platforms with often hateful and harmful content, including. Amrou Fudl, known online as Myron Gains, and Harrison Sullivan, dubbed HStikkytokky. 

But it's not the first documentary that looked into the controversial online world, with the BBC having released a special of their own that made streaming service's version look tame. 

Back in November, TV presenter James Blake fronted the documentary, Men of the Manosphere, which focused on the young men in the UK and Northern Ireland who had been taken in by the online group's messaging.

It followed James as he heard how the young men had first become involved watching manosphere influencers, and the dangerous consequences it had for many of them. 

Among the subjects interviewed by James is Sam, 16, who swapped real-life friendships for those in the online community who he felt were more like-minded and seeking the same self-improvement. 

He recalled how he met Vincent, 17, from America - who he described as his best friend despite the pair having never met in person. 

Elsewhere in the film, James met university graduate Shayne, who opened up in finding solace in the 'red pill' community - a group that discusses ideas about gender roles, dating, and society.

Meanwhile, builder Jack, from Northern Ireland, admitted he joined the community to build discipline, status and direction. 

Documentary maker James said that the film was about 'understanding' the young men - as well as observing the insidious messaging they were consuming. 

James said of the film: 'It was fascinating to learn more about this complex side of the internet and social media, and to meet just some of the people who have been influenced by it in one way or another. 

'I’m grateful to them for inviting me into their world and I hope the programme gives viewers a deeper understanding of the Manosphere and its impact on young men and others.'

After its release, critics dubbed the hour-long programme 'horrifying' with The Guardian describing it as a 'truly terrifying hour'. 

It comes after manosphere influencer Amrou Fadl has accused Louis' Netflix documentary of editing that 'made him look crazy' - hitting out at the streaming service for being 'woke'. 

Louis met with influencer Amrou, better known as Myron Gaines on platforms including Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, to discuss his shocking views on women and relationships.

The documentarian went behind the scenes at the forefront of a fast-growing cultural movement of extremist influencers targeting young men with misogynistic, homophobic, antisemitic and racist views online in Inside The Manosphere. 

The content creator rose to fame online among a young male audience due to his controversial 'Fit and Fresh' podcast, which has hosted Andrew Tate in the past.

The series, which is a two to five hour show focusing on topics including masculinity, relationships, fitness and finance, is streamed online across X, formerly Twitter, and paid-for content site Kick, where young men pay to subscribe. 

During the documentary, Louis sat in on a recording of the 'After Hours' section of the podcast, which sees Amrou spar with local female influencers around a table, and in one shock clip saw him brand a female guest 'fat f***ing b***h'.

Louis also quizzed Amrou on his hopes to have 'multiple wives' - following a 'one-way monogamous' relationship with his now ex-girlfriend, which allowed him to sleep with other women, while she remained faithful.

Now, the content creator has branded Louis a 'liar' to his army of fans in another podcast format, titled The Debrief, where Amrou shares his controversial and divisive opinions on recent news stories. 

In the horrifying over seven-hour long stream titled 'Inside the Therouxsphere of lies', which saw him react to a shooting at a synagogue and developments on the Middle East conflict, he hit out against the documentary as 'making him look crazy'. 

Read More

I was sucked into the women-hating manosphere - it took months for me to realise the damage

Branding Netflix as a 'bunch of woke garbage' and referring to the documentarian as 'Louis the liar', he said of his TV appearance: 'For a very long time I was hesitant.

'I was not really interested in doing it and the reason why was because I saw how they did my boy Andrew Tate. I wasn't really happy about it.

'These companies understand that "normies" are easily shocked and offended, and what they do is, they find polarising people, they get them for interviews, they cut out all the context, all the background, why they think the way that they do and they cut out how they came to their conclusion.

'Their goal is to take a polarising person, put them in a box, make them look crazy, give shock value and sell it off.'

Elsewhere in the controversial episode, Amrou shockingly told his devoted followers that overweight people 'don't deserve' to find love and that 'feminism was behind' all of the 'problems' in the world - met with hundreds of followers in agreement. 

He also used a homophobic and ableist slurs as he hit back at followers with views of disagreement, branded women 'w****s' and 'h**s', and used an anti-semitic caricature image as he spoke about Jews. 

Men of the Manosphere is now available to stream on BBC iPlayer