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French woman Natalie Amyot releases YouTube video to find father of her unborn baby – but is it just a hoax?
'Natalie Amyot': Video of French woman appealing to find holiday romance in Australia revealed as hoax
(about 17 hours later)
A French woman who released a YouTube video to apparently find her Australian holiday romance after she fell pregnant has been met with a combination of support, derision and a hefty dose of scepticism.
A French woman who released a YouTube video to apparently find her Australian holiday romance after falling pregnant has confirmed it was a hoax.
Natalie Amyot explains in the video that she is searching for a man she met in the popular tourist resort of Mooloolaba.
The video of "Natalie Amyot" making a plea to viewers to help her find the man was met with a combination of support, derision and a hefty dose of scepticism
Describing how it was “love at first sight” for her when the pair met at O’Malley’s Irish Pub, she said they spent a “beautiful” night together.
She claimed in the video that she was searching for a man she met in the popular tourist resort of Mooloolaba.
Ms Amyot revealed in the video that she realised she was pregnant three weeks after she returned home, but she was unable to contact the man because she lost her phone.
Describing how it was "love at first sight" for her when the pair met at O'Malley's Irish Pub, she said they spent a "beautiful" night together.
The man was around 6ft tall, tanned with blue eyes, she said.
Ms Amyot went on to stress the importance of finding the man as she has "no family of my own".
Ms Amyot went on to stress the importance of finding the man as she has “no family of my own.”
"If he doesn't want to know then that’s OK but I really want to try and find him," she wrote in the video's description.
“If he doesn’t want to know then that’s ok but I really want to try and find him,” she wrote in the video’s description.
"I hope that the Sunny coast community will help me. Merci beacoup."
“I hope that the Sunny coast community will help me. Merci beacoup.”
Local tourist boards have denied the video is part of any PR involving them, ITV News reported citing Australian media reported.
She also urged people to share her video and to post information on her Facebook page.
But a day after the original video was uploaded, a second emerged with the 26-year-old announcing "I found him", before revealing Andy Sellar, the owner of a social media company.
On the page, Ms Amyot explained she had spent her remaining money to fly back to Australia and find the man and that she had only three days to find him.
'Natalie Amyot' with Andy Sellar, owner of the company behind the social media hoax He said: "This has been a viral video for Holiday Mooloolaba. My name is Andy Sellar and I own a company called Sunny Coast social media.
In the days after she released the video and it garnered over 50,000 views, her Facebook page evidenced how going viral can be a mixed blessing.
"We do viral videos for businesses. Now I know there is going to be a lot of you that are upset by this... maybe not too happy."
Mooloolaba beach in Australia (Image: Go Holiday/Creative Commons) World-weary YouTube viewers wary of online hoaxes questioned whether Ms Amyot’s video was an elaborate hoax, while others judged her for apparently sleeping with a man whose name she had forgotten.
He went on to defend the actress who portrayed Natalie Amyot and said he had been the one posting as the character on Facebook.
However, others maintained a positive outlook.
"We just wanted to put Mooloolaba on the map because it's a wonderful place. So thank you for watching and we are going to do many, many more videos like this," he said.
“Why do we as a society, automatically think this is suspect..Can we think positive and hope for the best for her...” one woman wrote on Ms Amyot’s Facebook page.
“Your support and help has made me cry x x x,” Ms Amyot wrote on Facebook on Monday.
By Tuesday the tone of the page had changed after her story made headlines worldwide.
"If you all want to try and think this fake ill delete all pages and go home. then be proud as you bullied a mum and baby and father away... if thats what you want ill go home tmrw..but how can you hate me so much for wanting to find him...[sic],” she wrote.
However, the tale took a strange turn when the Facebook account she linked to in the video disappeared, while a 'Public Figure' page remained.
In an additional twist, Twitter users have shared an image of a brown-haired woman in Mooloolaba, who they have said looks similar to Amyot, who is called "Alizee Michel" in the caption.
Both local tourist boards and the owner of O'Malley's bar have denied the video is part of any PR involving them, ITV News reported citing Australian media reports.
