David Farrier
David Farrier wearing dark jacket with white t-shirt with lettering underneath, looking directly at camera, with snowy urban landscape as a backdrop
Farrier in 2016
Born (1982-12-25) 25 December 1982 (age 41)
Tauranga, New Zealand
Alma materAuckland University of Technology
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • actor
Notable credit(s)Dark Tourist
Tickled
Newsworthy
Nightline
3 News
Short Poppies

David Andrew Farrier (born 25 December 1982) is a New Zealand journalist and actor. He has worked in news and on documentaries, including features on New Zealand television and co-directing the internationally distributed documentary film Tickled (2016). He created the 2018 Netflix documentary series Dark Tourist, in which he visits popular dark tourism attractions. He has also appeared in the 2014 Rhys Darby mockumentary series Short Poppies.

Early life

David Andrew Farrier[1] was born in Tauranga on 25 December 1982.[2] One of his grandmothers was English.[3] He grew up in Tauranga's Bethlehem suburb, where he was home-schooled before attending the Christian Bethlehem College.[2] He was raised by devout Baptists and has described his younger self as "a really good Christian".[4] Farrier has written about Bethlehem College's policies on sexuality and gender,[5] which many have labelled as homophobic and transphobic.[6] He initially enrolled at Bethlehem College to study medicine but soon lost interest and instead entered the Auckland University of Technology, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Communication Studies in 2005.[4]

Career

Documentaries and writing

Farrier started his journalism career at 3 News, and he was Nightline's entertainment reporter from 2006 until the program's end in 2013.[7] In 2011, he made a 45-minute documentary for TV3 about the origins of "God Defend New Zealand", one of the two New Zealand national anthems.[8] In 2014, he played a fictionalised version of himself in Darby's 2014 mockumentary series Short Poppies.[9]

In 2014, Farrier began production of the feature-length documentary Tickled, in collaboration with Dylan Reeve.[10][11] The film centres on "competitive endurance tickling" and videos featuring it, as well as those producing the videos. It explores the legal and ethical issues of making the videos and has itself been the subject of legal challenges. The film premiered in January 2016 at the Sundance Film Festival and was shown on HBO.[12] In 2017, Farrier did a short follow-up documentary, with previously unseen footage, entitled The Tickle King.[13][14]

In 2015, Farrier became co-host, with reporter Sam Hayes, of the TV3 show Newsworthy, which aired for one year.[15][16] In a June 2015 episode, Farrier interviewed the then-leader of the New Conservative Party, Colin Craig, in a sauna. Craig resigned as party leader the same month that the conversation aired, with some in the media saying the interview was one of the contributing factors to his leadership failing.[17][18] This interview was also played during the 2017 defamation trial between Craig and blogger Cameron Slater.[19] In 2022, Farrier expressed regret for the interview in light of Craig's political views and said, "It drew parallels to "what Jimmy Fallon did to Donald Trump. Fallon, ruffling Trump's hair. Me, topless, joking around with Colin. It was an image that instantly excused all that bad shit."[20]

In November 2016, Farrier wrote an article for The Spinoff about individuals with various sexual fetishes issuing "challenges" or dares to children on YouTube, encouraging them to make seemingly innocent videos of themselves; this led to several YouTube accounts being banned.[21][22] Farrier is a frequent guest contributor to The Spinoff, covering topics such as conspiracy theories, COVID-19, media, and culture.[23]

In 2018, Farrier was an executive producer and served as presenter on the Netflix documentary series Dark Tourist, in which he travels to various locations around the world associated with death and tragedy.[24][25][26]

In 2020, Farrier began publishing the newsletter Webworm, which covers a range of topics and in its early years had a specific focus on conspiracy theories, such as QAnon.[27][28][29] It has since broadened its topics of coverage: for example, in 2022, Farrier broke a story about allegations of employment and sexual abuse at Arise Church.[30][31] He has also covered stories on the toymaker Zuru's defamation lawsuit of former employees.[32][33]

Mister Organ

Main article: Mister Organ

In 2016, Farrier investigated the controversial car clamping policies of Michael Organ, who owned the Bashford Antiques shop in Auckland's Ponsonby suburb and whose practices had created friction with local residents. Farrier's story was published by the online news outlet The Spinoff.[34] Due to this coverage, the New Zealand Parliament introduced legislation outlawing excessive clamping fees. Farrier subsequently produced a documentary about Organ and the conflict with neighbours, called Mister Organ, which was released on 10 November 2022.[35][36]

Organ eventually sold Bashford Antiques and relocated to Whanganui.[35] Once the store was closed, Farrier took the broken and abandoned sign. Organ subsequently took Farrier to the Whanganui Disputes Tribunal in order to reclaim it. Since the sign had gone missing, Farrier was forced to pay NZ$3,000 in restitution to Organ.[36]

In late October 2022, broadcaster and Platform founder, Sean Plunket, shared screenshots on Twitter of a temporary protection order issued against Farrier ahead of Mister Organ's scheduled released in November 2022. On 5 November, Farrier confirmed during a media interview with Radio New Zealand host Kim Hill that the protection order was genuine. On 8 November, Farrier announced during an interview with Tova O'Brien on Today FM that he would be pursuing legal action against Plunket for disseminating the protection order and denied committing violence against Organ's family.[35][37] On 22 December 2022, all charges were dismissed by the New Zealand family court.[38]

Podcasts

From 2013 to 2017, Farrier co-hosted the cryptozoology-focused audio program The Cryptid Factor with comedian Rhys Darby and producers Dan Schreiber and Leon 'Buttons' Kirkbeck.[39][40]

In September 2020, he appeared on the podcast Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard and thereafter has worked alongside the Armchair umbrella in releasing a podcast series dubbed Armchaired and Dangerous, which discusses popular conspiracy theories.[27]

In May 2022, Farrier launched Flightless Bird, a new podcast for Armchair based upon his observations of American culture after being unable to return to New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic.[41]

In 2022, he presented an eight-part podcast for Audible, titled When a Good Man Kills, which covers the story of how boxer Tim "Doc" Anderson murdered his manager, Rick "Elvis" Parker.[42]

Personal life

In 2012, Farrier came out as bisexual while discussing the upcoming New Zealand Marriage Amendment Act.[43] He was in a relationship with Grayson Coutts, son of yachtsman Russell Coutts, but they have since separated.[43]

Filmography

Year Title Director Producer Presenter/Host Actor Notes Ref(s)
2007–13 Nightline Yes Television news program – entertainment presenter
2010 Campbell Live Yes Current affairs television program – presenter
2011 God Defend New Zealand Yes Documentary film – host
Coming & Going Yes Film – Angry Dinner Guest in Wheelchair
2012 3 News Yes Television news program – presenter
2014 Short Poppies Yes Mockumentary television series – Presenter
Manila: No Limitations Yes Documentary film – Himself
2015 Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws Yes Feature film – Himself
Newsworthy Yes Television news program – presenter
2016 Tickled Yes Yes Documentary film
Chelsea Yes Television talk show – "Brexit's Aftermath & Competitive Tickling"
Himself
2017 The Tickle King Yes Yes Documentary short
The Video Store Yes Miniseries – David (Customer)
2018 Dark Tourist Yes Yes Yes Documentary television series
2020 The Project Yes Current affairs television series – 1 episode
Himself
The George Lucas Talk Show Yes Improvised talk show – "Season III: Revenge of the Arli$$ith"
Himself
2022 Mister Organ Yes Yes Yes Documentary film

References

  1. ^ "Horseshoe Films Limited". businesscheck.co.nz. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b "David Farrier: Telly's boy child". Now to Love. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  3. ^ The Past Times. Episode 46: "David Farrier". 6 October 2023.
  4. ^ a b "No guts, no glory". NZ Herald. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  5. ^ Burke, Cait (29 June 2022). "This Pride Month, I'm tired of just surviving". Fashion Journal. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  6. ^ Farrier, David. "I Went to Bethlehem College". Webworm with David Farrier. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  7. ^ "David Farrier news". Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  8. ^ NZ on Screen. "God Defend New Zealand | Television | NZ On Screen". www.nzonscreen.com. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  9. ^ Genzlinger, Neil (2 April 2014). "Where a Laugh Track Is Do-It-Yourself (Published 2014)". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  10. ^ Hunt, Elle (18 August 2016). "Tickled: how David Farrier poked the underbelly of 'competitive tickling'". the Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  11. ^ Barton, Monika (1 May 2020). "NZ filmmaker David Farrier uncovers 'tickling epidemic' in US military". Newshub. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  12. ^ Marshall, Lee. "'Tickled': Sundance Review". Screen. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  13. ^ Erbland, Kate (6 February 2017). "'Tickled': HBO Set to Debut Brand New Follow-Up Special Alongside Bizarre Documentary's Broadcast Premiere". IndieWire. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  14. ^ "David Farrier talks The Tickle King and $40 million lawsuits". NZ Herald. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  15. ^ "Hayes and Farrier ready for return to late-night news". Stuff. 6 June 2015.
  16. ^ "TV3's Newsworthy hosts pulling a sickie?". Stuff. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  17. ^ "Craig to supporters: Can you forgive me?". NZ Herald. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  18. ^ Sowman-Lund, Stewart (9 November 2020). "Inside the doomed campaigns of Gareth Morgan, Colin Craig and Mike Lee". The Spinoff. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  19. ^ Christian, Harrison (11 May 2017). "Colin Craig defends infamous sauna interview". Stuff. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  20. ^ Chapman, Madeleine (15 July 2022). "What was Guy Williams trying to do?". The Spinoff. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  21. ^ Farrier, David (21 November 2016). "'Hello, my name is Ally' – how children are being exploited by YouTube predators". The Spinoff. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  22. ^ CRONIN, AIMIE (22 November 2016). "David Farrier talks about uncovering YouTube predators exploiting children". Stuff. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  23. ^ Farrier, David. "David Farrier". The Spinoff. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  24. ^ Croot, James (22 July 2018). "Dark Tourist: David Farrier's Netflix series gets mixed reviews from US critics". Stuff. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  25. ^ "'Don't do any of it': David Farrier warns against visiting Dark Tourist hotspots". Newshub. 23 July 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  26. ^ Gilbert, Sophie (26 July 2018). "The Disaster Zone of Netflix's 'Dark Tourist'". The Atlantic. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  27. ^ a b Kilgallon, Steve (29 August 2021). "David Farrier's new life: An audience of 20 million, Hollywood mates and an obsession with conspiracy nuts". Stuff. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  28. ^ "David Farrier's new life: An audience of 20 million, Hollywood mates and an obsession with conspiracy nuts". Stuff. 29 August 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  29. ^ "David Farrier: Kiwis sucked in by US conspiracy theories and alt-right". NZ Herald. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  30. ^ RNZ, Jonty Dine of (12 July 2022). "Temporary non-publication order placed on Arise Church review". Stuff. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  31. ^ Newsroom, Emile Donovan of (26 April 2022). "The Detail: David Farrier on Arise Church". Stuff. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  32. ^ "Kiwi toy giant Zuru speaks out after US court victory". NZ Herald. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  33. ^ Sowman-Lund, Stewart (22 July 2022). "So what's up with Zuru?". The Spinoff. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  34. ^ Farrier, David (5 September 2016). "The incredibly weird tale behind the Bashford Antiques clamping story". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  35. ^ a b c Sowman-Lund, Stewart (8 November 2022). "From Bashford Antiques to Sean Plunket: A timeline of David Farrier and Mister Organ". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 7 November 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  36. ^ a b Hill, Kim (5 November 2022). "David Farrier: playing cat and mouse with Mister Organ". Radio New Zealand. Archived from the original on 16 November 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  37. ^ Jackson, Oscar (8 November 2022). "David Farrier to 'absolutely' take legal action against Sean Plunket amid Twitter controversy". Today FM. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  38. ^ "How Michael Organ Weaponised the Family Court... and Sean Plunket". 27 March 2023. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  39. ^ "The Cryptid Factor". Augusto. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  40. ^ Sagers, Aaron (2 March 2022). "Our Flag Means Death Makes a Gentleman Pirate of Rhys Darby". Den of Geek. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  41. ^ Flightless Bird podcast on the Armchair Expert network.
  42. ^ Smith, Ximena (9 July 2022). "Persona: The French Deception: Podcast reveals incredible tale of €38 million scammer". Stuff. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  43. ^ a b "David Farrier in same-sex relationship". 28 July 2012 – via www.nzherald.co.nz.

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