Inside the World of ‘Pickup Artists’: Where Public Seduction First Took Root

Long before Louis Theroux delved into the complexities of the ‘manosphere’, the acclaimed British documentarian may have inadvertently explored its fringes nearly three decades ago. At that time, he interviewed a male dating coach, often referred to as a ‘speed seduction specialist’.

In an episode of his series Weird Weekends, Theroux observed with skepticism as American author Ross Jeffries attempted to engage a woman at a California café using so-called hypnotic techniques.

The self-proclaimed ‘dating coach’, sporting glasses, displayed methods aimed at helping men bypass a woman’s initial judgments, often based on appearance, wealth, or social standing. He also bragged about maintaining relationships with multiple women simultaneously.

Figures like Jeffries, who specialize in instructing men on how to ‘capture’ women, have become central figures in the controversial manosphere. Here, influencers showcase their strategies while promoting damaging ideologies surrounding consent and attraction.

Creators such as Harrison Sullivan (HSTikkyTokky), Myron Gaines and Walter Weekes (Fresh & Fit), Russel Hatley, Stirling Cooper, and Hamza Ahmed push the envelope with extreme dating advice for men. Their content often includes guidance on ‘disciplining’ women or persuading them into situations like threesomes, through both online videos and costly coaching sessions.

Before the advent of the ‘alpha male’ TikTok dating coach, however, a faction of YouTube content creators propagated similar views in ‘street interviews’, when they asked women sexually inappropriate and awkward questions to ‘seduce’ them. 

But while the platform’s most notorious ‘pick up artists’ once had substantial followings, their clout has since dissipated – as we take a look at where they are now. 

Jack Manley 

Jack Manley earned over 1.4 million followers with videos titled ‘Hot Girls on Needy Guys’ and ‘Does Height Matter’

American YouTuber Jack Manley became internet famous in 2017 when he started hitting on inebriated women outside bars in Austin, Texas, and posting the clips online.  

He earned over 1.4 million followers with videos titled ‘Hot Girls on Needy Guys’ and ‘Does Height Matter’ as Jack, now 28, proved how his method of ‘seduction’ could overcome a perceived dating advantage like being too short. 

Uncomfortable clips showed Jack kissing women on the street or hoisting them onto his shoulder after a few minutes of chatting while demonstrating bizarre flirting ‘techniques’ like ‘saying nothing’. 

He leveraged his YouTube success into a coaching programme called ‘The Manley Method’ but stopped posting one year later. 

His channel has been wiped, barring 10 videos, but he is frequently featured in ‘cringe compilations’ put together by YouTubers like GunnarTV and Cody Ko.

In one video posted in 2021, Cody revealed Manley had migrated to OnlyFans at the time, but his account on the adult subscription platform has since been taken down.

Today, all that remains of Manley on the internet are stray comments about his whereabouts. One Reddit post reads: ‘Does anybody know what happened to Jack Manley TV?’ 

‘Seriously, I’m trying to find out,’ another message began. ‘He had a big channel and just completely disappeared three or four years ago…’ 

One Instagram page associated with Jack Manley is bizarrely described as a ‘charity organisation’. The last photo was posted on September 23, 2020, and shows Manley carrying a woman on his shoulder while holding a squirt gun with a microphone taped to it. 

Another profile associated with the controversial YouTuber has hundreds of short clips from his most popular videos and a link to his website – promising ‘My Best Product EVER’ – that is currently suspended. 

Justin Marc 

Controversial YouTuber and self-styled dating coach Justin Marc – who was accused of sexual assault last November – also posted ‘street interview’ videos on YouTube 

Justin Marc Aguiar, an Indian-origin YouTuber based in Toronto, was 17 when he started posting dating content on the platform. 

His earliest videos were about ‘picking up’ older women outside bars and clubs, along with ‘guides’ to dating ‘foreign girls’ and ‘how to get laid’ filmed in exotic locales like Cancun, Mexico. 

He plugged a website called ‘Lets Get Girls’ that promised to ‘explode your results with women’ before the controversial content creator – who was accused of sexual assault last November – started posting ‘street interview’ videos. 

In one such clip from 2021, the club promoter bragged about ‘picking up HOT Thai girls in Bangkok’ and included footage of him in bed with a scantily clad woman. 

He told viewers that the women he interviewed were ‘loving’ his ‘inappropriate’ questions about topics like oral sex, as Justin added: ‘They find it hilarious. I ended up making out with one of the girls.’

In another video, filmed in Helsinki, Finland, the ‘international dating coach’ advised his followers about ‘how to have sex in public’. 

The club promoter, who brags about lifestyle as a ‘VIP Nightlife Host’ on social media, also flogs $2,597 dating courses for men to ‘open, hook and close and pull gorgeous women’.

He also reportedly offers dating lessons from ‘certified pimps’ with their own social media followings, as Canadian news website CP24 reported they covered things like ‘how to cheat and juggle five girlfriends at once’. 

Justin has 143,000 YouTube subscribers and continues to post on his channel after he was accused of sexual assault. 

On November 27, 2025, Canadian media reported that Justin had been arrested and charged with one count of sexual assault that allegedly occurred at his apartment in Toronto’s entertainment district in August 2024. 

The 22-year-old woman, identified only as ‘Jay’, told CP24: ‘We thought we were going to a super-fun party. And when we got there, that was not the case. It was just Justin and his roommate.

‘I was being cornered in an uncomfortable position, so that’s why I was able to fight for myself and say “I need to get myself out of this situation.”‘

Jay added she was speaking out to warn other women about Justin’s tactics, explaining: ‘I would tell them not to engage with him. Don’t give him the time of day.  There’s no value in associating with a man like that.’

Justin’s lawyer, Dylan Finlay, said: ‘My client is presumed innocent. The charge laid against him is an allegation. At this stage, we are awaiting the specifics of what the allegation is, which will be provided to us through the disclosure process. 

‘That said, he denies sexually assaulting anyone. He will respond to the allegation fully in court.’

This isn’t the first time Justin has been accused of sexual assault; court records in Toronto show he was charged twice before, including in 2019 and 2023. Both charges were withdrawn. 

In the 2019 case, Justin agreed to an 18-month peace bond and paid a $500 surety. He was instructed not to communicate with the alleged victim or attend any place she lived, worked or went to school, CP24 reported. 

He also agreed not to possess any weapons. 

Since the latest allegation against Justin, he has continued to post on social media – including sharing NSFW clips of women dancing suggestively and kissing each other on Threads. 

Drew Meyers 

Some of Drew Meyers’ videos are titled ‘Want to touch my banana?’, ‘What age did you lose your V-card?’, and ‘How TikTokers pick up girls’

Drew Meyers, who also goes by Eric Davis, is among the male YouTubers who amassed a large following from recording ‘pick up’ interviews. 

He has over 220,000 followers on Instagram, where Drew shares the most outrageous moments from his longer clips with titles like ‘Want to touch my banana?’, ‘What age did you lose your V-card?’, and ‘How TikTokers pick up girls’.

He hasn’t posted on Instagram since 2025, but the last clip racked up over 10 million views as Drew asked a girl to describe how she lost her virginity in a truck. 

Drew has seemingly shifted his content from YouTube to TikTok, where he has over 350,000 followers.  

In one video, captioned ‘I bagged her’, Drew chatted up a woman called Sophia, who claimed 30 men had tried to sleep with her in the ‘last week’. 

However, the prank-style video ended with Drew putting a brown paper bag over the woman’s head. 

Adrian Gruszka 

Adrian Gruszka’s videos have translated into a nearly two-million following on YouTube, but the page has been inactive since June 2025

YouTuber Adrian Gruszka or Adrian Gee started posting ‘intentionally awkward and funny’ content, including ‘public trolling’ and ‘street interviews’ in 2011. 

His videos have translated into a nearly two-million following on YouTube, but the page has been inactive since June 2025. 

Like other ‘pick up’ creators, Adrian has shared interviews with women about masturbation, infidelity, nude pictures or ‘d*** pics’ and their sexual preferences. 

In other videos, the ‘globetrotting’ dating entrepreneur – who also sells financial development courses online – demonstrated how he could ‘pick up girls while juggling’ or by putting on an Australian accent. 

Adrian’s Instagram profile has not been updated since January. 

In one of his most recent posts, Adrian reflected on his journey that began in 2012 with a ‘cheap camera, zero followers’ while vowing to ‘create like it’s my last year’ in 2026. 

Another video from January 14, which was recorded in Brazil, showed Adrian encouraging a friend to ask a group of women for a sip of their drink. 

‘He didn’t even get the drink – he got the cream on top,’ Adrian captioned the clip.

Israel Padilla 

Israel Padilla started posting on YouTube in 2018 and has since racked up nearly 660,000 followers

Israel in a ‘pick up’ video 

Israel Padilla started posting on YouTube in 2018 and has since racked up nearly 660,000 followers. 

However, what began with prank videos gradually turned into street interviews as Israel asked women about their ‘body count’ – manosphere slang that refers to the number of sexual partners they have had.

In one video, posted last February, Israel seemed to reiterate the misogynistic belief held by communities within the manosphere that a woman’s worth is determined by her promiscuity. 

The video began with Israel saying ‘today’s agenda…trying to find a baddie to sleep with tonight on spring break’. At one point, he asked a girl her age for ‘confirmation’ before she replied she was 19. 

Elsewhere, when a girl asked Israel to take her on a few dates, he countered by saying: ‘What’s your body count?

‘If I’m investing, I want to know you have low mileage.’

As the conversation continued, Israel said ‘it don’t matter what the guy has, it matter what the woman has’. 

He added: ‘Does it make a man less of a man if he can’t change a flat tyre?’