64. The Wikipedia Prank: Why the Internet Mistakenly Thought the Movie Good Luck Chuck was Based on Ben Kollenbroich

15 years ago, if you had googled Ben Kollenbroich’s name, you would have discovered that his life story was the inspiration for “Good Luck Chuck,” a mid-budget, critically-panned romantic comedy starring Dane Cook and Jessica Alba. That’s not REMOTELY true, however. In fact, Ben Kollenbroich was just a regular 25-year-old guy in 2010. There certainly weren't any movies based on his life. And it wasn't an accident, a mix up or a mistaken identity that caused dozens of websites… and even his own grandmother… to believe otherwise It was an intentional and painstakingly-implemented prank executed by one of his best friends. With time to kill and a dogged commitment to the bit, Ben’s buddy Vince had cultivated a steady buzz of internet chatter claiming that Ben had inspired the Hollywood flop. Over the course of months, he gradually built up the source material needed to keep that fabricated factoid on Wikipedia. But what started as a prank got suddenly serious when Vince’s made-up Internet claim started to circulate all on its own. Search results for Ben’s name cited him as the movie's inspiration for more than 10 years. And neither of them was capable of doing anything about it. In this episode, Ben and Vince recount the story... and reflect back on an era when people still believed what they read on the Internet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices