David Farrier facts for kids

Quick facts for kids David Farrier
Farrier in 2016
Born	(1982-12-25) 25 December 1982 (age 42) Tauranga, New Zealand
Alma mater	Auckland University of Technology
Occupation	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 was born in Tauranga on 25 December 1982. One of his grandmothers was English. He grew up in Tauranga's Bethlehem suburb, where he was home-schooled before attending the Christian Bethlehem College. He was raised by devout Baptists and has described his younger self as "a really good Christian". 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.

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. 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. In 2014, he played a fictionalised version of himself in Darby's 2014 mockumentary series Short Poppies.

In 2014, Farrier began production of the feature-length documentary Tickled, in collaboration with Dylan Reeve. 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. In 2017, Farrier did a short follow-up documentary, with previously unseen footage, entitled The Tickle King.

In 2015, Farrier became co-host, with reporter Sam Hayes, of the TV3 show Newsworthy, which aired for one year.

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.

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. It has since broadened its topics of coverage. He has also covered stories on the toymaker Zuru's defamation lawsuit of former employees.

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. He wrote a story about it, which was published by The Spinoff. Farrier subsequently produced a documentary called Mister Organ, which was released on 10 November 2022. Organ eventually sold Bashford Antiques and relocated to Whanganui. 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.

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. On 22 December 2022, all charges were dismissed by the New Zealand family court.

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.

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.

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.

Personal life

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

Filmography