Australian YouTuber lives in ‘India’s deadliest slum’ for 3 days, sparks intense outrage

An Australian man’s video about visiting Dharavi in Mumbai has sparked outrage on social media.

An Australian content creator is facing the wrath of social media after sharing a video in which he claimed he visited “India’s deadliest slum” and lived there for three days. He recorded himself exploring Mumbai’s Dharavi with an Indian friend.

Snippets were shared by Australian YouTube from ‘India’s deadliest slum’. (Instagram/@pete.zogoulas)

“I Tried Surviving India’s ‘Deadliest Slum’,” the vlogger who goes by Pete Z wrote on Instagram. The video opens with a voiceover where Pete says that he tried surviving in the slum for three days, and then the video shows a snippet of a woman being robbed. He then introduces his Indian friend, Ayushi, who accompanies him in his challenge.

As the clip proceeds, they are seen visiting a house inside a slum and then finding a bed to sleep in. Though the Instagram video ends here, a longer version was posted on YouTube.

A third posted, “Hey, I'd suggest you explore the other sides of India too. Most of your recent videos have been placed in Mumbai's rural areas. As an Indian myself, I think some part of your audience will judge the entire country based on that particular area you've covered.” A fourth wrote, “Next time you go somewhere, take more than $100.”

Who is Pete Z?

The Australian Pete Zogoulas describes himself in his YouTube bio as “a professional dingus that loves doing crazy things.” At the time of writing this report, he had over 262K subscribers on YouTube and a little over 4,000 followers on Instagram.

Many accused the content creator of deliberately showing India in a poor light to get views from the global audience.