Romenesko spotted a story in the Ahwatukee Foothills News that details how the paper fell for a rather elaborate hoax. Using his mother and what appears to be at least one accomplice to add credibility, 21 year-old Vinayak Gorur convinced the paper that he was a chef on the rise. From the paper’s account:
…wow, did it sound like a zinger of a story. Gorur had gone to Arizona State University after graduating from Desert Vista, but moved on to pursue his love for cooking when he received a scholarship to the prestigious Scottsdale Culinary Institute. While at SCI, he won an award from the American Culinary Federation that gave him a $3,500 stipend to travel to Aspen, Colo. And to top it all off, armed with his ACF award, the prestigious Compass Restaurant in downtown Phoenix hired him as their youngest sous chef.
After interviewing Gorur, who showed up in our offices with his mother, I was impressed by his intelligence, ambition and polite manner. I also phoned his supervisor at the Compass Restaurant, Chef Greg Aberdeen, who gave me quotes full of glowing compliments for Gorur.
In reality, chef Greg Aberdeen didn’t exist. Eventually, some people who know Gorur contacted the paper to help set things straight:
Two of Gorur’s friends, Berg and Andrew Cole, eventually brought Gorur’s chef fantasy to a crashing halt. Cole has known Gorur since they were in first grade together and, according to Cole, the two had been close friends until about a year ago.
Cole and Berg said that Gorur has a long history of making stories up to make himself sound better, but that they were surprised he had gone so far with this story.
“I’m surprised that he would try to trick a whole community by making this public,” Cole said. “He makes up extravagant stories frequently to impress people, which he really doesn’t need to do.”
Cole is not sure if Gorur understands how serious his lies have become now that he has made them public.
“I don’t think he processes the consequences of his lies,” Cole said. “We all lie when we’re young to get out of small things, but Vinayak never grew out of it.”
As for his mother’s involvement, she believed her son’s story because he’d convinced a reporter to write about it. Yes, that’s quite remarkable:
Gorur’s parents, who he lives with, seem to be just as confused as Cole about Gorur’s issues. Both parents said that they were not sure if Gorur was telling the truth about working at the Compass Restaurant, but that since the newspaper was writing about it, they assumed it was actually true.
The Phoenix New Times also has a good summary of the hoax.
