UKH

Can anyone suggest otherwise, but is Paul Arnott using the disappearance of Jay Slater to cynically improve his social media presence?
From what I can tell, he's decided to turn up in Tenerife to lend his 'expertise', but has actually achieved nothing apart from posting numerous posts about what a great job he is doing, etc.
Does anyone know if he can indeed make a meaningful difference?
Or, as per my suspicions, he's a actually bit of a tw*t?

 

Who?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6ppp1xwx6wo

Can he make a meaningful difference?... No, not at all but that doesn't mean his intentions aren't good just misguided.

Though I suspect your suspicions are likely right 

Philosophical question: Would it be wrong to do good things for bad reasons?

I'm not sure I've got any suspicions, more that I've never heard of him, the OP read a bit like we should have heard of him. Anyway I can't pass judgement as I don't know if he is credible or has anything to offer a search operation.

Yes.

Unless you're a utilitarian but that's not a particularly tenable stance these days.

He wears a baseball hat the wrong way round when he's old enough to know better, and he's on Tik Tok.

'Nuff said.

I'm not into tiktok or any kind of 'influencer' thingy stuff so can't comment on his output. If he's actively looking and capable in that kind of environment then surely that must be good as long as he doesn't become a liability himself. He seems to have given up something else to take part. The police in Tenerife seem to have stopped searching and so his publicising may well keep the issue in the news and lead to a conclusion. Jay Slater's family must be absolutely terrified and frantic and I'd be grateful for all the help available regardless of motives. I've walked a little in Tenerife but not in that part or in the summer. If I wasn't in a bit of a state now I'd hope I had the bottle to get on a plane and help. Jay is a Lancashire lad and his predicament has had more news coverage up here than nationally. Some of the social media trolling and conspiracy theory speculation just sounds awful, reminiscent of what flared up around Nicola Bulley.

I had never heard of him either before seeing some news articles about him that called him things like a "top climber". I've looked through some of his Instagram reels and didn't actually see any evidence of him doing any climbing at all. Just hiking. Maybe he does climb and he seems to have been raising money for Scottish Mountain Rescue, but he doesn't seem to have any MRT experience himself. 

The sort of Tik Tok/insta content he produces makes me feel really old as I really don't get what people get out of it. It's mainly close ups of him selfie style describing everything he is doing as "really crazy", "really mad" even when that's going hill walking in the Highlands in nice weather. I'm glad he's enjoying being in the hills but not my cup of tea, and I've seen other people do similar but much better - the chap originally I think from Nigeria but lives in Scotland and has beautiful clips of him winter climbing or scrambling in the Highlands. It's all very much in the modern style of insta-influencers but much nicer to watch than this chap's stuff.

The BBC calling him a mountaineer seems a bit of a stretch, from what I've seen of him he's the type that 'climbs' ben nevis via the pony track. He spammed a lot of the hiking / climbing facebook posts a while back (maybe still does) with over edited pictures of him posing next to mountains trying to get followers. I was blocked after I messaged him respectfully suggesting he rethink his plan to arrange a follower meet up on a mountain he'd recently posted about getting lost on... 

Oh dear, I sense a media savaging of this poor young chap coming soon.

My favourite quote from the BBC article that speaks volumes.

"I do not cope well in hot countries, it makes me sick, but it's got to be done"

I don't think he's doing himself any favours, I don't have TikTok so I've not watched any of the videos he's been posting but people have quoted him as claiming to be an expert and trained in search and rescue

Before the savaging starts I'd like to give the lad a bit of credit if it's true that he removed and carted down 10 bags of rubbish from the Ben Nevis summit shelter.

But if he ever describes himself as an influencer any such credit is immediately lost.

Sounds more like a binfluencer.

Is that a feature of the media? They tend to blow things up to make a story. From what I've read he's a climber, who has volunteered. Perhaps he has experience of rope work, so the media call him an 'expert'. According to some reports there are not that many searchers, for such a large area, so an extra pair of boots on the ground would be welcomed. I've no idea about his Tiktoks.

I expect there are lots of press sat on their arses waiting for something to happen. They need to justify their expenses and bar bill. They could go and help, but I imagine its easier to quote people in the uk who have no first had experience of the area, but do have a 'suspicion'. Given the choice of searching rugged ground in difficult conditions, or searching facebook for a story, there is no contest.

I remember once leaving 10 bags of rubbish in the Ben Nevis summit shelter

There's no longer any money in journalism, so it's highly unlikely there'll be any journalists covering the story on the ground, let alone sat around on their arses running up bar bills. Instead, they'll be sat in their offices juggling dozens of stories remotely, trying to make something vaguely interesting out of whatever snippets they can glean from social media and other sources.

I don't know who he is and I don't really care. I'm not interested in an influency stuff he may or may not do.

But if he's decided to fly out there and actually search and is doing a half decent job then I think he's amazing. I don't care what his reasons are. Fair play to him.

This thread of grumpy old men sat at home winging about someone trying to do something is pretty pathetic.

It's wingeing you know.

If...

I thought it was whingeing....

You got me, just had a look, could also be whinging, I'm not sure, but yes definitely has an h in it!

No that's already taken!  A binfluencer is the person on your road who you check when you're not sure if it's rubbish day cos there was a bank holiday, or if you are not sure if it's garden waste or black bin this week.

Are you sure that’s what he meant? I thought he’d missed an ‘s’ and a full stop?

Yes, Mrs F bought me a T-shirt in a nice grey (I'm not actually a binfluencer, but I do deal with the family bins)

Finding remains and a route to some answers would still be meaningful for those left behind torn between hope and grief.

jk

I don't see it that way. He using the disappearance of Jay Slater to go looking for Jay Slater. 

Even if he is a tw@t, he's looking for Jay Slater which is more than we're all doing for Jay Slater.

I'm sure Jay Slater's family don't give a toss about UKC cynicism and are delighted he is helping.

BBC were reporting more journalists than volunteers for last Saturday’s final sweep.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2e43mpmpn2o.amp

All my neighbours are my binfluencers!

He’s a complete fraud. I’ve been following him for 18 mths as I also hike in The highlands and Eryri, so it’s always interesting to see what others get up to. 
He happened to be camping in Glencoe when that Father & Son were missing recently. He posted a video to say he was going to search, then sadly  they were found(not by him)deceased. 
Then, within days he was travelling to Tenerife. Fair play I thought. However, I couldn’t understand why he was posting so many videos. After sticking up for him initially, I started getting suspicious after a week or so. Everyone hailing him as a hero. He’s referred to as an expert mountaineer. I’ve had arguments with ppl on his page, who tell others he’s an expert who is sought after and is called in by the Scottish mountsin rescue when they need expertise. Ppl are literally deluded and he’s given the impression he is affiliated with the Scottish mountain rescue organisation, he’s an expert mountaineer and he’s pretty much the only one searching. And his followers are falling for it. 6K prior to going to Tenerife. About 75K now. Watching his videos, there’s nothing technical he’s doing and I’ve noticed a lot of the time, he’s near a road or in the same area. He’s literally fooled everyone. It’s almost funny, except now on his page, ppl love him and want to send him money and put him up for a pride of Britain award. I’ve seen many posts of ppl that know him and they’ve stated he’s a fraud too.They get blocked. I spoke out last night as can’t believe how he’s allowing ppl to think he’s a super hero expert who is called out to help in searches all over the place. Where’s his ropes, his helmet, decent hiking boots, etc etc. he has nothing. Just a old phone that he films himself on for TikTok etc, to make money. He’s made a fortune now no doubt. It’s all about him. Surprise surprise he removed me and blocked me from his page, though I can access it under another account. He’s laying low. Prob because he knows ppl are cottoning on.   I hope he gets found out. He’s even got ITV fooled. Can’t believe no one’s done research on him. I’ve hiked as many mountains as he has, maybe more, but I’m no expert in hiking, let alone mountaineering.  I did research .He set up a online vape company which has review stating it’s a fake site. On the government website it says it was stricken off. He’s just a video creator who makes money filming himself travelling over the UK and other places he’s been….all funded by subscribers. Does camping and hiking. Hardly a Mountaineering expert. 
Nothing wrong with making money from videos..it’s the fact he’s leading ppl to believe things that aren’t true, and his page was a media circus with ppl saying vile things about the family, telling him, he’s amazing, and wanting to give him money. It’s all crazy. 

Blimey. You've registered just to post this? Hell hath no fury ... ?

the private investigator Mark Williams-Thomas has been busy posting stuff as well- including Jay admitting on snapchat that he stole an expensive 'Rolex'..

He's a liability, lost his phone, keys and sunglasses on the mountain and he can't even find those by retracing his, sees himself as a Bear Grylls, survival expert and a top mountain climber, he's no George Mallory anyway.

I had to look him up,  Sounds a bit of 'wanna be' or just a plain foolish bloke given his comments regarding the heat.

"I do not cope well in hot countries, it makes me sick, but it's got to be done. 

"I'll stay here until we find him."

 

I wonder if he's still there...

I have been following the story of JS and came across Pau Arnotts content. The whole JS story has become a drama steeped in mystery, suspence, drama and characters. Paul Arnott aka DowntheRapids is one of the characters albeit online who is entwined in the story and fuels online gossip and intrigue. For the record I am not a professional climber or walker, although I do strap on my boots when I am able to and go off on a walk in the forest of fields when I am able to. 

I was bemused and had to question the legitimacy of this PA professing to be a professional climber yet offering his service solo. It just did not make sense to me, furthermore the validation given of his professionalism and experience by national TV only confused me more.  I happened to watch a live feed on Tik Tok where this young man arcrued 34 million likes and gifts that added up to thousands of pounds. All this in the pursuit of finding a lost young man (whose story seemed lost) amongst PA tsunami online presence. In addition the adulation from his followers it seems the objective is more about self promotion as opposed to using the proposed skills he has acquired from being a legimate member of the Scottish walking fraternity.

There are many people on the platform who are incensed at his behaviour and thus this is causing conflict and heated debate amongst those who see him profierring on the back of the misfortune of others, whilst proclaiming to be a bonafide rescuer, yet arriving on the island with no appropriate equipment 

Seems to be attracting a few new members...

Hmm, all getting a bit Baby Reindeer

I have repeatedly seen his videos pop up on Instagram and Facebook in relation to JS (funnily enough after seeing the BBC article).

The article speaks of him being a top climber, and he mentions he’s done some “mad stuff” in the hills. Upon finding and reviewing his Instagram account “Down The Rapids” found he is just a hiking content creator. Nothing wrong with that - but he is passing off to be some sort of S&R SME - he is not.

He has put out a recent video on Facebook requesting Scottish Police to engage SMR to assist in the search - which is utterly laughable. I call this the McCann Effect, where British people for some reason believe any country’s emergency services outside the English Channel are incapable of doing anything. He is going around posting videos noting that the Spanish police are rude, when they don’t want to talk to him, for obvious reason.

This has now lead to (from writing this), two people comment on a latest SMR post (for a river rescue) asking when SMR are helping with the search. He is acting as some savour figurehead for all the Facebook investigators, and inadvertently pushing attention to SMR. He needs to just stop and fly home.

This strikes me as hillfluencer clout, as his videos are just meaningless drivel for hoarded of Facebook PIs to latch on to with no new real updates. But it is now involving an organisation we all hold dearly and is enraging me as I type this.
 

Yup, just spotted that post on smr’s page.

Seems to be a lot of sour grapes being pressed and some dirty washing being done in the public launderette of social media. Or something.

The fallout from the whole concept of 'social media influencers', and how much internet bandwidth they consume.

I have taken up what has been a background interest recently, whilst resting with repeated chest infections, and that has meant watching videos on the topic. What is staggering is the number of hits some of these get, when compared with the tedious, waffling drivel they contain; half hour videos with content that could be fulsomely dealt with in two.

Depends on the consequences/fallout.  

Here he appears to be creating a lot of noise in the media whilst taking action that likely won’t help, and possibly also winding up the local authorities to boot.  Don’t see any of that helping the family.  

Beats having to get a job I suppose. Maybe it IS a job. But a worthless one.

You might be surprised how much money some of these 'influencers' make.

Mainstream TV advertising (especially for beauty products) has adopted the 'influencer video' style of presentation (and, in the case of Olay, even employed one of these 'influencers'. L'Oreal are currently using this format for their hair dye products.

So much like many documentaries on TV these days then.

'...with dramatic reconstructions...'

I'm of your viewpoint, having had TikTok throw a bunch of his clips my way.  He did manage to get himself reported missing himself, which must have further ingratiated him with the local police who went looking for him.  

It seems that Jay Slater's body has been found.

By the Spanish police mountain rescue team according to the reports I read. 

Very sad, hopefully though for his family and loved ones there is some little help in knowing. 

Some of the mindless speculation and rumour being pedalled about the guy, while he was missing, was disgraceful.

See also Nicola Bulley, the unfortunate woman who ended up in a river while out walking her dog.

Mr Arnott sounds to me a bit like the idiots who got in the way of the police investigating that earlier disappearance.  In that case there were incidents of unauthorised people entering the crime scene and trespassing in people's gardens looking for "evidence" to fuel their uninformed speculation and rumour-mongering.  Also in that case there was the 'expert' who said he could guarantee the missing woman was not in the River Wyre...

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/23/nicola-bulley-peter-fauldin...

In reply to Petrafied:

Can't be much of a S&R 'expert' if he doesn't understand the bit about not becoming a casualty yourself.

and more speculation as polis refuse to say if they've found the watch..