An experienced chef on Twitch can’t seem to escape an endless stream of hilarious accusations from viewers at home that his cooking streams are all pre-recorded.
In the age of shockingly accurate AI, where entire personalities can be mirrored by lines of code, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish real from fake. That’s only more true when it comes to livestreamed entertainment on Twitch.
Recent developments have seen the likes of AI-generated TV shows and even fake versions of streamers popping up, leaving countless viewers to question everything. Now, chef Henry from Henry’s Kitchen is feeling the brunt of this fallout as fans have begun to hilariously poke holes in all of his streams.
While simply trying to engage with his audience on Twitch through calming cooking streams, hundreds watching along during recent broadcasts have piled up a mountain of suggestions his cooking shows aren’t quite legitimate.
Playing into this bubbling theory, Henry uses a different green-screen background in almost every broadcast. Fans can even submit their own kitchens for him to stream in front of.
Offsetting this fake environment is one camera shot that’s supposedly real, a shot of his cat called ‘Roast Beef.’ However, not all are convinced his own pet cat actually exists as we see it on Twitch.
“There is an internet theory going around and I almost don’t want to dignify it by responding,” Henry joked. That theory being: “That roast beef is a hoax. That somehow roast beef passed away months ago and I’ve just been using pre-recorded footage to cut to.”
Looking to disprove the ‘haters’ once and for all, Henry walked into the other room and showed his hand in front of the cat camera. “I hope that puts to rest any suspicions I’m using pre-recorded footage,” he said.
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Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to do the job. Accusations kept piling up, with everyone continuing to joke it was all a ruse.
“We need to see you holding Roast Beef in a new shirt bought by chat,” one viewer suggested. “But it’s gotta be a shirt I’d never buy,” Henry countered. “It’s gotta be the most random-looking shirt you could ever think of.”
“Hold up today’s newspaper,” another fan chimed in. “Unfortunately I get my news from the internet.”
No matter what he responded with, viewers just couldn’t be convinced he was actually engaging with them live in the moment. “I don’t think we can trust anything we see on this stream,” he read out from Twitch chat.
In one final attempt, Henry amusingly walked off camera with a recipe in hand, seemingly intending to show today’s date on the piece of paper, though he forgot to switch to the cat camera.
“Now that’s gotta prove it. How would I have known I was gonna be making Chakchouka, which I had never even heard of, but also I would’ve had to Photoshop the date February 8, 2023, which would have required a lot of anticipation.”
Ultimately, the running joke lives on, as the cooking streamer plays it all up and goes along with the theory in his own subtle way.