‘Bad Vegan,’ ‘The Tinder Swindler’ Stars Slam Their Portrayals in Netflix Documentaries
Do you recall what you were doing in March of this year? Well, if you were anything like me, you were probably at home watching Netflix and wondering how anyone could seriously believe that any dude could make their dog immortal while binge-watching Bad Vegan. Now, the documentary’s subject, Sarma Melngailis, along with the star of The Tinder Swindler, are criticizing how the streamer portrayed their lives.
Bad Vegan tells the story of Sarma Melngailis, who put raw vegan food on the map with her New York restaurant, Pure Food and Wine. And then, she met a man on Twitter named Anthony Strangis who turned out to be a total con-man. Strangis took tons of Melngailis’ money and told her he could make her adorable dog, Leon, live forever.
It was the fact that Netflix created a spoof Twitter account, “The Perpetual Pup,” to promote Bad Vegan. The account jokingly referred to the dog immortality aspect of the documentary, warning in one spoof, “Side effects may include confusion, sudden changes in behavior, and/or loss of money. Excessive wire transfers may occur. If you have a history of questionable romantic relationships, Perpetual may be right for you.” At the end of the ad was Melngailis’ face.
As she told Insider: “I would genuinely be curious, just as a study of human nature, to ask all those people to explain what they were thinking. Because you know what, would they have made a promo like that for a documentary about Harvey Weinstein?
“I’ve been physically, emotionally, and sexually abused — and they made a mockery of the whole thing. They were basically mocking psychological abuse.”
Viewers had sympathy for Melngailis when the documentary came out, and even more sympathy for the employees and investors that her and her ex-husband stole $2 million from.
In addition to Melngailis feeling exploited by Bad Vegan, one of the subjects of the Netflix docuseries The Tinder Swindler, Cecilie Fjellhøy, also isn’t happy with the way the streaming giant told the story. The Tinder Swindler was about women who fell for a man on Tinder named Simon Leviev (whose real name is Shimon Hayut). He used the dating app to con women out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Fjellhøy told Insider the series made her feel “stupid, because I was the one picked to be the symbol of love. I had to be honest about how many matches I had on Tinder, how long I’d been on there, and how I viewed love. I had to say that I slept with him on the first date. I had to say stuff that I didn’t want to say. So you’re being used.”
Fjellhøy feels the documentary failed to get down to what was most important about the criminal actions that cost her so dearly.
“I wanted to know why it is so difficult to catch this guy,” she said. “To know why the police aren’t doing enough, why it was so simple for him to commit this fraud? Those were the big questions I wanted the film to answer.” Bad Vegan director Chris Smith previously told The Guardian, “Look, everything is shades of grey.”
“We tried to represent it as accurately as we could from the information we had through the documentation that was presented to us and through the interview,” he said.
Both Melngailis and Fjellhøy told Insider they were grateful for the opportunity to help viewers, but they weren’t sure exposing their lives on Netflix was worth the emotional cost.
Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives., Streaming Now, Netflix
The Tinder Swindler, Streaming Now, Netflix
