Louis Theroux reveals the 'worst' person he's ever met following manosphere documentary
Even worse than America's 'most hated' family
Not that he ever really went away, but Louis Theroux is back in the news in a big way.
Carving out an impressive legacy for himself as a BBC journalist, Theroux is known for his thought-provoking Weird Weekends documentaries and his When Louis Met... series, where he met plenty of controversial celebrities.
Most recently, he helped create KSI: In Real Life in 2024, and returned to the West Bank 14 years after he released The Ultra Zionists for Louis Theroux: The Settlers.
Not just in front of the camera, Theroux's profile has continued to grow as he produced Netflix's Can I Tell You a Secret?, teaming up with the streaming giant once again for Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere.
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Already soaring up the Netflix charts, Inside the Manosphere focuses on Harrison "HSSTikkyTokky" Sullivan and other male-oriented influencers who've followed in the wake of Andrew Tate.
There's been immediate backlash to the documentary, with Sullivan apparently nuking his Instagram. Theroux has spoken candidly in an interview with Romesh Ranganathan, and when asked whether he 'liked' HSTikkyTokky, admitted that it was a lot more complicated than that.
While comments on Sullivan's Instagram and the wider social media sphere suggest he's not earned many fans from the Netflix doc, it sounds like he's far from the 'worst' person Theroux has ever met.
Over the years, Theroux has had some pretty infamous run-ins with some pretty infamous people. Notably, 2007's The Most Hated Family in America saw him get up close and personal with the Westboro Baptist Church, while 2003's Louis and the Nazis saw him interview Tom Metzger, leader of the White Aryan Resistance.
The idea of who the 'worst' person he's met is subjective, but speaking to LADBible as part of the 'Honest Box' series, Theroux explained: "I've been in prisons. I was in a maximum security mental hospital for pedophiles making a documentary."
When pushed on a particular individual, Theroux admitted: "My mind tends to go to Jimmy Savile basically because actually when I met him, I was making a documentary, but his crimes had not been discovered."
Although there were two police investigations into allegations of sexual abuse during Savile's lifetime, a massive one was launched following his death in 2011. This led to 2012's Operation Yewtree, which investigated sexual abuse, and predominantly the abuse of children, among multiple media personalities.
Although police consider Savile one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders, no charges were brought against him before his death.
Speaking during 2000's When Louis Met ... Jimmy, Savile spoke about "salacious tabloid people" who'd claimed he was a pedophile and said, "I know I'm not."
Discussing the situation, Theroux concluded: "It was that that strange dissonance of later finding out that he'd done these dreadful things. He'd been a serial sex offender and not knowing at the time, but he's well-advertised as probably the worst kind of 'VIP predator' or person in the public eye who was a predator, certainly of recent times.”
While Theroux has been criticized for not pushing Savile harder with his questioning in 2000, he later returned to the subject for 2016's Savile to look at how one of the BBC's top personalities flew under the radar for so long.
As part of this, Theroux maintained he was manipulated by Savile, which is likely part of why he considers him the 'worst' person he's ever met.