Simon Hunter
IN a classic exercise of ‘fake news’, Spanish media outlets have enthusiastically seized on a story about Madrid-based British expat and influencer Tom Hopcroft, thanks to a video he posted of himself doing a ‘shoey’ at the end of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.
Tom had been walking the route as the leader of a group he had organised via his Guiris de Mierda brand, which works to bring together the foreign community of Madrid and other cities with locals thanks to activities such as speed dating and networking events.
In the video of his adventures that he later posted on Instagram – where he counts on nearly 50,000 followers – he included a clip of himself doing a ‘shoey’.
For the uninitiated, a ‘shoey’ involves filling up your used and sweaty footwear with an alcoholic drink such as beer, before downing it.
Read more: Meet the young British expat behind ‘Guiris de Mierda’
The practice is particularly popular in Australia, and was brought to a mainstream audience by Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo back in 2016, when he did a ‘champagne shoey’ on the podium after a race.
The misunderstanding arrived for Tom, 31, when his video voice-over claimed the practice was a ‘Camino tradition’.
Spaniards thought he was saying that the ‘shoey’ was a tradition for pilgrims on the route, rather than what he actually meant: it is HIS tradition when doing the Camino.
To confuse matters further, a user of social network X reposted a tweet with the images and subtitles of Tom suggesting that he had done it due to a mistranslation of bota, which is a traditional leather pouch that Spaniards use to drink wine from.
“Translators are needed so that when someone reads bota in Spanish, they know that in this context it refers to a sewn container for drinking and not a piece of footwear,” wrote the user, named Maritxu.
“Let them learn the hard way!” she joked.
This was the tweet that lead to more social media posts disseminating the misunderstanding, and then a series of misguided stories and headlines, such as this one in 20minutos: “A British man drinks from his shoe after finishing the Camino de Santiago because he thought it was a tradition: ‘He translated boot literally’”
“I have never heard of the bota tradition and I had not mistranslated anything,” Tom told the Olive Press.
“I’ve done the Camino twice this year and I’ve done a shoey at the end of both to celebrate,” he said.
“I’ll do the Camino one more time next week and you better believe there will be another shoey at the end of that one too.
“I come from a long line of shoeying – my father taught me how to do it on the day of my 18th birthday, just like his father taught him,” said Tom, with his tongue firmly in his cheek.
The media attention has not, however, been something new for the influencer, nor is the lack of accuracy.
“I’ve been mentioned quite a few times at this point in the news for the videos I’ve made or about my project, Guiris de Mierda, here in Spain,” he said.
“Pretty much every time they get something wrong, whether it’s my nationality or name, so I’m not surprised they didn’t do their homework here either,” he added.
