How the fake Quibi show 'Jack Sparrow House' became a real viral hit

After a tumultuous six-month ride, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s short-lived streaming service, Quibi, officially switches off its feed today. Unless they manage to find new streaming homes, you’ll no longer be able to watch any of Quibi’s bite-sized productions, which ranged from star-powered dramas like Sophie Turner’s Survive and Liam Hemsworth’s Most Dangerous Game to high-concept reality shows like Chrissy’s Court, starring Chrissy Teigen, and Jack Sparrow House, based on Johnny Depp’s signature Pirates of the Caribbean character.

Actually, you’ll never be able to watch Jack Sparrow House... mainly because it never existed in the first place. Much like the never-made Sinbad-starring genie movie, Shazaam, reports of Jack Sparrow House have been greatly exaggerated by a combination of online pranksters and the Mandela Effect.

Here’s how it went down: Prior to Quibi’s shutdown, Twitter marked its passing by reliving the service’s greatest “hits.” Jack Sparrow House slipped into the names of the shows that were being memorialized, and the legend took shape from there. Reality and fiction continued to collide after someone created a fake Wikipedia page for the non-existent show that circulated on Twitter. And the description of Jack Sparrow House was just crazy enough to make it sound like an actual reality show.

As outlined in the Wikipedia entry, Jack Sparrow House resembled Quibi’s take on Big Brother and The Surreal Life, locking 14 Jack Sparrow impersonators in a house together where they were required to remain in character the entire time. The anonymous author went on to manufacture a quote from actual Quibi executive, Colin Davis, that described the series as “more of an endurance test than a true talent competition.” The entry also alleged that three contestants were shown the door due to three separate “public defecation incidents.” While no host was cited, the only logical choice would have been Michael Bolton.

The Jack Sparrow House hoax proved successful enough that the fact-checking site, Snopes, eventually had to step in and issue a correction. But that hasn’t stopped Twitter from willing the fake show into actual existence.

For the record, Disney owns the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and the company also happens to have a popular streaming service that’s always in need of fresh content. Maybe in 2021, the jester of Tortuga will find a new home alongside Baby Yoda.

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