Sex, Lies and The Dirty

by Nik Richie

TheDirty.com, a heavily trafficked online gossip sheet, was created by an entrepreneur by the name of Nik Richie—whose Iranian parents named him Hooman Karamian. Richie’s appearances on programs like Dr. Phil , Anderson Cooper 360 , Nancy Grace , and 20/20 suddenly provided him with notoriety as the Internet’s bad boy, whose site is employed by angry ex-mates (of both sexes) to post sordid and vengeful revelations online. TheDirty.com also presents opinionated comments from Nik himself about the shape of women’s bodies, as well as a language particular to his site. “Porta-Potties” describes women who prostitute themselves to perverse Saudi royalty. “The Greg” refers to his or anyone else’s penis, and “Scooby” refers to his sidekick friend. Sex, Lies and The Dirty is Nik’s confession of the backstage realities of his website, and his sordid lifestyle prior to hooking up with his lovely wife Shayne. Nik Richie is the host of a weekly web-radio show that commands a million listeners each week. And along with his wife Shayne, he will star in the upcoming VH1 reality series, Couples Therapy . The controversy has just begun.

Genres: Memoir

292 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2013

Reviews

[Aurora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having always been a fan of TheDirty.com I knew when this book came out I wanted to read it. I was lucky enough to get an autographed copy and I dove right in while I was cruising away on a vacation. Nik has always been an intriguing person because he lives life how we all want to, with no apologies. He says what is on his mind and doesn't apologize about it. In a world where we only really want to hear the not truth from others, where we want to hear what makes us happy, not what makes us real, Nik is a paragon of that. He says what everyone is thinking and tells it like it is. This book dove in and told us how he started and what happened to make him who he is today. How he met his wife and how he started being Nik. Whether you know Nik as Nik or that jerk who makes girls cry online, He is WHO HE IS! He is a Blogger, a Father , a Husband, and an outspoken member on social media. He isn't afraid of his voice. He isn't perfect and he isn't everyone's cup of tea but, you can't deny that when he says something, people listen. Maybe I find him so intriguing because I don't live in a world of bottle rats or refund gaps. Maybe it is because I would never put myself in any of the situations that the people who end up on TheDirty.com do. I have no desire to. Nik gives a glimpse into his world and as long as TheDirty.com exists, I will PROUDLY be Dirty Army STRONG and Proud!

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I read this and got the story behind "the guy." I watched Nik and Shayne on Couples Therapy, and thought from the start that Nik was a pretty good guy, just misunderstood. This book shed a whole new light on it.

[ErikaWasReading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pros:
* Interesting history/origin
* Insight into what it takes to run a website like The Dirty
* Asks the question of when does the persona become the person

Cons:
* Short in places
* Characters come in and out quickly

[Austin Ogonoski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is far better than one would assume.

For context, TheDirty was once a popular online gossip blog throughout the early 2010's, where readers were encouraged to submit gossip about random everyday people around town. While this quite obviously spiralled out of control and led to countless defamation claims, a shocking number of submissions on the site were factual. Prior to Facebook groups such as "are we dating the same guy", TheDirty became a valuable tool to conduct background checks on random people you'd matched with on Tinder during the infancy of smartphone dating apps.

The book is completely out of order, and a difficult read. That being said, Nik Ritchie (real name Hooman Karamian) comes across as fairly reasonable, and chronicles a surprising ascent from working in a call center, to the various incidents he'd seen which gave him the idea to create "TheDirty." The book's ending is predictable, but says a lot about human nature - despite the aggressive onslaught of legacy media outlets attempting to smear Nik's site as classless, there are subtle admissions from some household names that TheDirty genuinely did serve a useful purpose, and its' creation was indeed warranted.

[Patty Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this from a psychological perspective. It was interesting seeing Hooman Karamian interweave between being himself and his alter ego Nik Ritchie,how fame and fortune corrupts but how Hooman manages it. His relationship with his wife Shayne Lamas didn't disappoint me either, very interesting read for one who studies relationships.

Only draw back is the book jumps around in chronology which makes it difficult to follow.

[Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is awesome, but if you are a follower of The Dirty, there might be some things you wish were there. For me, ARI GOLDEN is never mentioned. Many of us fans of the site hated him when he was around, so I was hoping for some ARI stories, especially of him getting fired. Also would have liked some Solo Girls stories as well. Either way, great read -- I decided.