Tom Waterhouse explains reasoning behind bizarre social media Christmas message

Tom Waterhouse has explained the reasoning behind his bizarre social media post which caused a stir on Christmas Day.

Tom Waterhouse has explained the reasoning behind his bizarre social media post which caused a stir on Christmas Day.

The son of famous bookmaker Robbie Waterhouse and legendary horse trainer Gai Waterhouse confused everyone on the internet with a seriously weird social media post wishing his followers a Merry Christmas.

There wasn’t a leg of ham to be seen as the former bookie turned racing insider instead posed with animals — including goats and what looks like an alpaca — as well as a handful of women in bikinis to simply say: “From my family to yours, wishing you all Merry Christmas.”

Waterhouse is wearing a suit holding a goat out in the countryside, while the women behind him are all wearing flannelette shirts and keeping animals under control. Two of them are wearing wide-brimmed hats.

From my family to yours, wishing you all Merry Christmas. pic.twitter.com/OrK1tcv7Da

— Tom Waterhouse (@tomwaterhouse) December 24, 2020

In another post, Waterhouse is wearing a different suit and sitting at the head of a table, in front of platters of fruit and a couple of trophies. In this image, four women stand around him, one appearing to hold a napkin for him, while a rabbit lies on the table.

The caption reads: “Good times in Happy Valley.”

The replies to Waterhouse’s posts ranged from bemused, to confused, to downright savage. Many users tweeted “WTF” in response. One wrote: “Seen some bizarre s**t on Twitter this year but this takes the cake and chocolates too.”

Another added: “What the hell is going on in this photo?”

Bizarrely, Waterhouse retweeted hundreds of replies to his photos — be they positive or negative. He retweeted people calling him a marketing genius for generating such a stir, he retweeted those criticising him for such a tactless photo and he retweeted people making fun of him for a bungled attempt to somehow look cool.

Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald this week, the 38-year-old explained that he simply wanted to “do something different” to promote his betting app.

“We’re just trying to mix things up a bit, it’s a pun on a joke … taking the p**s,” Waterhouse said.

Waterhouse has continued promoting his app on Instagram since Christmas, sharing several more videos of himself in the same farm setting.