American expat calls out Aussies on big lie we’re all in on

An American expat living in Sydney has gone viral for calling out Aussies for this common behaviour – and the reactions are hilarious.

Drop bears. Riding kangaroos to school. Australians certainly enjoy stirring up tourists.

Now we’ve been called out in a viral video – and the reactions are hilarious.

“One thing I’ve become very aware of since living in Australia is just how much Australians love to lie,” American expat Emily Tollefson said in a TikTok viewed more than half a million times.

“I don’t at all mean it in a way like ‘oh, they’re all liars’. I love Australians, but they just love to troll people who aren’t from Australia.”

Ms Tollefson, who is from Minnesota and is living in Sydney, said usually travellers in a new country will be corrected if they say something wrong, but Aussies see it as an opportunity.

“Australians will not only validate your misinformation but they’ll add ridiculous facts on top of it. They’ll lie just about anything; food, politics, geography, animals,” Ms Tollefson said.

American expat Emily Tollefson says one thing she’s noticed about Aussies is they love to lie to tourists. Picture: TikTok / @emilytollefson

The Minnesota native now lives in Sydney and thought drop bears were real for two months. Picture: TikTok / @emilytollefson

Foreigners often hear stories about “scary” Australian animals, so she said a lot of tourists “don’t really know what you’re actually dealing with” until arriving Down Under.

“You depend on Australians to tell you the truth about snakes, spiders, koalas, kangaroos, all the things – but no, they like to scare tourists and spread lies,” she laughed.

“And it’s not restricted to one area, it’s a national thing that Australians seem to like to troll tourists.

“I for one fell victim to drop bears for about two months when I first moved here.”

In true Aussie fashion, locals decided to add to the confusion.

“Drop Bears are not real, but you do have to be careful of cave Kangaroos. I got attacked by one while working down in the Vegemite mines!” one person wrote.

“Wait who the hell is telling you drop bears aren’t real??” said another.

“Omg I think she has mistaken koalas for drop bears, as an Australian I can tell the difference but if you can’t best to play it safe,” warned a third.

“Just last week I witnessed my first drop bear hoop snake fight and it was literally terrifying, traumatised for life,” teased a fourth.

Many Aussies took the opportunity to troll Ms Tollefson further. Picture: Instagram / @emilytollefson

Other Aussies confirmed it was “a national sport” or “the unspoken rule of being an Aussie”

and “we get the memo at birth”.

Some claimed the common act was better described as “taking the mickey” or “winding you up”, rather than lying.

“Not because we love to lie, because we are deeply hilarious,” corrected one Australian.

“And I love that we all just collectively decided to do this without any real organisation,” said another.

“There’s also nothing better than being overseas telling your story and some other Aussie you’ve never met before joins in adding their own flair!” celebrated a third.

“It’s not even just tourists. We do it to each other as well. Number 1 source of entertainment,” added someone else.

Some shared their best made-up facts about Australia.

“Can’t recall how many I’ve confirmed to that they should hire a car for a day trip from Sydney to Uluru,” shared one person.

“My favourite one is telling backpackers to go watch Wolf Creek and be on the lookout [because] he is still getting around to this day,” wrote another.