Two Western pickup artists are targeting women in Asia, Hong Kong included. Briton Nicholas Coakley – who styles himself “Explorer Nick” and who defended his actions to the Post recently – and fellow pickup artist David Bond shoot videos of themselves picking up women using a concealed camera. Coakley posts videos to YouTube under titles such as “White Guy Dates Someone’s GF in HK,” “Explorer Nick Steals HK Girl From Chinese Guy,” and “Chinese Girls Like Dating White Guys”.
The pickup artist (commonly abbreviated PUA) trick is not a new one. It was popularised by the 1970 book How to Pick Up Girls by Eric Weber, and by Pick-Up Times, a short-lived 1970s magazine.
Here are five other men who have a reputation in the PUA community.
Richard La Ruina
Like many pickup artists, La Ruina – formerly known as Gambler – was unsuccessful with women for much of his early life. The Briton took the PUA to a new level when he created a monument to his own ego in the form of “true to life” live-action dating game Super Seducer, which puts players at the controls as La Ruina attempts to get into the pants of numerous women. He is also the bestselling author of The Natural.
Ross Jeffries
Ross Jeffries has taught thousands of men how to win over women. He’s been in the pickup game since 1988 and is the creator of Speed Seduction, a system for how to pick up a woman fast.
According to Paul Thomas Anderson, writer-director of the 1999 film Magnolia, Tom Cruise’s character Frank T.J. Mackey was inspired by Jeffries.
Neil Strauss
The quiet kid from Chicago who was dumped on the night of his high school prom, Strauss was a music journalist for The New York Times and Rolling Stone but is best known for his book The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, in which he describes his experiences in the seduction community. In the space of two years he turned himself into one of the world’s best PUAs.
Erik Von Markovik
This PUA fancies himself a wee bit if his Instagram account is anything to go by, the Canadian describing himself as a “Dating Guru, Magician, World’s Greatest #PUA and the host of VH1’s The Pickup Artist”. Better known by his stage name Mystery, Von Markovik developed a system of attracting women called The Mystery Method that led to a role with US reality television series The Pickup Artist. A self-described “late bloomer” who spent his early life playing Dungeons & Dragons, Von Markovik had little or no success with women, so started going clubbing every night to practice his social skills.
Nick Savoy
The Canadian is the president and founder of Love Systems, a company that follows the simple mantra: “We help men succeed with women.” Started from his flat in 2004, it is now one of the largest and most successful companies to offer training in the art of seduction.
If you fancy some advice, then head to the 2018 Love Systems Super Conference (yep, super conference) in August for a weekend of tips from some of the world’s top dating coaches and seduction experts where you can “learn exactly what you need to do to attract the most beautiful women in ANY situation” says its Facebook page.
“We will be your mentors, your personal wing men, and teach you more in one weekend than most men learn in a lifetime,” it says.
