Is Patty Mayo a Real Bounty Hunter? The Real Story about Youtuber Patty Mayo

With over 9 million subscribers and counting on YouTube and 370k followers on Instagram, Patty Mayo (real name: Patrick Thomas Tarmey) has amassed quite a fanbase online. 

Mayo first joined YouTube in 2013 and kicked off his career on the platform as a prankster. He had an avatar called Ze Oil Boy, a French character that engaged audiences with ridiculous pranks and college humor comedy until YouTube’s algorithm changed. 

Sadly, the new algorithm did not favor crude, college-style comedy videos, so Mayo changed his content and launched the Southland Bounty Hunters series. 

Is Patty Mayo A Real Bounty Hunter?

The reality-style show's episodes are 10 to 20-minute long. It features the YouTuber’s girlfriend, Kayla, as a camerawoman, and follows Mayo as a bounty hunter and Oregon sheriff. 

He is tasked with tracking and apprehending bail fugitives, bond violators, and repossessing property. The show soared in popularity when Mayo teamed up with fellow YouTube star Bounty Hunter D. 

Together, they took audiences on a thrilling adventure as they took on hazardous bounty hunting tasks. 

Mayo also produces a series called DBSO, in which he acts as the sheriff of an Oregon town.

The YouTuber’s shows were very well received, and to this day, fans are trying to ascertain if Patty Mayo is fake or not.

The YouTuber’s bounty hunter gears, body armors, weapons like handguns and tasers, and even his police vehicle have fooled audiences one too many times. 

The Oregon State Sheriff’s Association cleared all doubts after releasing a statement that he was just an actor. 

Mr. Mayo is not a member of law enforcement nor affiliated with any sheriff’s office in Oregon. He is an actor, and the uniform he wears is a costume. Every person featured in his videos is part of his production crew or is paid actor/actress. 

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Mayo’s entire series was staged and scripted. 

Mayo On Creating Such Content

According to Mayo, in an interview with KTVZ, he never intended to pass off as a real bounty hunter and always cooperated with law enforcement whenever he could. 

He never wanted to commit a crime. He only wanted to create a production.

And so that’s why before we even purchased the cars for this show or any equipment, we sat down with the police department and said, this is what we’d like to do. What do you think?

In a separate interview with fellow YouTuber Mike The Cop, Mayo also detailed his experience as a content creator. The YouTuber revealed that he was tired of the bounty hunting content after some time and moved onto police work content. 

Mayo opined that real bounty hunting was inherently dull and not what everyone expects. After many episodes, he wanted to steer his production in a different direction, give viewers something new and exciting, and thus started his new series, DBSO.

With DBSO, he could work with different scenarios like burglaries, domestics and take stories that people have really experienced in their lives. He recreated these stories for some episodes. 

He took a short break in 2020, but has returned and has been active on his channel ever since.