Why Andrew Tate refused to take part in Louis Theroux’s Manosphere doc

British documentarian Louis Theroux's latest docu-film hit Netflix earlier this week on Wednesday (11 March).

Now, as fans of Theroux will know, he's far from shy when it comes to tackling subjects many people find uncomfortable to confront, but his most recent project is arguably one of the most illuminating documentaries he's done, which takes a deep dive into influencers on the fringe of the manosphere.

Titled Inside the Manosphere, the doc sees the BAFTA winner interview some of the leading social media influencers and podcasters who profit from and spread controversial ideas from the most extreme sects of the manosphere.

"The manosphere describes a group of almost exclusively male influencers who provide content about fitness, business, and self-improvement," Theroux explains. "Many of them are relatively mainstream, but at the edge is a community of figures whose views are much more extreme, and that’s the focus of the documentary."

Check out the official Netflix trailer here:

"Those in the manosphere embody a swaggering machismo," Theroux added, "that is at turns misogynistic, homophobic, antisemitic, and racist… Increasingly, these aren’t figures on the margins — anyone who’s got kids, and especially boys, will know that they are making inroads into the culture. Their influence is being felt in schools, in the workplace, and all across the internet."

Theroux speaks with a handful of the biggest names leading the manosphere movement, including Harrison Sullivan, aka HS Tikky Tokky, Amrou Fudl, aka Myron Gaines, Justin Waller, Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy, aka Sneako and Ed Matthews.

Louis Theroux's Inside the Manopshere documentary film hit Netflix this week (Netflix)

Andrew Tate, who has been dubbed by his devoted followers the 'king of toxic masculinity', was not involved in the documentary, and Theroux has since shared his thoughts as to the reason why.

Speaking on The Romesh Ranganathan Show, which hit YouTube earlier this week (9 March), the 55-year-old journalist explained: "The biggest guy in the space, in that whole manosphere community, is Andrew Tate, and when we started on it, I thought we might get Andrew Tate.

"And over the year of filming, I was messaging Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate quite a lot, back and forth, and he was like, 'Maybe I'm going to do it if you pay me', and I said, 'We're not going to pay you'.

"He said, 'Well, why would I talk to you, you're not relevant anymore'."

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate face a series of criminal allegations in Romania linked to trafficking and sexual exploitation (DANIEL MIHAILESCU / Contributor / Getty Images)

Theroux then recalled an anecdote where Tate allegedly brought up a graph which 'shows how much you've been Googled over like four or five years'.

Tate's scoring line, which was apparently 'blue', was 'quite high' while Theroux's scoring, in 'red', was 'at the bottom'.

"He goes like, 'I'm blue, you're red'," Theroux told the host, adding that he was 'barely registering'.

However, later down the line, Theroux's line reportedly 'went above' Tate's, which the documentarian wondered was a 'weird glitch'.

"So I screenshot and circled that, and I said, 'I'm literally more relevant than you are'," Theroux added before joking: "I felt pretty gangster."

Tate and his brother face a series of criminal allegations in Romania linked to trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Both brothers deny all accusations.

Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere is currently available to stream on Netflix.