It’s bugged me for quite a while. Who is Bradley C and how and why did FanDuel decide his “success” story of winning $349 playing Fanduel was worthy to be featured in what has to be one of the most aired commercials sports fans have ever seen. With no answers, I vented a bit in somewhat of a public shaking of the trees to get to the bottom of the mystery of Bradley C. While no leads came in, soon after an awesome Bradley C parody account was created (shown below).
https://twitter.com/fanduelbradleyc/status/656448502348816384
But Bradley C couldn’t stay underground forever. In early November, the man himself launched BeatBradleyC.com as well as a Twitter account to promote the site which allows for players to play in low stakes contests (obviously) on FanDuel. Bradley C has made this promo video and you can sign-up with the fitting promo code “BeatBradleyC”
The shirt shown above and in the video and the video later in this article is from Bradley C’s charitable venture Beardpong.com which he encourages you to checkout and supports testicular cancer initiatives.
This past week I finally got answers to some of the many BURNING questions I’m sure have kept you up many nights. Below some of the answers you’ve been dying for so you can get a good night’s sleep.
AA: Seriously, why are you in this commercial?
Bradley C: It was actually my buddy JP that had been kind of selected as a potential candidate for commercials, and then he reached out to a group of us that play in a weekly league together. A private league that we all just put in like five or ten bucks a week, and there’s 18 or 19 of us that play in this league weekly on Fanduel. So he emailed us and said “If you guys could fill out this little questionnaire that Fanduel did and send a couple pictures of yourself.” So we did that and I got contacted and did a phone interview with them. They liked us and I had that idea that since JP lives on the beach, I said “You guys could film there! It’s where we are actually playing these games.” They dug it, and so they picked us.
AA: What was the commercial shoot like?
Bradley C: We had a really really early morning shoot one Thursday for a whole day shoot, a 5 or 6 AM call time. They bring you in and basically there is a lot of “hurry up and wait” in the entertainment industry. So you are sitting around and waiting for your time to go do maybe a 45 or 50 minute “interview”, which is where they get their sound bites from that you’ve seen on it. They are asking you questions and not really leading you into things, but they’ll ask you the same question probably 10 or 12 different ways, so that they can grab the sound bites. Just like reality television does, because my girlfriend Beth is a reality TV producer. I understood when one of those things you said “Bradley C probably knows how to read lines really well”… there are no lines, but I do have an idea of how they get sound bites for TV, so I knew you’ve got to have high energy when you are answering questions. It’s like Jeopardy, you have to repeat the question in your answer so the audience knows what they are asking. “How has Fanduel changed your Sunday? Has Fanduel made your Sunday’s more interesting?” And then you would say “Definitely has made Sunday’s a lot more interesting.” It’s fun, it was a lot of fun. But it’s all real. I’m the real me, the real winnings. All the other guys in those commercials are real and they were a lot of fun to hang out with.
AA: When was the first time you saw yourself on television and what was that like?
Bradley C: They reached out to me a couple days before they were going to start running them live. I had no idea they were going to run them like 95 million dollars worth of running these things. I think that it really dawned on me the first Thursday Night. The first game of the season this year. And my phone just started going crazy. It was blowing up. I had like 75 or 80 text messages and calls within like a 3 minute period from just random people. From there it snowballed… during every game it was playing like 2 or 3 spots per game with me in commercial breaks. And then after that it would be running after the games in the NFL post game shows. And then it would be on CNBC and Shark Tank and people were like “Dude I am seeing you everywhere!” It was a lot of fun, because obviously you wrote an article about me… and yeah it was a lot of fun. Your article is literally the genesis behind the Beat Bradley C idea.”
AA: What is your fantasy sports background?
Bradley C: That’s one of the main reasons my winnings were $349. To be completely honest, last season was my first season in fantasy period. I got into my first season long fantasy game last year. I had a lot of fun and kind of got bit by the fantasy bug. Then I started playing DFS with FanDuel primarily. So probably just a little bit over a year ago. I don’t play $25 buy ins to win a million bucks. Mainly just these fun games between me and my buddies just to make the season more interesting. Every week we will have the same game with the same amount of people. Sometimes we’ll add people if they hear about it. Or I’ll play some buddies in a 1 on 1 heads up $1 game, because if I lost it in the week before in a season long game I can play then for getting back at them, or maybe I’ll lose again. It’s that kind of thing as opposed to using it trying to make money. A lot of people on those commercials, yeah you won $2 million bucks, you are gonna be sitting there every week putting in 900 lineups and researching these stats and doing that. I’ve got a real job and a real life outside of playing games on the internet. It’s just a lot more fun for me.
AA: So why do you think Fanduel selected you?
Bradley C: The juxtaposition is funny. I bet you if I had to guess, because I’ve never had this conversation with them. It’s a couple things. It’s probably that they realized they had all these guys that are kind of unattainable to the average person. That winning $2 million or $60,000 or $600,000 is like “Yeah right that’s not going to be me, that’s like a lottery chance.” But a guy like me that has won $349, that’s it. Let me see a guy that I can relate to that looks like something I could reach. That’s possible. I think that’s one reason. I think another reason is that what I said, when you are talking to guys that their profession is literally playing DFS, and no offense to any of these guys because I’ve met them all and they are nice guys, but they are not thinking “fun.” They are thinking analytical and this is a job and I don’t have a lot of higher energy. So when they are getting interviewed they are looking to have someone come out there and be excited about it. So that’s what’s funny about the little spot, just higher energy and fun.
AA: Are you still winning on FanDuel?
Bradley C: Those commercials were from back in April and that $349 was real, and I can tell you that as of a few days ago the actual number is $650. Like I said, I’m not blowing chunks of wads, I’m still the regular guy.
AA: Are you worried your fame will end as FanDuel rolls out new commercials?
Bradley C: No, I’m not worried about it at all. I think America would be so happy, but they did actually call and ask to do more commercials with me and my buddies maybe a month ago. We couldn’t do them, so they used a new guy… you’ve probably seen them, the commercials with the guys sitting on the couch.
AA: Do you get recognized in public for the commercials?
Bradley C: It usually starts with somebody saying “I feel like I know you” and it’s usually like a waitress or waiter or bartender, because they are the ones sitting in a room full of TV’s that my face is on all the time. It usually starts like that and I’ll be like “yeah, I’m on the Fanduel commercials” and they are like “Yeah! That’s you!” That’s where I get most recognized.
AA: What about the new website?
Bradley C: Fanduel called me and was like “Hey, we just want to check on you” because they saw your article and all these things said and we’re just like “We just want to make sure you are ok.” They are funny, and I was like, “I’m totally good, but it would be cool if I could find a way to capitalize on it.” So they gave me my own Beat Bradley C promo code to help people sign up, and that’s where the Beat Bradley C thing came in. Have anybody in America try to beat the guy that won $349. It was fun last week, we had about 40 people join and this week hopefully a lot more. It’s a guaranteed competition which is cool.
So there you have it America. Bradley C is closing in on four figures of Fanduel winnings, his fame may be winding down as Fanduel has been using new creative, his life hasn’t changed that much, and generally he’s a pretty chill bro. Now if only I could track down Sports By Brooks……