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YouTuber who tried to give isolated tribe Diet Coke faces years of jail time

byVirginia Glaze
A photo of Neo-Orientalist in water.YouTube: Neo-Orientalist

American YouTuber Mykhailo Polyakov was denied bail and faces years in prison after he attempted to contact an isolated tribe on North Sentinel Island using Diet Coke and a coconut.

The 24-year-old content creator is known for visiting high-risk locales, such as areas of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, which he uploads on his channel to the tune of 3,000 subscribers.

In October 2024, Polyakov unsuccessfully tried to reach North Sentinel Island. The island is located between India and Thailand and is home to the famously uncontacted Sentinelese tribe.

After a few failed attempts, he finally managed to make landfall on Saturday, March 29, 2025, bringing with him a can of Diet Coke and a coconut as offerings.

A photo of Mykhailo Polyakov in a tank.YouTube: Neo-Orientalist
Polyakov uploads videos of himself traveling through high-risk areas, such as Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

However, no one showed up to greet him. After blowing a whistle to get the tribe’s attention and standing on the beach for some time, he finally left… but it wasn’t long before police caught up with him.

The Sentinelese are a protected people, and India’s government even patrols the waters around North Sentinel Island to prevent potential intruders from possibly harming the tribe — or getting harmed, themselves.

In 2018, missionary John Allen Chau was reportedly killed by the Sentinelese after traveling to the island, and its residents are known for firing arrows at cameras and film crews that get too close.

A photo of the Sentinelese people on a beach.Christian Caron – Creative Commons A-NC-SA / Survival International
The Sentinelese people are known to be aggressive to outsiders.

Polyakov was detained by law enforcement on Monday, March 31, and charged with “entering a prohibited tribal reserve area of the North Sentinel Island, protected under the Andaman & Nicobar Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation 1956,” as per official news reports.

YouTuber who tried to contact Sentinelese tribe denied bail

The YouTuber appeared in court on Tuesday, April 15, where he was denied bail and even had his time in police custody extended. He faces up to five years in prison along with a fine if found guilty.

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“He planned meticulously over several days to visit the island and make contact with the tribe,” senior police officer Hargobinder Singh Dhaliwal said in a statement.

A photo of North Sentinel Island from space.Survival International
North Sentinel Island is home to the Sentinelese people, who are believed to have inhabited the area for over 60,000 years without contact from the outside world.

Police also said that Polyakov’s “actions posed a serious threat to the safety and wellbeing of the Sentinelese people, whose contact with outsiders is strictly prohibited by the law to protect their indigenous way of life.”

Polyakov isn’t the only influencer behind bars thanks to his behavior abroad. Infamous nuisance streamer Johnny Somali is currently awaiting trial in South Korea on multiple charges that carry “mandatory” jail time, while Vitaly is also being held in prison after harassing locals in the Philippines.