The Internet Invitational finale was supposed to be the payoff: a $1.3 million-per-player showdown with drama, pressure, and big shots. Instead, fans are calling it a disaster, and most of them are pointing at one competitor who probably shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Spoilers ahead for the Internet Invitational finale.
Viewers have been blunt about how an incredibly entertaining series has come to a brutally anticlimactic conclusion. Of the millions of fans who tuned in to watch a mix of good golfers against less-than-average ones—mixed with hilarious personalities that don’t always mesh—few expected an overly intoxicated participant to become the storyline and deciding factor in the results.
Salim Ruined The Internet Invitational
“Salim ruined the Internet Invitational finale, not even watchable,” one fan wrote. Another said he was funny for a while, but “nothing was funny about how he acted this episode.” The consensus across social media is that Salim Sirur — known as Salim the Dream, who became known for prank videos and as a member of NELK — appeared heavily intoxicated, and that what began as an entertaining storyline turned into second-hand embarrassment.
There were countless embarrassing exchanges in the series, but one has become the episode’s defining moment. Dave Portnoy (founder of Barstool Sports and creator of the Internet Invitational) told Salim, “We’re going to give you a driver so you don’t run anybody over.” Salim replied, “I’m not hammered!” Portnoy replied, “You’re totally hammered.”
Portnoy got some praise for not letting him keep driving. Others called it a total lack of judgment that anyone would let him drink that much in the first place. Most continued to enable him because Salim would get increasingly sad when he sobered up and realized how foolish he had been behaving.
Who’s To Blame For the Ending?
His team lost in the finale, and it was never all that close. Salim had been golfing quite well considering his level of intoxication. No one stopped him, trying only to keep the vibes high with copious levels of positivity. Of course, the wheels eventually fell off. Team Blue, featuring Fat Perez, Riggs, and Bobby Ray, won easily.
The fallout has gone beyond Salim. Plenty of fans criticized Barstool and Bob Does Sports for not stepping in sooner, arguing that content shouldn’t come at the expense of someone’s dignity. Others wondered how a player could show up in that condition with so much money on the line.
The people most affected may be Ryan Whitney and Big John, who had a chance to compete for $1.3 million and instead had to play through the chaos and try to carry their teammate through his drunken state. Fans said both deserved a better ending, and some have called on Salim to issue a public statement.
In a way, he did.
After Episode 4, Salim tweeted, “There’s a reason I challenged myself to 90 days sober after the Internet invitational. Watching these episodes back is a good reminder of why I started. 87/90.”
This may have been a wake-up call for the content creator. To watch this back and realize he cost his team a chance to win has to be humbling.
Whether he returns for another season is unclear, but based on the reaction, plenty of fans would rather he didn’t.
Fans Calling the 2026 Internet Invitational Finale a Disaster, and Blaming One Golfer