He Said No To Saudi Three Times. Then He Stayed 5 Years | Cedric Dahmoun

Cedric Dahmoun said no to Saudi three times before he came. He stayed five years.

He's a Belgian-Algerian content creator with 600,000 followers, most of whom found him through TikToks showing what life in Saudi actually looks like. He came during COVID from Dubai, with no Arabic, no plan, and a feeling that he'd run out of versions of himself to try in Europe.

In this episode he tells us about the night a stranger followed him through the dark in the south of Saudi and what happened next. He talks about leaving his phone on the coffee table for five years and what that says about the city he chose. He explains what he calls "the imam of TikTok," and why he doesn't argue with them. And he tells us about his next thing: walking from Riyadh to Mecca by camel, one month, the old way, because he wants to feel how the pilgrimage used to be done.

Carly and Vesna hosted from the studio in Riyadh. Cedric was in Saudi dress and a Shure mic.

Episode 28. Listen wherever you get podcasts.

With Carly Overman and Vesna Petrovic.

00:00 Cold open 00:58 Welcome from Carly and Vesna 03:43 Meeting Cedric 05:30 The road to Riyadh 06:25 No three times 07:15 Dubai vs Riyadh 09:42 Going full-time on social 12:14 Converting to Islam 13:42 First viral video 15:07 Taif and the baboons 18:23 By camel to Mecca 22:31 Giving back to Saudi 23:11 His father, and stopping alcohol 25:14 Why he feels safe 27:01 The compound trap 28:38 3am stranger in Fayfa 33:12 Real Islam 34:06 The imam of TikTok 35:21 The phone on the table 38:24 Building 600K 42:50 Handling negativity 45:13 The spy comments 46:16 Media authority call 48:24 Authenticity and respect 53:58 Advice for new creators 01:01:55 Best platforms 01:03:14 Why he deletes his camera roll 01:04:40 Goodbye and Jeddah invite 01:07:21 The Vesna and Alex story 01:08:27 Conflict in Saudi vs Belgium 01:13:20 Serbian content question 01:16:36 Closing