How This Quirky Party Crasher Became a Human Barometer for the World’s Most Exclusive Gatherings
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If Nimrod Kamer’s not at your party in London these days, something’s amiss. He won’t be on the guest list, of course—no pro bash-crasher like him would ever attend an event, invitation-in-hand. Still, if he’s bothered to try to sneak in that evening, rest assured you’ve thrown the standout get-together of the night. Kamer’s presence is a barometer of your social clout. “People do know that if I’m not there, it’s not worth having the party in some respect,” Kamer says.
The Israeli-born former journalist Kamer has become a fixture on Britain’s gadflying scene over the past decade via his deft, cheeky attempts to slip inside anywhere he wasn’t invited; he’s also made regular sorties stateside to try his hand, too. As much performance artist as party crasher, the offbeat Kamer relishes his reputation, and even authored a book A Social Climber’s Handbook, to pass on hints and tips to other would-be velvet-rope burners.
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No wonder, then, that he’s unabashed when recounting his various escapades and strategies, all honed over the last 10 years or so of making himself professionally unwelcome. QR codes, Kamer confides, have been an open sesame for sneak-ins like him, far easier to screenshot and duplicate than classic invite cards. The new feature in Apple’s Photos app, he says, is helpful, too: it allows you to remove the background from any photo—like, say, a headshot. “Even an amateur can drop that into a passport jpeg, and even if you use a totally different font for the name, there’s so much chaos at the door, no one cares.”
Social media, too, has proven a boon, mostly thanks to the pretexts it offers for interactions. Famously, he cornered then-British Prime Minister Theresa May at the summer party for right-wing magazine The Spectator to ask her, prankishly, about his own immigration status (Kamer moved to the UK using his Romanian passport, before Brexit). He held up a phone for a photo, but instead toggled the app to video, capturing the entirety of their interaction. “Don’t call the immigration hotline, meet the leader of the country at a party and talk to them about it,” he shrugs, archly.
Much of his party-crashing prowess, though, has little to do with technology. “It’s not illegal to pretend to be someone else at the door,” he says, of the classic tactic of reading a clipboard upside down to catch the ideal pseudonym. When he’s trying to access a property, rather than an event, Kamer deploys the open tab tactic, as he did at Mar a Lago a few days after President Trump left office in 2020. “You say you owe money to someone and insist on paying it—you have an open tab from last night,” he says. Astonishingly, even amid such stringent security, that approach worked; once inside, Kamer continues, he went to the gift shop to buy a bathrobe, then changed into it to walk around. Roaming in a robe, he says, is like trespasser camouflage, both attention-grabbing and invisible.
He hides in plain sight with another of his tactics: a tandem bicycle. Kamer will offer to cycle someone—a model, a socialite or similar—to the party, offering them a wacky photo op as they arrive. “Everyone is so astonished, and they love the cycling, so even if I’m not invited they let me inside.”
Kamer isn’t always successful in his efforts, but that neither fazes nor deters him. “You need to want to fail, and enjoy the getting-in,” he says, “Sometimes talking to people in the line is more fun than the party.” If you are rumbled, Kamer continues, don’t resist. “You need to be willing to leave when they ask you. Say, perhaps, that’s a shame I was going to pay the bill for my champagne, but you want me to leave now? Offer to pay for a real or an imaginary tab.” Go quietly and willingly, though, and you won’t risk any manhandling. As you do, try what he calls “name-flopping,” dropping names that are almost-familiar, say Kendall Gender, to create confusion and amusement both. “It’s legal to lie to a bouncer, because you’re not lying to the police. It’s the most fun, risky, legal thing you can do now.” Meanwhile, Kamer has a new project that he hopes will help fellow would-be doorbusters: His next book will show the floor plan of the world’s most prestigious members clubs, hotels and golf clubs. “It will show which door to use at Chateau Marmont to get into the pool,” he says, though that feels like something each hotel can pretty easily stymie, no? Kamer has not yet settled on a name.
He also has advice for elite party throwers keen to dissuade Kamer and his ilk. Put simply: staff the door with someone more senior than the event planner’s intern. “They’ll just wave you in, as they have no idea who’s throwing the party. The person on the door should be your best friend or your mother,” he says. “And they should ask every guest how they know you, and to tell something interesting about you, rather than just going over a list of names.”
Then again, he sometimes relishes rejection. “I think I’ve added to parties when I haven’t gotten in. People feel good when they reject someone, and everyone inside feels like it’s worthwhile to stay then, too. I am happy to be rejected, so it’s cool,” he laughs, “Being an outsider is always more fun.”
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