Updated: Wednesday 7.45am

AN IRISH STUDENT who claimed he won a worldwide contest to become Charlie Sheen’s social media intern has admitted he was pulling what he calls an “audacious stunt to hold up a mirror to the absurdity of the cult of celebrity”.

UTV reported yesterday that Campbell, a design student in Belfast, had been given the job of managing Team Sheen’s Twitter account and social media profile.

The University of Ulster student yesterday told UTV Live it would be “quite a ride” to work with the star for the eight-week paid internship, which was advertised by Sheen on Twitter three weeks ago. ”The first round had 100,000 people who applied and after that it dwindled down to 77,000, then it dwindled down to 250. At that stage we had to submit a video – that was Friday,” Campbell said.

The student had tweeted earlier in the day to reveal his “victory” in the internship contest:

This was the application that, he claimed, helped him see off the competition:

But eagle-eyed viewers – and people with far too much time on their hands – will have noticed that frames of his video application, when taken together, read: “March 29. I will. Lie. And. Say. #jonnycampbell. Have (sic). Won. Charlie Sheen’s #internship.”

Among Campbell’s online activities are the pranky habit of pasting QR codes to posters outside a local cinema, which – when scanned – send the user a spoiler telling them how the movie ends.

Despite his strong views on the “absurdity of the cult of celebrity”, Campbell admits that he would still really like to be Charlie Sheen’s intern.

Additional reporting by Gavan Reilly and Jennifer O’Connell