It appears that a popular Turkish butcher and chef Nusret Gokce, also known as Salt Bae, who became an Internet sensation earlier this year owes his fame not just to his flamboyant style and culinary skills, but also to hundreds of thousands of dollars that he spent on advertisements.

Axar.az reports citing to Sputnik Nusret Gokce, a Turkish chef and owner of the Nurs-Et chain of Turkish steakhouses, became an Internet sensation due to his art of cooking and preparing meat.

It appears however that the flamboyant chef became famous not just because of his style and skill, but also thanks to a contract he made with an American PR agency.

Turkish media portal Ucankus reports that Gokce spent about $2 million on a massive PR campaign in several countries.

Furthermore, it appears that the famous chef actually paid considerable sums of money to arrange a visit by Leonardo DiCaprio to his restaurant in Dubai, and for Gokce to make a cameo appearance in the Narcos TV series.

According to Ucankus, a large number of celebrities were paid by Gokce to publicly display his trademark salting gesture, including Italian footballer Marco Borriello, singer Bruno Mars, the Golden State Warriors basketball team, FC Galatasaray forward Lukas Podolski, Brazilian footballer Matheus Doria and others.