The sesame scene in season one of Silicon Valley is loosely based on Peter Thiel.

The claim, which he hedged as "loosely", is that the sesame scene in season one of HBO's Silicon Valley (the Peter Gregory sesame-seed scene) is based on Peter Thiel. True: the show's creators or writers (for example Mike Judge or Alec Berg), or credible reporting, confirm that the scene or the character in it was inspired by or based on Thiel. Mostly true: the character of Peter Gregory is confirmed as Thiel-inspired, but the sesame scene itself is not specifically attributed to him, or it drew on several people including Thiel. Mixed: the sources conflict. Mostly false: the scene is attributed mainly to another person or source, with Thiel only a marginal influence. False: the creators state that the scene or character was not based on Thiel, or that it came from someone else entirely.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Silicon Valley Creators Say Entourage Was Way Harsher | TechCrunch TechCrunch · 6 May 2014

   “However, contrary to what’s widely believed, Judge said that Peter Gregory, the show’s weird-but-brilliant venture capitalist, isn’t based on Peter Thiel, at least not entirely.”

2. E2 Silicon Valley Creators Say Entourage Was Way Harsher | TechCrunch TechCrunch · 6 May 2014

   “Judge admitted that when, later on, he saw footage of Thiel, he thought, “Oh wow, that’s what Chris is doing.””

3. E3 HBO's "Silicon Valley": Behind The Squirm | TechCrunch TechCrunch · 23 August 2014

   “For example, a lot of people assume Peter Gregory is Peter Thiel. Not true. Sure he’s anti-college and is building his own island. But we wanted to show a character who’s brilliant, immensely curious and yet terribly awkward with people.”

4. E4 The Making of Peter Thiel’s Networks The New Republic · 20 December 2021

   “But Peter Gregory was not based on a real person, the showrunner, Alec Berg, insisted.”

An August 2014 TechCrunch piece on the show called the assumption that Peter Gregory is Thiel "not true" (E3), and showrunner Alec Berg said the character was not based on a real person (E4). Those statements point toward the criteria's "false" outcome. Mike Judge, however, said only that the character "isn't based on Peter Thiel, at least not entirely" (E1). He also said that when he later saw footage of Thiel, he recognised what the actor was doing (E2). E3 also acknowledged some surface parallels, such as being anti-college and building his own island. No source addresses the sesame scene specifically, so the creators' denials, with Judge's partial hedge, put the claim at mostly false rather than fully false.