An Ellesmere Port woman’s life changed overnight after a viral video catapulted her to online fame. Becki Jones, 32, is a content creator on social media app TikTok, where she uses her channel to share regular food and lifestyle videos with her army of fans.
The influencer said everything changed for her after a video of her making a vat of hot chocolate in her slow cooker took off online, Her following has continued to grow since then and Becki now boasts an incredible 900,000 TikTok followers.
Her unexpected career has seen her travel across Europe making her videos. But, speaking to the ECHO, Becki has also explained how her overnight online fame has also come at a price.
The content creator is frequently subjected to vile abuse in her comments section. She said the trolls sometimes leave her feeling like ‘the most hated woman on TikTok’ – but she is determined to remain positive and not let the negativity bring her down.
Becki said: “It does feel like that sometimes, that I’m the most hated woman on TikTok. It’s something that goes hand in hand with your account growing. I remember uploading a video of a takeaway I’d eaten or of me baking and it was something that was unhealthy, a treat, and every comment was disgusting.”
“I sat and thought to myself ‘why do they hate me so much, just for eating?’. I accept people’s opinions but I think people nowadays feel they are entitled to too much of an opinion. I think it’s made me develop a thick skin. I did a video the other day talking about the hate I get and I said ‘I’m used to it’ and it is sad to say. It’s built me up to be more resilient. People’s opinions are important but I don’t care as much any more.”
TikTok star Becki Jones spoke to the ECHO
She added: “I would love to sit down and ask [the trolls] why they do it. I don’t know if I was an easier target. I’ve never denied that I’m plus size or fat or said I’ve got the best diet, but there are other people on TikTok that do similar content but don’t get the same hate. People don’t like the way I speak, my accent, the way I film stuff. I would say the people writing stuff are very unhappy in their own lives to be hating on someone else.”
And while Becki’s comment section can often be an unkind place, she also has hundreds of thousands of loyal followers who tune in every single day to enjoy her food content. Her channel has grown to such an extent that Becki said she now routinely gets stopped in the supermarket by people asking her for a picture, because they follow her channel.
She said: “It’s so crazy – especially this last year I’ve noticed some of the impact [of having so many followers] and just going to Morrisons I get people coming up to me and asking for a picture. I love it. There are places sometimes when I’m at a concert and it gets a bit busier, but I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in without these people. There is some negativity and some hate, but I think the love and support outweighs it.”
She added: “I never thought that out of everyone in my family I’d be the one that gets recognised on a daily basis and a name that people know across the world. At first my parents didn’t understand [my TikTok career], my niece Paige is very clued up online and on social media and I feel like if it weren’t for her I wouldn’t have carried on the journey. She’s always been supportive and told me to see where it takes me. Now I feel like it was meant to be.”
(Image: No credit)
And it’s Paige who Becki has to thank for launching her TikTok career. Her teenage cousin encouraged Becki to download the app in order to interact with her own videos – but one night when Paige left her phone at home, Becki had to record one of the teen’s TikTok videos on her phone. The video in question was the viral hot chocolate video, which catapulted her onto the For You Pages of users around the world.
Becki said: “She didn’t bring her phone so we had to film it on mine, so we set it all up and a bit later on I said ‘shall I send it to you?’ She said she didn’t want to post it, it was ‘too cringey’. I’d spent all this time and money on the ingredients so I posted it at 7:30pm and we went out to see some fireworks and I came home and it was on 100k. The next morning when I woke up it was nearly 500k and kept going up and up.”
Becki has seen her channel grow exponentially in the last year, with the creator hosting regular celebrations every time she reaches a new milestone follower-count. And although she’s been putting herself out there on the internet for several years, Becki told the ECHO that it’s only in the last few months she’s felt more able to step out of her comfort zone and say yes to new opportunities.
(Image: No credit)
This included being invited on a free cruise with other content creators, and travelling around the UK making videos with fellow TikTok stars. Becki said that while she has always felt like an independent woman, she realised she relied upon the comforts of Ellesmere Port and the Wirral – but now she’s branching out and seeing more of the world, thanks to her career online.
She said: “I think at the start I was never wanting to branch out and I thought I’m just going to stick to being me on my TikTok and doing what I do. I always think I don’t want to put myself out my comfort zone – in my kitchen it’s me in front of the camera and I have control. Being on a cruise with people I’ve never met before was a huge thing for me. I feel like I’ve found myself this year.”
Becki has made a name for herself online by producing content that centres around cooking and eating out – so the ECHO ook the opportunity to ask what her favourite restaurants and takeaways are in the region. Becki named Maggie Fu and the Baltic Market among her favourites in the city centre, with a special mention also made to ‘hidden treasure’ Ma Boyle’s.
And the TikTok star also named her two favourite takeaways, which feature in some of her most viral videos – Cheshire Kebab House and Purple Olive Indian restaurant.
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