I'm sure this will have been covered before the “NI food influencer scene” is properly getting out of hand now.
Just watched some lad called Christopher Eats and I think I'm going to have to bleach my eyes.
Also, has anyone noticed the likes of The Sphinx keep getting incredible reviews despite the fact it's shite and has been for years?
Now I'm not saying you have to be qualified for this kind of thing but when you have proper food critics creating articles at great restaurants and then you have Nelly North Down saying the words “hidden gem” over and over again like a Toy Story character with its pullstring stuck, you have to wonder.
“CoMe WiTh Me To ThUs HidDuN gEm…” right in the middle of the andytown road and they reveal it and it’s a chicken goujon meal
Your man Foodie Fisherman seems a sound fella but fuck me his content is dire. He has the palate and vocabulary of a 6 year old.
“This salt and chilli chicken is packed with flavour, you can really taste the salt and the chilli coming through”
That paired with his, ten times daily, mundane, engagement farming bullshit would bore the balls off you.
"Them's good chiggen goo jons!"
There was that saga where he would constantly show pictures and videos from him in hospital, but would never say what he was in for.
Stop karma farming and stop the videos then.
His new one has been posting token gestures he’s been doing for his partner for clout, that’s been really getting on my goat.
Looked him up and his latest review is The Sphinx lmao we live in a simulation
I think that's part of his charm he's dull and down to earth lol it works 🤣
I noted his vocabulary and charitably assumed he'd maybe suffered some sort of head trauma in his youth? There's no way that could be his genuine level of education?
Sounds exactly like The Kearney's 🤣
I don't get why people watch others sit in the car and eat a curry chip. Fuck off Darnell
See if you get me stinkin…
Up er
We all need to know if they serve good chippy chips or not.
What the fuck are chippy chips by the way?
Where they peel and chip there own chips rather than frozen
I'm sure that's quite rare now. We decided to have a chippy a week before Christmas, the first time since maybe Covid. It cost what going out for a fancy meal used to be.
You owe me a tenner, ye wee froot
I don’t mind The Sphinx.
I’m a Christopher Eats hater though. All this Grindset LinkedIn bullshit and scripture quotes on his page and like, you’re eating cheeseburgers on camera mate, take it down a notch.
It's the first step before he starts a mentoring course for gullible fucks on how to resell on Amazon.
Also stupid vids of him crying and swearing in his car with his kid in the back, he's a header
He’s got a kid? God help us all.
He can stick his imaginary friend right up his arse.
You'll get a quid back from £20 for a large mixed on chips!!
It will make you sick how much money these cunts make. A friend of mines GF does abit of "food influencing" on the side, she only has around 5k followers based in Manchester and they go out for tea 2 or 3 times a week for free and if she does a paid review, which it looks like he's doing she get £250 per review.
So really not much money at all, mostly blagging free meals.
As someone who owns a food business lets me tell you I hate it. Is it a good thing absolutely it is. It pushes the small business like mine out to people I couldn’t reach. In the 16 months I’ve been open I have had two of them come Round randomly. Make videos take pics and paid don’t ask for anything free.
However, my dms are full off them asking to come by and make a video for money and they get told to fuck off, once that payment is made to me the video and review is tainted, I’m paying for a service and that service better shine a bright light on me.
I need repeat customers and after a week the video is forgotten and squashed way down from the next 10 videos that person then does.
Name and shame
How much are they charging?
Between 400-1000
Crikey. Bunch of grifters
🤣 who do these clowns think they are.
A randomer charging 1k to eat your food and hope they say it's good.
Living in a SIM these days.
What’s your food business?
HELLO YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢
she’s a fuckin dose
Worst of the worst.
They're a whole new subspecies. Just pray they never breed with norn iron cool fm type radio DJs.
Can you imagine the abomination?
Shudder.
Blame the food businesses that are paying them. That encourages it.
One usually pops up and has the most boring voice in the world and tries to make out that a local East Belfast chip shop only uses fresh ingredients.
Like we know the chippy uses curry sauce from the cash and carry. The all do 🤣
If it’s the same woman I’m thinking of, she went to a place I used to work and tried to make out like she was just calling in but they had every menu item out waiting for her and the dialogue was so clearly scripted by the business. Who would say “fully customisable coffee menu” in normal conversation?
I also get irritated by the one where she could walk in to any place in the country and the walls could be lined with shit and piss but she'll still say "The decor is absolutely beauuuuutifuuuul".
Keevaeats?
Just had a video of The Foodie Fisherman pop up doing a review of The Sphinx. It's everywhere!
He has an awful diet,eats rubbish all the time
And he’s got the charisma of cardboard
Thing is, it works.
Friend runs a takeaway. Said its with gritted teeth he paid one of them, it paid him back 10 fold, that week. Easy uplift in business.
Only ones I've ever seen is that couple that eat takeaways in their car. They must shit gravy the amount they eat.
The Kearneys?
The stuff they eat is disgusting. And they love the gravy that looks like tar
That's the ones, they eat some amount of shite
Can't stand yer man... absolute personality vacuum
I do enjoy a hatewatch of the Kearneys, though. Their unashamed dedication to the ways of hypertension is quite fascinating. The fact that they order the exact same thing from dreary Chinese after dreary Chinese hardly qualifies them as food influencers, just more morons who've been platformed by social media. Datz ackshully reel chickun, Erun!
And order gravy chips from the Chinese. Weirdo's
That Christopher eats is some fucking cunt.
Why?
I just googled him and the first video result is a tiktok called GLORY TO GOD where he's in his car manically screaming "I FUCKIN LOVE GOD FOR HELPING ME TURN MY LIFE AROUND" with his kids in the back, second result is a facebook video called FARTING ON STRANGERS IN BELFAST, which didn't really make me feel like giving him a second chance.
Yea fair enough, seems like he's some mental health struggles
I point blankly refuse to watch ANYTHING that has a fucktard influencer involved in. They are a special breed of cunt.
"There's a little hidden gem off the Ormeau Road..."
hidden gem intensifies
Pretty sure most of them say it’s for a food review so the food places put extra care into the food, and a lot sponsored without saying it or given free food without saying it, because I’ve went to a lot of the places and they’re nothing like they get in their videos
I was burned after an influencer review of a bbq place that was briefly in comber.
They talk like fucking morons too
OH MY GAWD THESE CHIPS IS GORJISS
The Kearneys are the spawn of Satan
2 personality vaccums
The Kearneys are alright they kinda crack me up give me a chuckle lol
😂😂 I actually don’t mind them
I'd rather stick forks in my eyeballs than watch any of that shit.
Hidden stems
Aye, and then headbutt the table.
Absolute wankers the lot of them.
Christ the night.
I really can’t fathom how watching people eat is considered entertainment. The noises they make is vile and watching them chew while talking turns me.
Maybe I’m just old, or maybe I just have standards.
A lot of their traffic comes from people like OP hate watching it
They know this too, that's why many of them are deliberately obnoxious and outrageous
They do this for a while before inevitably finding Jesus and becoming a born again Christian 🫢
Sphinx clearly has money to spend as most of them charge for the "review"
Same cakeday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Vi_bVGYQo
That north down Da thats in love with his barbecue. More edits than a marvel fight scene, unwatchable.
Guinness people are the same. Look at the cream on that! Split the G! Overshot as usual! The domeage!
Any level of geardos are the same. Pick your hobby you'll get em, the ones to whom the hobby is their entire personality.
They usually get paid to come, eat and review. Thats why all the food is always "great"
They aren't being paid to give a good review, but they know full well if they give shite reviews, other places won't pay them to come and possibly do the same
Which is an ‘ad’ and has to be declared.
Jesus, that's some deal.
At least the Christmas Chips are over for a while
The Easter Chip will be along soon
People can have crucifixion if they wish… but most don't.
Double egg and chips?
These wankers sitting in a car eating a Chinese… to be fair I do block them if they pop up on my feed but at what point do these sad acts take a step back and realise they aren’t going to make a serious career out of it
I don’t mind most of food content creators but Christopher Eats is unbearable
Their voiceclips always overlap too. What’s that about??
Just half-arsed editing I'd say
This absolute animal just came up on my tiktok feed throwing sauce about a kebab like a literal baboon and I opened Reddit to come see if anyone else had opinions on it. I am so glad to see this thread
Most food bloggers/influencers are dummies anyway. They have zero clue about the products, the cooking process, what works and what doesn't.
Dunno why anyone would watch the repetitive, inauthentic content tbf.
As long as they don’t discover my local chippy. Which I hope will remain a hidden gem. Because it’s delicious and I don’t want anyone else to know about it.
Dont get it either. When i call for a dirty chippie / hot food bar i scran it in car hoping no c<<t i know sees me; dribbling curry or gub smeared in grease; and here these c>>ts are videoing and sharing with the world online. Then the ultimate insult; when they arent being paid on camera shovelling chippies down their throat they are asking stoopid questions to keep "engagement" high. No one gives a flying fook what favourite crisp sandwich or xmas movie is. I cant stand the "excited for what 2026 will bring" comments either. Mental little subculture. As previous posters have said, most viewers do so angrily/incredulously but its all the same to these social media go getters.....engagement.
Christopher Eats is truley awful. And he's another one of these folk that follows in God. He needs to wash his mouth out with soap first!
My wife dragged me to some place for pasta that she had seen on TikTok by one of these cretins and the food was absolutely dogshit. I had chicken which was burnt to a crisp and she had some lasagna that has been sitting for at least a week under a heat lamp. Frankie’s lasagnaria if anyone was wondering. Safe to say I’m ignoring their recommendations
You're watching adverts and wondering why it's so positive. You know Fairy Liquid might not actually last several times longer than other brands and red bull does not in fact allow you to attain wings?
I use cheap soap to wash my dishes.
The brother of one of the food influencers (who also does music) told me he is making a fortune being paid for reviews, £300 a pop.
Work in marketing for hospitality, £250-£1000 for local folks usually, some try to charge more, and often claim they can make something "go viral" like they own the algorithms. A lot of them are sound to be fair, some are absolute ball bags, once had a fairly well-known one ask for £500 in cash, without issuing an invoice, while I was on holiday - he's infamous for telling folks that he "works for TikTok", absolute bull shitter.
There was me thinking £300 was loads
Standard rate is about £250, depends on follower count and a few other factors, a lot have fake followers so you're best looking at their engagement rate
A low point for humanity all right
They are all getting paid for fake reviews
Think of influencers as owners of a marketing company which advertises your product on their platform, including filming and distribution, for a fee.
It's nothing more or less than that.
I’ve learned to avoid places that NI food influencers review. Fell for their shite a few times and was wildly disappointed, so now I just assume that the place will be rank and overrated if I see an influencer video about them.
I am also called Christopher and I do also eat food. Do I have to become an influencer now?
Yes, in-fact you do.. ever tried a spicebag? Hope not cause you’re gonna be “reviewing” one for your tea every night 😂
Sigh. I’ll order the iPhone camera rig set up then. I hear Boojum is really good authentic Mexican “scran” and these smash burgers are a revelation!!!
Sphinx kebabs are literally the worst, I've yet to meet anyone who actually likes them
I used to like their chicken goujon meal but then the price seemed to rise exponentially week on week and the portion got smaller. So I stopped ordering.
We used to love sphinx. £20 for a kebab now. Catch yourself onnnnnn
Wasn’t there some toothy fat cunt from England a few years back sending all the chippies emails asking for money for a good video review on YouTube? I thought I read about it on here.
One on youtube had a video were "they just popped in" to this place in lisburn but they're doing extravagant camera panning shots in a restaurant theyve obviously got to themselves and its was alright when restaurants weren't buying the ad space. Social media in general has gone too far.
I just block them and move on.
"Flavorful" - has to be the worst, least imaginative word any of them could possibly use, and yet most of them have it in every video. Makes me want to send them a dictionary.
https://preview.redd.it/s0lp5sslcbcg1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=14a0bc06670109c50fb6fdfddc07ac4e03cd9271
"Scintillating"
I genuinely couldn’t think of anyone I would want to slap more. That eye roll thing enrages
He won't be around long with the amount of salt he eats!
THIS HERE HIDDEN UNKNOWN FANTASTIC WEEE GEMMM WITH GREAT CRAIC AS THE LOCALS SAY SERVES THE VEST CHIPPY IN ALL OF BELFAST - Random ass english food influencer ordering a curry chip from wokamoley
there’s a few places in derry who are always willing to give these beggars a free meal. it signals me to avoid.
TikTok for food recommendations is a red flag and it's not just an NI thing, it's global.
Yer man kevyforex on insta that does the terrible rapping does my nut in
Should check out Irish Sea moss fella in his farmacy 😂😂
I think the sphinx is trying to rebrand after closing a couple of branches and bad reviews. They’ve made a TikTok showing how the get their meat fresh everyday.
And they’ve obviously paid this fella to help people come back.
I 100% agree it’s gone overboard and everyone thinks they’ve found the “hidden secret” of Belfast
I already know my favourite local takeaways.
Who gives a flying fuck? Not I!
They're just ads. They're not even ads you have to watch or listen to. Pay some dude from North Down, who has 10,000 people interested in that type of content £500 to come and eat your food. Or spend a couple of grand going on Cool fm where you're not likely to get even a tenth of the response.
Even reading this post I can feel deep in my mind a fucking voice over saying a “hidden gem” in the most possible dreary and beige accent ever. Fml.
If people hate these twats so much, why do they watch them?
Quiet you!
There's another gobshite running around called Buckley Bites or something like that.
….”it was so so good”…utter bollocks
Dirty dirty dinners
They are paid to visit. Says more about the businesses that pay these influencers than anything really. If you have to pay people to say nice things about your product, the product is not very good in the first place.
Christopher eats and holly the worst ones
If I see another review of a Chinese takeaway that the whole local area has been ordering from for decades I’ll dip my balls in a deep fat fryer 😂
Wasn't food but a previous retail job I worked at had a renovation and invited 3 influencers to get a tour and demo of the products.
It was cringe none of the staff wanted to deal with it so it feels to the two supervisors. 2 of the influencers were sound just chatting about shit and having a laugh the third only wanted to appear on camera with one supervisor due to looks and walked out when she was told there was no gift bags etc.
Social media has been great for actual artists and peoples work but Christ it's unleashed a new range of leaches
awk don't tell me that about the Sphinx, I haven't been in years but I still hold their House Sauce in my head as the golden standard I compare all House Sauces to.
Some of them make me want to rip my eyeballs out. Some of them just post up some pics/videos of food that clearly isn't a paid review - and they're grand, i do like them. Depends what you want to see. Think the 'come with me to this hidden gem' cheese pull brigade are on the way out tbh people hate it and it's pure oversaturation
A lot of them purposely use derry, or Ireland when referring to Northern Ireland purely to get engagement and comments. Because 9 times out of 10 you have people commenting "akshullly it's NORTHERN Ireland 🤓"
A lot of it is spon con, or an attempt to build a spon con business. I don't mind that necessarily, as I get that it has potential to benefit two of the parties involved: the business builds some awareness, and it rewards the poster for the time and effort they put into not only making the video, but also building the audience. However... does that not ignore the third party involved: the audience.
I think it's turning into an unintentional (presumably) short-term grift for the influencers. Their content is often well put together, albeit I totally understand that posts can sound like fingers on a blackboard to some. However, the actual food commentary is shockingly bad. Any old nonsense will get hyped regardless of its actual quality, and that has to have an impact to either follower numbers and/or whether followers act on the recommendation sooner rather than later.
I've always been suspicious of the idea that people would go to a place because an influencer mentioned it, but I guess you can't become a customer until you know the business exists. What is certain is that as your followers start to notice that there's zero quality control on who they'll work with, and that will dramatically cheapen the recommendation.
Legit refused or doubtful to go to any of the places the influencers heavily promote tbh !! Went to a few in the past and they have been stinkin, not even okay ! For us normal people going out for even lunch is a big thing, I rather spend my money with places I know are worth it
All they ever seem to review is fuckin spicebags, need well give it all a rest 😐
I actually would like to know where I can get a tasty good gravy chip from a Chinese. However I refuse to watch any of those annoying videos
https://preview.redd.it/jqb0ti8tffcg1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c7722328ad5d8b0d916ff6e88ed833e19bc7e040
I wish these guys would learn to use a full stop!
https://redd.it/18mqjf1
https://redd.it/1ka4j50
https://redd.it/1k7wzxi
https://redd.it/1pwz25b
https://redd.it/1fpb13c comedy about it
https://redd.it/1ds45rs
and we can add today's to the list: https://redd.it/1q7ktkb
Why are you watching it?
[deleted]
Well there's not many NI food influencers on Reddit. Instead you get to read posts from people hating on all the influencers they continually watch on other platforms.
If it's on TikTok, it just appears. People sometimes don't actively go seeking for videos!
Most are absolutely shite.
Saying that, I still rate the sphinx .. £14.50 for a kebab is extortionate and probably not as good as 15 years ago, but fuck it.
It's shite everywhere but particularly parochial here.
In other places the reviewer often has ate in a few more places than Belfast City centre, so has something to compare it to.
Then there's the general poor quality/value/variety we have. Dublin FFS is better value for grun than Belfast.
He looked stoned in Holly Smokes lol
https://youtu.be/Xr4cMag-wVc?si=olteSw7UMWNFbNaA
James Higgins the only unbiased reviewer.
I assume this is the level the local influencers want to reach.
Think he might have died last year though.
I always wondered what he'd think of a gravy chup or a chickin bawx from one of our fine hidden gems.
Oh look NI shitting on people trying something, how surprising