Belle Delphine is a pink-wigged 19-year-old
cosplayer, gamer, and social media star who
made headlines by selling her used bathwater
to her fans online.
Who is she, really?
Did this so-called "gamer girl bathwater"
really make people sick?
What does this all mean?!
This is the untold truth of Belle Delphine.
"Let's begin!"
The bathwater business
Selling "gamer girl bathwater" to "thirsty
gamer boys" on the internet is bizarre, but
Delphine didn't hatch the plan entirely on
her own.
She was inspired by her followers.
In an interview with Newsweek, the Instagram
star, called perhaps "The Greatest Troll on
the Internet" by Rolling Stone, admitted she
came up with the idea after her fans kept
commenting on her photos, claiming they wanted
to drink her bath water.
Delphine said,
"I wondered if I actually were to take the
joke seriously and sell my bathwater if there
would be people out there that would buy it.
I sold around 500 units, far more than I expected,
and I had to rebuy containers as I didn't
have enough!
And I was very surprised at the huge response
I got, I didn't think my bathwater would get
this much attention."
At $30 a pop, the self-proclaimed "weird elf
kitty girl" made around $15,000.
Some YouTubers who supposedly purchased the
bathwater drank it on camera - one guy claims
he even made make mac and cheese and instant
ramen with it.
Delphine's stunt went viral in more ways than
one.
Shortly after it made headlines, dirty rumors
surfaced claiming the bath water gave more
than 50 people herpes.
According to Snopes, the whole STD story turned
out to be a hoax launched by a fake Daily
Mail Twitter account.
Delphine herself also personally refuted the
herpes claims on Instagram...
Who is she?
The online influencer who tacked googly eyes
onto a dead octopus and called it her best
friend rarely dives into her origin story,
but she did reveal a little about her background
in an Instagram post in February 2019.
She claimed she was born in South Africa with
a dislocated hip that required extensive surgery.
Luckily, the surgeries worked, and now, at
age 19, she can even fit into a mini-fridge.
According to popular YouTube celebrity profile
series Before They Were Famous, Delphine's
real name is Belle Kirshner.
She moved to the U.K. when she was 9 years
old and revealed that she feels like she's
lived two lives from growing up on two continents.
In South Africa, she spent a lot of time outdoors
enjoying the gorgeous mountains and beaches.
In the U.K., she discovered the internet and
everyone knows how that went.
Delphine had a difficult time during her early
teen and pre-teen years.
She kept switching schools, then eventually
dropped out at age 14.
By the time she was 15, she had reportedly
moved out of her parents' house into a so-called
"shared home" where she spent a year.
Delphine has been a hustler from an early
age.
She claims to have worked since she was 13,
holding down a number of odd jobs.
According to Before They Were Famous, the
star was a waitress and worked at a coffee
shop.
When she was 17, she spent six months babysitting.
The teen eventually raised enough money to
get a camper van and travel through France
for a month.
Now, the bath water mogul probably has enough
cash to in the very least upgrade to a luxury
bus.
Following the influencer formula
Belle Delphine launched her career on the
internet just like many a social media star,
posting selfies on Facebook and Instagram.
In 2016, she launched her YouTube channel
with a makeup tutorial.
It's a go-to move for aspiring influencers
but as of the making of this video, she's
only posted three videos on that channel,
despite amassing nearly half a million subscribers.
Around this time, Delphine exploded on Tik
Tok, which is what really made her internet-famous.
For some mysterious reason, she eventually
got banned from the platform, but not before
she garnered millions of views across her
unique posts and various compilation videos.
According to Rolling Stone, she managed to
monetize her fame when she launched a Patreon
in 2018.
As of the making of this video, she has more
than 4,280 patrons who each pay between $1
and $2,500 per month for various prizes, such
as access to her private Snapchat account,
which she claims is her, quote, "naughtiest"
social media platform.
What does this all mean?
So what's Delphine's deal, really?
Well, as for her cringeworthy, performance
art-like stunts, tech writer Lux Alptraum
tells Rolling Stone,
"It feels like a really fascinating commentary
on what it means to be a woman on the internet
and how you manufacture an audience, and what
is and isn’t rewarded.
She’s saying, ‘I’m gonna be a sexual
commodity, but I’m not gonna deliver on
that."
YouTuber Vito Gesualdi, who pretended to vape
Delphine's bath water in one video, sums it
up to Rolling Stone like this:
"It’s clear Belle Delphine is playing a
character: the empty-headed gamer girl ditz
who floats around spreading love and magic
wherever she goes.
And she’s incredibly good at playing that
character, because most people seem to have
fallen for it almost completely."
What's it all worth?
According to Rolling Stone, Delphine has caused
a, quote, "significant amount of controversy"
among those who work in the adult entertainment
industry, because she's profiting off of their
marketing tactics, but distancing herself
from adult content creators.
It's not rare for adult entertainers to sell
bath water or bodily fluids, for example,
but Delphine is the one who's going viral
for the stunt.
She's also been accused of ripping off adult
entertainers and appropriating Japanese culture.
Regardless of what ideas Delphine has or has
not co-opted, we can all agree that she's
made a killing.
At a minimum, she receives around $50,000
a year via her Patreon alone and that's if
everyone who subscribes pledges just $1.
Considering Patreon users spend an average
of $12 per month according to Vox, this bathing
beauty with a fixation on raw eggs could be
on her way to making upwards of $500,000 per
year.
Whatever you think of Delphine's persona,
the lesson is clear: Don't throw out the baby
or the bathwater.
That bathwater might be worth something.
"Bye!"
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