History and Influence
This new age of information and influence has given the internet new and strange ways of bringing us all together; we are at a time of our lives, where a bad picture could literally, make you famous overnight. Which brings us to the subject of this little talk we’ll be having, Belle Delphine.
Now, I’m not saying Belle took a bad selfie, and then turned into a meme overnight, on the contrary, she did the opposite in her rise to fame (We’ll get to that later). Belle Delphine originally known as Belle Kirschner was born in 1999 in South Africa, but then later relocated to her new home in London, England, with her family of hamsters, no, that is not a typo, she literally said she lives with her family of hamsters. Not much is known about Belle’s immediate family though, but she has however revealed in an Instagram post that before moving in to London, she used to enjoy the life of South Africa with its gorgeous scenery before discovering the internet on their move to the UK. She also had a dislocated hip that required extensive surgery, fortunately though, the surgeries were a success, and Belle would have lived an entirely different life, if they weren’t.
You may have already seen this attractive lady more times than you can count while you were scrolling down your newsfeed in social media, or when its 3 am and YouTube suddenly recommends random videos you have to watch before falling asleep as she has massive and various platforms, you just maybe didn’t know her name.
She first got traction from a dance routine she made on TikTok, a social media application that promotes lip-syncing comedy and talent videos, which brings back my point of how everything would have been so different if she still had hip problems, she has since been rapidly gaining fans through this medium; she gained millions and millions of views before some mysterious reason got her account deleted.
Her Instagram account, prior to its ban, has amassed 4 million followers with her second Instagram account containing more than 280k followers. Her Instagram accounts mostly consist of cosplay selfies and photoshoots – to those who have no idea what cosplay is, its dressing up and sometimes acting like, a loved character from a movie, video game, or anime, which seems to be the mainstream now when a few years ago, liking anime would’ve revoked you of your playground rights, much more with actually dressing up as one, but I digress.
This boosted her up on famousbirthdays.com as the number 1 most famous cosplayer, beating seasoned veterans such as Alodia Gosiengfiao and Jessica Nigri. Her Facebook page also has a massive following, with 350 thousand followers and a YouTube channel containing only 3 videos, able to reach more than 500 thousand subscribers.
Belle Delphine’s First Steps to Internet Fame
Like most influencers today, Belle didn’t start off as rich and famous. Delphine used to work odd jobs ever since she was 13 years old. Before They Were Famous states that she has worked various jobs before attaining fame such as being a babysitter, a waitress, a coffee shop worker; this eventually led to Delphine saving enough money to get through travelling France for a whole month in a camper van. Which is pretty admirable if you ask me, I’ve had trouble saving up for new bedsheets. She also managed to live on her own since she was 15 years old, moving out of her parent’s house to live in a “shared home”. Belle posted her first Instagram selfie in 2015 but it wasn’t until 2017 Belle Delphine took a different approach to her Instagram with very provocative photos, and “ahegao” selfies, a pose characterized by eyes rolled back, tongue out, indicating extreme and intense pleasure, which clicking the take a photo button apparently does for her – this is what I meant earlier as the contrary to a bad selfie. She has since been doing this pose in her photoshoots and videos, while “exclusive ahegao photos” are saved up for her patreons.
Belle Delphine didn’t just go famous from TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook – various youtubers have also given her the limelight in multiple occasions: most notably Pewdiepie, the most subscribed individual on YouTube has featured her on a video and has used her picture for his thumbnails, and WillNe, a British comedian that curiosity got the better of, decided to donate a lot of money (2,500$ or more) to her Patreon account, this actually led to WillNe being contacted by Belle Delphine herself in a video chat.
Though Belle Delphine has acquired more than half a million subscribers on YouTube, at the time of this writing she has only posted 3 videos: the first one being a make-up tutorial in 2016, which is fairly common for aspiring influencers, still fairly normal it’s just a girl teaching the internet her own make-up routine which shows her skill and talent – she is a cosplayer, I guess a lot of people want to look like their favorite characters too. The second one is Belle giving a tour of her room, which again, is still fairly normal, just a girl, showcasing her well-decorated room, filled with doll houses, plush toys, the outfits she uses for her photoshoots, with little lights and plants covering the corners. The third one is where we get to meet her best friend Timmy, her best friend Timmy is a dead octopus with googly eyes, yep, that’s where the normal ends; she serves Timmy pancakes, she also brushes Timmy with her toothbrush, they take baths, listen to music together, and even watch a horror film (which is a bad idea because octopuses squirt a black liquid at the thing that scares them, makes it harder to clean the TV then, and octopuses can and will eat their own arms off when stressed, which I guess doesn’t matter if it’s a dead octopus with googly eyes) and lastly play board games, which I really think is unfair because an octopus can’t pick up board pieces without it sticking to its arms, and also again, because it’s a dead octopus with googly eyes.
Belle Delphine’s “Pranks”
Rolling Stone has described her as the internet’s greatest troll, for actually selling out her own used bathwater, at 30$ each with more or less 500 bottles sold. This goes to show that there is profit everywhere with the right mindset – so don’t be so quick to throw out what your body touches. She didn’t come up of the “Gamer Girl Bathwater” on her own though, which isn’t a surprise, it’s honestly so hard to come up with that idea. She took the idea off a few and very frequent comments saying they would literally drink her bath water, it’s as literal as that. Judging by her comment sections though, given she posts very provocative and erotic photos, it’s no surprise that a lot of her male demographic comment some aggressive things, because, well, it’s the internet.
Belle Delphine has also posted on her Instagram of a little deal with her followers. She was going to make an actual Pornhub account if a certain picture gained 1 million likes, and sure enough her fan base started to gather and unite like the teenage Avengers they are, and started to share, and like the photo like crazy.
Even Pornhub’s own Instagram account, commented with “This is the best news I’ve read all year!” Sure enough, Delphine held up her part of the deal and created the account, though it just wasn’t what they expected and the comments are really hilarious. She has an account yes, the thumbnails are of her own erotic pictures, with very suggestive and pornographic titles, but all she does in the videos is to act literally act out the title.
I guess the most PG titles in the 12 videos she posted are “Belle Delphine gets scissored” where she proceeds to cut a piece of paper with, you guessed it, scissors. The second one is “Pewdiepie goes all the way inside Belle Delphine” where she literally eats bites and pieces of Pewdiepie’s photo, which she isn’t wrong about, he did go inside her. A lot of the videos I won’t be able to mention because a lot of them are VERY suggestive, but all of them are just literal things she does, but nonetheless, that account gained 8.2 million views and even 90 thousand subscribers.
All of the videos however where down voted severely, leading to a negative rating in Pornhub’s site; A lot of her fans were downright outraged, even commenting threats and claiming that she isn’t welcomed anymore to the gaming community, which is kind of ridiculous how a few people suddenly became presidents and spokespeople of the entire gaming community, and spoke with passion and empathy of the hurt and betrayal their fellow brethren experienced (If only we had governments like them right?). Its no joke how much her fan base took it seriously while others just shrugged it off and laughed, most of her fans refuses to follow her anymore. Some comments Digg.com has managed to find are:
“She has broken people’s hearts and destroyed their dignity. The only apology we will accept is real videos and not these fake f*cking lies.”
“We have been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, runamuch, and flat our deceived.”
A fan living in the medieval era posted.
“Belle Delphine’s gamer card has officially been taken away and she will no longer be accepted in our culture any longer.”
Which is kind of strange how a gamer with a “gamer card revoked” gained a lot of money from a product called “Gamer Girl Bath Water”.
How Belle Delphine makes money
Belle Delphine’s net worth is roughly $500 thousand USD. She earns from her own platforms such as, Instagram (Now banned), YouTube, and Patreon as well as various merchandise such as posters of herself, mousepads, and of course the aforementioned bath water.
Her Patreon in particular is special, with at the time of this writing, consists of approximately 5 thousand people supporting. The support? For buying cute outfits to wear and post of course. Now, Belle has a very unique way of showing her appreciation towards her supporters on Patreon: The bronze tier of 1dollar donated gets you a thank you, silver tier of 5 dollars donated gets you access to her Patreon feed, selfies, and some behind the scenes of photoshoots, 50 dollars gets you access to her premium snapchat which she quotes as “my naughtiest social media” containing very not safe for work pictures. 100 dollars gets you a unique Polaroid signed with a kiss every month as well as access to her Snapchat, lewd photoshoots, access to all her “ahegao” selfies, as well as all the things mentioned above.
The highest tiers are, 1000 dollars gaining you access to all mentioned and a special and custom photoset to be discussed and the God tier of 2,500 which is unclear what she provides to people under this tier but it is proven she contacts the person subscribed to what I guess make a deal with them (Like I mentioned with WillNe).
Ethan from H3h3 podcast, also suggested a tier called “fart tier” which is surprisingly not self-explanatory he said during one of his podcasts. Ethan suggests a tier where people can get her own farts in a jar, which is a little joke referencing her bath water product. Sure enough, Belle messaged Ethan, asking for his address, and after a few weeks, Belle messaged him again, confirming whether or not Ethan got her package or not. The package was handmade, with a little picture of Belle on the bottom, and a huge “Belle Delphine Mystery Box” plastered on the side”. Inside was a little poem for Ethan;
Hello H3H3, I hope you got my little box, and no it’s not my dirty socks. It’s a little weird I must admit, but I sent you a bottle of my own…
Isn’t that cute from our modern day Shakespeare? Ethan later pulled out what looks to be a bottle with some clear watery liquid inside, which probably is what Belle meant at the end of her poem. This publicity stunt however was all a clever marketing ad, for her own patreon to which Ethan commended her for being clever. He’s right though, Belle Delphine was clever, she used her publicity to gain momentum on her platforms, the methods she used might have been a little unorthodox, but she did gain traction on all her social media and made the headlights on a lot of articles.
How Belle Delphine Got Famous
We’ve already talked about her social media and publicity stunts she’s made but we’ve never talked about the “how” she gained this much popularity and fortune.
First things first, she managed to create an internal world among her fans but promising exclusivity and contact with their very own idol. Though she took the erotic and provocative route, she did technically still take the same route most influencers and celebrities take which is building a fan base that worship and idolize you.
She didn’t get famous overnight, she got famous through years and years of making sure her fans are not detached from her. You see, if her fans felt no sort of communication from her, of course they’ll just run right over to the next cosplaying babe, but she managed to fill that void by doing absolutely what her fans want.
She managed to completely focus on one demographic on her fan base and relate to them, which is the male demographic but still, she managed to side with them by being somewhat relatable to them, by claiming herself as a gamer, by playing this whole persona of a cute woman, willing to do what her fans want, when they want it.
Now, the clever thing about Belle Delphine is she managed to pull these together at a relatively early age of her career. She recognized that the internet is home to some very strange people who hide behind anonymity, and she capitalized on it and monetized it. This explains why, early on her career she did normal things, normal selfies, normal videos, and then suddenly transition to the content we see today. Humans are predisposed to be drawn to unique and interesting people which explains why a lot of fans cling to her.
She saw the opportunity and went with it. She presents this persona of herself as being overly sexual but she never actually delivers on it, which leads fans to believe that one day she might. One day she might transition to the “adult” content but she never actually does nor does she plans on doing it.
This explains why a lot, and I mean a lot of people complained why she never actually delivered adult content on her Pornhub account, because she never had any plans on it. But still the public bit down on that piece and waited for another bite, they waited and remained as fans for the day she might.
It’s not uncommon for people to sell personal items; Belle Delphine’s personal items however are from an attractive woman that she actually made contact with, like her own Bath water. It’s like symbolizing their relationship with her fans; that she is listening to what they say, and fans get to receive a reward from a very personal part of Belle Delphine’s life.
This might sound a little over analytical but Belle Delphine did get famous, she did gain a fortune on what other people see as a joke. Many stars before her did the exact same things albeit different ways of doing it. It makes you think, right? That a normal girl from South Africa, could change so much. Her fame doesn’t mean that you have to be sexual and daring to attain it, but it means that with the right observation on what’s around you, you could still rise up to fame and fortune. By technically delivering what the people want but still leave them wanting for more, she managed to control a male dominant fan base.
She was just an ordinary girl that admittedly worked hard to attain what she has now, criticism aside, she did a really good job on achieving the influence she now has.
People are drawn to the unique aspects of fellow human beings, so she made a unique and interesting persona around herself that people flock towards to. In an era where information is easily accessible, personalities such as herself are rare and refreshing.
Belle Delphine is also very self-aware of her influence and thus, acts on it. She knows the extent of her popularity and uses it for profit, which is what a lot of companies do. You can think of a lot of restaurants as examples, Wendy’s for example, with their Twitter account, that adapted to this generation’s style and sense of humor, though Wendy’s restaurants remain unchanged, they don’t have cashiers and waiters that say witty and mainstream things, but their online presence gave them a lot of revenue and reputation from people on the internet.
Belle Delphine knew and recognized what she can do, which is cosplay, realized how she can monetize this skill, and made her online presence massive by constantly interacting with her fans, which in turn, attracted more and her promise of exclusivity allows her to profit from fans who were more than willing to support her.
Say what you want about Belle, through all the controversy and publicity she has; she is, by all accounts, very clever.
Images sourced from her social media profiles at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tinkersmell
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bunnydelphine
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/belledelphine4life
