WHY I AM HERE
Hello everyone, I am new(ish). I have joined in with conversations a couple of times but I really wanted to open up more about why I’m actually here.
I used to love the person that was ‘Mrs Hinch’. I fell into the trap that makes you feel like she’s your friend. That is a deliberate trap to make you feel welcome and it encourages you to trust her. Not only her but all influencers. I was the type who would look forward to her stories daily to see what she was doing and how she was. I would laugh along with her. I would interact with her questions and polls. I bought her first book (painfully boring). I followed what she was buying and bought the same things to try them. I defended her against people in real life I spoke to who laughed at the concept, I took no notice of anything negative.
And then it changed...
I don’t know if I remember one specific moment where I started to make a U-turn, but there was a rapid accumulation of things and they are as follows. I would often send messages of encouragement to her and ask questions and never get anything back. Maybe I was expecting too much, I’m sure she gets thousands but she always says “I see them all, I read them all”. So I wondered to myself, if that’s true I wonder why she only replies to certain people. Then I noticed it was people who either worship and praise her, or people that are saying how good her book, magazine, interview, product etc is. She doesn’t reply to or acknowledge like me who is trying to have a heart to heart, she replies to and puts on her stories those who are praising or promoting her. That didn’t sit well with me.
The next thing that joined the accumulation of doubt was her first book. I was excited to read it. Two chapters in I discovered it wasn’t so much a book, but a shopping list. After talking about herself indulgently in the first chapter, she just goes on to list what she uses at home and what’s in her cleaning cupboard, one after another, after another, product after product. I remember sitting on the train on my commute to work thinking is this a book or a stock check? I was incredibly bored and disappointed for that, but also because it felt like a sell-out. I wondered which of the brands she was mentioning had paid her, or which ones she hoped to be paid by.
I have also noticed how much spending and wasting happens in the Hinch home. Growing up we didn’t have anything. We weren’t allowed trainers, branded sports wear, games consoles etc because my mum simply couldn’t afford them. Now that I’m an adult I like to look after what I have and I’m grateful for it all. Truly. I do not find Mrs Hinch to be grateful or generous towards others or the less fortunate.
Lies...
I have had my eyes opened here regarding lies and false claims, for sure. What I wanted to say about this was that these are not speculation, there are screenshots and dates for EVERYTHING. You can’t come back from that, it’s damning. This proof, combined with things I have seen myself have fuelled the doubt. I do not trust her to want what’s best for me as a follower or consumer.
Anxiety. I have saved this for last and that is because it makes me the most angry. I have an anxiety disorder. DIAGNOSED. A full on, long-term, diagnosed, crippling, anxiety disorder. That is different from simply having anxiety. I am not downplaying how people with anxiety feel, I know it isn’t nice. But anxiety disorder is not the same. In my case it is combined with eating disorder, OCD and depression. I am going to claim therefore that I have the right to speak about it. I am not Mrs Hinch, so I do not speak for her. However, on the viewing end of her stories and posts, I find abnormalities in the consistency of how severe this “anxiety” is. You can be nervous before a TV or radio interview. You can feel sick before public speaking. You can feel self conscious walking to the shop. These are all normal feelings of anxiety. That is not the same as an anxiety disorder. My perception is that Mrs Hinch will use anxiety as a sort of “pass” for things she shouldn’t. Responsibility, people not liking her etc. This to me is offensive and unacceptable. If I had the platform she had I would want to be an ambassador for my condition. I would love to be a patron and a spokesperson for things I believe in. Why isn’t she working with charities if she suffers so badly? I don’t mean a one-off collaboration or mention for an event, I mean proper ground work. Or donations? She’s wealthy enough to be able to do that now. I have seen Mrs Hinch speaking in groups and in public. She’s fine. Getting nervous in the car on the way there isn’t anxiety that’s abnormal, that’s
normal - you can’t then later use that to excuse yourself from other things. Anxiety disorder and OCD are not jokes and are not a trend so unless you have been diagnosed, not just Mrs Hinch, anybody reading this, you should look into whether you have a normal amount of it or not before you throw it around as a get-out.
I want to round up my post by saying that influencers of all kinds are not there for you. They don’t care about you as an individual, they don’t care what you’re struggling with, they’re not going to hold your hand at night or pay your debts to that you can afford to eat. It’s their job to make you feel like they will, or might, so that you trust them enough to buy what they’re selling. I am telling you now, every single person apart from people you know in real life and face to face, EVERY person you follow on Instagram is fake. They are false, they are a brand, they are acting. It’s all a performance. It’s a job.
I worry for the younger “Hinchers” or anybody that had trouble taking care of their own finances who may be vulnerable and not able to understand that.
Taking this, and all of the other accumulated things into account I have now decided that I do not like Mrs Hinch, or the Mrs Hinch brand. It is tacky. It is deceitful. It will be short-lived.
I feel that there are probably so many others out there who realise all of this stuff but are too embarrassed to admit they they were wrong or that they changed their mind. Especially if, like me, they have out so much time and effort into defending her. It’s hard to come back from that and say “you know what, I was wrong, this is stupid”. If you are one of those people, there’s nothing wrong with admitting you misjudged someone. You can change your mind. I’m raising my hand now
and I’m admitting I was one of them. I was sucked in.
I’m closing now with this. Trolls are people who continually harass either by contacting someone online directly or via comments saying hurtful, malicious or threatening things. People who have an unpopular opinion or do not like Mrs Hinch are not trolls. You do not have to like everyone. That’s just how life goes. I do not agree with people calling her an ugly
witch or saying things about Ronnie that they shouldn’t be. That isn’t right.
But lies, deception, generally being unlikeable and tacky? Yes. That’s an opinion and that’s where I stand. I am no longer a Hincher. Sorry, hincher. Small ‘h’.
