Jack Monroe 3 Wiki

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    Welcome to Jack Monroe Wiki 3

    If you're here and you are new to Jack, please go to Wiki 1, where we have lots of info at the top for new frauen / herren.

    Page 3 of this wiki is dedicated to Jack's antics in 2023 - highlights, corporate bookings / appearances and monthly Patreon stats.

    ⭐2023 highlights⭐

    Hack's Hacked! The mysterious case of the vanishing Grifty Thrifty Kitchen e-book (#447 onwards)
    The ink was barely dry on the turning of the NY into 1 January 2023, and the start of a new thread, when reports started surfacing that Jack's soft-copy version of book 7 (affectionately known as Grifty Kitchen by the canal), appeared to have been pulled from all major selling platforms (amazon / Google / apple books). Could it be because of a swathe of dangerous advice which was visible in the preview copies circulating in late December 2022?

    By the PM of 4 January 2023, the Amazon link was back up for Kindle copies of the book, but by this point all pre-orders had been automatically cancelled by the platform. Shortly afterwards the kobo preview version of the e-book, revealed that some of Jack's Hacks had actually themselves been hacked right out of the copy!

    No longer appearing in the text were the following horrendous hacks:

    Tin-can trauma: using a knife / hammer / mallet combo to open a tin, instead of a tin-opener;
    Eggy explosion: fashioning an egg-ring (for perfectly shaped fried eggs) by sanding down an old tuna tin;
    Serious straining: making a cloth with carabiner and hooks over a sink, to strain pasta or rice through;
    Loose lids: using a knife to strain water from a saucepan rather than a colander, or indeed, the saucepan lid!
    Rubber dub: filling a hot water bottle with cold water and freezing it to make an ice pack, thus weakening the rubber

    Jack claimed on Twitter to be completely ignorant of anything afoot with the e-book, despite it disappearing for three days over a bank holiday, and coming back in a new 'hacked' format, with an additional disclaimer at the end which hadn't previously been there.

    Release the kraken! Grifty Thrifty Kitchen and 30 Thrifty Meals for Less available (#450 onwards)
    On 5 January 2023, and in conjunction with the release of Grifty Kitchen, the promised e-book of 30 free recipes - 30 Thrifty Meals for Less appeared online on the Pan Macmillan website here. Their website didn't make mention of the collaboration with the Trussell Trust - the reason for which would become clear, later in the day.

    Recipes appear to have been taken from three of Jack's previous books + 10 new ones, assumed to be from Grifty Kitchen - the Slopalong has investigated the recipes in more forensic detail during 2023. No need for anyone to increase Jack's readership figures by downloading it - we have the screenshots here.

    Meanwhile reviews started appearing on amazon for Grifty Kitchen and were decidedly 'mixed'. After a few hours, amazon had to halt all non-verified reviews, because Jack had been exhorting her stans on Twitter to post positive reviews, irrespective of a valid purchase.

    By the PM of launch day, there was also chaos at the publishers, Pan Macmillan / Bluebird, who were forced to put out a statement recognising that a number of Jack's Hacks were in fact dangerous, and having already been removed from the e-book, would also have to be pulled from a second print run (given that sales have been dire - just like Jack's mum's potatoes, it is unlikely that a second print run will take place any time soon).

    Meanwhile the Trussell Trust started to distance themselves and had to clarify their position in the light of widespread negative feedback, confirming that no food-bank clients would be given a copy of the initial print-run of book 7, without a disclaimer in the back, warning people about the dangerous hacks.

    In a tone deaf twitter post on 6 January 2023 (have they been asleep since 2022)?! - Jack's new agent Kruger Cowne, confirmed she had joined them. A click through briefly showed her speaking rates at £10-15k per appearance, before quickly being changed to 'enquire for details'. Whilst this was happening, Jack was also on twitter, generally doubling-down and confirming that she was 'bothered not bothered' by gender critical criticism (she updated her bio at least twice in one day, with and without the trans flag), and still remained very poor (unlike Fingers Kerridge and That Man - who are v rich).

    On 7 January 2023 the broadsheets joined the party. First, a news item in the Times about the book, followed shortly afterwards by an op-ed in the Guardian's Saturday supplement (this had been trailed by Jack in December 2022). Whilst on first reading, the Guardian piece appeared to be very puffy, closer reading appeared to throw some shade, and the first time that they were not entirely glowing about Jack. The author, Simon Hattenstone, explained in an email to Guardian subscribers, why he wrote the piece - he confirmed it wasn't an intentional takedown.

    Jack initially appeared to be delighted with the images accompanying the op-ed, showing her bathing semi-naked in a bath full of coppers, but less happy with some of the text. Later in the day she put out an additional timeline on twitter, attempting to realign some of the dates, with events mentioned in the article (including a highly questionable 40-a-day plus a half-bottle of whisky, tramadol addiction). What was notable in this piece, is that it didn't focus on the book or on food, but did reveal Jack to be completely unreliable in the opening paragraph, whilst allegedly clean and Sober. There is much to pick over in this once the dust settles, including the alleged dates of the ending of the relationship with LJC in 2021, which do not tally with our own findings.

    Jack did confirm in the Guardian article that £1000s of £ worth of grifting money has been spunked up the wall on alcohol, drugs and sideboards - vindication for Tattle at last. She also mentioned that an unexpected book commission occurred in the latter part of 2022, and this was in fact for a memoir. We look forward to seeing which versions of which stories appear in this book!

    Following the Guardian article, the make-up artist on the shoot, who, along with all of the other crew, had been kept waiting for hours when Jack didn't turn up, released a 'behind the scenes' video on insta. It contained a completely unnecessary slo-mo of Jack wiping her nose twice in the bath (what could this mean, when taken in conjunction with her nose being so nasal, as confirmed by Simon in the article)? The video also confirmed that Jack was propped up with brown cushions, with minimal coinage + probably some photoshop editing, contradicting another lie that she had told on Twitter about the shoot.

    Jack's current view is that 'all PR is good PR'. Which is absolutely born out by the book, one week after publication, being at a stunning 749 in the amazon bestseller list. Ten days after publication, it was languishing at 1,037. Three months after publication it is languishing at 16,564 in amazon books. Well done Jack!

    We have all the receipts gathered here from commentary associated with the book launch (it appears that Jack did zero publicity on either TV or radio for it - did she want to or has she been cancelled)? Other than some billboards in train stations that have appeared, there has been v little apart from the editorial copy below:

    Grifty Thrifty Kitchen book reviews / commentary / related articles (in chronological order of publication)
    The acceptable face of poverty - Kathleen Stock (UnHerd)
    Rise with BNT - Sonia Paulson (BNT radio - from 37:00). Transcription here - thanks to @SmolWarrior
    Pan Macmillan Pulp - Andrew Steeple (The Steeple Times)
    Celebrity cook gets fried after recipe book branded a danger - David Brown (The Times). Behind paywall - archive link here
    I've heard it all, she's a fraud, a liar, a thief - Simon Hattenstone (Guardian Saturday supplement)
    Food banks ban cookbook - Chloe Louise (Daily Mail)
    Feeding Britain: Poor people don’t need money-saving tips, they’re already experts - Kerry Hudson (The I)
    Your thrifty kitchen tips? They're crackers - Cormac Connelly-Smith (Mail+ Saturday supplement). Behind paywall - archive link here
    Cookbook review - Andy Lynes (via his website) - thanks for the shout-out Andy! You are now an honorary frau :)
    Crowdfunded writer confesses to drunken furniture purchases - Nicola Woolcock (The Times). Behind paywall - archive link here
    Guardian photoshoot 'behind the scenes' video - Alice Theobald (insta) - includes a subtle nose wipe & confirmation that the bath was not full of 10,000 coppers (as previously claimed by Jack)
    The last thing poor people need is... - Brendan O'Neill (spiked online)
    Food bank bans book - daily digest top 10 (The Week) - Jack is in at number 9!
    How to write a shopping list - Clare Morrisroe (Metro)
    Grifty Kitchen 'filler sections' review - thanks to @MoistenedGussets
    Hunger still hurts - Rianne Ison (Best magazine)
    Shopping list hack - Saffron Otter (The Mirror) - lifted from Metro
    Recipe saving special - Michelle Morgan (The Express Sunday supplement)
    Putting her new cookbook to the test - the unusually named 'Staff Reporter' (Ireland Live) / subsequently republished under a new title New cookbook is certainly thrifty, but not very nifty - Lauren Taylor / Claire Spreadbury / Prudence Wade (The Independent)
    Champion of the people - Oliver Batch (Positive News). Plaintext version here
    Frugality can be exhausting - Clare Morrisroe (Metro)
    The high stakes business of managing brand 'me' - Emma Jacobs (Financial Times)
    Thrifty Kitchen pull out supplement - (Sunday Express)

    The Purchase? (#452 onwards)
    On 6 January 2023, Jack stated that she had a received a contract for her new property. The canal had suspected for some time that it may be a purchase rather than a rental. And indeed Jack's spaniel-owning friend confirmed it to us in a tweet (thankspaceyou)!

    It is pure speculation, but given there was a dry run for a mortgage in 2022 which did not go well, along with the outstanding CCJ from February 2021 (£507 - not satisfied) and a very recent one from January 2023 (£522 - also not satisfied), we suspect she may be paying fully in cash or has a family member acting as guarantor (poss Big Dave). Still poor eh Jack?!

    UPDATE: On 19 April 2023, Jack appeared on ITV's Meridien news to talk about the cost of living crisis. The interview was shot at home and it appears that she was still in the 'shitty bungalow'. In the background was a brand new Smeg fridge (approx RRP £1650 - coincidentally, the new monthly rent of said bungalow for 2023) and a lone, lurking copy of Grifty Kitchen. Stick or twist? We shall see...

    Hokey Coke-y! Jack gets (very) candid about what substances she's on (#472 onwards)
    On 1 February 2023, after a couple of days of trying to "cleanse" her timeline with talk about trivialities, Jack said she was depressed and struggling to eat. A squig brought up rumours that Jack uses cocaine; she replied that she had been "in recovery" since 2021 and before that took "downers, not uppers." This soon turned into a snippy argument with the squig, and gave us the memorable line "Noses are made of erectile tissue." However, she didn't actually deny using (or having used) cocaine. She made a crass reference to domestic violence, which seems to have been a clumsy attempt to invoke the "loaded question" fallacy.

    She then ranted on Twitter about the drug rumours, and her flying monkeys rallied around her as usual. She listed a number of substances she supposedly abused in the past - all while she was (or so she says) the main carer for her son. Another squig, who happens to be a professional journalist, questioned why Jack was doing so little to draw attention to the cost of living crisis. Jack responded with a photo and descriptions of her current prescription meds for depression and ADHD. Jack appears to get these on a private prescription, which would cost hundreds of pounds each month (including consultation etc.)

    Jack stated that SB knew she needed these medicines "to keep her alive" - a frightening thing to tell a child. Meanwhile, he could read everything Jack was tweeting on her public account (and so could his teachers, the rest of Jack's family, and everyone else she knows.) Jack was undeterred and continued to tweet in graphic detail about steroid injections for her arthritis. She also shared a photo of her chips from various sobriety organisations. Squigs quickly discovered that one of them is from Cocaine Anonymous - why would she post this if trying to deny she'd used cocaine? Another of these chips had not been in use since the mid-1990s, indicating Jack bought it online.

    Jack came out with this the following morning, then began tweeting about pasta recipes, ignoring a breaking news story about British Gas staff breaking into the houses of vulnerable customers to install pre-payment meters. She subsequently deactivated on the evening of 2nd February. Another flounce (because her Patreon sponsors were dropping) or was she actually suspended for breaking Twitter's rules about drugs? Later in the week it appeared that she was posting on Mumsnet under a sock account to defend herself.

    Half term fun - Jack kicks off again and compromises the neighbour's privacy (#476 onwards)
    On 13 February 2023 (after a period of deactivation following the drugs chat above), Jack was grumpy after her return to Twitter but confirmed she was still moving house (and into the 9th month of packing). Squigs began talking about sharing her address with each other as they wanted to serve her with court claims for non-provision of goods i.e. the Patreon rewards she never gave. Jack tweeted that "trolls" had doxxed her and were sharing her address online, which upset her as SB lives with her. (See Wiki pages 1/2 - we believe SB lives with his father. Not least because Jack had repeatedly said she was moving into a one-bedroom flat; SB was about to turn 13 and was too old to share a room with his mother).

    Jack indicated that SB was spending half term with her. Over the course of the week, all the following played out:
    • She gave information that could identify the address she was moving into, and said her upstairs neighbour was a police officer. For obvious reasons, police are advised not to give out their home addresses. Jack's overtures at friendship with the neighbour may not go well if they find out she's told the world where they live. Even if Jack's making it up and her upstairs neighbour isn't police, she could still be making them a target.
    • She said that the people sharing her address should "have their hard drives checked", implying they are child sex offenders.
    • She made the amusing claim that Content the dog had "saved (her) a fortune."
    • Very irresponsible tweets (warning: discusses depression and suicidal ideation) saying she had been so severely depressed for the last two months that her family had her on "suicide watch." With a large following like Jack's, this increases the risk of majorly triggering someone. During the two months in question, it was evident from her social media that she had not been barely able to eat or leave the house like she said.
    • Spouting conspiracy theories about how she had spoken out against the wrong people (implied to be the Institute for Economic Affairs) and they had set up "troll farms" to take her down.
    • Again brought up her 100% success rate in suing people (one person, i.e. Katie Hopkins)
    • Picked a fight with a journalist because of the lack of a comma
    • Posted pictures of empty bank accounts
    As always, her son could read everything she was tweeting about. What a fun half term that must have been for him. She may have partially made it up to him by taking him out for ice cream, but even then, couldn't resist sharing a photo of the accessible toilet (evidently begging for someone to argue with her over whether she was really disabled.)

    'McPoverty and a side of lies' - Tea with the Changemakers (#479 onwards)
    Tea with the Changemakers is a podcast (run by an advertising and marketing agency) that interviews people who are involved in social change. On 21 February 2023 they released an episode featuring Jack - episode 41 'The Duracell bunny of anti-poverty campaigning' (even the title is misleading! Jack said in the podcast that she used to be "the Duracell bunny of anti-poverty campaigning" but had now learned it's important to be realistic and pick one's battles).

    The podcast repeated some of her previous false claims, including that she had pressured Asda into not discontinuing their cheapest budget range. Jack sounded both unwell, and like she couldn't be bothered/wasn't paying attention. She said that "trolls" had left her afraid to leave the house, that she moved home because maps of her location were being circulated online, and again that the Essex Police Celebrity Squad is real and she has a bodyguard for public events. To date there has still been no sign of the bodyguard.

    Jack concluded by blaming the trolls for the fact she doesn't do anything, as she is now too busy "firefighting" to write budget recipes or campaign against poverty. Where her Twitter ranting fits into this is unclear.

    Umm...err...'disrupted by a big white folder' (and other lies) (#485 onwards)
    On 21 March 2023 Jack appeared on a podcast for UCL (University College London) to talk about the cost of living crisis. The show was hosted by Dr Xand and the other (more esteemed guest) was Professor Michael Marmot.

    Jack ummed and erred her way through the podcast - see for yourself in this helpful transcript, published by the university. She also rolled out her greatest hits of lies and weasel words, including:

    • Mention of the VBI (reading verbatim its Wikipedia write-up) without being challenged as to where it actually was (because it doesn't exist);
    • She was apparently the poorest kid at her secondary school - tights ripped, shoes worn through, bag strap broken (she was not - people who know her in Southend say she wasn't the poorest person in town);
    • She provided input to Henry Dimbleby's school food plan (there is no evidence that she inputted into this document);
    • Prices went up in the Asda Southend supermarket by 344% in 2022 (they did not);
    • She is working with the ONS (a freedom of information request to them in 2022 confirmed that they had one informal meeting with her early in the year);
    • Newspapers paint people on benefits / low incomes as sitting at home watching TV in tracksuits (this was a Jack statement in the House of Commons - it didn't come from a newspaper);
    • Hundreds of thousands of people are dying prematurely because of austerity (this is not a proven fact);
    • She was running half-marathons and could bench press the Queen whilst in the fire service, going up and down ladders (strongly implying she was on active duty rather than a call handler - this is a lie);
    • She sometimes walks with a stick (the stick hasn't been seen in any photos since 2017);
    • She has a continual respiratory infection from living in cold, damp homes (or is it because of a cocaine habit)?
    • She is disabled and has arthritis in her shoulders (there is no evidence of this other than a self-completed form);
    • She volunteers at a food bank locally every week (there is no evidence of this in Southend);
    • She is still a member of the FBU (odd as she's not in the fire service any more and it is not free - but apparently she also has no money - so how is it being paid for)?
    • She became passionate about poverty because of her dad's big white folder saying 'cuts cost lives' (or did she want to be famous at any cost)?
    In contrast to Jack, Prof Michael was calm and collected and didn't make it all about himself. Plus ca change!

    Court outfits at the ready frauen und herren! (#488 onwards)
    On 31 March 2023, one of Jack's former Patreon sponsors declared on Twitter that they were intending to take her to court in order to enforce and recover costs from a CCJ that was awarded in February 2023. This CCJ was issued as a result of a civil action because Jack refused to refund £10 of Patreon payments from January 2023.

    The issue has been rumbling on in the background for a few months as the civil process proceeded. Jack could have closed this down at any time by either issuing a refund, turning up to defend herself, or paying the CCJ within the first month, which would have cancelled it from the record. None of the above happened, and the issue then went through the courts.

    Mention of court on the Jack Monroe part of Tattle is extremely exciting, because Jack has been trying to take us to court since the threads began in 2020. Many court outfits have been proposed over the last few years, with old ones being dusted off out of the closet, and new ones being sourced! If this does indeed go to court, it seems it will be possible for the public (and also some journalists) to attend the hearing, where Jack will be required to disclose her finances, in order for the judge to confirm how much she is able to pay towards her CCJ. As of April 2023, there are at least 3 live CCJs against Jack, including a second one for £500+ from January 2023.

    UPDATE: On 2 June 2023 [#512] Jack doxxed the person taking her to court on Twitter, revealing his full name and occupation. Whilst the tweet was swiftly dirty deleted, it has been archived and it appears this is both a GDPR breach and particularly unwise, because the person also confirmed that court is imminent on 14 June 2023. Martin Daubney confirmed that he is also paying close attention to the matter.

    UPDATE: On 14 June 2023 [#516] Jack failed to turn up to court, stating that she was being harassed, but had also consulted widely, and was confident truth was on her side. Further information was posted on twitter on 15 June 2023 [#517] with Jack saying she had been forced to move out of home and split up her family, and was very unwell as a result of the ongoing situation.

    UPDATE: On 27 June 2023 [#522] Jack paid back the outstanding CCJ in full. Having started with a request to refund a £10 patreon payment from January 2023, it ended with her having to refund £425.04. Hopefully this matter is now closed...

    C-lit-fest chaos - the Jack who would be Salman Rushdie (#490 onwards)
    On 22 April 2023 Jack was scheduled to speak at Cambridge Literary Festival with Kit de Waal (quite why Kit put herself through this again after the chaos of 2022's Edinburgh lit-fest (see wiki 1) is unclear) - with the topic being the cost of living.

    In a Twitter post (since removed) advertising the event in early April which both of them posted on, there were a large amount of negative comments about Jack being asked to speak, a lack of due diligence etc. and various squigs stating that they would be in the audience to ask questions.

    On 11 April 2023, Jack posted that the festival organisers had received threats against her and had asked whether she would like to withdraw, to which she came out all guns blazing and said 'absolutely not, please buy tickets'. This post was followed by a laundry-list of every alleged awful thing which had ever happened to her in her life - because Jack (in her words) is one of life's 'survivors'. The situation is escalated with people asking about their safety and the festival needing to respond about how they would manage security. Will she turn up or will she be in a fugue state?

    New Statesman (sponsors of the event) published a puff piece with Jack where she again trotted out a number of her lies (including embellishment of her earliest memory of being kidnapped in a carpark).

    UPDATE: Jack turned up to C-lit-fest, having been chauffered to and from the venue in a car with 'privacy blinds' (whatever they are). The most interesting thing about the day, was the fact that she'd done Kit's makeup before they went on stage. Most odd...

    "Dame Kelly Holmes, 'guest' and Emeli Sandé"... (#492 onwards)
    On 18 April 2023 Jack stated that she was off out to a birthday party and LJC on a bike, she actually left whatever building she's currently squatting in!

    Photos appeared in the Daily Mail on 19 April 2023, showing various celebs (and Jack) attending the 5-year anniversary of Tina the Tina Turner musical. Whilst Jack appeared on photo 4 of the article, she was not name-checked - the reason for which appeared to be that she was referenced as 'guest' on the original Getty image. Obviously it's entirely possible that Jack wasn't recognised by the journalist - could she be cancelled, or is she really only recognisable when her arms are on show?! (Jack's excuse was that she had deliberately covered up her tattoos so she wouldn't be recognised).

    She appears to have been invited to the event by her old friend Linda Riley, and was wearing a brand new Burberry scarf in the photos (apparently gifted from the recent Diversity awards). Remember, she's poor and has just £20 a week for food. For once, she also told the truth and had indeed attended a birthday party - of Dame Kelly Holmes. It's unclear whether Jack actually knew Kelly prior to this event, or whether Linda added her to the GUEST list at the last minute.

    "Pipe down, socktopus!" (#495 onwards)
    On 22 April 2023, after turning up at C-lit-fest, Jack posted a couple of 'before and after' selfies from the car which she said hadn't been doctored or filtered. Some people on the interwebs didn't agree that Jack was telling the truth (quelle horreur) and that portrait mode on the iphone is still filtering. Jack claimed she looked good in the photo because of makeup and "privacy glass" - trying to pretend the reason the background was blurry was because the car had tinted windows.

    This led to a Twitter spat with x-rated BDSM model Ariel Anderssen who eventually blocked Jack on 24 April. Since she was now blocked, Jack deployed an alleged sock to fight her corner, only to be burned by the immortal words 'pipe down, socktopus' by Ariel. Good work Ariel!

    If you want to decide for yourself whether Jack filters her photos, here is a collage of photos from 2021-23. In the middle is a snip from a TV interview in 2022, and the rest appeared at various points on Twitter.

    Happy 'Sue Lee' day...(#502 onwards and see Wiki 1 2022 for background)
    On 13 May 2023, the deadline for Jack suing Lee Anderson and Martin Daubney for defamation / libel (unclear exactly which) expired. As this date fell on a weekend, legal frauen have advised that the actual deadline rolled into Monday 15 May 2023, when the courts are open. Laurence Fox was also involved, as he hosts the show where the statements were made.

    Briefly the background to this story is that a video was posted by Lee and Martin, where Lee alleged that Jack profits from the poor and may be potentially richer than the PM (at that time, it was Boris). The video appeared on Twitter, where Jack proceeded to gleefully share it, and then said that she had a case for her Jewish lawyer Mark. By the end of the day she had asked for donations via paypal (which went into her own coffers, unmarked) and later said that if there was no case, she would donate them.

    By the end of 14 May 2023, both Martin and Laurence had confirmed that there was no sign of the legal paperwork having been filed against them, despite Jack claiming on a video interview (see 11 minutes in) that they had. Twitter was lit with legal bods getting involved with their view about the situation, and some owners of large accounts openly calling Jack a fraud.

    Will Lee, Martin and Laurence give the situation more publicity on Twitter?
    Will Jack provide transparency and visibility about where the funds have gone?
    Will she donate the money she received because there doesn't appear to be an active case going through the High Court?
    How much did she take in, and was it in fact sufficient to purchase a house?

    From 15 May 2023 things started moving somewhat swiftly! Martin Daubney had clearly been waiting for Sue Lee Day and was there with receipts as soon as the day drew to a close. No sleepless nights for Martin! There was also a write-up in Guido Fawkes, with a quote from Lee Anderson.

    Jack's Twitter mentions were a bin fire with people openly saying she had committed fraud. She refused to confirm where the PayPal raised money is or what she'd do with it, she said to Daubney "[the funds are] exactly where they’ve always been, and I’m doing exactly what I said I’d do with it".

    She then said she decided not to pursue action because of being tired and wanting to look after her mental well-being (with a sprinkle of the usual references to you know what). This despite occasional references to the case and not being able to talk about it etc etc over the past twelve months.

    By 16 May 2023, discussion on Twitter was intense with Jack trending. Martin Daubney continued to weigh in with commentary.

    A donor disclosed via a third party, the text of a gaslighting DM that Jack had sent to 'Lyn' in 2022, following a £200 donation to paypal. It appeared to be a pro forma text that Jack sends round whenever she feels things aren't going her way on the haunted bird app - note that there is no mention of refunding the donation. You can read it here and here.

    By 17 May the twitterati were using the hashtag #giveitbackJack! Lee Anderson then appeared on GB News with Dan Wootton and took Jack down...his main message to her was 'Where has the money gone'? At the end of the clip, Dan promised further updates next week, so watch this space!

    UPDATE: On 15 June 2023 Jack stated that she was setting the record straight and that all the funds for 'Sue Lee' had been donated to an unnamed charity, rather than being returned to donors.

    UPDATE: On 24 July 2023 (#529) Jack popped briefly back on twitter (or is it now X?) to confirm that all Sue Lee donations had been given to a charity foodbank in Southend. She shared a receipt from the alleged transaction for the random amount of £1398.54, which she had apparently topped up from her own funds. A subsequent scan of the un-redacted receipt confirms that she had not donated to a foodbank, but instead to a local church: Southend Vineyard (they do have a foodbank - Storehouse - but the payment hasn't gone to them). Which all begs the question, if you had donated, would you want a) your money back or b) a donation to a religious society? Answers on the top of a Del Monte tin please!

    Things started to get heated when further questions were asked, with Jack stating that she had donated all paypal funds from a certain 'time period'. Which time period is that? Were the funds ring-fenced or not?

    Grift, Sleep, Rave, Repeat? - Jack returns to Insta (#510)
    On 29 May 2023, after more than a week of silence on her Twitter following the fallout from 'Sue Lee' day, Jack was back on Instagram for the first time since October 2022. She shared selfies of her with rainbow eye makeup and wearing her Tiffany earrings, bragging that her forehead lines prove she doesn't have Botox. Religion! Jack made a brief appearance in the caption where she said she was aging just as God intends her to. Jack said she had been to three raves, all while completely sober, and was living the life of her dreams. Ironically, her TOOT TOOT! ramblings sounded very much like she might if she had been taking ecstasy - usually the drug of choice at a rave.

    She posted a picture of her phone alarm, saying she had been to bed at 3am and woken at 6:30am to get the train for her talk at the Hay Festival that day. It didn't seem to occur to her that showing off how she had been partying all night (sober or not) and would be doing the talk on just 3 hours of sleep makes her look incredibly unprofessional. Subsequent photo evidence of her signing books at the festival, also revealed that she was wearing a Breitling watch with a minimum value of £4,500 (assuming it is real).

    She said in comments that she had been back in the kitchen and would be sharing more recipes soon - which means she invariably won't - and all breathed a sigh of relief. She was then feeling bold enough to go back on Twitter and brag about the amazing life she's living sober and her 3.5 hours of sleep before a work event.

    Return of the Clean-Up - Jack tries to cleanse her social media (#531 onwards)
    In late July 2023, Jack unlocked her Twitter after weeks of being locked to followers only - this was due to all the criticism she was getting over the CCJ. She attempted a timeline cleanse by talking about sweets and going to Barbie at the cinema, but squigs were not deceived and in short order her mentions were a binfire. She also talked about developing a friendship with someone at Alcoholics Anonymous; it is generally frowned on to talk about AA outside of meetings or reveal that you know someone through AA. People called her out on this and she quickly locked her account again.

    A few days later it became apparent that Jack had been busily deleting lots of past content on her Instagram so that most of the remaining photos were of appetising-looking food not cooked by her. The few photos left of her or her son were tasteful ones and she'd deleted any rants, dramatics, or talk of depression. Is she trying to re-brand, or re-launch herself as a food writer? Watch this space.

    Sic transit gloria! George Monbiot takes a stand (#533 onwards)
    On 7 August 2023, George Monbiot (a fellow Guardian writer & activist) declared that in his view, Jack's time in the sun may be over and the shine has come off. Having been a big fan up until 2022, supported by Mom Nigella, he suddenly seems to have seen the light..will this result in more celebrity chums coming out of the woodwork and cancelling a la Lizzo? We shall see!

    Back to Celerytown - Jack does the Edinburgh Festival (#535 onwards)
    On 14 August 2023, Jack spoke at the Edinburgh Festival as announced, although she was moved to a smaller venue due to poor sales. Highlights as reported by brave frauen at the event:
    • Jack again said she had an impoverished childhood in which her father hitchhiked to work, he and her mother shared "a cold tin of baked beans between them" for dinner, and they spent summer holidays in a rented caravan for £7

    • She claimed to be working on a memoir and a Greek cookbook that may be published under her birth name. This despite saying less than a month previously that her next book was recipes for those recovering from addiction.

    • She said she changed her name because her father had to maintain political neutrality due to his senior position in the Fire Service, and they are the only Hadjicostas in the UK. However, she does not mind her birth name and thinks it may be more "authentic" to publish her Greek cookbook under that name. (This is at least the fourth different explanation Jack has given as to why she changed her name. Also, she could have published under a pen name)

    • Amusingly she said that a team of people are working on the VBI, and she watches over them like a "mother hen." When it is completed, it is apparently going to be 'sent for sign-off by the Office for National Statistics'.

    • Her excuse for the delay in the VBI was that supermarkets had cut their prices to stop her ever publishing it. If she did indeed say this, it would be a serious matter, as she'd essentially be accusing them of illegal price-fixing.

    • Due to her autism/ADHD she keeps a system of lists and alarms to remind her to do everything a neurotypical person would do upon waking (get dressed, brush teeth, etc.) amounting to 850 different tasks

    • She gets only £5k advance for each book, and has been offered more but refuses to take it, as she's scared to get into debt again if she fails to out-earn her advance. This is clearly false; she's repeatedly said she got £25k for her first book (also reported in the Guardian), and she raised almost £70k for the book she funded through Kickstarter. Authors are not expected to repay the publisher if they fail to "earn out" an advance - Jack would know this after a decade of publishing books!

    • She self-described as a "stone dyke" thus inventing a whole new category for herself - stone butches have been around for a very long time but a stone dyke is new

    • Her absence from social media is because she's busy working on the VBI

    • She had been behind on Patreon rewards but that has now been rectified (ahem)
    Jack was asked about #SueLee but the host (Graham Spiers) said they had agreed not to discuss this as it would take up too much time. Frauen were left with the impression that she may be planning to "re-brand" by reverting to her birth name, this would also fit with her social media cleanse.

    On 15 August a surprising write-up by ScotsGay Arts gave Jack's talk 5 stars! You can read it here. Graham was repeatedly asked by squigs about whether he would upload the audio of Jack's speech, it appears he will not.

    Bung it in a Currys! Jack partners with Currys (#546 onwards)
    On Friday 13th October 2023 (aptly), it was reported in Retail Times that Currys had partnered with Jack to help the public save money by promoting Currys' range of air fryers and slow cookers, which are cheaper to run than an oven. This was her first corporate sponsorship in 2023. Jack was still absent from social media and hadn't mentioned the brand deal anywhere, nor had Currys said anything about it despite their quite active accounts.

    The Currys website listed some recipes Jack had produced for the campaign, all of which had the usual problems with her recipes: no seasoning/spice/flavour, incorrectly costed, insufficient calories for an adult, etc. Recipes can be seen here, here, and here. The food writer Nicola Miller (Trifle Defender) was also suspicious about the recipes (which included instructions to put water into an air fryer.) She contacted Currys, whose tech support then confirmed that boiling water + air fryer = a "vortex" and serious fire hazard.

    Meanwhile, squigs on Twitter/X questioned why Currys was partnering with her when her grift is now well known, and Retail Times was flamed in comments. It was also discovered that earlier in the year, Jack had said she doesn't use an air fryer and had given away two of them that were gifted to her. She'd continued to delete tweets but strangely didn't think to delete this one.

    The Retail Times report claims that one could save hundreds or thousands of pounds by following Jack's recipes, but the Currys site makes no such claim. This may be because the Currys site is aimed at consumers whereas Retail Times is a trade publication aimed at journalists/retailers. Currys buried the recipes in the reviews section and appear not to have promoted the partnership to journalists or any consumer media. It's also apparent from Jack's hairstyle that the photoshoot was around July - when she was still active on social media and was gaining followers from her Question Time appearance. All of this suggests the brand deal fell flat and they did the bare minimum with it.

    On December 2, 2023, Poppy O'Toole appeared on Saturday Kitchen Live where she and Matt Tebbutt talked about air fryer recipes and made a show of emphasising that you should not put water in the air fryer. We believe this was aimed at Jack.

    No smoke without fire! Fire Service tea on Jack (#550 onwards)
    Tattler @mchops met someone who previously held a senior role in the Fire Service at Southend, and was a colleague of Jack's father. So we got some fresh tea.

    Reportedly, Jack's father was good at his job, but was not popular with colleagues and was seen as very arrogant. (They privately called him Chocolate because he "would eat himself" i.e. has an inflated opinion of himself.) He is indeed wealthy and middle-class, and Jack didn't grow up in poverty. She was also not well liked by her Fire Service colleagues, and was known as a fantasist. The Fire Service made every effort to accommodate her when she had her son, but she refused to work shifts and ultimately left her job. Her period of financial hardship was a result of her recklessly spending money, expecting her father to bail her out. He did offer her some help but didn't want to give her lump sums of money.

    Return to radio - Jack interviewed about obesity (#556 onwards)
    Jack was interviewed on Times Radio about the subject of obesity. As is common for her public appearances she sounded incoherent and rambling. She attempted to make the argument that poor people buy junk food because that's all that is available - saying she lived near a "notorious" council estate where the local Tesco Express sells ready meals, beer, and nappies but the Tesco in the wealthy part of town sells fresh food. She also named the estate; we wonder what the residents thought of that?

    On top of her promoting stereotypes about the working class, the Tesco Express near the council estate is at a petrol station, which is why it doesn't have a wide selection of food. Most people who live on the estate buy their groceries at the nearby Lidl! A transcript of Jack's interview can be found here.

    2023 Corporate bookings / appearances

    We are endeavouring to keep track of where Jack is appearing, because there is likely to be chaos! Here's the current list of where she's appeared or is due to appear in 2023. Thanks to @Marmalade Atkins for the round up. Here are some highlights from the year so far:

    Stroud Food & Drink Festival - 19 May 2023 (#507). Jack sat on the stage floor and was able to heave herself backwards from the floor onto the stage, with her crumbly, arthritic shoulders. A brave frau was in the audience and you can listen to the audio in six parts: one, two, three, four, five and six.

    Charleston Festival - 20 May 2023 (#508). In an astonishing turn of events, Jack managed to turn up and complete two full, consecutive days of work. Wonders will never cease!

    BBC Question Time - 1 June 2023 (#511 and a special pull-out watchalong thread). Sporting some particularly nasty orange boots and a dirty jacket, Jack pulls out some classics, including 'I am a full time single parent', 'I have been campaigning to keep supermarket prices at budget level for years' and confirmation that she vapes (plus so does someone else close to her who we will not name). You can see it on iPlayer here.

    Edinburgh Fringe - 14 August 2023 (#523) - in a pre-festival-talk mini-chaos, the organisers are forced to confirm on 30 June that the blurb about Jack is not correct, and that she is not an ambassador for Oxfam.

    Greenbelt Festival - 24-27 August 2023 (#523) in the second pre-festival-talk mini-chaos in seven days on 3 July (!), the organisers are forced to make a statement that whilst Jack is a dodgy choice of speaker, she was still going to be there. You can read a transcript of Jack's 'In conversation with Rhian Roberts' here.

    A summary of highlights from her talk at the festival, where she also signed some copies of Grifty Kitchen:
    • Jack called the canal "obsessed maniacs" making up "fairytales and fantasies" about her that are totally inaccurate

    • Her faith and 12-step programmes are keeping her on the path towards achieving her goal of eradicating food poverty in Britain

    • She stopped using social media so much because her mental health improved when she'd been off X/Twitter for a few days

    • She repeated the claim that her former agent "did a runner" with the royalties from her books. That was supposedly the agent she had at the start of her career - who she has since returned to!

    • She "subtly" suggested Simon Hattenstone is incompetent/made her look bad in the Guardian interview (see above) but that she doesn't blame him. She said she performed poorly in the interview because she was cold and exhausted after lying in a bath for hours, and that all the questions raised had been posed by "trolls" so Hattenstone felt the need to address them. She repeated the lie that she has only two Cotswold sideboards and shared the cost with her ex Louisa, and says that she's done so much good in the last decade that her furniture purchases don't matter anyway.

    • Talked about her religion (as Greenbelt is a Christian festival)

    • Again said her parents have always been poor and throws them under the bus

    • She said she buys designer goods to sell in case she is threatened with poverty, but does not buy actual insurance as it feels like too much of a "luxury" after having been poor

    • Made a very offensive comparison with sexual assault in order to make the "point" that no longer being poor doesn't mean she should stop campaigning against poverty

    • Talked about the government, food banks, VBI, and all the work she's been doing softly, gently, behind the scenes

    • Talked about highly processed food and says that what's most important is to get nutritious food into people any way we can. Jack got in a subtle dig at Jamie Oliver, saying his recipes take too long to make whereas hers can be made by someone's carer in 10 minutes

    • When a child in the audience asked her how long she has been a chef, Jack said she has been cooking since she was 16 but only did so professionally for a month, in her ex Allegra's restaurant. She subsequently told a spiteful "joke" about how her son was supposedly conceived after poppy seeds in a curry caused her to somehow forget she was gay. Again, this was in response to a child!

    • Repeated nonsense about her autism and ADHD, see wiki page 6 for more on this

    • Showed a fundamental misunderstanding of nutrition in schools and how much it's changed since Jamie Oliver's campaigning in the 2000s


    2023 Patreon stats - updated monthly

    Thanks to @heretoreaditall2019 for the sterling work tracking the figures every month:

    January 2023 and 2022 round-up: 620 (down 15 patrons)
    February 2023: 494 (down 126 patrons)
    March 2023: 479 (down 15 patrons)
    April 2023: 456 (down 23 patrons)
    May 2023: 428 (down 28 patrons)
    June 2023: 402 (down 26 patrons)
    July 2023: 394 (down 8 patrons)
    August 2023: 379 (down 15 patrons)
    September 2023: 360 (down 19 patrons)
    October 2023: 353 (down 7 patrons). In October 2023 patreon decided to allow people to join a creator's platform for free, so Jack's numbers have jumped up, however we can still see who is paying and who is not...
    November 2023: 333 (down 20 paying patrons). Patreon have provided a useful tracker on the 'About' section of Jack's profile, which tells us how many patrons are paying and how many are signed up free - so make sure you check this rather than the number on the homepage...
    December 2023: 323 (down 10 paying patrons). Sadly this month was the final one where we were able to see how many patrons Jack had - somebody went into Patreon and changed the settings so that the numbers were final hidden. Boo I guess!