Ah, social media, the magical realm where reality is distorted, and filters reign supreme. In this wacky world, people go to great lengths to curate the perfect image of their lives. And what better way to skyrocket your popularity than by faking a relationship? Couples seem to be the heart of valuable content on social media in this day and age. After all, why do you think Love Island exists?
You might be shocked to read this… but not everything you see on social media is real, and that doesn’t stop at relationships either. Online rumours suggest that it happens more than you think.
Creating the illusion of a romantic relationship requires careful planning and an eye for detail. Take advantage of picturesque locations, candlelit dinners, and staged surprises. Nothing says “love” like proposing with a gummy ring or celebrating your 3-day anniversary with a grand gesture involving a dozen helium balloons. Just remember, the line between comedy and cringe is a fine one, so tread carefully.
Here at Single-ish, we managed to gain an EXCLUSIVE, first-time-ever chat with someone who has self-admitted (not publicly) to do this for social media gain.
They said: “Faking a relationship is hard man. Me and the person I faked it with were good friends before and the idea actually came from our followers.
“During lockdown, we used to go live with each other on TikTok most nights, but we only really knew each other through having a following on social media. We had never met each other before, and we still haven’t, to be fair. In those lives, random people used to comment, asking if we were together, and I remember jokingly one of us agreed and the other played along.
“We had a conversation over a private message about how we should try and lean into this. At the time there were certain couples accounts on TikTok that were getting a lot of traction and brand deals. We wanted a taste of that.
On social media, when an account starts to get traction, it can obviously lead to lucrative deal with brands wanting to promote their products. It happens after every season of Love Island.
When 2022 winner Ekin-Su left the villa, she landed what is believed to be the most lucrative deal fashion deal in Love Island history. The figure was reported to be over seven figures… yes, that is in the millions.
“We did collaborate with brands together, but it was difficult because we were long distance, so we’d mainly make content about each other. At one point we decided to involve another TikToker to create a bit of drama when we did one particular brand deal, and of course… it got people talking.
“We did manage to edit a ‘long distance’ version of a trend that reached over two million views.”
You’d presume when faking something of this magnitude surely the impacts of it can cross over into the real world, and you’d presume correct. Social media doesn’t just stay online, it impacts our everyday lives, especially now it’s so easy to connect with anyone you want at the click of a button.
“There was one time we nearly got caught out.
“Of course, because the relationship was fake, we were both actually single. I had decided to take this person out on a date in real life. This one was real I promise!
“Now I can't remember where I took them, but that same night, while I was out on the date, the person I was dating for social media got a DM saying I was cheating accompanied with a photograph of me and the person on a date.
“We found this absolutely hilarious. Someone had dobbed me into my fake relationship!
“The only other impact it has had on my real relationships is probably more recently. The fake relationship ended a few years back, but I got into a proper one, and my partner was really insecure about it. They couldn’t understand why we did it and didn’t like the person because of it. They didn’t know if it was fake or real because of course, the general public believed it was real. It caused a lot of issues.”
As humans, inheritably we love drama. Sorry, let me rephrase, we love other people's drama. Most of us love looking into their lives for our own entertainment, so normally when a couple break up over something juicy, it gets your friendship group talking. Imagine this scenario but add nearly a million followers into the mix… Things are going to get heated.
“So, we kept this act running quite a while, and we could feel the traction and momentum start to decline. Views were dropping and we weren’t getting as much engagement, so we needed to spice things up.
“We waited for the prime opportunity to break the relationship up the best way we possibly could.
“I remember there was a brand-new game show starting on TikTok at the time where people exes were involved. I can’t remember the exact name of the show. We thought this was the best time to pull the trigger.
“We made videos going back and forth about ‘what the other person had done’, and boom… Everyone was hooked again.”
“The views, shares and engagement were better than ever, and little did people know, we were both choreographing our next move in our DM’s!!!”
Now, of course, relationships are great and when done right, they are the best thing in the world, but let this be a lesson, social media is life with rose-tinted glasses. It’s a glorified view of what we all want in life.
You only have to look at how people clamber for relationship content in this scenario. It's essential to remember that real relationships are built on more than just likes and follows. So, enjoy the comedy, but always embrace authenticity and genuine connections in your online and offline interactions. Don't go breaking hearts in the name of likes!