‘I can’t go out and have a drink’, Eastbourne man reflects on social media fame

A man from Eastbourne has spoken about how his life has changed after gaining more than 160,000 followers on social media.

Simon (@simple.simon.8) currently has 166,000 followers on TikTok and has done collaborations with Cal ‘The Dragon’, who has 1.4 million followers, and Astrid Wett, who has 411,000 - at the time of writing.

Simon, 51, explained that he first started a TikTok account in January 2021 after a dance on his daughter’s account gained more than 1 million views.

He said, “Everybody on there was saying, ‘Your dad has got to start his own account,’ so that is what I have done.

“I gained quite a lot of followers from that and then I did this one video for cancer awareness for charity and it went crazy, it got to about 2 million views.

“I gained 25,000-30,000 followers just from one video and then from there it just grew and got bigger and bigger.”

Simon, who has managed and played for several football clubs in Sussex including Eastbourne Borough and Eastbourne United, said his life has changed ‘absolutely massively’ over the last month.

He said, “I was out in Newcastle at the weekend and I was just mobbed literally all night, constantly.

“It is just unbelievable. I cannot believe what an impact it has had. It has changed my life loads.

“When I go out I know for a fact that I am going to be mobbed and asked for photos and stuff like that.

“I can’t go out and have a drink anymore, that’s impossible.”

Despite seeing his life change over the last two years, Simon said there have been many benefits as a result of his new-found fame.

He said, “The majority of the time everybody is great. They are fantastic. I will take a picture with anybody.

“I think it is brilliant because you are meeting lots of new people. It seems that you are actually making a difference in what you are doing.

“I am able to do loads for charity now. I think I have got nine charity events I am involved with this year. I am able to raise a lot of money for lots of people.

“That is one of the reasons why I started TikTok in the first place, so I could help people.”

Simon also spoke about the negatives of gaining a large following on social media.

The former Langney Wanderers manager said, “I get loads of hate. I have had threats, I have had all kinds of stuff come my way.

“I can take it, I can deal with it, it goes over my head a little bit and I am not worried about it.

“If I was 19-20 and I got the hate that I have had over the last month, you could damage someone’s life, you really could.

“It is such a shame with the amount of hate that does come with social media. You can see why it does affect a lot of people.

“That’s society at the moment. That’s the problem.”

Despite currently living in Tunbridge Wells, the former Willingdon Community School student spoke about how he is Eastbourne ‘born and bred’,

Simon said, “When I was born we lived in Wannock and Willingdon and then we had a period where we moved all over Eastbourne because my mum and dad were looking for a business like a pub.

“They ended up getting a pub just outside of Tunbridge Wells so we moved up there when I was about 17.”

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