YouTube star apologizes for 'incredibly stupid' food poverty challenge video
YouTube star Alfie Deyes has apologized after taking some serious heat for his food poverty challenge.
While the idea was to challenge himself to live off just ￡1 ($1.32) per day for food, things took a turn for the worse when the financially successful Deyes was accused of being insensitive to those who actually endure food poverty.
During the video, which has since been deleted, Deyes complained about how difficult it is to maintain a healthy diet on a minuscule budget — but continued to enjoy luxuries like personal training sessions and an expensive car, and did not restrict his spending in any other area of his life.
In the original clip, Deyes went to a high-end grocery store to simulate a food poverty shop, musing that he “can’t be healthy when living on a pound.”
He also claimed free doughnuts from Krispy Kreme before buying a T-shirt, some jewelry, and a comb designed to detangle beards — naturally, not from his limited budget.
Critics were quick to call out the 24-year-old British YouTuber, whose net worth is reportedly in the millions of dollars, for “making poverty entertainment.”
I see @PointlessBlog tried to feed himself for a pound for a day to see what it was like.
I am so so so so very tired of rich people playing 'poor house' for publicity. Anyone can do it for a day. Try years. No fridge. No lights. No heating. And a kid to feed. It is not a game.
— Dr Jack Monroe (@BootstrapCook) June 18, 2018
did I actually just watch Alfie Deyes complain that he had to drink tap water instead of bottled water with ice
— hannah (@hxnnahjohnston) June 14, 2018
Alfie Deyes: living off ￡1 for the day
Alfie Deyes: pops into his spare house in the garden, drives his Range Rover to town to get a free doughnut but gets 14, has a shopping spree but it doesn’t count.
Honestly what were you trying to gain/learn?
— Neneh (@NenehTrainer) June 14, 2018
Deyes has since responded to the backlash by releasing an apology video admitting that he “messed up really, really bad.”
“This is a very, very big deal, and I’ve made a massive mistake here,” he said. “When I made the video, I genuinely, as you can see from watching it, I didn’t think about charity. I don’t know how, looking back on it I have no idea how I didn’t think about it. … People have been calling me ignorant, and I fully get that.
“… I’m not excusing anything, I’m taking the full hit, my fault, incredibly stupid, just didn’t think about it, which is such a shame,” he added.
Deyes also acknowledged that he doesn’t want to make any profit from this video, and instead said that all revenue from the video would be donated to charity.
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