Byron Baes‘ Jade Kevin Foster may claim to be the most followed Australian man on social media, but it turns out that there may be more to his ‘YUGE online following than meets the eye.
In fact, it seems as though the Insta-turned-reality star may have actually BOUGHT some of his 1.2 million Instagram followers!
In episode three of Netflix’s brand-spanking-new docu-soap Byron Baes, talent manager Alex Reid exposed his co-star for being fake AF.
Upon first meeting Jade in the show’s first episode, Alex caught a vibe that something was off about the influencer’s Instagram account, so, the sneaky star did a little digging.
Alex discovered that a whopping 451,000 of the people following Jade’s account come from Turkey.
However, it wasn’t just Alex who was onto Jade’s suss AF ‘gram antics.
As revealed in episode 171 of the So Dramatic! podcast, one source dished that the shady reality star CONFESSED to buying followers when they were friends “four years ago”.
“On the show he claims his 1.2 million followers are all legit… but swear on my life he to us all in person that he bought LOADS of them back in the day to get himself famous after meeting Kim Kardashian,” they said.
How Did Jade’s Social Media Profile Grow?
Waaaaay back in 2015, (when Jade only had 500,000 Instagram followers) the Byron Baes star’s profile was given a helping hand from none other than the Insta Queen herself, Kim Kardashian.
The pair posed together when Kimmy K was on a trip down under.
Naturally, Jade uploaded the snap to his Instagram account and The Kardashians star came through with a “like”.
Whilst a “like” from Kim is certain to do wonders for one’s profile (and ego), we find it hard to believe that Jade gained that many followers just from rubbing shoulders with her…
What Does It Mean That Nearly Half of Jade’s Instagram Followers Come From Turkey?
Upon hearing Alex’s theory on Byron Baes, Jade’s pal Sarah St James didn’t get the big deal.
The musician pondered, what if Jade just had “a big audience from Turkey,” to which Alex laughed his damn socks off.
Alex pointed out that a lot of fake social media accounts are based in countries in the Middle East.
Wannabe influencers can pay to have these fake accounts follow them and bolster their online presence (and give them some bragging rights).
Just to add to the drama, Alex decided to pull up the analytics of Jade’s Instagram profile.
Aside from Turkey, the bulk of the star’s following is based in the U.S.A and Iran.
Jade’s homeland, Australia, came in fourth for follower count.
Is Jade Buying Fake Comments too?
More sources weighed in on the authenticity of Jade’s followers, including one who pointed out he may be spending cash money to up his comment count, too.
One told So Dramatic! that it’s easy to spot the fake followers as they have “less than 100 followers and [leave] very generic four-word comments”.
Another noted that some of the comments “don’t even match what he is doing”!
“You can see some [photos] have 900 comments and maybe like six are real people,” they said. “The rest are commenting the same emojis or the most random comment.
They continued: “He does it on all his posts but he must go through and delete the ones that make not much sense… Before they were much worse.”
Jade’s Social Blade Statistics Reveal Some Telling Information
The tea that Byron Baes‘ Jade bought his Instagram followers is further bolstered by the data reflected on Social Blade.
The site, which essentially tracks follower and engagement analytics across Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and more, showed that in April 2021 Jade GAINED and then LOST almost 1.4 million followers.
Seems a lil sus to have THAT many people follow and unfollow you in such a short space of time, we’re just sayin’.
Want even more goss? Listen to episode 158 of the So Dramatic! podcast with Megan Pustetto below!
Know something about Byron Baes or Jade Kevin Foster that we don’t? Spill the tea here!
Get the tea first! Follow So Dramatic! on Instagram and tune in on Mondays to get your reality tea fix with the So Dramatic! podcast with Megan Pustetto.
