For people in the public eye, particularly those who were thrust into the spotlight after appearing on a reality TV show, a lot of attention is often paid to their life updates.
WATCH: The Bachelor’s Bella reveals pink hair after teasing “big change”
Many reality stars have been able to parlay this into lucrative Instagram influencer careers while some others often are forced to strive for continued relevancy.
When the headlines based on their daily musings begin to dwindle, some reality contestants can be tempted to resort to over-the-top tactics to make sure their posts and news about their lives grab attention.
But this doesn’t always go down so well with their fans. In fact, it can backfire spectacularly. Scroll on for the most infamous times misleading announcements caused massive backlash for the reality stars who shared them.
The Bachelor’s Bella Varelis
At her peak of fame, Bella Varelis was best known as one of the women vying for Locky Gilbert’s heart on The Bachelor in 2020 – eventually becoming runner-up to Irena Srbinovska.
The 26-year-old catapulted herself back into the media spotlight earlier this week when she shared a cryptic update on Instagram, teasing a “big change” with a clue about the change apparently hidden in plain sight in her post’s caption.
“Baby blues 🦋 currently in the middle of a big change and I can’t wait to share it with you guys (there’s a hint in this caption)✨🌸,” Bella penned.
Although many of her followers questioned whether she was pregnant due to the use of the term “baby blues”, Bella later revealed the “big change” she was teasing was actually just adding two pink streaks to her hair.
“Guys I’m not fricken pregnant. I wrote ‘baby blues’ because my whole outfit was blue,” Bella later said in an Instagram Story.
“Also come on guys if I was pregnant I would’ve made the announcement like 10x more exciting. You know me.”
Her followers were less than impressed, however, and accused her of deliberately misleading them for attention.
Bachelor in Paradise’s Leah Costa
If the Bella Veralis scenario is giving you déjà vu, there’s probably a good reason why.
Back in 2018, Bachelor in Paradise star Leah Costa faced similar backlash as fans clamoured to slam her for “faking her own engagement”.
Following her stint on the dating show, Leah flaunted a ring on her engagement finger on both her Instagram Stories and during an appearance on Studio 10.
However, Leah soon revealed there was no engagement and it was all just a publicity stunt designed to “educate” her followers.
“Over the past few weeks I’ve been positioning you all to buy a particular truth, to try and raise the issue and get you talking about how often this occurs,” she wrote in a lengthy Instagram post.
“You may have all seen a sparkly ring appear on my finger. Without having ever said I am engaged and without having ever confirmed or denied it.
“I have managed to show you all the power of suggestion.”
The backlash over the move was swift with followers slamming her for “creating drama” and “courting attention”.
One unhappy fan told her: “This is very disappointing. How can you think you are better than the media by fooling the public? Can’t you see you created ‘fake news’ as well? Good riddance.”
Married At First Sight’s Martha Kalifatidis and Michael Brunelli
It comes with the territory when you’re a Married At First Sight contestant that fans will continually speculate about your relationship status.
So, season six’s Martha Kalifatidis and Michael Brunelli took things into their own hands when they both “leaked” screenshots of a dramatic text conversation between one another, purposely misleading their fans into believing they had called it quits.
“We have had hasssles every single day and it’s just become an unnecessary burden on me,” part of Martha’s message to Michael read.
“I don’t feel supported. Like ever, sometimes there is no connection, like at all! I can’t do mediocre, I want the best!”
She ended the exchange by declaring: “I’m so fkn done!!! I’m upgrading.”
A day later, the couple clarified they hadn’t actually split and the posts were just a publicity stunt to promote an internet service provider.
“Me and Michael have not broken up. We are actually really happy together. But we have broken up with our telco provider!” she revealed.
