‘I was told I look like Doris from Shrek’: Meet UoB’s most successful TikTokers

We all know that, unless you were born in the 2000’s, posting on TikTok can be a risky business. What if you’re not as funny as all the 15 year olds that came before you? What if you get called a boomer at the young age of 21?

Despite this, there are some UoB students climbing the ranks of TikTok during lock down. We compiled a list of some of the most followed and most liked student TikTokers we could find, with lots of different talents, and slid into their DMs to find out what fame feels like.

Mary @mazzah – 39.3K followers, 2.4M likes

Up first is Mary, a UoB Psychology student in third year, whose fame has led her to be recognised out and about in Bristol. Her TikToks get thousands of views each.

Mary told the Bristol Tab how she found her way to fame: “It sounds so cliche and annoying but I first made them for my friend Hannah who made me download the app. We thought we’d just make some because why not, no one will see them. Then one of my videos popped off!

“My account started getting regular people saying they found them funny, and then I just kept thinking of dumb videos and here we are.”

Mary also said that she has been recognised in public from TikTok: “I once got a message on Insta literally just saying “are you at Temple Meads?”. The first thing I thought was that I was being stalked or about to be murdered, so I phoned my friend freaking out.

“He said he recognised me from TikTok and had just seen me in Starbucks, which is super surreal and sweet! Also on a night out in Thekla a few people recognised me”

For Mary, TikTok fame has also come with interesting promo opportunities:  “A company asked me if I wanted to promote a game they’d made called ‘Dik Dik’. I was like, as if someone’s asked me to do an Ad!

“My mum was creasing that I would be the “face of Dik Dik”, but Corona happened so i never got my chance”

Hannah @hannah9859 – 6599 followers, 821.5k likes

Hannah is a third year studying Criminology, and found her fame after an unfortunate picture of her as a baby got 4.1 million views.

Hannah told the Bristol Tab: “I had no idea it would do well! All my friends joke that I was an ugly baby because I was premature, and my friend heard the sound and told me I should make a TikTok to it, so I did and posted it for my 50 followers at the time.”

“Instantly it started getting views and likes, and by the time I went to sleep it had 1M views! Clearly people love ugly babies!”

Next up is Ellen; a third year history student with an obvious USP to her TikToks. Her famous, medieval dress and historical meme content has gained her attention from fans and internet trolls alike.

Her most famous video has 626.9K views, and features her as a witch avoiding getting burnt at the stake by doing a TikTok dance. Seems legit.

We asked Ellen for the weirdest thing that has happened to her on TikTok, and she told The Bristol Tab: “Probably just people telling me what i look like in my dress – the worst is Doris, the ugly step sister from Shrek!”

We also asked her about the dress: “I got it because one of my friends had a Game of Thrones themed 18th and I was trying to be Sansa Stark, but now it has become weirdly useful!”

Miles and Oskar @mileslakeofficial – 198 followers, 26.3k likes 

Miles and Oskar, who study Law and Geography, are a TikTok duo account from first year. Before lockdown, they made their content from the comfort of Wills Hall. Their most successful, and accurate, UoB themed TikTok “Bristol Uni Halls of residence as noises” has achieved 49.5K views so far.

We spoke to Miles about their experience as a TikTok duo, who told The Bristol Tab: “Initially the account was just mine, but Oskar and I had such a laugh making them together and he put in a lot of effort too, so it was only fair to let him have some ownership.

“It’s just super fun to have someone to brainstorm with all the time, and just see something and be like “that could be a funny tiktok”.”

Izzy @_izzymac_ – 368 followers, 10k likes

Deviating from the TikTok dances and memes is Izzy, a second year Biomed Student who uses TikTok to showcase her art. Her most popular video of an abstract oil painting has 69K views.

When asked how long her TikTok art takes to make, Izzy told the Bristol Tab: “None of them take over an hour. I work quite quickly but also get bored quite quickly!”

“My favourite TikTok is probably the drawing of the woman in the bikini, because it worked with the music and the blending”

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