She appeared no different from any other kooky Big Brother contestant: a platinum blonde from Brentwood, Essex, who has gained a minor following online by claiming to ‘see dead people’ since the age of three.
And so when Elsa Rae, 21, appeared on the ITV show on Sunday, many were unaware of the power she wields over a toxic ‘manosphere’ subculture which has emerged in dark corners of the internet.
For Ms Rae dated the boxer and controversial influencer Ed Matthews for four years before they split in July amid allegations he cheated on her in retaliation for her deciding to go on the show.
And now I can reveal that Ms Rae’s appearance on Big Brother has ‘ruffled feathers’ among Matthews’s group of content creator friends.
Matthews, 24, is a social media star with nearly 300,000 followers on Instagram who, along with his crew, is famous for viral stunts and spreading toxic misogynist views.
The group includes Harrison Sullivan, also 24, more commonly known online as ‘HSTikkyTokky’. They are collectively referred to as ‘ Poundland Andrew Tates’, a reference to the misogynistic influencer known as the ‘king of toxic masculinity’.
They seek to emulate Tate, 38, who encourages his largely male fan base to embrace the values of bravado, machismo and getting rich.
Luton-raised Tate first rose to fame after his own appearance on Big Brother in 2016. He has been so successful in generating cash from his online content that he owns a mansion in Romania. But he is now facing charges of rape, human trafficking and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit women – all allegations he denies.
Ella Rae, a platinum blonde from Brentwood, Essex, who has gained a minor following online by claiming to ‘see dead people’ since the age of three
‘Perhaps the biggest irony of it all,’ my source tells me, ‘is that Big Brother is where Andrew Tate found his voice and fame, and now Elsa’s on the show and upsetting the very men who like him, it’s a full circle moment for sure.’
Matthews has made upwards of £1.24million from his posts on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, which range from public clashes with other creators to objectifying women on the street as a so-called ‘pick up artist’.
Back in 2023, Matthews spoke to Danny Dyer for a documentary the EastEnders star was making about modern masculinity and male identity.
Aged 21, he called for Tate, who was under house arrest at the time, to be freed and described him as ‘a smart person’.
Leaning back in his chair, Matthews shared his horror at the idea of women not being virgins. ‘Imagine your future wife had 30 other w***ies inside her. Even, like, five or seven,’ he said.
And when it came to what he saw as the growing oppression of men, he exclaimed: ‘You got 25-year-olds now with no beards!’
Arguing against the suggestion that he is a misogynist, Matthews told Dyer: ‘I might have said a couple of misogynistic things, so what. But you’d never hear the girls saying things about misandry [prejudice against men], no one has ever heard about misandry.’
Asked to clarify what that meant, he said: ‘Women being a***holes to men, hating on men, you never hear about it.’
Matthews is less well known in the mainstream media but has 363,000 followers on the live-streaming video-sharing platform Kick, where he films himself making vile comments about women.
In one video, Matthews described a woman as an ‘ugly ginger tart’, told another she looked ‘like a fridge’ and warned a third that, ‘she was one cheeseburger off a heart attack’.
When Elsa Rae, 21, appeared on the ITV show on Sunday, many were unaware of the power she wields over a toxic ‘manosphere’ subculture which has emerged in dark corners of the internet
Ms Rae dated the boxer and controversial influencer Ed Matthews for four years before they split in July amid allegations he cheated on her in retaliation for her deciding to go on the show
More recently, in July, after his break-up from Ms Rae, Matthews made a well-documented trip to Magaluf with his friend and longtime collaborator Sullivan – HSTikkyTokky – during which they were involved in a messy brawl that was caught on live-stream.
Sullivan could be heard telling a group of drunken revellers to ‘calm down’, before a fight broke out in which punches were landed on both sides. It was this incident that led to Sullivan being banned from Kick.
No stranger to grabbing headlines, Sullivan runs ‘dodgy investment schemes’, claims to earn £20million annually and went on the run from Surrey Police last year after he crashed a £230,000 McLaren in Virginia Water, leaving a friend and fellow influencer, known as General G, at the scene with minor injuries.
He was due to appear at Guildford Magistrates’ Court last November but didn’t show up, and an arrest warrant was issued. It was reported last month that Surrey Police confirmed he is still wanted over the incident.
Meanwhile, when Sullivan and Matthews were up to their usual antics in Magaluf, filming themselves attempting to pick up women and turning down those that ‘didn’t have the goods’, they came across a group of young girls.
When the girls told Matthews they missed his relationship with Ms Rae, he was clearly rattled by the mention of his former love and responded with a comment so vile it can’t be repeated here.
It was a wildly inappropriate and grotesque thing to say and a clear demonstration of what my sources have confirmed to me, that Ms Rae is a ‘sore spot’ for the self-proclaimed misogynist.
Harrison Sullivan, also 24, more commonly known online as ‘HSTikkyTokky’. Referred to as ‘Poundland Andrew Tates’, the misogynistic influencer known as the ‘king of toxic masculinity’
Harrison Sullivan, AKA HSTikkyTokky (left), and Ed Matthews
For during their four-year on-again-off-again relationship, I am told they were quite sweet together.
When Rae had an allergic reaction to bleaching her hair and was forced to shave her it all off, Matthews did the same in a show of support for ‘my girl’, a far cry from his behaviour towards the women he films.
But the couple separated in July, with Matthews telling fans at the time: ‘I just broke up with my girl as well after four years. If you don’t think you’re gonna marry that girl, there’s no point wasting years.’
However, since it was announced that Ms Rae, who boasts more than 301,000 followers on TikTok, would be appearing on Big Brother, Matthews’s content has changed, and with it support for him.
On Tuesday a video was shared of Matthews after he was shown a clip of Ms Rae in the Big Brother house chatting to a potential love interest, a 22-year-old mechanical engineer called Marcus.
Filmed at night, a scorned Matthews could be seen standing by a car wearing a baseball cap, telling his followers, ‘I found out a few months ago boys, all I heard was, “I’m going on Big Brother”.
‘I was like, “I don’t want you to do that” and she was like “I need to focus on my career” and I was like “You know what, fair enough” and that’s when I cheated.
‘I was like “I’m going to get sucky now. You’re telling me not to cheat and I’m going to go f***ing cheat”.’
In response, instead of the usual words of praise that flood the comment section of his controversial and outspoken videos, the influencer was met with pushback from Ms Rae’s ever-growing fanbase.
Other users were outraged and called him out for his misbehaviour, a reaction he was perhaps not used to.
Comments ranged from, ‘Elsa’s going to do so well and come out with so many brand deals, she doesn’t need you anymore,’ to – more concerningly for Matthews – ‘This is so cringe, you cheated because she levelled up, the downfall begins.’
In another video, Matthew changed tack and praised his ex-girlfriend: ‘Without Elsa in there, Big Brother wouldn’t be popping as much. Good luck to her, genuinely, I hope she smashes it.
‘Whether that’s my ex, it doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter bro I still wish the best for her. I hope she wins that s**t.’
The rare display of empathy towards a woman raises the question: Could the tide be turning against the Poundland Andrew Tates?
One source who has spoken out against Matthews and Sullivan told me: ‘It’s a worry for all of those boys that their influence might be going off the boil as support for Elsa outshines them. She could topple the manosphere.’
