Stacey Solomon Snubs Baftas Amid Image Concerns

For years, has built a fortune by presenting herself as different from the typical influencer crowd.

While glossy reality stars have posed on yachts in , posted photographs on business-class flights and videoed snippets of afternoons spent in luxury hotels, Stacey built her brand by sharing the chaotic realities of motherhood. Think muddy dogs, cluttered utility rooms, mismatched pyjamas and emotional ‘real life’ chats filmed from her home, Pickle Cottage.

But the once-wholesome Solomon brand appears to have undergone a rather striking transformation.

Last week, Stacey, 36, and her older sister Jemma, 38, embarked on a glitzy influencer-packed PR trip hosted by luxury beauty retailer Space NK – swapping their relatable Essex-mum personas for yacht parties, boozy karaoke sessions and an endless stream of sponsored social-media content.

And this was no regular influencer getaway.

Joining the sisters on the all-expenses-paid brand trip were some of Britain’s biggest reality stars and online personalities including presenter , fashion blogger Perrie Sian, along with former Love Islanders , and .

It was a world of bronzed twenty-somethings, luxury swimwear and heavily curated Instagram content far removed from the ‘real life chaos’ Stacey built her empire upon.

And in the clearest sign yet that the Solomon brand is evolving into a full-blown influencer dynasty, Stacey brought along her eldest sons Zachary, 18, from her previous relationship with footballer Dean Cox and Leighton, 14, with her ex-fiance Aaron Barnham – on the trip.

While in Miami, Zachary seemed to launch his own social media career, rapidly amassing more than 62,000 Instagram followers through posting glossy content of the luxury getaway.

Fans also questioned whether Stacey’s younger son Leighton had been taken out of school to attend the lavish trip.

‘The next few days are going to be magic,’ Stacey gushed online. ‘I was invited on the most incredible trip.’

She added: ‘I decided to book Zach and Leighton to come out with me because with the little pickles we don’t get to hang out just us a lot and I miss them.’

While Stacey attempted to frame the trip as quality family bonding time – away from the other children Rex, 6, Rose, 4, and Belle, 3, whom she shares with her partner, former EastEnders star Joe Swash – her sister Jemma appeared fully committed to the influencer fantasy.

In a series of clips shared to Instagram, Jemma was seen dancing on a bar in a Coyote Ugly style moment alongside Olivia Attwood and Perrie Sian, belting out LeAnn Rimes’ Can’t Fight The Moonlight and rapping Shaggy’s It Wasn’t Me during a tequila-soaked karaoke session.

Elsewhere, Jemma posed on yachts in bikinis and documented early-morning dolphin boat trips after partying until 2am.

‘We are the type of crazy people that went out until half past two last night and charted a boat at 6am to watch the dolphins,’ she boasted to her followers. ‘We are hardcore. I love it.’

In another post, Jemma attempted to lean into the self-deprecating awkward-girl persona she so often adopts online.

‘While the most beautiful girls in the world were having a boat photoshoot, this was me,’ she wrote alongside a video of herself launching off the side of a yacht onto a lilo in the sea. ‘One day I’ll be “that girl”. But for now I’m absolutely loving being the weird, frizzy haired crazy gal that just loves being me.’

But she also insisted she feels ‘deeply uncomfortable’ having her photograph taken – which might come as a surprise to anyone who has closely watched her pivot into full-time influencing over the past year.

Because while Stacey has ‘made it’ as an influencer, some followers have become increasingly fascinated – and at times bewildered – by Jemma’s determination to follow in her younger sister’s footsteps.

‘The way she keeps wittering on about “imposter syndrome” like she’s made it and just can’t quite believe she has,’ one follower said. ‘Heads up Jemma, you haven’t made it. In fact the only reason you’re on this trip is because you’re Stacey’s sister.’

The unsympathetic reception comes at a particularly awkward moment for Jemma given her influencer ambitions appear to be stalling rather than soaring.

According to analytics website Social Blade, Jemma has been losing Instagram followers every day for the past week while documenting her yacht parties and boozy nights out with some of the country’s biggest influencers.

But, as it turns out, the Miami trip is merely the latest chapter in the re-invention for Jemma.

Only weeks ago, she posted about her 38th birthday bash at Essex celebrity haunt Sheesh – the famously flashy restaurant frequented by everyone from Harry Styles, Katie Price, Tyson Fury and Harry Kane to Mark Wright, Michelle Keegan and the wider TOWIE crowd.

The gold-drenched Essex hotspot – famed for its valet parking, extravagant chandeliers and celebrity guestlist – provided the perfect backdrop for yet another carefully curated social media spectacle, complete with entertainment from TOWIE star James Argent’s band.

For some followers, however, the event felt less aspirational and more try-hard.

‘At Sheesh dancing to Arg from TOWIE… Wow,’ one follower sarcastically penned online.

Unlike Stacey – who built a television career first and an influencer empire second – Jemma’s ‘influencer’ status appears to stem almost entirely from proximity to her younger sister.

Long before the affiliate links and yacht selfies, Jemma worked as a paediatric nurse at Queen’s Hospital in Romford. But the glossy influencer aesthetic she’s so desperate to adopt is worlds away from the grounded NHS-worker image she first projected online.

In recent years, her social media has mirrored Stacey’s own blueprint: Curated family content, emotional captions about motherhood, carefully staged home renovations and relentless attempts at monetisation.

But behind the family reels and affiliate links, several of Jemma’s influencer-era ventures have unravelled rather publicly.

Earlier this year, Jemma tearfully announced the closure of her home organisation business, The Label Lady.

The collapse of the business came during her awkward transition into influencing, with Jemma later begging followers to use her Amazon affiliate links so she could hit a commission bonus target – despite Amazon’s own rules prohibiting influencers from offering incentives for purchases.

And then came the ‘dream home’ saga.

Clearly inspired by the extraordinary success Stacey has had monetising her home, Pickle Cottage, Jemma appeared eager to transform her own £860,000 Essex bungalow into a sprawling influencer showhome complete with terraces, balconies and dramatic extensions.

Planning officers, however, were unimpressed.

Not once – but twice – officials rejected her proposals, branding Jemma’s designs ‘misleading,’ ‘out of scale’ and not ‘respectful’ to neighbouring properties.

Meanwhile for Stacey, the Miami trip marks another noticeable shift away from her grounded television personality which once felt refreshingly different from the rest of the shallow influencer world.