S2 EP5: Belle Delphine discusses selling her bathwater, dealing with stalkers and why she’s called ‘The Queen of the Simps’

The Louis Theroux Podcast

Spotify Studios

Comedy, Society & Culture, Arts

4.3 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2024

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Louis chats to internet sensation and adult content creator, Belle Delphine. Joining Louis in the studio, Belle discusses how she made millions from her first adult video, why she’s been labelled as “Queen of the Simps”, and a surprising ambivalence about her chosen career. Plus, Louis gets to grips with internet slang. Warnings: Adult content and discussions of a sexual nature. Links/Attachments: ‘Who is paying $30 for ‘gamer girl’ Belle Delphine’s bath water?’ - The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/12/belle-delphine-gamer-girl-instagram-selling-bath-wate ‘What is kawaii? Understanding Japan cute culture’ - Art in Context https://artincontext.org/what-is-kawaii/ ‘What Harajuku girls really look like?’ - Refinery29 https://youtu.be/WblNctc3ys0?si=ZQfKD1aI0CFqKQXr ‘What is ahegao?’ - Know Your Meme https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/ahegao ‘Burusera’ - fetish paraphilia shops in Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burusera PewDiePie reacting to Belle Delphine on YouTube https://youtu.be/KYyycHAxOVw?si=o5YhTPs6M1_YSLyt ‘Simp: The new slang teens use to insult boys who are ‘too nice’ to girls’ – CNN https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/19/health/what-is-simp-teen-slang-wellness/index.html ‘What guys mean when they call someone a Chad’ - Men’s Health https://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/a33499682/what-is-a-chad/ ‘A dictionary of the manosphere: five terms to understand the language of online male supremacists’ - The Conversation https://theconversation.com/a-dictionary-of-the-manosphere-five-terms-to-understand-the-language-of-online-male-supremacists-200206 ‘Louis Theroux’s Forbidden America: Extreme and Online’ - BBC (UK only) https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0014khc/louis-therouxs-forbidden-america-series-1-1-extreme-and-online ‘Footage of her daughter’s murder went viral. Now Bianca Devins’ mother wants to change the internet’ - The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bianca-devins-murder-brandon-clark-kimberly-b2291549.html Credits: Producer: Millie Chu Assistant Producer: Maan Al-Yasiri Production Manager: Francesca Bassett Music: Miguel D’Oliveira Executive Producer: Arron Fellows A Mindhouse Production for Spotify www.mindhouse.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right, let's do this.
0:07.0	Hi, I'm Louis Theroux. Welcome to Belle Delphine, an internet legend.
0:29.7	I don't think that's too strong a term.
0:31.9	Even if you haven't heard of her before, and many of you will have, please be assured she is an icon of early internet culture.
0:39.9	Well, early, I mean internet culture, more generally.
0:43.0	Certainly of Web 2.0, the moment when YouTube sat up and roared and said, we are incubating
0:51.5	the talent now.
0:52.7	We are the destination for creators to influence culture,
0:56.8	where your children will be flocking to learn their catchphrases and to find their new
1:01.1	gurus. Bell is an online prankster, E-girl. Her real name is Meribel Kirshner. Belle Delphine is her
1:09.8	nom de internet. She's 24, but she's been around for at least
1:14.8	four or five years. She went viral for her Ahigau face, that's spelled A-H-E-G-A-O, a sexual facial expression
1:24.1	used in Japanese porn, known as hentai.
1:31.3	And then began a stint making strange YouTube videos that captured the world's attention,
1:35.9	sticking googly eyes on a dead octopus was one, eating photographs of her followers.
1:37.6	Yes, you heard me correctly.
1:42.3	I think we talk about her various viral hits during the conversation,
1:47.2	so I'll explain more during the chat. But she just seemed to have a kind of genius for understanding the internet for speaking its lingua franca and knowing what would go viral.
1:52.9	And I don't just mean mini viral, just tens of millions of shares. She's now an only fan star,
1:58.7	having traded in her YouTube virality for the more cloistered confines
2:03.2	of only fans.
2:04.3	I think you know what that is.
	...

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