Challenge star Suzan Mutesi has broken her silence after claiming to have bought a million Instagram followers.
The 36-year-old Sydney-based socialite took to social media to share footage of American rapper Cardi B’s infamous speech at the 2018 iHeartRadio Awards in response to jealous influencers.
“I want to thank my haters,” Cardi chuckles in the clip. “They download my stuff so they can hear and talk about it, but it benefits me.”
Challenge star Suzan Mutesi has broken her silence after claiming to have bought a million Instagram followers
The actress and influencer, who has been an integral part of Sydney’s social scene for three years, locked down her social media pages last week after being accused of being a ‘fake socialite’.
Jamie Azzopardi, a prominent Sydney fashion designer, has accused the self-proclaimed ‘award-winning author’ of inflating his popularity with ‘fake’ Instagram followers to gain access to red carpet events, sponsorships and media gigs.
After months of whispering about his credibility, Azzopardi, who has known Mutesi for years, opened the floodgates by giving a revealing interview about him to the So Dramatic podcast.
“It fascinates me to see how she has gone from 200,000 subscribers before lockdown to 1.2 million and is on a reality show where she is representative of influencers,” he said.
According to Azzopardi, publicly available stats on Social Blade, a website that tracks analytics information for social media platforms, prove she “bought 75,000 followers” ahead of Sydney Fashion Week – and “challenged” Mutesi to prove him wrong.
He also claimed Mutesi, 36, bought automated comments, views and likes in a bid to match her Instagram engagement with her inflated follower count, a claim she denied to Daily Mail Australia.
The influencer, who has been an integral part of Sydney’s social scene for three years, locked down her social media pages last week after being accused of being a ‘fake socialite’.
“Just post your thoughts, and I’ll stop talking. I’ll admit I’m wrong, I don’t do that very often, but I’ll publicly say I was wrong,’ Azzopardi told the podcast.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia last week, an emotional Ms Mutesi denied buying subscribers and said her numbers were so high because she is a ‘go-getter’.
However, Social Blade stats show that its subscribers jumped several thousand at a time without explanation, which is extremely rare and often indicates bot activity.
Jamie Azzopardi (pictured), a prominent Sydney stylist, has accused the self-proclaimed ‘award-winning author’ of inflating his popularity with ‘fake’ Instagram followers to gain access to red carpet events, sponsorships and concerts media
His follower count has grown by 531,400 over the past year without explanation, which is unusual growth for someone who is relatively unknown.
Accounts similar in size to Mutesi have a growth rate of only 12.04% per year.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Mutesi dismissed all of Azzopardi’s claims and denied she was misleading brands with her viewership figures.
After months of whispering about his credibility, Azzopardi, who has known Mutesi for years, opened the floodgates by giving a revealing interview about him to the So Dramatic podcast.
Social Blade stats show Mutesi’s subscribers jumped several thousand at a time without explanation, which is extremely rare and usually indicates bot activity
The Sydney-based influencer, who describes herself on Instagram as an ‘award-winning best actress and author’, said she’s ‘hustling hard’ and her large following is down to the fact that she’s been around for a long time.
“I worked as a fashion designer before moving to Australia. I have traveled around the world. I have items in Nigeria. I also sing,” Mutesi explained.
“I’ve collaborated with international artists internationally, not just in Africa,” she added.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Mutesi dismissed all of Azzopardi’s claims and denied she was misleading brands with her viewership figures.
“It saddens me to hear such comments. These ridiculous claims are sad and pathetic and very childish,” Mutesi said of Azzopardi’s allegations.
Mutesi’s manager at the Sydney PR agency, Markson Sparks, also released a statement denying the ‘fake socialite’ claims.
“Suzan stars in major national reality show The Challenge on Channel 10 and has had a stellar career over the past 12 years,” they told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Suzan starred opposite Jane Seymour in Ruby’s Choice earlier this year, she is an author with a second book due out in 2023. She is also a fashion influencer, model and is hugely popular on social media.
“Suzan has a huge fan base and I’m really proud to be her manager. Thank you for your recent request. It’s #fakenews.’
Although Daily Mail Australia doesn’t suggest Mutesi has necessarily paid for his subscribers, a report by HypeAuditor shows that only 45.25% of his subscribers “seem authentic”.
Although Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Mutesi (pictured in August) has paid for his subscribers, a report from HypeAuditor shows that only 45.25% of his subscribers ‘seem genuine’
Fake profiles often have usernames with strange combinations of numbers and letters. Many Mutesi subscribers have usernames like this.
Most of Mutesi’s posts have been inundated with generic, poorly written comments from profiles that appear to be fake.
There are also many instances where duplicate comments have been left under the same post, ostensibly to increase post engagement.
Statistics from Social Blade (pictured) show that Suzan has lost more than 14,460 followers in the past 30 days, suggesting she has been hurt by Instagram’s crackdown on bot accounts.
Mutesi moved to Australia for her high school education before receiving a bachelor’s degree in design with a major in fashion.
She has worked in fashion alongside her acting career, which has seen her earn minor roles in films such as 2022’s Shang-Chi and Legend of the Ten Rings.
In December, Mutesi denied altering her Instagram photos after the Celeb Spellcheck monitoring account highlighted some of her questionable posts.
She has worked in fashion alongside her acting career, which has seen her earn minor roles in films such as 2022’s Shang-Chi and Legend of the Ten Rings.
In the photos, she appeared to have awkwardly altered into archival aircraft footage.
An image, posted by Mutesi in December 2020, shows her superimposed in front of a seaplane, her hand barely touching the side of the plane due to sloppy editing.
But speaking to Daily Mail Australia at the time, Mutesi denied altering his images, saying: “If it was [Photoshopped]I would have no problem owning it.
In December, Mutesi denied altering her Instagram photos after the Celeb Spellcheck monitoring account highlighted some of her questionable posts.
Mutesi’s social media photos appear to have been heavily edited
