A PRIMARY school pupil from Edinburgh has gone so viral on TikTok that viewers are touting her as the next big thing on television.
Carly, 11, and her dad Ryan Pollock, better known on the video sharing platform as Daddy & Carly (or Wee Mary and Jimmy Boy), first started posting comedy sketches online during lockdown. Now, the pair have taken the app by storm with their “Pilton Tea” videos and Carly’s presenter-esque "hello, my lovelies" catchphrase.
Talking to the Sunday National, Carly and Ryan shared how they ensure the youngster isn’t exposed to trolling, the opportunities that have arisen from their online popularity, and Carly’s hopes for the future.
“It started during lockdown, when Carly wanted TikTok. Me and mum were a bit hesitant at first, thinking she was too young, then I was volunteered by mum to do it with her”, Ryan explained.
“I thought ‘och we’ll just have a carry on with it’, so we started putting our own twist on trends and doing sketches where Carly was dressed up as an old lady and pretending Nicola Sturgeon was her pal. It ended up going quite viral.
“We did shoutouts on our page for a bit and ended up raising about £1000 for the NHS.”
When lockdown ended and Ryan went back to work, they stopped posting for a few years. A couple of months ago they started doing their “Pilton Tea” series and from there, their popularity exploded.
Their original account was deleted, but within two weeks the new account amassed around 190,000 followers — alongside 9.7 million views on one particular video, leading to a special shopping trip for Carly and her family.
Carly said: “There’s so many more opportunities now. We got invited to Boots a few days ago and we have an agent now which is so cool. It’s just amazing.”
Because of Carly’s age, the account is run by and heavily monitored by her parents. They don’t let the 11-year-old read any comments or make videos by herself, and ensure that any hateful messages left under their videos are deleted and the users blocked from the page.
Though she comes across as extremely confident and excitable online, the youngster described herself as actually being “quite shy”, noting that her on-camera personality is partially a character. She told the Sunday National that some boys were showing her videos through a window on her visit to a secondary school, but she seems to take it all in her stride.
“People from school watch my videos a lot, and sometimes it’s a wind up, but most of the time they’re being really nice. It’s quite funny”, she explained.
The way she carries herself in her videos has led to an influx of comments demanding the TikTok star is given a slot on television, remarking she could be the next big thing à la Lorraine or Alison Hammond.
High praise and growing celebrity haven't went to her head, however — Carly “So I want to go to acting school and hopefully one day be on the telly like all the comments say.
“But if not, I go to a lot of youth centres and one day I want to be a youth worker, open my own centre and do drama classes for other kids.”
