KIRSTY CLYNE
The Viral TikToker Talks Gasoline, Haggis and Trolls
Abi Smillie
Hilarious haggis tales, Taylor Swift fandom, and Florida vlogs are just some of the topics that have seen Ayrshire TikToker, Kirsty Clyne, going viral.
Kirsty, 25, from Ayr, has amassed 6.1 million likes on the video platform, and 60,000 followers.
What started out as a glimpse into student life as a Scot living and working abroad in Orlando, USA, has grown into amusing ramblings and funny takes on emerging trends.
Kirsty first went viral in January 2021, when she made a video comparing American culture to Scottish, calling into question differences like why Americans don’t use kettles.
Kirsty said: “I also asked, why do they call petrol gas, when petrol is a liquid and not a gas? I realise now it’s because it’s gasoline. It was viewed by 8 million people, so now 8 million people know I don’t know what gasoline is!”
That viral video – which gained her 30,000 followers – kicked off Kirsty’s TikTok platform and led to other viral sensations including meeting the Grinch at Orlando, where he poked fun of her Scottish accent, and her ‘haggis tales’- a series of prank videos surrounding our national dish, haggis.
Kirsty, who works for an international recruitment company, has also been fortunate enough to partner with some big-name brands to promote their products – including coffee chain Tim Hortons and adventure clothing company Craghoppers – as well as being gifted concert tickets.
One lavish gift saw Kirsty and a friend invited to a private Maroon 5 concert at Universal Orlando, with unlimited food, drinks and full use of the theme park until 1am.
“That was one of the best ones, it was the most surreal,” she said.
“A lot of people will measure their campaigns based on the financial side, but I don’t really care about that if there’s a company that I’d like to partner with.”
The list of dream companies to work with includes Lego and Irn Bru.
“If I got an Irn Bru collab I’d be doing cartwheels around Ayrshire for weeks!” she laughed.
Although law graduate Kirsty has found success on the platform, she admits she wouldn’t necessarily pursue it full time.
“TikTok is too irregular,” she said. “It’s too financially fluctuating. It could shut at any minute.”
Cue a flashback to January where TikTok was banned in America for a mere 24 hours.
Kirsty said, had the ban been in place for longer, it would have affected her account massively.
She added: “About 60 per cent of my followers are from America, so it would have affected me quite a chunk. With the way TikTok works, it’s not always about your followers, but you hate the idea of having ‘dead followers’. It’s about the engagement and if your engagement isn’t good then you’ve got no chance.”
With success comes its challenges, and unfortunately Kirsty is no stranger to online trolling and negative comments.
“Some people took the American comparison video in the jest that it was intended,” she said, “but some got really patriotic, and I started getting hate messages. It was awful but after going through it, I was like, that is never going to upset me again.”
Imposter syndrome has also left Kirsty doubting her hard work and accomplishments.
“At some of the influencer events I was thinking, ‘I don’t think I should be here’. I’ve had to tell myself that I’ve made content for so long now that I deserve to have the views that I have. I’m just reminding myself that I have a little small community – and I think if something was really bad my sister would tell me!”
