Bad Influence The Dark Side of Kidfluencing Recap for #crush

The second episode of Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing is titled #crush. Raegan Beast talks about his life as an influencer, in music and transitioning, as well as how he began working with Tiffany and Piper.

Despite their relationship, he felt some of her questions were inappropriate. Things escalated when she gave him booze at seventeen and she had everyone go on a livestream….where she would go on to grope and kiss him.

This went viral for a single night until Tiffany deleted everything. However, the damage had been done, and people were talking. Raegan was too afraid to go to the police, but ended his relationship with Tiffany…..leading him to wonder what people can truly get away with online.

Brandon Stewart explains how money was made on the site and how the brand was built as old videos are shown of The Squad, Tiffany and Hunter.

Sophie, who was a member of The Squad and Patience, Tiffany’s sister talk about how videos are made, while Steevy (Corrine’s mom) and Ashley (Reese and Claire’s mom) talk about crush content, which is when a boy and a girl act like they like each other, kiss and are shipped by the viewers.

The Squad members would pair off and get their own names like #Sindi, #Pavin etc. Sawyer said it was very uncomfortable, especially since he was forced to kiss someone he didn’t like. At first, some of the parents were against it because they were so young, but then changed their tune when they saw the kind of views and money they were getting.

Sophie talks about the special liking Tiffany took to Gavin and thinking it was odd since he was so young.

Brandon talks about getting complaints from parents about how pushy Tiffany was being about how The Squad should dress and act. This is when he realized how dark things got.

Gavin would soon leave, and no one would discuss what truly happened, including him.

Walker would soon join The Squad after being discovered by Piper and her people. Since they were looking for a new ‘crush’ for Piper, several guys were tested until he was hired.

Sophie would end up in a crush content with Jentzen after he joined The Squad. Jentzen’s mom Johna talks about him joining and how at first, Tiffany seemed very nice and how she donated money to help her sick cat.

At first, Johna thought the videos were innocent enough, but soon saw that they were getting inappropriate. Sophie backs up this claim, since Tiffany was pushing for more sexual content.

Influencer and actress Ava Michelle talks about her own experience in the business and how she got her start on an episode of Dance Moms. She gained an online presence and explains how the lines can blur between the person and the persona, making things confusing for the kids.

Taylor explains how collaborations with influencers work, while Johna and Brandon talk about how Tiffany and Hunter would take a percentage of money and determine who would do what and get the most exposure based on how they dressed and act.

Tiffnay would also try and sexualize the kids, making people airbrush thumbnails to give the girls bigger breasts and the guys bigger muscles.

Things got even odder when a man posed as a girl named Megan and would send Piper stuff. Tiffany was well aware and not only encourage this with Piper but also encourage the others to do so as well so they could also get gifts.

Tiffany would even go as far as to send old men Piper’s panties, which the parents found disturbing.

Several investigations would go on at the time showing that young female influencers were followed the most by adult men and many of them were predators. Many of the photos exchanged were posted by the girls’ own mothers.

Sophie and several others knew that Piper was trapped and there were times where she didn’t even want to film at all. However, Tiffany kept pushing.

Then COVID happened and when they were all stuck together, more videos were filmed. Sophie says the videos were filmed all the time to the point where she was too tired to even do anything.

Patience and Ashley (the moms of Sophie, Reese and Claire) talk about the girls working with The Squad during COVID. It seemed like a good outlet at the time because the girls were able to socialize. However, they would soon find out about the out the late hours the kids were working and how they would sometimes not eat.

At first, Patience and Ashley went with it since they were making good money. However, Brandon explains that a lot of the followers the kids were getting were from bots, or fake followers that would draw people into watching. This, in turn, makes people think they are more popular than they are and view, therefore giving them the real views and money they desire.

The kids would do challenges and be pushed to take things further and further. Parents would be kept away from each other and Tiffany would purposely cause drama with them so they would be fighting.

The kids were forced to act more and more sexual and crazy, but went along with it because Tiffany was the adult, and they assumed she knew best. Things like this ranged from girls showing their bras to people faking injuries….blurring the lines between fact and fiction.

One prank also showed the kids getting arrested….but no one knew it was fake, causing a lot of craziness and people freaking out.

Johna complained to Tiffany about this, causing a huge fight and Jentzen’s position on The Squad being put in jeopardy. She and Jenn, Walker’s mom formed an alliance and got their kids off the show with the help of Nelson, Jentzen’s father.

However, Tiffany got to Nelson and Jentzen got to stay. Johna, for her part, was banned from set and had lies spread about her stealing Jentzen’s mother.

In April 2020, CPS was called and the kids were told by Tiffany what to say and do when they arrived so she wouldn’t get in trouble. The parents were also told what to do and say as well.

Everyone was scared of Tiffany. At one point, Sophie’s phone was stolen and Tiffany opened her a new account, where she would read her messages. One talked about wanting to adopt Piper and leave.

This caused Sophie to go on punishment and not be allowed to filmed…unless Sophie apologized, and her mom gave up parental rights. Sophie would be fired and everyone, including her boyfriend Jentzen, would be forced to block and ignore her.

Everyone was heartbroken about this and nobody knew what to do.

There were times when Piper would break down and Tiffany would take her on drives. Nobody knew what was going on and became quite concerned.

Sawyer would then leave The Squad because he had enough of being told what to do and not make his own content. It was stressful for him since he was afraid of losing it all.

Claire would soon leave as well after she protected a girl named Elliana after she was yelled at by Tiffany.

Hunter would send Patience and Ashley a voicemail yelling at them and wondering what was going on and why he was being betrayed.

Everyone worries for Piper’s wellbeing and talk about how social media and the show ruined their kids’ lives. Johna ended up filing for divorce to get custody of Jentzen, only to be told by him that Tiffany was a better mom. Tiffany would even encourage Jentzen to emancipate himself from Johna to avoid being poisoned by her.

Everyone is afraid of how Tiffany could destroy their lives. She even went as far as to have Jentzen tour his childhood home as a final eff you to Johna.

 

Little did they know things were only going to get worse.

 

Gavin, Jentzen and Nelson declined to be a part of the documentary, as did Tiffany, Hunter and Piper.