An influencer who begged followers for donations saying she 'accidentally' bought a $100,000 couch appeared to suggest the whole story was part of a prank

• A TikToker said she accidentally bought a $100,000 couch, asking for donations to support her.
• Quenlin Blackwell said she entered her card details as a joke but was charged for the couch.

A TikTok influencer who said she "accidentally" bought a $100,000 couch is facing backlash after appearing to reveal the whole thing was a prank.

On October 6, Quenlin Blackwell, 21, posted a video where she appeared to be crying and begged TikTok viewers for donations, saying she entered her card details into an online bid for a couch but that she "was joking" when she put her card information in, and did not expect to be charged. An on-screen caption on the post read, "I accidentally bought a $100,000 couch."

Following a week of comments expressing skepticism at her story, Blackwell posted a follow-up on October 13, uploading an image of a couch, which had holes and stains on it, on her Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok accounts.

A statement under the posts read, "THIS COUCH WAS WORTH IT ALL." Blackwell named the couch "Troll dé onlywind," and added, "I am so grateful and lucky to own this piece. Thank you all for the help…I now own art."

Commenters said they thought Blackwell's statement suggested she was pranking them with her earlier videos.

"The fact that she really tricked us," and "YALL SHES KIDDING," TikTok commeters wrote.

On Twitter, followers criticized Blackwell for posting the series, saying, "girl I hate this bit," and "it really wasn't funny."

"Happy as hell to see you losing steady followers for this," wrote another commenter.

On the day Blackwell tweeted the statement, she lost 1,283 Twitter followers, and lost a further 3,898 followers over the next four days, according to analytics social tracker SocialBlade. She currently has 1.7 million Twitter followers.

Blackwell's original video about the "accidental" purchase of the couch has 8.4 million views as of Monday. In it, she asked, "If you have a million dollars could you please donate? If you have a billion dollars can you let me borrow some please?"

Commenters under Blackwell's video said they did not understand why she would enter her card details if she did not intend to buy the couch.

"Girl who puts in card info as a JOKE," read one top comment with 52,000 likes. "ILY BUT WHY PUT YOUR INFO IN," said another commenter.

On October 10, Blackwell posted a follow-up TikTok that was captioned, "They won't give me a refund on the couch." She said she was planning to set up an OnlyFans account to make money, "I don't want to, but I'm going to have to," adding that she also needed money for dental work and to replace a side mirror on her car.

"I don't want to do a job. I'm about to throw up because I know they didn't refund me," she said in the video.

Blackwell added a link to an OnlyFans account in her Instagram bio.

Some commenters under Blackwell's second TikTok said they did not believe her story was true.

"You been taking acting classes huh," and "she gotta be prankin us," commenters said.

Blackwell declined to respond to Insider's request for comment.

Blackwell has been active on TikTok since late 2019, typically posting dance and vlog-style videos. She also runs a YouTube channel that has 950,000 subscribers, where she posts lifestyle and cooking content.

In October 2020, when she was 19, she caused a stir by saying in a TikTok Live that she was living with then-41-year-old DJ and producer Diplo. He responded in a tweet saying he rented one of his properties to her but there was "nothing but friendship" between the pair, which she confirmed.

Influencers tend to receive support when they ask followers to donate to charitable causes, but often face scrutiny when asking their viewers for money to use for personal reasons.

In March, Insider reported that weight-loss influencer Lexi Reed, who has more than 1 million Instagram followers, was criticized for setting up a GoFundMe page to pay for medical costs after saying she was hospitalized for organ failure. Reed told Insider that because she is an influencer "people seem to think I'm some sort of millionaire," adding that it was "far from" the truth.

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