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Mukbang star babydumplingg keeps getting accused of faking how much food she eats. She doesn't care.

Jun 14, 2023, 17:55 IST
Insider
Tram Tran's uncut McDonald's mukbang.Babydumplingg/YouTube
  • Tram Tran, better known as babydumplingg on TikTok, has 1.8 million followers.
  • She's become famous for videos where she gorges on sushi, fast food, and doughnuts.
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A TikTok mukbang star told Insider she doesn't care about the haters who say she fakes her videos where she eats copious amounts of fast food.

Tram Tran, better known as babydumplingg on TikTok where she has 1.8 million followers, has become famous for her videos where she eats piles of sushi, McDonald's, and doughnuts.

But at the start of 2023, there was a shift, and people starting doubting her abilities. Tran found herself at the center of dozens of videos claiming she was faking.

They accused her of spitting out her food, throwing it up later, or cleverly editing the footage to suggest she ate more than she did.

In response, Tran uploaded uncut videos to YouTube where she sat down and ate a banquet of sushi. But mostly, she doesn't let the backlash bother her.

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"It's so weird because people will make like 10 minute YouTube videos about me," Tran told Insider. "I'm like, I don't even put that much effort into my own videos."

Tram was always big into food. Her favorite food is sushi, closely followed by pho and Chipotle, she said.

"My friends have always known I've eaten a lot," Tran told Insider. "There used to be a sushi all-you-can-eat restaurant by my school, and my friends and I would go literally twice a week and I would just eat as much sushi as possible."

One day, one of Tran's friends said she should film it and put it on TikTok, so she did. Fast forward to last May, Tran had graduated and moved to New York, where she became a full time TikTok content creator.

"All my friends had nine to five desk jobs and I was the only one that didn't," she said. "I was like, shoot, I don't know if I want to work at a desk. I'm just gonna try the TikTok thing out."

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Tran started noticing negative videos about her from January.

One TikTok creator, Blake Sanburg, posted multiple videos about her, counting her calories, doubting her ability to eat so much and not gain a lot of weight, and speculating over her health. In one video, he even claimed to have spoken to someone "very close" to Tran, who said her videos were "a facade."

Sanburg didn't respond to a request for comment from Insider.

"I'm not too worried about it because I know it's not true," Tran said of her doubters.

She thinks the skepticism probably arises because she's relatively small.

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"The most common question is like, how do you stay so skinny, blah blah, blah," she said. "And it's crazy because I've honestly gained weight since doing it full-time living in New York."

Mukbang — videos of eating, often in large quantities — is more popular on YouTube, where creators have loyal audiences who are served content related to their interests. Tran said lots of women like her post those videos to YouTube, and the audience generally don't think it's weird or suspicious.

But TikTok can put Tran's videos on anyone's feed, without much context, which she thinks encourages the doubt.

"When people are consistently making hate videos about me and they just won't stop and it's just getting so much traction, then that's when I'm like, oh my God, that's so annoying," she said.

"Honestly, I feel bad for them, if I'm what they're focusing on. I'm not that interesting."

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Tram Tran in New York, where she lives, and celebrating reaching 1 million followers.Tram Tran

She said people often come up to her in real life and thank her for what she does.

"People do tell me that it's relaxing or that they're eating through me," she said. "They're like, oh, sometimes I'm super hungry late at night, so I'm just going to watch your videos."

As for how she does it, there's no real secret. She thinks she might have a high metabolism or it's something to do with genetics. She doesn't even really prepare herself before an eating session.

"I wish I could tell you I had some cool process, but I just eat a lot of food whenever I am hungry or craving something," she said. "I actually don't film most large meals I eat because I want to just look like a bum and enjoy the food."

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