6 days ago
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Binky Felstead has been accused of trying to nab more freebies for her wedding after a baker claimed she ‘ghosted’ them.
Binky, 35, rose to fame on E4’s Made in Chelsea in 2011 and tied the knot with Max Fredrik Darnton four years ago.
Several businesses have now come forward, revealing that Binky’s team reached out to them, asking for free work in return for a post on social media.
Last week, Reshmi Bennett, 42, who owns London-based luxury cake business Anges de Sucre, shared screenshots of conversations with the MIC star’s team.
They had offered ‘exposure’ on social media as payment for a bespoke cake for her son Wilder’s third birthday.
Another bakery, Funfetti London, then came forward, revealing she had tried to chase her meagre £75 payment for two cakes, only to be greeted with a ‘tumbleweed’.
Now, illustrator Alice Peto has shared her experience with Binky, claiming she had been approached to design wedding invites and menus for free.
Binky and Max first had a civil ceremony at Chelsea’s Old Town Hall, before hosting a lavish wedding in Corfu, all documented on social media.
She did showcase various companies’ work in posts, tagging them, and insisting: ‘FYI this not an AD … just highly recommend these incredible business women 🤍✨’.
Alice posted a screenshot of a 2021 email from Binky’s team, which read: ‘The wedding is in Greece and we would be looking for three invitations plus menus, table names and place names.
‘The couple would be looking for the design free of charge in exchange for exposure on their social media accounts. It would be brilliant to understand your style a little better, so if you could share any examples of your work that would be brilliant.’
However, established artist Alice was not willing to accept ‘exposure’ to Binky’s 1.4million Instagram followers as payment.
She has previously been commissioned to work with Harrods and Selfridges, as well as having her watercolours featured in the likes of House & Garden Magazine.
The artist replied: ‘Thanks so much, I’ve been illustrating for 20 years and I’m one of the in-house illustrators for [redacted], so sadly I just can’t do it for free. What fun though, I bet you find someone brilliant. Very best, Alice.’
Binky is thought to have a net worth that mirrors her follower count at around £1.4million, having left MIC in 2017 only to return for Beyond Chelsea in 2024.
A friend close to the reality star told The Daily Mail: ’She literally has no shame’ when it comes to trying to leverage her influencer status.
She’s not the first to be called out for asking for free work in exchange for a social media post, with creatives, stylists, and more voicing complaints about this ‘exposure’ economy.
‘Influencers, in general, have a terrible reputation for not wanting to pay for their cakes,’ Reshmi penned in her original post, citing the Catherine Tyldesley saga as an example.
She added that the ‘optics’ of a wealthy TV star receiving a free cake from a small, family-run business are ‘terrible’.
A representative for Binky said: ‘This was a standard contra enquiry from Binky’s PA, offering social media exposure in exchange for a birthday cake.
‘Binky was not directly involved in these email exchanges, and is currently away on a family holiday. We completely understand that this type of collaboration is not for everyone and respect the decision to decline.
‘It is, however, disappointing to see a private and friendly enquiry shared publicly, and contra deals like this are widely used within this industry and usually mutually beneficial.’
Funfetti’s owner acknowledged she was ‘younger and naïve’ when Binky had approached her, consequently, she requested just £75 in total to cover transporting both cakes.
Binky’s team had said she usually charged £2k-5k for a post, so really this was a huge favour for the small business.
The baker ‘took an unpaid day off work’ and travelled to Binky’s house to build the full wedding cake in her kitchen, having been ‘too trusting’.
After several months, the team asked for an invoice but this remained unpaid, according to their comment on Reshmi’s post.
Reshmi did not initially name Binky, but later confirmed that it was her asking for the birthday cake as the backlash grew.
Speaking to Metro, Reshmi stated that ‘the whole thing could have been avoided’ if Binky and her team had ‘just paid for the cake as [she] had suggested’.
‘The press would’ve been so different – because it’s extremely rare for influencers to actually pay for their cake,’ she explained.
‘I was disappointed to get their very ChatGPT-coded response to my counteroffer and hated the thought of any other bakery doing it for free,’ Reshmi added, aware that influencers ‘beg en masse’ on such occasions.
‘So I willfully torpedoed their efforts by going public and will be watching where the cake is from on her son’s birthday like a hawk,’ she concluded.
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