YouTuber NikkieTutorials compares appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres show to “Teletubbies after dark’

Beauty YouTuber says experience taught her ‘don’t meet your idols’ 

Chelsea Ritschel
New York
Monday 20 April 2020 20:50 BST
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YouTuber NikkieTutorials speaks to Ellen DeGeneres about being blackmailed before coming out

Nikkie de Jager, who is most recognisable by her social media handle NikkieTutorials, has opened up about the negative experience she had on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

In January, de Jager appeared on DeGeneres’ show shortly after the beauty YouTuber came out as transgender in an emotional video.

However, according to de Jager, who shared behind-the-scenes details from her visit to the set, the experience wasn’t what she had hoped it would be.

Speaking to Dutch publication &C for an interview, the makeup influencer said: “Call me naive, but I kind of expected to be welcomed with confetti cannons: ‘Welcome to The Ellen DeGeneres Show!’ But instead I was greeted by an angry intern who was a bit overworked.

“I was expecting a Disney show, but got Teletubbies after dark.”

According to de Jager, her disappointment didn’t only stem from the lacklustre greeting, as she also experienced issues with bathrooms on set.

“Every guest at Ellen’s had a private toilet, but I didn’t,” the 26-year-old recalled. “I was not allowed to use the nearest toilet, because it was reserved for the Jonas Brothers. ‘Why do they get a private toilet,’ I thought.

“But in the end my item had eight million views afterwards and theirs two million, ha!”

Later in the interview, the makeup artist said the interview had taught her “don’t meet your idols”.

But despite her criticism, de Jager said she was “happy” with her experience on the show, explaining that it was a “great summary for people who didn’t know me”.

This is not the first time de Jager has discussed the interview with DeGeneres in a negative light.

In January, the makeup blogger appeared on the Dutch show De Wereld Draait Door, where she told the host that it was nice she said “hi” because DeGeneres had not.

“It’s nice that you say ‘hi’ before the show ... she didn’t,” de Jager said, according to E! News. “Ellen is just such a different world.”

The YouTuber, who has more than 14m followers on Instagram, also said the experience wasn’t as “nice” as she’d thought it would be.

“It was a huge honour to be on that stage with Ellen, but it wasn’t as nice as I thought,” she said.

De Jager’s criticism comes after DeGeneres was accused of “mean behaviour” by former staff in March.

The Independent has contacted The Ellen DeGeneres Show for comment.

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