Welsh influencer divides opinion as he appears topless on breakfast show after fly-tipping controversy
Amelia Jones
A Welsh influencer has divided viewers after appearing topless on Good Morning Britain, claiming he received “death threats” following fly-tipping controversy.
Tom Christopher, 25, appeared on the breakfast show yesterday explaining the response he received from fly tipping a bath at the top of Pen y Fan for a viral social media video.
Christopher carried the bathtub up the 2,907ft (886m) mountain in Bannau Brycheiniog National Park before filling it with water and taking a dip at the summit.
He said he had originally planned to take the bath back down immediately, but decided to leave it behind after receiving hundreds of messages from people asking him to keep it there so they could take pictures.
During his appearance on the show, much to presenter Kate Garraway’s surprise, the influencer appeared topless.
She said: “We have to explain to people watching Richard [Madeley], why he’s basically naked on breakfast television. Why are you topless Tom? Let’s clear that up first of all.”
Christopher replied: “I just don’t like wearing clothes, I like to be free.”
Garroway responded: “This is your thing isn’t it. You do things topless.”
Fly-tipping
The conversation then turned to the controversy surrounding the bathtub, with Garraway questioning why Christopher had decided to leave it at the summit.
Garroway asked: “But the point is you left it [the bath] there. I mean that’s not very nice for the people to come up. It’s effectively fly- tipping if I can put it that way. Why did you not bother to take it down?”
Christopher said: “I was planning on taking it down. I took it up and there was about 30 people up there and they loved it. They were like ‘this is amazing leave it up there so I can have photos with it.’ It was completely in the moment, I’m not planning all of this…everyone loved it.
“I put it on social media and people were like ‘that’s awesome leave it up there,’ ‘that’s so cool, I want a photo with it.’ I thought I’ll leave it up there for 48 hours and then I’m going to make another world record by taking it down.”
During his appearance, Christopher also said he would not be able to afford a potential fly-tipping fine, which could be as much as £5,000.
The appearance and Christopher’s explanation of the stunt sparked a mixed reaction online, with viewers divided over whether he should have left the bathtub on the mountain.
One comment said:”Pay for it to be removed or don’t do it. You attention seeker.”
Another added: “World records for records sake, a big problem in today’s society. This influencer shows us all that in this 1 video”
However, others appeared to defend Christopher and praised the unusual stunt.
One commenter said: “Jeez, people really need to lighten up in this modern world. Life is serious enough this day and age. You can tell hes a nice guy who was just having a laugh. He hasnt killed anyone or anything”
Another viewer added:”He was hilarious. Love to hear more of his stories.”
Sympathy
The mixed reaction was also reflected in the discussion on the show, with presenter Richard Madeley appearing sympathetic to Christopher’s explanation and suggesting that the influencer’s actions had been more misguided than malicious.
He said: “I think that sounds reasonable. I don’t think that sounds like fly-tipping. You did something really weird and completely bonkers but very entertaining and it is actually a world record and you responded to the response you got from al the people.”
He added: “My instinct is that we should show leniency.”
Garraway, however, warned that the stunt could encourage others to leave their own belongings on the mountain, potentially creating a bigger problem.
She added: “Well I mean he could be my son so I’m going to take a motherly approach to this and say ridiculous. Put some clothes on first of all and that also you were crackers because it’s caused a problem but you didn’t mean to cause a problem.
“…Other people will love it and they’ll try doing it. Do you sort of understand perhaps if everyone does this it could become chaos on top of beautiful mountains with all sorts of random things.”
Christopher agreed that he understood the criticism, before revealing the extent of the backlash he had received online.
He said: “100% I hope they’ve seen the negatives. So I’ve had hundreds of comments saying ‘you idiot,’ ‘you’re stupid,’ all sorts of bad stuff. Death threats and everything.”
You can watch the full interview here.
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I don’t think you can lump comments such as ‘you’r stupid’ or ‘you idiot’ with death threats.But what do I know.
Remember that idiot who left a 4×4 at the summit of Y Wyddfa a few years ago?
Stop treating this clown like he’s a “celebrity”. His next appearance should be in court.
Even if he gets the 5K fine (fingers crossed) all that’ll happen is he’ll start a crowdfunder to pay it off… more free publicity, plus free dosh from the gullible and stupid. I despair…
What an idiot.
What one person or generation find entertaining others may see as a silly stunt or just plain wrong. The BBC’s Black and White Minstrel Show (last broadcast in 1978) had audiences of 18 million at its peak. Boris Johnson boosted his popularity and Sir Ed Davey gave the Liberals/Liberal Democrats their best result in a century at the GE using stunts to gain publicity. Stunts give influencers something called “algorithmic velocity”. Is it being too much of a killjoy to require anyone planning an event to apply for a licence and meet stipulated requirement -like removing this bathtub?
The only thing these self-obsessed idiots care about is clicks and likes. I see he’s managed to turn alleged death threats (if there were any, I’ll wager he posted them himself from a sock account) into another opportunity to say “LOOK AT ME!!!!! ME! ME! ME!”.
Bravo Richard Madeley – the Alan Partridge of daytime TV – for giving this clown the oxygen of publicity. They’re as bad as each other.