'Pickling a cucumber changed my life' says TikTok award winner

A man who creates oddly satisfying pool cleaning videos, a travel duo on the hunt for a Mr Whippy that costs 99p and a woman who makes homemade pickles are among the winners of the UK and Ireland's first TikTok awards.

On Tuesday evening, 72 shortlisted content creators - who have a combined follower count of more than 101m - attended an awards ceremony celebrating creators across 12 categories including fashion, travel, food and education.

The event in west London was everything you imagine an awards ceremony for the chronically online to be like. There were endless photo opportunities, more ring lights than people - and some creators seen refreshing their follower accounts during the ceremony.

Those who won awards told the BBC about how they rose to stardom on the video platform, and expressed their views on whether short social media videos were contributing to "brain rot" - the supposed deterioration of a person's mental state due to over-consumption of low-quality or unchallenging online content.

"My life changed just from pickling a cucumber," Maddi Neye-Swift told the BBC as she picked up her award for food creator of the year.

"I was unemployed and I started a series of things I cook while I'm unemployed and this random video of me pickling a cucumber just took off.

"Overnight it got 10 million views, it was crazy."

The worst food crime according to a food content creator? "Nutella and cheese is pretty gross."

Maddi said she "was always nervous about posting videos" of herself. While many of these creators ooze confidence, many others share Maddi's feelings.

Katie Kennedy - thehistorygossip on TikTok - said that when she first started posting videos, she "blocked my friends, family and everyone I knew because I was so embarrassed".

Now she's more proud of her work educating people about history and says her job is "rewarding".

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Among the winners was Miles Laflin, better known as The Pool Guy, who picked up the award for high-quality content creator of the year.

The 34-year-old has 15m followers on TikTok who watch him remove gunk and debris from swimming pools and then use a jet washer to restore them back to their original beauty.

But what about the videos are high quality? As satisfying as they are to watch, some may question whether they're contributing to brain rot - which was recently named Oxford University's word of the year.

Miles said he doesn't think his content is causing brain rot as "people learn something from it".

"I actually have people messaging me saying they learn so much from it, but even people who don't have a pool just love seeing how satisfying it is for something to be cleaned."

He added: "I've just got to thank the people with sloshy pools."

Creator of the year nominee Ayame - whose videos occasionally involve the star simply reacting to objects being crushed - told the BBC brain rot "is a compliment, not an insult".

"I love brain rot culture, I love connecting with people," she said. "If I'm a brain rot girly then let's rot together."

The award for creator of the year was given to 22-year-old Kyra-Mae Turner whose lifestyle content focuses mainly on holiday videos and get ready with me videos.

After accepting her award, she tells the BBC: "I hope people take something positive from my content, because that's why I do it."

"It's amazing when people tell me how I've helped them feel more confident in solo travelling or in their body".

She also said making content for social media is not as easy as it looks. "It really can take ages."

Ryan Losasso and Jade Beaty, who won the award for travel creator of the year, agree with Kyra-Mae, saying: "It's so easy to underestimate how hard it is to make content because it's our job to make it look seamless, but there's a lot of planning that goes into it."

Uche Natori, who won the fashion and beauty creator of the year award, added: "I don't understand why people roll their eyes at people being celebrated for being good at their job and doing something that's actually very hard.

"There's a lot of work and dedication that goes into it that people don't see."

But, it's not all makeup, travel and fashion - some of those honoured are using their platform to inspire and educate.

Iain Ward, who picked up an award for voice for change, is a 31-year-old who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer last year.

He's been using his TikTok platform to raise money for charity by completing challenges, such as running seven marathons in seven days.

"I think what I do is cool because it's unique," he said in the winners' room.

"I did think my content would take off actually because it has meaning and really it's the story of a hero."

Manny Wallace is best known for his at-home chemistry experiments.

He picked up the award for education creator of the year and said being seen as a role-model was "really great".

"My teacher inspired me and that's what I hope to give back," he said, adding that his favourite video was one where he "melted a knife into something else to spread love".

It's also not just young people who were at the ceremony. Married couple Teresa and Michael, both 80, were among the nominees.

"I don't understand any of it," Teresa Barnett said when asked how she felt about taking a walk down the red carpet. "We're just normal people and now we get recognised in the supermarket."

The pair were nominated for starring in their son James' TikTok series makemeaoffer.

Similarly bewildered, James explained how he started randomly capturing moments with his parents for TikTok, with viewing numbers on the videos escalating rapidly each time.

"It has just resonated," James said. "I think it's the authenticity; it's the fact that my parents are sort of anti-influencers."

The awards, which were also livestreamed on TikTok, were hosted by TV personality Michelle Visage.

She said that TikTok was "everyone's guilty pleasure".

Asked why TikTok creators should be recognised with awards, Visage said: "Actors and singers get recognised, why wouldn't content creators? They deserve it."

The winners were selected through a vote among TikTok users.

Across all the categories, more than 2.9 million votes were cast.

Creator of the year - Kyra-Mae Turner

Entertainment creator of the year - Nicholas Flannery

Food creator of the year - Maddi Neye-Swift

Sport creator of the year - John Nellis

Fashion and beauty creator of the year - Uche Natori

Travel creator of the year - Ryan Losasso and Jade Beaty

Education creator of the year - Manny Wallace

Voice for change - Iain Ward

High quality content creator of the year - Miles Laflin

Rising star creator of the year - George Harper

Video of the year award - Jay Foreman

Breakthrough artist of the year - Myles Smith

Additional reporting by Emmanuella Alausa.