Binky Felstead, the former Made in Chelsea star, is facing fresh accusations of demanding free wedding services in exchange for social media exposure. Illustrator Alice Peto has come forward claiming she was asked to design wedding invitations and menus for free for Felstead's 2021 wedding to Max Fredrik Darnton.
Peto, who has worked with Harrods and Selfridges, shared a screenshot of an email from Felstead's team offering 'exposure' on the influencer's 1.4 million Instagram followers as payment. The artist declined, stating she had been illustrating for 20 years and could not work for free.
This follows an earlier accusation from luxury cake business Anges de Sucre, whose owner Reshmi Bennett revealed Felstead's team had sought a free bespoke cake for her son's third birthday in exchange for a social media post. Another bakery, Funfetti London, claimed Felstead owed £75 for two cakes and had been ignored after requesting payment.
Felstead, who reportedly has a net worth of around £1.4 million, has been criticised for leveraging her influencer status to obtain free services. A representative for Felstead defended the practice, calling it a 'standard contra enquiry' and noting that such deals are 'widely used within this industry'.
Bennett told Metro that the situation 'could have been avoided' if Felstead had simply paid for the cake, adding that the 'optics' of a wealthy TV star receiving free goods from a small business are 'terrible'.
