TWO students from Bolton have become stars on the TikTok social media platform thanks to their humorous food review clips.
Ollie Ball and Jacob Pasquill, both 16, discuss food and drink, often during their school days – St. Joseph’s in Horwich.
Over the past six months, the Duos videos – part of a series called chuck it or scran it – have received millions of views, while the couple’s channel has amassed 1.5 million followers.
They have received celebrity attention in recent weeks – including singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi and soccer stars Mason Greenwood and David Wheater.
The social media platform is used to create a wide variety of short videos from genres such as dance, comedy, and education. It’s one of the most popular apps in the world.
And the couple said they were ultimately happy just putting smiles on people’s faces at a difficult time.
Jacob said, “I had just started checking the school food in November and Ollie was in after that, so we got a bit of a one-two punch.”
“We never thought it would be that big, so we just want to see how far it goes. We’ll just keep going and not rushing anything.”
Jacob periodically opens and closes the videos and periodically reminds viewers whether or not Coronation Street is open that night.
Ollie is usually the station’s main critic, forensically analyzing everything from Galaxy Ripples to Jamaican ginger beers to the food available in the canteen.
His catchphrase “It’s Ollie Ball here” has become a hit on social media.
He said, “We try to do at least one video a day Monday through Friday. We didn’t think it was going to get as big as it is, and it’s pretty weird that we have 1.5 million followers.
“The school supported us, but they started monitoring our videos. We’re just glad we can continue to do that.”
Jacob added, “We’re just two normal guys from Bolton trying to make people laugh and put a smile on their faces.
“At the moment everything is a bit negative, so we take away the negative aspects and cheer people up.”
The duo can be found on TikTok under the user names Ollieball12 and jacobchuckitorscranit.