They’re the YouTube power couple known for sharing every aspect of their lives, but for the past six months, Zoe Sugg, aka Zoella, and Alfie Deyes have vanished almost entirely from social media.
They disappeared without a warning: no goodbye, no statement explaining their disappearance.
Yet fans maintained hope, pointing to Alfie’s sporadic Instagram posts as proof that the couple, who soared to fame as ‘vloggers’ in 2012, would return to their regularly scheduled programming.
However, signs are emerging that this may never happen.
I can reveal that Alfie, who has always shared his love for photography and filming, has even started selling his camera equipment on Vinted.
In recent days, the 32-year-old has uploaded Canon camera lenses to the second-hand marketplace. One was originally listed for £600 but the price has already been dropped to £550. It retails for £2,000 on the Canon website.
Another lens, the EF 70-200mm F/2.8 IS II USM, has been listed for £750. A third camera lens, a Samyang fisheye, which retails at around £275, is listed for £130 and was uploaded by Alfie four months ago.
His Vinted account now has more than 5,000 followers and has 154 positive reviews.
Zoe Sugg and Alfie Deyes, the YouTube power couple known for sharing every aspect of their lives, have vanished almost entirely from social media
Fans have maintained hope that the couple, who soared to fame as ‘vloggers’ in 2012, will return to their regularly scheduled programming
Elsewhere, Zoe, 36, has been posting life updates to her private Instagram account, which only her close friends are allowed to follow – including her best friends and fellow influencers Mark Ferris and Jim Chapman.
While it is unknown what specific content she has shared on the page, @tigerlilyneverland, it seems she is not having a total social media detox, as some originally thought.
Many of Zoe’s loyal fans now say that the news of her private social media activity has come as a ‘slap in the face’.
‘What a slap in the face to all the loyal fans who have supported her for over a decade and who have bought the products she has released, liked the videos she has made, helped drive her engagement and thus increase her earnings via YouTube and Instagram for years,’ one wrote online.
‘She is more than entitled to step away, but when she decided to share her life online, build a community, and profit off that community, she does, in fact, owe them a brief explanation, or a few words. It’s just rude now.’
Over the past six months, I have contacted Zoe and Alfie’s manager, Maddie Chester, on several occasions to get answers for fans and to make sure the couple is well. Maddie has been with them for more than 12 years and has helped their careers flourish.
I have never received a response. In fact, there has been radio silence from the ‘Zalfie’ camp.
That hasn’t stopped the couple from continuing to profit from their business ventures, clothing line Future Self and journal brand Dear Sunday.
The products are still available to buy, and Alfie returned to social media with a one-off post on Zoe’s birthday in March with a discount code.
Alongside a picture of her three-tier cake, Alfie wrote: ‘To celebrate Zoe’s 36th Birthday, we’ve just put 36% off the entire DearSunday website!’
Again, fans were left disappointed that the couple are still trying to cash in on their followers despite not giving anything back.
Ahead of their disappearance from social media, the couple had been gradually reducing their online output, while becoming increasingly protective of their lives.
Some have speculated that Zoe’s disappearance is linked to her children.
Her eldest started school last September, and the couple have spoken openly about limiting her online exposure to protect her privacy now that she’s of school age.
Others were concerned that different issues were behind the couple’s absence. But there have since been sightings that suggest things are well.
Zoella fans have posted about bumping into Zoe and Alfie in their hometown of Brighton.
‘I saw her and the girls at our village fete last weekend. She looked happy, enjoying normal family life,’ one wrote online.
Zoe and Alfie were also pictured on an outing with Zoe’s brother and Strictly Come Dancing star Joe and his partner Dianne Buswell – whom he met on the ballroom competition – shortly after the arrival of their baby boy, Bowden, in March.
Many of Zoe’s loyal fans now say that the news of her private social media activity has come as a ‘slap in the face’
Zoe joins Dianne Buswell and Joe Sugg on a family walk in Sussex with the Strictly couple’s new baby Bowden back in March this year
Elsewhere, behind the scenes, the couple have become embroiled in a bitter countryside row after creating a new home for two donkeys behind their £2million Sussex mansion without planning permission.
They have rankled some of their well-heeled neighbours after three shepherd’s huts, fencing and gates were installed on a five-acre agricultural plot in the affluent village of Hassocks.
Work on the project – which includes a stable built for Zoe’s adopted animals and new access points to the field – started without planning permission being sought from the local council.
Objectors have now accused the social media star of failing to consult them over her plans and claim the development is harming the ‘character and charm of the area’.
Details of the dispute emerged in a belated planning application now submitted to Mid Sussex District Council by Zoe and Alfie.
It’s all a long way from the early days of Zoe’s career. She initially found an audience through blogging before turning to YouTube, where her videos documenting beauty products, shopping trips, house moves, and her personal life attracted millions of viewers.
At the peak of her online fame, she was one of the country’s most recognisable influencers and transformed her following into a multimillion-pound business empire.
She began dating Alfie in 2012 after he found success through his own YouTube channel, PointlessBlog.
The pair soon became one of the best-known couples to emerge from Britain’s ‘vlogging’ boom, building a combined following of more than 20million subscribers. They got engaged in September 2023 after more than a decade together and have two daughters, Ottilie and Novie.
For years, fans followed almost every major stage of their relationship, including their house moves, pregnancies, and family celebrations.
As someone who has followed Zalfie since those early days, I’d love to see the couple return to vlogging. However, I fear they have lost their passion for it.
And, besides, they would have a lot of making up to do with their followers.
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