If you’ve spent some time on TikTok, you’ve probably come across the VIP List, two influencers who post — let’s say exuberant — New York City restaurant reviews on the app. The ladies behind the VIP List, Meg Radice and Audrey Jongens, are longtime friends who started posting old nightlife reviews on TikTok during the pandemic, when all restaurants and clubs were closed.
The VIP List girls have since pivoted to reviewing restaurants full-time, racking up more than 350,000 followers with their extremely fast-paced, enthusiastic reviews, which are as delightfully aggressive as they are opulent (some choice quotes: “Don’t even bother coming to Carbone without getting the spicy rigatoni,” “sometimes you just gotta say fuck it and spend $80 on a finger sandwich,” and “For entrees we got the filet and ribeye cooked medium rare. If you like it cooked well-done, you’re canceled.”)
@theviplist One of our favorite experiences in NYC #boat #hottub #nyc #experience #celebration #birthday #sos
Over the past few weeks, TikTokers have taken to parodying some of the VIP List’s most popular videos, including by lip-synching to them to highlight their frenetic style; some have criticized the women for flaunting their privilege, with one creator referring to them as “fucking white NYU girls with cellphones being like, ‘if you don’t go to Via Carota, you should kill yourself.’” (Radice and Jongens do not attend NYU, though the stereotype admittedly has merit.)
@fakeroberts In 📍Hell. #nyc
But Radice and Jongens insist that they’re in on the joke. In an interview with Rolling Stone writers Ej Dickson and Brittany Spanos, cohosts of the new podcast Don’t Let This Flop, Radice says the videos are “supposed to be satire. That’s what people don’t understand. We’re not that extra.” They also discuss influencer culture, whether they pay for their own ultra-sumptuous meals, and just how hard it is to get into the celebrity hotspot Carbone (answer: very hard).
This week on Don’t Let This Flop, Dickson and Spanos also discuss what’s on Shawn Mendes’s For You page, whether Megan Fox has replaced Addison Rae as Khloe Kardashian’s BFF, and what the deal is with Dear Evan Hansen star Ben Platt’s wig. DLTF is released Wednesdays on all audio streaming platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher and more. DLTF is released Wednesdays on all audio streaming platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher and more.