Chrissy Teigen is good at Twitter. She’s also fabulously, unimaginably wealthy. So while she hobnobs with the masses on social media, she also lives a very different life than almost everyone. That was made abundantly clear on Wednesday, when what began as what seemed like a simple prompt — the kinds that yield thousands and thousands of quote-tweets, with hyper-personal responses — turned her into one of the “main characters” of Twitter for a day. That’s to say, she went viral for the wrong reasons.
It began innocently. Teigen thought she had a solid prompt tweet, writing, “what’s the most expensive thing you’ve eaten that you thought sucked?” On a second glance, it’s not the greatest prompt tweet, which tend to be relatable to almost everyone, whereas this one implies that you could at some point afford something deemed “expensive.” But she would have maybe gotten away with it had she not offered her own response.
one time john and I were at a restaurant and the waiter recommended a nice Cabernet. We got the bill and it was 13,000 dollars. HOW DO U CASUALLY RECOMMEND THAT WINE. we didn’t even finish it and it had been cleared!!!
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) February 3, 2021
“one time john” — she wrote, referring to her husband, John Legend — “and I were at a restaurant and the waiter recommended a nice Cabernet. We got the bill and it was 13,000 dollars. HOW DO U CASUALLY RECOMMEND THAT WINE. we didn’t even finish it and it had been cleared!!!”
Teigen tried to make it relatable, with its all-caps bewilderment and suggestion that $13,000 seemed like a lot to a famous model, TV personality, and entrepreneur married to one of the most successful musicians alive. But people did not find it relatable. And so Teigen got aggressively quote-tweeted, but not for the reasons she had hoped.
Did you recover? Meanwhile people are out here drowning in debt, losing their homes, and can’t afford to see a doctor.
— @ me if you simp for chrissy teigan (@plainmouse) February 3, 2021
This is how you know money isn’t real & capitalism is straight garbage. Y’all can accidentally buy a $13,000 bottle of wine but most Americans can’t afford a $300 emergency
— Dolly (@DollypartonXXL) February 3, 2021
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend after accidentally drinking a 13k bottle of wine pic.twitter.com/bbNPp2tI5v
— Guy P. Football (@Guy_P_Football) February 3, 2021
I don’t think I have ever had 13 thousand dollars at one time, but great story Chrissy!
— 1984’s George Whorewell (@EwdatsGROSS) February 3, 2021
chrissy teigen: one time in geneva, my husband john legend’s driver was parking our limo. he knocked over an ancient statue and we had to pay 90,000 euros to fix it! luckily we had it on us, in gold krugerrand.
regular people: omg she is so relatable.
— john (@johnsemley3000) February 3, 2021
Lol not unlike Chrissy Teigen, one time I was at a Family Dollar store which I had mistaken for having a policy of only having items for a dollar like the store Dollar Tree, and boy was my face red when I realized there were things there that were multiple dollars, and I left pic.twitter.com/tlMVVVPMGY
— Matthew Torres (@T1260Matt) February 3, 2021
My family is literally homeless. I hate America. https://t.co/Qy2iZYM1U0
— Anarcho Habibti “The Intolercunt” (@Badgirlsbedhead) February 3, 2021
we need a separate twitter for rich people https://t.co/qLwuy10gvL
— Sarah hagi (@KindaHagi) February 3, 2021
Some took the waiter’s side.
When covid is over I want to shake the hand of the waiter that tricked chrissy teigen into buying a $13k bottle of wine
— e (@eeeeowa) February 3, 2021
i wouldve charged chrissy teigen for refills on water too
— ashley ray (@theeashleyray) February 3, 2021
taking bets: do you think they lowered the tip they gave the waiter https://t.co/K4JdU8rfq2
— found a new type of widening gyre (@Boringstein) February 3, 2021
There were even Parasite jokes.
— Bes D. Socialist (@besf0rt) February 3, 2021
Everyday I wonder which part of PARASITE she enjoyed the most https://t.co/SC6Okv6jaA
— Zoé (@ztsamudzi) February 4, 2021
https://t.co/6Guq785KQt pic.twitter.com/KHF1NxLQgu
— Shaun (@shaun_vids) February 3, 2021
The wait staff: https://t.co/pyhCpFXKmW pic.twitter.com/Vva96A9Ax7
— Jim Cummings (@jimmycthatsme) February 4, 2021
Eventually Teigen — who, again, is usually good at Twitter — checked back in, attempting damage control, of sorts.
hey, not everything I say on my twitter is going to be relatable to you because it is my life and my twitter and my stories. I see your tweets, I get your jokes, you are so funny, yes, you really nailed me
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) February 3, 2021
honestly, I will be that person for you. it is fun to gang up on me. I *see* the convos that bring you together in your owning of me. I make it easy. have fun.
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) February 3, 2021
She did, however, have her defenders.
Chrissy Teigan is a celebrity is a clearly has financial resources beyond our wildest dreams. That’s not a secret. I would be more perturbed if she acted like she was poor when she’s clearly not. She just shared an experience she had, not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings
— Sarah Dorsey (@_sarahdorsey) February 3, 2021