Joe Baggs has built a longstanding career out of saying what many people are thinking. From his candid commentary on pop culture to his ability to draw out unexpected moments in celebrity interviews, he has carved out a space where humour, curiosity and an unfiltered perspective meet. Yet, behind the outspoken online persona is someone with plenty more to say about the industry he has grown up in.

First introduced to audiences on Channel 4’s Gogglebox alongside his family back in 2020, Baggs has since taken his personality beyond the living room and onto TikTok, where his observations have found a substantial audience. Through Not My Bagg, he has also developed a reputation for conversations that balance playful banter with the questions audiences want answered. His place on this year’s Love Island: Aftersun panel marks another step into the world of entertainment, offering a different perspective on the reality television he once watched from home.

That instinct for finding the fun in pop culture extends beyond the screen. On 27 October, Baggs brought a group of fellow creators together at Little Neon Door for an ICONS-themed Halloween dinner party in collaboration with NYX. Taking inspiration from Katie Price’s now-talked-about MadeByMitchell look at the National Television Awards, his own costume tapped into the playful, whimsical humour that has become part of his online identity. The evening was an opportunity to bring that digital world into a room, with creativity and self-expression at its centre.

Speaking with 1883, Baggs reflects on navigating the unpredictable nature of internet fame, creating a space where celebrities can let their guard down, and what comes next. With ambitions to move further into writing, directing and producing, he is already thinking beyond the camera.

You’ve built a career around talking about pop culture, from TikTok and Not My Bagg to the Love Island: Aftersun panel. When did you realise that your opinions and observations could become a career in their own right?

When we started out as a family on Gogglebox, obviously we’re all very gobby, from Essex, and I was thinking about how we would be perceived. The online response was good, so we thought, okay, let’s just give this a go, make loads of TikToks around it and really enjoy this experience.

When we left the show and started Not My Bagg, I think that speaking to celebrities, and meeting these idols and people that I’d grown up watching, and actually interviewing and honing that skill, I thought, oh, I genuinely love this and I can definitely see myself doing this long term.

So, I think the support on Gogglebox and the content creation surrounding that, leading into the podcast, really made me think, wow, this could be a legitimate career for me, and I put my all into it from then onwards.

You’ve interviewed some major names through Not My Bagg. What’s the secret to getting someone to drop their media-trained answers and show a side of themselves people don’t usually see?

That’s a tough one, as I’m not sure there’s a secret, but the one thing I do is make sure that someone feels completely comfortable from the moment they enter the room, and I chat to them a lot before we go on, to ease any nerves. I think my interviews are quite disarming anyway, and I’ve always wanted my show to be light-hearted and fun, as well as getting the info that I know everyone will want to hear, and the reason why they’re in the room, to be honest.

So yes, the through line of the whole pod is just having a laugh and having an enjoyable experience. And the show has also become the kind of show that a lot of people come off reality TV and do it as their first experience of a podcast, and it’s really lovely that I’m trusted to do that interview for people, because when they come into the studio, they know what they’re getting, which is great.

You’re now on the other side of the conversation as part of the Love Island: Aftersun panel. Has being in the room changed how you think about reality TV, or the way you comment on it?

I definitely think that being in the room has changed how I think about reality TV and the way I comment on it, because, you know, I come from a show where I’m sat with my family watching TV and forming an opinion on it, which I know the majority of the UK does as well.

Then to be in those rooms and realise that we only see such a small portion of these people’s lives and their lived experiences on these shows does make you think, okay, well, it is better to comment on the action of what you’re seeing. You know, I can watch someone do something on telly and say, “I wouldn’t do that and I don’t agree with that action,” but I’ve learned not to comment on the person and them as an individual or their personality, because at the end of the day you need to meet them and understand them and their experience before forming that opinion.

That’s what I love about the podcast. I’m kind of following the entire journey of watching their edit, forming an opinion on a TV show about them on the Aftersun panel, and then they come onto my show and I really get into the nitty-gritty and find out what we didn’t see and get to know these people as individuals, which is really lovely because it’s just allowing people to tell their stories, which is why I love this job and why I love the podcast as well.

The internet can turn someone into a star overnight and move on just as quickly. What do you think separates the personalities who have a lasting career from those who become a fleeting viral moment?

I think when you have a viral moment, it’s so easy to get swept up in how silly and giddy that moment is, and in the outpouring of support, and it’s such an amazing experience, but it is super fleeting and very short-lived. I think that the people that have made careers out of it have maybe thought longer term about how to sustain this and how to build on it.

It takes a lot of perseverance and also tenacity and ambition to say, “This is amazing and I want this to be a long-term thing for myself, so how do I throw everything I have at this?”

And the problem now with algorithms and social media is that it is so up-and-down, and so you have to really roll with the punches if you do want to make a long-term career out of social media. There are definitely weeks when I think, “It’s all over, no one is seeing my stuff anymore,” and actually you just have to persevere and get through it, because you never know what’s around the corner. You might be about to enter your golden era of content. You’ve just gotta keep going.

Your Halloween dinner party has an ICONS theme, and you’re recreating Katie Price’s iconic MadeByMitchell look from the National Television Awards. What made that look the one to recreate, and what does it take for a pop-culture moment to become truly iconic?

So, I had Katie on the podcast to promote her new doc Nothing to Hide, and I do this segment where you unpack someone’s bag and you pull photos out of a folder and then we talk about them. I pulled out a photo of me for Halloween a few years back where I was imitating her. Basically, there was an event that she did where she was in this multicoloured outfit for this hair colour remover, and I showed her, and she thought it was her. We were really giggling and I said, “I want to dress up as you again this year,” and we were laughing about it.

So, when I saw her at the NTAs, I mean my first interaction was, “This is iconic,” and it was so against the grain of the NTAs. She is one of the most talked-about women in the UK press, and I think she hasn’t been out of the press in about 20 years or so, and so I definitely thought, “This is perfect. This is what I wanna do this year.” Also, MadeByMitchell and the look he produced and the content that they made, and the way that look made her feel so amazing. I think that’s what makes a look iconic.

What I really wanted to do for my Halloween party this year is to re-create the essence of a “Gay Halloween”, which is these niche looks that people would be like, “You know, I love gay Halloween. What do you mean Joe’s dressed as Katie Price at the NTAs 2026?” That kind of ridiculous, silly, whimsical humour that I know I put across in my content, and I want to bring it to life with the party. And with the party being ICONS-themed as well, it just opens up that door for everybody.

But also, I’ve been speaking to people about their costumes, people have been messaging me, and I keep saying to them, you know, being an icon is subjective, an icon could be anything. Like, I love Kate King from TikTok and YouTube and Instagram. I think she’s an icon. You could come dressed as her. I think Abby Lee Miller is an icon, you know, but I also think icons are these Hollywood stars, you know, Nicole Kidman.

So I think that it’s super subjective, and yeah, that’s what I think makes an icon an icon. An icon is what makes you feel, so that’s why I thought it was the perfect theme for a Halloween party.

You’re bringing together a group of creators for the dinner party at Little Neon Door in collaboration with NYX. What makes a gathering like this fun for you, and how important is it to have friendships with people who understand the world you work in?

I think what makes a gathering like this fun for me is being able to make the room feel like my social media, and making it a place where people can escape, be whimsical and giddy and silly and just have the best time. Having NYX involved makes it even more special because they’re a brand that really celebrates creativity, individuality and self-expression, which is exactly what this night is all about. That is all I really care about when throwing a party, and I think the theme being icons really does make that possible.

In terms of how important having friendships is within this industry and the content creator and influencer world, I think it’s important because it’s a really new industry in the UK, you know, TikTok and Instagram influencers. I think it’s really lovely to have that feeling of community in any job, and so yeah, I think it is really important to be able to have conversations that you might not be able to have with anyone else.

You spend so much time observing internet culture and the way people behave online. What’s a Gen Z trend or online obsession you genuinely understand, and one you still can’t get your head around?

A trend or obsession that I genuinely understand is the obsession with Catherine Turner, director of product development at M&S Food, because she has got me in a chokehold with her content on TikTok. I have dressed up as her as a Halloween costume on my pages, and it’s now evolved into me dressing up as Cat in the Hat as Catherine Turner and going to my local M&S. I cannot begin to explain to you how much I love this woman, and I really do understand why people are so obsessed with her content.

And one I can’t get my head around, I guess, is the whole looksmaxxing and anything-maxing trends. I’m not sure whether I’m at the cusp where I’m too old to understand some TikTok stuff. I’m 30 next year and people keep saying things to me and I’m like, “Oh, what does that mean?” And I never thought I would get to that point, so that’s kind of worrying.

Between hosting, interviewing celebrities and attending major entertainment events, you’re constantly putting yourself out there. What does your life look like when the cameras are off and you’re not creating content?

When the cameras are off and I’m not creating content, I’m pretty much lying horizontally. [laughs] No, I love running, and I feel like exercise really helps me, you know, switch off from this job. But also, I just love being creative, and one thing I really want to get into in the coming months is going back to creating art and painting, which I used to really enjoy.

And then I feel like nowadays there’s this whole emphasis on the idea that if you’re going to do something, you should make content about it, or make it a side hustle and make money from it, etc., and I just wanna have an avenue that’s a bit more artistic where I can, like, kinda switch off. So that’s one thing that I want to get into again.

But I also have a very creative, ADHD-fuelled brain, and so when I am off, I’m still like, I love this job and I love what I do and I love creating content, so when I’m quieter and I’m a bit bored, I’m actually creating some really fun ideas that I will then film. So I’m never really switching off, but I enjoy that, so yeah.

Being visible online means people can develop a strong impression of you without ever meeting you. What’s something people tend to assume about you that isn’t quite right?

Now, some people won’t believe this, but my mum can attest to this: I come across, you know, very headstrong and ambitious and direct in a work sense, but I’m also really shy. And I know people will be like, “What do you mean? That’s ridiculous!” But I really am.

My mum’s actually got a portrait done of me when I was a kid and it really encapsulates what I look like, because I just look terrified. It’s a drawn portrait. But I’ve always been a really shy kid, and yeah, I still get a bit anxious in social settings to this day. I have to really work myself up to go headfirst into a conversation or a situation, and so yeah, I feel like that’s probably something that people would think, “How is this loudmouth gobby Essex guy shy in any way, shape or form?” But I am, I swear.

You’ve built a platform that takes you from online commentary to major entertainment moments. What’s something you want to do next that would surprise the people who know you primarily from TikTok?

I think that what people necessarily don’t see from me, even though I am in front of the camera quite a lot, is that I do create, write and direct a lot of my content. I self-produce a lot, and going into next year and the coming years, it’s something that I really want to do without necessarily being in front of the camera: create and produce some different, almost series and shows, without actually being in front of it, which I think would surprise people who obviously know me from TikTok.

But I also am one of those people where I just want to do everything, and obviously you can’t; you’re only one person. So I think the next few years will be really interesting for me, and for those who follow me, to see what I come up with and where I’m going and where my family and I are going, because, as I said earlier, I really love this and I have so many ideas that I want to create and bring to life. So, who knows what’s around the corner, and hopefully whatever I do will surprise those that are watching me.

Not My Bagg is available here and on all podcast providers and YouTube. Follow Joe via @joebxggs

Interview Nancy Anekwe

Photography Georgie Wilding

Makeup Toni Laites

Stylist @emipardoe

Food Stylist Flourshow