Netflix Sidemen Inside star Mandi Vakili’s life off screen – from Love Island ties to surgery regrets
The Sidemen, a well-known YouTube group, are taking a shot at reality TV with their high-stakes gameshow Inside, which has just kicked off its second series.
Set to stream on Netflix from today (March 17), the show features a group of social media personalities battling it out for a whopping £1 million prize. They’re all housed under one roof for a week, facing various challenges to avoid daily evictions.
To make things even more interesting, every decision the competitors make can reduce the final prize money. This includes how much they spend on luxury items like coffee and tea, which can cost hundreds of pounds.
Among the stars competing for the million-pound prize is influencer Mandi Vakili, but who exactly is this 33-year-old content creator?
Mandi Vakili is an Instagram model and fashion content creator. She has a following of 355K on Instagram and an additional 124.5K on TikTok, reports OK!
She gained recognition when her older sister Anna appeared in the 2019 summer series of Love Island. The sisters have been seen partying with US influencer Dan Bilzerian in the past.
After exiting the ITV2 show, Anna started a podcast with Mandi called Sisters in the City, where they discuss their experiences as young women living in London.
While she’s often mentioned alongside her sister, Mandi is determined to make a name for herself in the industry.
Before joining the Sidemen’s reality show, Mandi boasted: “I was best known for being Anna’s sister from Love Island, but after this show she’s gonna be known for being Mandi Vakili’s sister from Sidemen Inside.”
Mandi bravely shared her surgery journey and the negative impact it has had on her. On one episode of the Sisters in the City podcast, hosted by herself and Anna, 34, Mandi opened up about her history with cosmetic procedures.
The influencer discussed how multiple BBLs (Brazilian Butt Lifts), breast lifts, and breast implants, both in the UK and abroad, have ‘ruined’ her body.
During their frank conversation, Mandi expressed regret over her decision to undergo repeated surgeries after initial procedures left her with a ‘botched’ appearance.
She described a vicious cycle where each surgery led to the need for another, echoing a warning she received: “Do you know what someone said to me at the very beginning, when we started getting surgery? [They said]: ‘The more surgery you get, the more surgery you get.'”.
Elaborating on this vicious cycle, Mandi explained that consecutive surgeries would inevitably lead to the need for more procedures to correct the mistakes of the previous ones.
If given the chance, she wished to reverse her decisions, adding, “Why is that? Because the more surgery you get the more you’re gonna need to fix and undo all them previous f****** surgeries. Oh my god if I could just only turn back time.”
Mandi’s candour didn’t end there; she lamented the severe extent of damage she believes she inflicted upon herself, admitting: “I ruined myself. I have actually destroyed myself to the point where now I can’t even walk around in a bikini without thinking everyone around me is looking at these massive, sticking out, keloid scars.
“I can’t even sunbathe on my chest because I’ve got these massive scars, dark, black, sticking out.”
The sisters further urged young individuals to deeply consider the long-term impact before deciding on cosmetic procedures.
Inside by Sidemen is streaming now on Netflix.
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