A bunch of influencers thrown into a house and under 24/7 surveillance – no, it’s not the new series of Celebrity Big Brother, but a new show called Inside, founded by YouTube superstars the Sidemen and sees the likes of Mandi Vakili, Love Island’s Whitney Adebayo and footballer Patrice Evra battle it out for a prize fund of up to £1million.
The show – co-created by new _Britain's Got Talen_t judge KSI – has become a hit for Netflix, who is airing the second season after previous success on YouTube, with it becoming the second-most watched show for the streamer during its week of release (second only to Adolescence).
Despite having 362,000 Instagram followers, this is the first time many people will be seeing Mandi – the sister of former Love Island star Anna Vakili – and, naturally, people are interested in her private life.
Mandi, 33, has spoken about her boyfriend and their relationship at length on the podcast she co-hosts with Anna, Sisters in the City.
Who is Mandi Vakili’s boyfriend?
Mandi has kept the identity of her boyfriend private, only ever posting a very small glimpse of his face on social media. She has also never revealed his name, only referring to him as ‘Gingerbeard’ on the podcast.
Similarly, Anna has not shared her boyfriend’s identity and refers to him as ‘Cowslick’.
Although there is no concrete evidence around Gingerbeard’s real identity, Reddit users have seemingly discovered that he is Greek Cypriot and owns a construction company.
Both Mandi and Anna credit Gingerbeard for helping launch their podcast Sisters in the City, as he found them their first studio.
What has Mandi Vakili said about her boyfriend?
Mandi is often praised for speaking openly about difficulties in her relationship with Gingerbeard, breaking down in a recent episode about how she feels he has ‘reservations’ about being with her.
She candidly told sister Anna, ‘I don’t know what it is, it’s not one big thing, it’s just how I feel right now in the relationship. I feel like it’s so unfair on him as well because it’s not fair for me to be like, “I’m not happy right now, I’m not happy with this, I’m not happy with that." It’s not fair on him because he’s giving his most, but his most might not be enough for me.’
Inside is available to stream on Netflix
Samuel McManus is a senior content creator for Bauer Media, writing celebrity news and features across five of the company’s brands – heat, Closer, Grazia, Bella and Yours. Samuel has worked at Bauer Media since November 2024.