Belfast-based TikTok star Kyle Thomas's 'absolutely crazy' rise to millions of followers

Building millions of online followers and gaining billions of 'likes' has been an "absolutely crazy" experience for Belfast-based man Kyle Thomas.

The TikTok celebrity rose to fame almost four years ago when he started to post videos about his life and love on animals on the social media platform.

He's spoken about his whirlwind success to Pamela Ballentine on the latest episode of UTV Life.

"I started out on Instagram just to give it a go and then I saw loads of people popping up on TikTok," he said.

"I hadn't really heard much about it and then I thought, I'm going to make an account and then I just pressed go.

"I made a few random videos and I remember I was actually in school at the time doing an open day, then the next day when I was showing the first years around and I was like, 'What? I've got 5,000 followers. Look at me go."

That number has grown rapidly, with Kyle now followed by 35million people.

"It's absolutely crazy and because it's happened so fast I don't feel like I have 35million followers, I just feel like I'm me, still sat in my bedroom making my videos," he told UTV Life.

Having left school at the age of 16, Kyle said he hopes to combine his love of animals with future study to eventually become a zoologist.

You can watch Kyle's interview with Pamela on UTV Life here.

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