Molly-Mae Hague‘s sister Zoe Rae cut a trim figure as she stepped out in Hale, Cheshire – still sporting rollers in her hair – just weeks after causing a storm over her luxury Bali getaway.
The fitness influencer, 28, was all smiles as she left a local hair salon alongside her husband Danny Rae, clutching a bottle of water and her car keys before hopping into her brand new £80,000 Land Rover Discovery.
Dressed down in an oversized navy ALO zip sweatshirt with matching shorts, white socks and beige Birkenstock sandals, Zoe looked relaxed as she strolled through the upmarket village with Danny.
It’s the first time she’s been seen since sparking furious backlash online when she revealed she’d quit her Indonesian holiday just 48 hours after arriving.
In a brutally honest YouTube review, Zoe said the trip to mark her anniversary with Danny had ‘missed the mark’, claiming the island looked ‘nothing like’ the dreamy scenes pushed by influencers on Instagram.
The couple had stayed in a sprawling sea-view suite at the five-star Radisson Blu in Uluwatu – complete with infinity pool and fine dining restaurants – but still decided to cut their losses and fly to Dubai instead.
The controversial fitness influencer, 28, was all smiles as she left a local hair salon alongside her husband Danny Rae, clutching a bottle of water and her car keys before hopping into her brand new £80,000 Land Rover Discovery
Dressed down in an oversized navy ALO zip sweatshirt with matching shorts, white socks and beige Birkenstock sandals, Zoe looked relaxed as she strolled through the upmarket village
Zoe said: ‘Unfortunately Bali wasn’t really the right fit for us with how we intended to spend our wedding anniversary!
‘Since landing in Bali, something for us has just not felt quite right.
‘We came to Bali with high expectations as we’d seen on social media – everyone having such a lovely time, such gorgeous places to go for food and lovely beaches, lovely gyms, lovely coffee shops.
‘If you took a picture of the coffee shop and zoomed out, you would see what the reality was. I don’t think the reality of Bali is shown much, or at all.
‘I do think it is down to a lot of influencers and people with large followings online, posting the more luxury side of things.’
She added: ‘Before I joined the army, I spent five months travelling Southeast Asia – I did Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao. I did China, Hong Kong.
‘I did a lot and I spent a lot of time in these countries, but there is something very different about Bali.
‘We got told that Uluwatu, where we are now, is one of the best places to go, so that’s why we came here. So if this is one of the better places, then I’m not sure what the other places are like.’
Molly Mae Hague ‘s sister Zoe Rae came under fire for leaving Bali just 48 hours after she arrived because it ‘did not live up to expectations set by other influencers’
While the five star resorts – like the Radisson Blu Utuwata (pictured) where Zoe stayed – portray exclusive luxury, Zoe claimed a lot of the island does not match up to the flawless social media aesthetic projected by influencers online
Despite staying in a huge sea view room at the Radisson Blu, a five-star hotel, Zoe and her husband decided to leave early and jet to Dubai instead (pictured in Dubai)
She continued: ‘I do think if we’d travelled more north and gone to Ubud and maybe some of the more jungle-y areas, we may have had a different experience.
‘Again, a lot of people are saying that’s where they went and they felt exactly the same.
‘I can really see the appeal, I can. I think if you’re backpacking and want to travel about, it’s great. I think for a holiday, staying in one place, not so great.’
‘But then also, I say it’s great for people that are backpacking but a lot of people messaged me saying they backpacked all these countries and this has been their least favourite out of all of them.
‘I think there are a lot of other places to go where I think you would have a better experience and a better time.’
Fans accused Zoe of being ‘out of touch with reality’, pointing out Bali is a developing country where many locals live in poverty.
Zoe is often seen in her sister’s YouTube videos as well as her own YouTube channel and she previously followed in her sister’s footsteps and signed a five-figure deal with PrettyLittleThing
But after building her brand over the past few years, Zoe has found herself under fire after the ill-fated Bali trip
Others mocked her for apparently not realising that outside of high-end resorts, the island wouldn’t match its glossy online image.
Despite the backlash, Zoe stood by her comments, insisting that influencers post a ‘filtered’ version of Bali that doesn’t reflect the reality.
She told her followers that she had expected ‘lovely places to eat, beaches, gyms and coffee shops’ but had been left disappointed.
The criticism drew comparisons with her Love Island sister Molly-Mae, who has also been accused in the past of living in a bubble far removed from everyday struggles.
