Sam's bacon butty bite is watched by 13 million
WHEN you next bite into a bacon butty, it’s unlikely the act is going to be of interest to 13 million people across the globe.
Yet when Rotherham’s Sam Bagshaw does it, he gets worldwide recognition.
Sam, who has stammered all his life, inspires others to cope with their own speech defect.
He motivates them with every-day videos on TikTok.
Sam’s recent film of him ordering a bacon and cheese melt at the Doorsteps sandwich shop in Main Street, Aughton, attracted 13.1 million views.
On top of that came 1.7m likes and 23,640 comments.
By the time you read this, the figures will be even higher.
Sam, who lives in Aston, first attracted attention when he started using the social media platform as a personal challenge.
He found it helped his confidence, but more importantly, encouraged others to go out and do things they had been shying away from.The 27-year-old, who works as a warehouseman at Wincanton in Catcliffe, said: “The numbers keep going up, it's crazy.
“When it got to a million views, I didn’t think it would go up more, but to go up to more than 12 is unbelievable. I think most people posting are from Britain but there are also viewers from places like Australia and America.
“That one video put my number of followers up from 79,000 to 170,000!
“All that, because I ordered breakfast at a café - I an sure that will surprise a lot of people."
Sam said he had committed to filming ‘experience videos’ so he could show people he can overcome speech difficulties and enjoy himself.
“I thought it would be good to show people I was able to go somewhere by myself and order a breakfast.
“On the video I struggled a little bit with my stammer, but there were a lot of good comments, particularly about how nice the waitress was with me,” he said.
He acknowledged there were difficulties attached to speaking publicly for people with a stammer, and also some people without one.
That’s part of the reason why so many people identified with the film, he added.
“I am going places and showing how confident I am meeting people for the first time. Those who comment on TikTok seem to see how I have grown since I started the videos a few months ago.
“The messages to me have not stopped, from people who have a stammer or know someone who has and the videos are really helping them. I am inspiring people and that's a great thing to do.
“I use the hashtag #pushyourself - just go for it.
“Connecting with other people with a stammer really helps them, especially if they are having a bad day.
“I feel like I am on a mission, I'd love to do this full-time as a job and help people as much as I can.
“So I am pleased with the café video - and the food was really good too!"
Sam’s next adventure will be on Thursday, when he will video himself indoor rock climbing.