Holes Filled

Holes Filled

“Talk about a potty mouth,” jokes the New York Post. Jade Sylvester can’t stop eating toilet paper, and this is her story.

The Post’s version of her story was syndicated from News.com.au, where it ran under this headline:

Meet the UK mother who eats a roll of toilet paper every day and just ‘can’t quit’

The News.com.au story links back to the Huffington Post, which ran the story like this:

The Huffington Post story links back to three stories, all published on the same day. One from The Mirror:

Woman who can’t stop eating TOILET PAPER says ‘’I like to feel the texture in my mouth’’

One from the Metro:

Young mother gobbles down an entire roll of toilet paper every day

And another from the purported toilet-paper-eater’s regional paper, the Lincolnshire Echo:

Lincolnshire mum eats an entire toilet roll every day

At the bottom of the Echo’s story is a credit: “National press agency Sell My Story.” It links to the original version of the story:

This version ends with a note:

You might not have ever thought your crazy craving could lead to earning money from a national magazine or newspaper story, but you too could get paid for sharing your experiences.

The Facebook page affiliated with SellMyStory, which functions as a press agency by supplying stories to British publications, posts calls on a regular basis. Some are fact-checkable:

We’re looking for fantastic weight loss stories — and we’ve got up to £2,000 on offer too! Why not send us yours?

Others are not:

Did you discover your man was cheating when you found a dating app on his phone? We’ve got a really good fee for this story, so if this happened to you have a chat with our senior writer Geraldine.

And then there’s this one, back in October:

Do you have a weird craving or food habit? We need three girls for an article we’re working on — we’ve already got two, so we’re looking for just one more.

“Sell My Story is the country’s leading agency for selling your real life story to a magazine or newspaper,” the page says. “We’re experts in getting you the best deal.”

And so I say one more little prayer to the machines, not to spare me, but to hurry up.