Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask who is the biggest grifter you've seen?

594 replies

2025ohdear · 20/02/2025 16:41

I remember Anthea Turner punting flakes at her wedding. Carol Vorderman was always quick to front a financial product. Just seen Carole Malone on my timeline oiling on about weight loss jabs.

Any others spring to mind?

OP posts:
SirRaymondClench · 21/02/2025 06:52

Sir Mo Farrah. That man will sell his name to promote literally anything.

Breezeblock · 21/02/2025 06:56

Icanttakethisanymore · 21/02/2025 06:10

I’d say it’s hard to justify £32m on a wedding under any circumstances tbh and I don’t know anything about Megan Markle, however, I find your preoccupation with the fact she is twice divorced quite odd. Are you religious? Is that the issue? Or has the patriarchy convinced you that divorced women as damaged goods?

Show quote history

And I don’t think she’s even twice divorced? Not that it would matter if she were but 🤷‍♀️

peanutbuttertoasty · 21/02/2025 07:06

Hamas and their victim narrative

Areolaborealis · 21/02/2025 07:10

Jamie Oliver! After all the fuss he made about processed food he starts peddling his own ready meals.

sternocleidomastoid · 21/02/2025 07:14

As far as the meaning of the word goes, here are a few definitions:

a person who engages in petty or small-scale swindling. "I saw him as a grifter who preys upon people".
someone who gets money dishonestly by tricking people: "She fell for a charming, fast-talking grifter"
A con artist: someone who swindles people out of money through fraud. Someone who cheats others out of money.

Its closely related to "Spiv":
a person who makes a living by underhand dealings or swindling
a man, especially one who is well-dressed in a way that attracts attention, who makes money dishonestly

In fiction, good examples of both are:
Del Boy (only fools and horses)
Arthur Daley (minder)
Flash Harry (st trinians).
The two main characters in the film "Dirty rotten scoundrels"

sternocleidomastoid · 21/02/2025 07:21

Then there is "freeloader"
a person who takes advantage of others' generosity without giving anything in return; a person who habitually depends on the charity of others for food, shelter etc.

Speckyfourfries · 21/02/2025 07:22

Meecrowahvey · 20/02/2025 17:03

Jack munroe or whatever she her name is now.

What happened to her?? She had more issues than Vogue but enjoyed her recipes

Coaster99 · 21/02/2025 07:28

Hands down it has to be Markle and the stupid prince

BustingBaoBun · 21/02/2025 07:41

sternocleidomastoid · 21/02/2025 07:21

Then there is "freeloader"
a person who takes advantage of others' generosity without giving anything in return; a person who habitually depends on the charity of others for food, shelter etc.

Yes, that sums up the royal family. Even if they have squirrelled away a huge amount of wealth

Moonlightstars · 21/02/2025 07:51

SirRaymondClench · 21/02/2025 06:52

Sir Mo Farrah. That man will sell his name to promote literally anything.

He is not a grifter. You don't win repeated gold medals by grifting. He was also a trafficked child and a slave. He pulled himself out of a hideous childhood, worked his arse off to achieve what he did.

Willoo · 21/02/2025 08:00

Kier Starmer by a country mile

DoloresODonovan · 21/02/2025 08:16

ThejoyofNC · 20/02/2025 18:23

Zelensky without a doubt

well said and bravely !

MinnieMountain · 21/02/2025 08:18

Really?! @Willoo .

SchoolDilemma17 · 21/02/2025 08:21

Areolaborealis · 21/02/2025 07:10

Jamie Oliver! After all the fuss he made about processed food he starts peddling his own ready meals.

And his Italian restaurant was massively overpriced with tiny portions.

Icanttakethisanymore · 21/02/2025 08:27

Breezeblock · 21/02/2025 06:56

And I don’t think she’s even twice divorced? Not that it would matter if she were but 🤷‍♀️

Show quote history

Well that makes it all the more ridiculous and proves how little I know about MM 😂

Phase2 · 21/02/2025 08:27

This is an interesting thread,mainly for all the different interpretations of grifter.
I think of grifters as people who just follow the cash, peddle whatever they can like TikTok mums selling whatever shite they get asked to flog.

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 21/02/2025 08:30

Redheadedstepchild · 20/02/2025 17:26

I don't really think I can beat Captain Tom's daughter and I'm not quite sure if this character is a grifter exactly in the correct sense of the term but he's certainly very slippery. More slippery than a bar of slippy soap on an ice rink type slippery.

Russell Brand.

He's a born again Christian now, y'know.

I didn’t like the first incarnation of Russell Brand, and I don’t much care for the current one, but I don’t think it is up to us to judge his sincerity of conversion.

That is between him and His Maker ( who doesn’t have much tolerance for hypocrites and false prophets).

YourAzureEagle · 21/02/2025 08:33

Captain Tom, his daughter was obviously, but I reckon the old boy was in on it - at the height of restrictions he blagged a free luxury holiday for him and his family, he knew he didn't have long at 100 but had a last great holiday when we were all doing Christmas alone.

Just because he was 100 didn't mean he couldn't spot a chance, he was a very successful businessman running a big concrete firm in his earlier days.

Theseventhmagpie · 21/02/2025 08:33

DrudgeJedd · 20/02/2025 17:24

Good Law Project/Jolyon Maugham. They have about 40 staff and very expensive offices in Covent Garden but all they seem to do is write complaint letters and lose court cases.
Do the soft touches who pay for it all by monthly direct debit think they're funding some brave resistance movement?

Couldn’t agree more!
Also can’t stand Amanda Holden, she always strikes me as someone of extremely limited talent grabbing every opportunity possible for self promotion.

YourAzureEagle · 21/02/2025 08:34

Willoo · 21/02/2025 08:00

Kier Starmer by a country mile

And his mate Rachel.

LookingAtMyBhunas · 21/02/2025 08:38

ElsaLion · 20/02/2025 17:29

Probably Meghan Markle, considering how much she seemingly conned the RF and public. Honestly, a £32 million wedding for a twice divorced actress! Personally I didn't have a good feeling about her from the start, and have since been validated.

What ARE you on about? She's only been divorced once, for starters. (The HORROR), and the tax payer funded wedding was also for Harry you know.

I'm not a massive fan of hers but let's lay off the pearl clutching shall we.

LookingAtMyBhunas · 21/02/2025 08:39

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 21/02/2025 08:30

I didn’t like the first incarnation of Russell Brand, and I don’t much care for the current one, but I don’t think it is up to us to judge his sincerity of conversion.

That is between him and His Maker ( who doesn’t have much tolerance for hypocrites and false prophets).

Show quote history

Or sexual molesters, presumably?

Beesandhoney123 · 21/02/2025 08:51

sternocleidomastoid · 20/02/2025 19:38

Let's not forget the justification for use of the penthouse was so that his son's GCSE's would not be disrupted. However:
a) the dates don't match - he used it for weeks afterwards
b) he then stiffed tens of thousands of parents of children with SEN in private schools with a VAT bill for thousands each, meaning many of them will have to move schools.
The hypocrite.

Show quote history

Trying to divert attention onto his son during GCSE year. Regardless of the dates not matching, to throw your own son under the bus to save yourself is despicable.

The man has no integrity.

LookingAtMyBhunas · 21/02/2025 08:52

Pussycat22 · 20/02/2025 20:39

Prince Philip said "one should only walk out with actresses not marry them"

Show quote history

He was lovely wasn't he.

SlimeSuspect · 21/02/2025 08:58

That awful sausage roll ladbaby couple

Swipe left for the next trending thread