Category: Lifestyle

A delivery man who says he was once so hard up for cash he stole his customers’ food to eat while working as a delivery driver and was forced to sell his plasma has revealed how he turned his life around.

Tyler Riches, from California, had racked up $2,000 of overdraft debt at age 18 while attempting to get his dream business off the ground.

While working for DoorDash, a popular American delivery chain like Deliveroo or Uber Eats, he says he found himself in a downward spiral when he couldn’t even afford the petrol needed to deliver the orders.

The now-24-year-old admits he got so desperate that he’d ask for cash tips from customers to keep his car running and often pocket the final food order of the night for his own dinner to save cash.

Tyler recalls ‘rock bottom’ moment

Recalling his rock bottom moment after being kicked out of the family home with no financial support, he said: “I literally had negative $2,000 in my bank account.

“I texted my parents and they said, ‘We’re not going to help you. You need to figure it out on your own.’

“So I was like, ‘Alright, let’s just start DoorDashing.’ I DoorDashed every single day, morning and night.”

Tyler was raised in a strict household but fell out with his family around the same time as his money struggles, aged 18.

After a major fallout and asking for help with his overdraft, Tyler says he didn’t speak to his parents for around two years.

Without the money for petrol to keep the car running, he then began knocking on doors of customers explaining the situation and asking for tips.

As DoorDash’s USP is contact-free deliveries, with ‘leave at door’ normally automatically selected for orders, this was an unusual move.

He said: “Instead of just dropping the food off, I would knock on every single door and ask for cash.

“Then I could take my car to the gas station, put the cash in and keep DoorDashing.

“Most times people would say no, but I really only needed one or two people that entire trip to say yes.”

“I did what I had to do”

With no money for food, Tyler explained how he also stole orders he was supposed to deliver as a way to save splashing on another meal.

“I wasn’t eating at all, so I would steal food on my drive. It sounds bad, but I had to do what I had to.

“At the end of every night, I would steal the last order. There were times where I would go DoorDash the lunch shift just so that I could eat – just so that I could steal an order.

“I would rather steal the food in private than fully admit, ‘I’m hungry.’”

Tyler also began donating his plasma, after researching ways to make cash quick. As a new donor, he was able to secure a bonus in exchange for donating multiple times a month.

In the US, selling ‘source plasma’ for commercial and pharmaceutical use for cash is legal and standard practice. In the UK, it is illegal to pay blood, plasma, and platelet donors.

He said: “It was crazy, just shooting a needle up your arm and giving blood just for some money to be able to clear that debt.

“There was a couple hundred dollar bonus if you came and donated four times within the same month. That was massive for me.”

Tyler made thousands from trading

While working for DoorDash, Tyler continued teaching himself about financial markets and eventually began making money through trading and cryptocurrency.

After he starting trading, Tyler then suffered another huge blow, loosing the entirety of the $112,000 he had made.

He said: “I turned $10,000 into $112,000. But I lost it all and then ended up $2,000 in the red. My life was a mess; I really needed to wake up and do something.”

Crypto trading is the act of speculating on cryptocurrency price movements or buying and selling the underlying digital assets through an exchange, aiming to generate a profit from market fluctuations.

However because cryptocurrencies are highly volatile asset classes, trading them does come with a significant financial risk for those involved.

In 2022 Tyler moved to Puerto Rico, which is a legal tax haven for US citizens with zero tax on capital gains.

He turned his life around and lives in a luxury neighbourhood where he says homes start at $2.5m. He claims he is now a millionaire from crypto.

Sharing trading tips with his 1.8M followers on Instagram, he also boasts driving a Ram TRX, which he bought brand new for $100,000.

He shares pictures with private jets and boasts about his new luxury lifestyle.

He explained: “In my neighbourhood, you can’t find a house for under two-and-a-half million dollars.

“There was nobody that was willing to finance me because I had brand new, fresh money. So I had to pretty much buy my house in cash.

“I wanted a cool car, so I got a Ram TRX, which cost $100,000. I had to buy that in cash too.”

He has been able to buy his mum a Birkin handbag worth $30,000 and jewellery, regularly sending his dad and grandfather to front-row sporting events which can cost an eye-watering $6,000.

His older brother now works for him, while his younger sister also helps with the business alongside university.

Tyler said: “Looking back at everything now with a clear head, it’s obvious that all they wanted from me was that I was going to be safe and well off for myself.

“Now that they see that I love life and I’m doing great on my own, it’s a great relationship. We have no issues.”

Identical twins are always up to some crazy stuff so it’s no surprise when you bring two sets together that something magical can happen.

While some identical twins focus on training up their bodies in different ways to see who benefits more, or undergoing different diets, some are more focused on finding love.

And that’s exactly what happened when Camille and Kennerly Kitt, best known as The Harp Twins, met fellow selfsame siblings Dromil and Dromal Volfgang back in 2019.

Both sets of twins are big on social media and known for their musical talents but it was only earlier this year that they actually confirmed they had gotten married, despite the nuptials taking place all the way back in 2022.

The sisters were already masters of the harp strings but they quickly pulled on the heart strings of the two brothers, who waited in line to meet them at a concert, before presenting them with a drawing of them both.

Camille told Today: “It’s one of those things where when you know, you know.”

After the four of them became close and slowly gravitated towards one or the other, things became romantic, with the drum-playing Volfgang twins joining the Kitt’s on their tour, leaving construction behind so they could build a new life together.

Eventually, Camille married Dromil, while Kennerly married Dromal and they all celebrated four years of marriage together earlier this year.

Kennerly said: “You just naturally gravitate toward someone and their soul.”

Sticking with doing thing in pairs, the two couples married on February 22, 2022 at 2.22pm, but they kept the marriage ceremony a secret for several years, with only close family and friends in attendance.

They knew that their marriage would attract a lot of attention, not just because they have a huge amount of followers on social media, and they wanted to avoid the questions that naturally arise when two sets of twins marry each other.

“Some people are like, ‘That’s weird,’” Dromal says. “We’re like, ‘Well, maybe you’re weird.’”

Speaking about the relationship with his brother, Dromil said that ‘no matter what’, they’ve always ‘had each other’s backs’ and they’re only likely to get closer now they’ve welcomed two more into their family.

He added: “There’s a natural tendency of non-twins to not understand or approve of a really close relationship.”

However, there’s no doubting it’s a little strange to both be proposed to at the same moment using identical rings, but clearly they were on board with it.

“We’re all best friends,” Kennerly concluded, “So we have our twin and our spouse and their twin. It’s just really the best of all worlds.”

As long as there aren’t any mix ups should kids come into the question, everything should turn out alright.

It’s all been kicking off in Aldi this week as the annual wooden toy event landed in the middle aisle (October 8), and shoppers were desperate to bag a bargain before stocks disappeared from the shelves.

Chaos ensued as shoppers frantically tried to get ahead of their Christmas shopping by snapping up early deals on children’s toys, but were hit with a two toy limit.

WalesOnline reported bargain hunters were even pictured queueing up outside of stores ahead of opening hours, ready to snap up traditional-style playsets that only appear once a year.

Customers across the UK took to X to say that they’ve ‘never seen anything like it.’ And outrage ensued on the platform as users realised people were buying the toys to resell on sites such as eBay and Vinted at a hefty profit.

Toys reportedly sold out quickly in most stores across the country, where prices were as little as £2.99 for Montessori-themed wooden books, playsets and accessories.

Aldi confirmed it was implementing a two per product per customer purchase limit on certain lines, ‘to ensure as many families as possible have a chance to join in the fun’.

It seems as though parents are clearly leaning back toward traditional, low-stimulation play with demand for wooden toy sets surging in an attempt to cut down screen times.

Recent BBC coverage highlighted government guidance surrounding screen time for children, suggesting that ‘fast-paced, social media-style videos and AI toys or tools should be avoided for young children.’

Child‑development specialists are in agreement, too. Studies continue to stress that hands‑on parent–child play is ’emotionally and biologically necessary’ for language development and cognitive growth.

That shift in attitude lines up almost perfectly with Aldi’s wooden toy range.

Amongst the NEW additions to the range is the Cinema Counter and Kebab Takeaway Food Cart (£29.99). Perfect for little ones to take make-believe orders so kids can run their own mini takeaway this Christmas. There’s plenty more in the range too, including a 2-in-1 Market Stall (£29.99), Stackable Dishwasher (£19.99) and Medical and Vet Tables (£19.99 each).

If you missed out on Aldi’s annual wooden toy event, all hope isn’t lost. Amazon still has plenty of similar picks to help you get ahead of the Christmas countdown.

Here are some of our favourite wooden toys to shop on Amazon in time for the festive season.

Missed out on the Aldi wooden toy event? Here’s where to get alternatives online

Shop now: Joyreal Wooden Car Ramp Toy – Montessori Toys for 1 2 3 Years Old, £21.99 on Amazon

Shop now: Melissa & Doug Wooden Ice Cream Toy Shop, was £39.99, now £34.99

Shop now: Jaques of London Wooden Noahs Ark Shape Sorter, was £34.99, now £29.99

Shop now: Vanplay Montessori Wooden Hammering Pounding Toy, was £23.99, now £20.39

Shop now: Le Toy Van Wooden Barista Café Shop, £49.95 on Amazon

STIs are always something that you should be looking to avoid, but the latest bout spreading sounds like one of the worst of all.

Anyone who had a hot girl summer in the UK might have regretted their decision earlier this year after gonorrhoea cases reached a historic high, while other sexually transmitted diseases can also be completely incurable.

Although we’re living in an increasingly sex positive world and generation, we don’t want to be positive when it comes to taking an STI test, especially with the often severe symptoms they can cause.

But the new ‘sexually transmitted diarrhoea superbug’ that’s spreading rapidly is certainly one that folks will want to steer clear of, considering other STIs can sometimes be symptomless or don’t ever really present themselves.

Dysentery, an intestinal infection that causes inflammation and frequent diarrhoea containing blood or mucus, is on the rise and seemingly being spread through sex.

While we sometimes describe sex as ‘doing the nasty’, this would certainly be the case as it essentially involves going a little too close to the rear entrance when that person might have shigella bacteria, and the cases are evolving into something that is ‘close to untreatable.’

What is shigella?

It is a type of bacteria found in poo that causes a severe upset stomach, HIV Prevention England explains. If severe, the infection can be treated with a course of antibiotics.

It’s passed on through getting infected faeces in the mouth, either when having sex or through contaminated food.

While not all people may get them, the most common symptoms of shigella include:

• Diarrhoea, which may contain blood and/or mucus
• Stomach cramps
• Pain around and in your anus (back passage)
• A feeling like you need to poo even when you’ve just had one
• Fever
• Feeling sick or vomiting

People being ‘unaware of the serious and increasing risk’ of shigella

A study in July showed that the spread of the disease through sex grew 15 percent faster year-over-year between 2015 and 2020 compared to spread through travel, food, or nursery outbreaks.

Cambridge geneticist Kate Baker, a lead author on the July study, said: “Many men who have sex with men are unaware of the serious and increasing risk posed by sexually transmitted Shigella.”

“This disease has gone from being relatively treatable with off-the-shelf drugs to being close to untreatable over the course of the last decade or so.”

As few as 10 organisms of shigella are enough to make you sick. But it’s important to know that the bacteria can spread easily if the person you’re with isn’t washing their hands as well as they should be, as the poo particles can easily end up close to your mouth.

To make matters worse, Baker told Science Alert that ‘this isn’t just one form of sexually transmitted diarrhoea’ and that there’s actually ‘multiple overlapping variants emerging that are all quickly becoming resistant to the drugs we use to treat them’.

She continued: “It’s highly likely that if you contracted your Shigella through sex, you require different treatment to someone who contracted it through travel.”

What happens if shigella is left untreated?

In most cases, shigella will get better without treatment in three to seven days – but some people can have a severe illness that needs treatment, so it’s best to see a GP if your symptoms are severe or don’t start to improve after a couple of days.

While shigella does not cause HIV, it can result in dysentery, severe dehydration, and in more extreme cases, seizures, per the Mayo Clinic.

If you think you have shigella, contact your GP or local sexual health clinic immediately, and it’s important to stay hydrated.

So for now, maybe add ‘looking for someone who has not had diarrhoea recently’ to your prompts on Hinge, and make sure to wash all your bits and sex toys thoroughly before you get down and dirty, in a safe, hopefully non STI-spreading way.

The California Department of Public Health also adds: “Don’t have sex with someone who has had diarrhoea in the last two weeks.” Sound advice.

A mum of two has vowed never to travel abroad again after a quad bike accident left her with a broken back and a £28,000 bill.

Last month, Diane Steadman and her partner, Mick Raftery, travelled to the Greek island of Skiathos for a two-week vacation, quad biking across various idyllic beaches.

However, tragedy would strike on the last day of their holiday when the couple were allegedly struck by a car while heading back to the rental store to return their vehicle.

The impact of the car crashing into the back of the bike sent both Mick and Diane flying, and while Mick was fortunate enough to walk away from the accident with cuts and bruises, Diane suffered fractures to two of her vertebrae.

“I felt a jump in my back and I don’t remember anything else,” Diane recalled. “All I remember is waking up on the road.

“I was in and out of consciousness, I didn’t have the energy to speak to anybody when I woke up,” she continued.

“I tried to be strong but I’m so frightened, I feel like I’m going to die.”

The 61-year-old was rushed by ambulance to an emergency medical centre before being transferred to the Greek mainland for further treatment. After purchasing travel insurance before the trip, Diane had believed she would be covered for the accident.

However, when the carer went to file a claim, it emerged that her provider didn’t cover accidents from quadbikes, meaning she would now be forced to pay out of pocket for any healthcare she received in Greece.

Unable to afford the £40,000 operating fees, Diane was left with no choice but to borrow £28,000 in order to cover her flight home in an air ambulance.

The couple are now fundraising to help cover the cost of the medical transport, which brought them back to the UK on 30 September.

Now back home in Warwickshire and waiting for an operation, Diane has been left ‘terrified’ by the experience and has vowed never to travel abroad again.

“It’s just been one thing after another, I will not be going abroad again, no way,” she said.

“Mick has been brave and tried to put a smile on my face. I’m scared of the operation, everyone is telling me it’s going to be okay.”

Meanwhile, Mick has urged people to make sure they read the fine print on travel insurance policies before jetting out so they don’t find themselves in a similar situation.

“Check your insurance before you rent a quad bike,” he added. “We were mistaken in thinking insurance covered quad bikes too.”

You can donate to Diane’s fundraiser here.

Amazon Prime Big Deal Days might have ended yesterday (October 7), but not many shoppers know about the ‘secret’ deals that are still live after the event.

A handful of discounts are currently on offer, and they’re not to be ignored. Fire Sticks, Ring Doorbells and Kindles are all sitting at their sale prices, giving anyone who missed Big Deal Days a second chance to grab a bargain without waiting for the next event.

Regular shoppers will know that Prime Day usually acts as a warm‑up for Black Friday, but these lingering offers are definitely worth snapping up now before they’re gone.

Especially since some of the biggest surprise discounts are half-price or more, including 50 percent off the newest Echo Dot Max (£59.99) and almost 70 percent off the Fire TV Stick HD (£19.99).

With that in mind, here are some of the best deals on devices that are still live after Prime Big Deal Days has finished.

But, if you’re wanting to upgrade your setup for less, then don’t wait long. These last-minute deals won’t be sticking around.

This ridiculously good deal on the Amazon Fire TV Stick means you’ll be able to stream all of your favourite shows in one place.

The Fire Stick includes apps such as BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, Disney+, Apple TV, and HBO Max, NOW, Paramount+ and loads more.

With a voice controlled remote and streamlined design, you’ll be able to navigate menus with ease, getting you to your entertainment fast.

Now just £19.99 and reduced at 67 percent, this standout deal is definitely worth snapping up while it’s still live.

The newest generation of the Echo Dot Max comes in at 50 percent off, even after Prime Big Deal Days has ended.

Upgrade your space with this cool bit of kit that allows you to listen to streaming services such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and more.

It features smart home control and is compatible with a variety of Echo and Fire TV devices, bringing a rich symphony of sound to your home.

This deal won’t be around forever, so be sure to add it to your basket while you still can.

Selling fast, the Amazon Kindle Scribe combines a notebook and a Kindle all in one and it’s proving to be a popular deal.

Now 35 percent off, the genius device works as an organisational tool for to-do lists, journaling and annotating texts.

As well as being the perfect work companion, it allows you to catch up on your reading, too.

This Ring Video Doorbell deal comes in at 50 percent off, allowing you a bit more peace of mind at home.

It records in clear 2K resolution with a 6x zoom, and the added night vision means you can still see what’s going on after dark.

With Live View and Two‑Way Talk, you can answer the door from your phone, and you’ll get alerts whenever motion or people are detected.

If you’re looking for a distraction-free, digital reading experience, the Amazon Kindle gives you access to thousands of books to tick off your reading list.

With a battery life of up to six weeks and 16GB storage, it’s a great starting point if it’s your first Kindle.

It’s one of the most budget-friendly on the market, and even more so now that it’s still on offer at 37 percent off.

The Amazon Fire TV Soundbar makes everyday viewing feel more immersive with full surround sound, clearer dialogue, and deeper bass.

It really adds to those home cinema moments when you’re curling up on the couch binge-watching your favourite shows.

Including easy Bluetooth pairing to allow you to connect your phone or tablet, it allows you to fill the room with your favourite music.

At 27 percent off, you’ll want to get this deal locked in if you’re looking to upgrade your space.

This bundle features four Blink outdoor cameras and a video doorbell for a whopping 70 percent off.

Its long-lasting battery life, 2K+ view and camera visibility in low lighting allow you to see who’s at your door at any time of day.

Two-way audio allows you to greet visitors, take deliveries and keep tabs on your home security for less.

If you’ve been looking for a video doorbell, you’ll want to make the most of this great discount at Amazon.

Compatible with a wide range of Amazon Fire devices, the Fire TV Cube is designed to make your downtime feel effortless.

It acts as a central entertainment hub, allowing you to move smoothly between devices while enjoying access to your favourite apps.

With built‑in voice control and seamless navigation across your TV, soundbar and receivers, you’ll be able to take charge of your setup with ease.

It comes in at 45 percent off with this limited time deal.

When is Amazon’s next sale event?

Amazon’s next sale event is likely to be Black Friday, which takes place on the last Friday in November.

This year, it will land on Friday 27 November, 2026.

There will be loads of discounts to look forward to leading up to Christmas, so you’ll be able to get all of your shopping in without breaking the bank.

In the meantime, it’s worth making the most of these last-minute Big Deal Days discounts while they’re still on offer.