A car lover has been branded 'ungrateful' after winning a 'dream' sports car - after the competition firm used a photo of him looking 'miserable' stood next to his £35,000 prize. Jordan Billington has spent more than £5,000 on entering raffles for dream cars and other goodies over the past two-and-a-half years so he was left 'speechless' when he heard he'd finally won.
The 30-year-old picked up his stunning Audi R8, posed for a snap with his impressive new ride and drove 300 miles home 'shouting with joy'. However, when competitions firm Click Competitions announced his win on Facebook later that day they used a photo the step-dad-of-one says he 'wasn't ready' for.
The image shows Jordan standing in front of the Audi holding a placard with the firm's logo on it - but with an unsmiling, 'miserable' expression on his face. Facebook trolls were quick to brand him 'ungrateful', order him to 'cheer up as it's not a funeral' and even say 'his life must be s**t'.
Jordan felt compelled to hit back at 'nasty' critics in the comments when he arrived home, insisting he was 'over the moon' with his win. He added he was 'knackered' for the shoot after a tyre blow-out meant it took him and partner Fallon Swales, 34, almost 10 hours to drive from Preston to Norwich to collect the super car.
Click Competitions admitted they didn't expect their post to gain so much attention, but they insist Jordan was as excited as he claims. However Jordan isn't even planning to keep the vehicle and admits that after a few months of 'having fun' with the R8, he plans to sell it and buy a Mercedes C63 AMG because they're 'newer'.
Jordan, from Preston, Lancashire, said: "People look at the photo and think I'm miserable and not happy but it couldn't be any further away from the truth. I was driving home in it just shouting 'yes' at the top of my voice. It's a dream car. I was buzzing.
"When I found out I won I was just speechless and I thought someone was pulling my leg. I was smiling on the phone, never mind when I picked it up. When one of the workers at Click Competitions went to take a picture, I think his phone was playing up so he told me to wait a minute and I stopped smiling.
"He went up and down a couple of times and I think that's when they took this one. They didn't realise the controversy it was going to cause. It's not their fault. They just used the wrong photo. They didn't want to use the picture of me smiling because it was blurry but at least I was smiling.
"Fallon saw the comments were trolling so she defended me in a few of them, then I thought I'd comment on them to prove that I wasn't being ungrateful. I uploaded a photo of me smiling to shut people up after all the controversy."
Jordan bought 15 competition tickets at 95p each in the hope of winning the 'dream car', which his insurance company has valued at £35,000. The car enthusiast says he's spent around £40 per week on multiple Click Competitions' raffles since summer 2020 but hadn't won anything until this month.
Jordan insists he's not annoyed with Click Competitions and is happy with the way they've moderated comments to remove those written by 'bitter' trolls. Click Competitions have been running since June 2020 and run raffles with prizes including cash, cars and the latest technology for low entry fees.
CJ Jennings of Click Competitions said: "We want it to be a nice moment for him and don't want it tarnished, so we're actively monitoring the post and will remove comments we feel are unfit to be on the page. We didn't consider that people would react like that. We've shared thousands of winners' photos and some get more reaction than others.
"Jordan was absolutely over the moon at the time. It was a dream car and good on him."
Click Competitions' Facebook post has earned more than 600 likes and more than 300 comments.
The post said: "CONGRATULATIONS TO JORDAN BILLINGTON. Jordan had a nightmare on his travels down to collect the car, a complete tyre blowout!
"He made it here in the end with all his family, and they were all absolutely buzzing! I'm sure he will make up for lost time driving the R8 home."
However, one troll commented: "His life must be really s**t if he can't muster up a smile for that."
Another sarcastically wrote: "He looks absolutely buzzing!"
A third added: "Could have looked more happier like"
One said: "Ya think he would have a smile at least."
Another commented: "I'd sell that straight away ..looks like he's been given a tenner to stand near it"
One troll simply said: "Very happy face [laughing emoji]."
However, Jordan's girlfriend Fallon felt compelled to leap in to defend her partner in the face of one particularly nasty comment. The troll said: "Don't you just hate it when a boring non-smiling doosh wins a car. Cheer up pal it's not a funeral, you've won an R8.
Fallon replied: "Says the guy who looks like we are still in the 80s. Banging on about a badly timed photo and talking absolute garbage about a man he doesn't have the pleasure of knowing. Don't judge a book by its cover d**kweed."
Jordan's comment said: "The hate is unreal. Never knew winning a car would make so many people bitter and leave nasty comments. Thanks to everybody who congratulated me.
"I'm over the moon with the win everyone. I might not have looked it in the picture but it took us nearly 10 hours to get there and was knackered back safely with the car.
"It's an absolute beast, you have to be in it to win it, get your tickets before they sell out people."
