After having recently decided to reboot Tinder, 25-year-old Jess Harkin decided to replace her existing pics with photos of her in full costume as her alter-ego, Kazoo the Clown.
Keen to find a "clown man" with a sense of humour to match her own, Jess, of County Donegal, Ireland, uploaded six pictures of herself wearing a clown costume, complete with gloves, hat, fake nose, and silly face paint.
Taking the jokey theme to her bio, Jess wrote "I heard you were 'just looking for fun?' Well pal, the party has arrived!! Where can I set down this birthday cake and chocolate milk?"
It worked like a charm and she was flooded with messages, but Jess claims that soon Tinder banned her profile due to "activity that violates our Terms of Use".
What do you think to Jess' unique Tinder profile? Let us know in the comments...
TikTok star Jess, @jessicamagician, claims that the dating app had taken issue with her clown photos, and has been left frustrated by the ban.
She said: "I've seen girls with more make-up than this on. Even if you are you, you can still get banned. I decided it would be funny to make a mini-series of videos where I changed all of my pictures on Tinder to pictures of Kazoo."
She continued: "I even took the verification pictures in full make-up. It was going well, people were enjoying the videos, people were having a laugh on Tinder about it and then they banned my account. How am I going to find a clown man now?"
Many of Jess' TikTok followers have been left indignant on her behalf. One user demanded, "Justice for Kazoo!", while another declared the ban to be "anti-clown discrimination".
Jess appealed Tinder's decision and claims the app initially refused to reopen her account, throwing yet another banana skin in the works.
Thankfully - after months of waiting - Jess has been officially let out of Tinder exile as of Friday, February 18, free to drive off into the sunset with a clown car companion of her choosing.
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Jess first decided on a career in clowning when she was just three years old, after seeing a clown at the circus for the very first time. Sadly, she was put off celebrating her alter ego by cruel bullies, but remained determined to succeed.
Being a "very, very shy kid", clowning provided Jess with a character that she could "hide behind" and - the summer before starting high school - she began teaching herself magic tricks.
When she turned 18, Jess decided to drop out of college and pursue her real dreams of working in the circus, and was "determined to make it".
Jess said: "I went to every circus that came through town. I'd go in my full costume and hand in a CV to the ringmaster at the end of the show. I was accepted the same week I started college. For a while, I was juggling between the two but it got to a point where it was nine hours of travel".
Revealing why she opted for the name Kazoo the clown, Jess explained that "kazoos are annoying and no-one likes them". Jess now works full-time as Kazoo and began using TikTok to introduce new fans to her character over the pandemic.
A spokesperson for Tinder has since given a statement saying Jess was banned from the service due to her account being used for promotional purposes.
The spokesperson said: "Our community guidelines state that we may remove accounts used for promotional purposes; however, we want our platform to be a place where our members can share what they’re passionate about with matches".
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