the essential
At 63, Eric has a little notoriety. This Gersois fan of social networks has thousands of subscribers on TikTok and Instagram with whom he shares his passion for nature, hunting and cooking. Encounter.
With his strong Gers accent, his outspokenness, a toothpick and his cap, Éric does not go unnoticed. An inveterate hunter, phone in hand, he shares his passion by filming himself and publishing his daily life on social networks under the pseudonym “Éricchasse32”. At 63, the Miranda resident has made a bit of a name for himself. These videos are shared by thousands of people, one of them close to a million views.
On TikTok, the hunter has almost 25,000 followers and nearly a million likes on his videos. But then, what is the recipe for success? “It’s authenticity,” replies Eric. When the mood strikes him, he takes out his smartphone and films himself at home, in his garden or in the Gers valleys.
Without editing, with two lines of description, he publishes directly on the famous social network. Nature, cooking, animals: Éric shares his daily life, his gardening tips, his barbecues and his hunting trips without filter. “I try to approach certain subjects with humor and others with a little more seriousness,” he explains.
The sixty-year-old first started on Facebook. Faced with numerous hateful comments, he abandoned the platform for Instagram then TikTok. “It was a friend who told me to go into that, I didn’t know at all.” If, at first, his videos went unnoticed, his personality aroused a certain enthusiasm.
“I was simply responding to the request of my subscribers. At the beginning, I did it to pass the time, here in the countryside, I saw few people,” explains Éric.
“It got a little bigger”
On TikTok, videos are shared, commented on and the number of subscribers skyrockets. “It’s not necessarily a social network made up only of young people, I’ve seen quite a few who are 55 and over!” If Eric interacts with some of his subscribers during “live” videos, more and more fans are looking to meet him in person.
A request from his community that Éric cannot refuse who goes every year to specialized conventions such as the “Game fair” which is none other than one of the largest hunting and nature fairs in France, in Loir-et-Cher. “I met quite a few subscribers there, we were able to make a few videos, a few selfies,” says the hunter, followed by many young people.
DDM – WHAT IS DEBBICHE
Today, this hobby still takes up a large part of Eric’s days. “I get up at 5 a.m., I respond to comments, I post, I go and work a little in my garden, I post videos and I do lives.”
But sometimes, Eric must also confront the reality of social networks and the harshness of algorithms and moderation. “Last time, I was live and someone asked me if I was going to eat the field mice that I had collected, I said yes! As an omelet, it’s really good, jokes the retiree. But I I was blocked for animal abuse!” Not to mention numerous hateful comments and threats he receives for his hunting. “I don’t pay attention to it, I block people systematically.”
Despite everything, Éric remains close to his community and does not intend to stop his videos. “I even met a subscriber in Spain who invited me to his home!”
