EXCLUSIVE: Lily Phillips has had a polarising effect – is she a victim or a menace? There’s no better way to find that out rather than taking her on a mid-day Wetherspoons date – let’s see how it went
Lily Phillips Spoons date with Layla
It’s not every day you get to go on a mid-week Wetherspoons lunch date. And it’s certainly incredibly rare to share an afternoon of schmoozing with one of Britain’s biggest porn stars in the nation’s largest budget boozer.
However, here I am apprehensively waiting for Lily Phillips to join me for an hour of flirting, bargain pints and small plates.
It’s been a year since the 24-year-old became a viral sensation, gaining instant infamy after she filmed herself admitting she’d just slept with 101 men in 12 hours – men who she didn’t know before they penetrated her en masse.
Asking your date what their body count is often an awkward question, but necessary for some in their pursuit of an eligible partner. So it’s quite handy that it’s public knowledge Lily surpassed the lifetime average by tenfold – and then some – in half a day.
It’s a deterrent to many, though it only spurs me on to sit opposite Gen Z’s most recognisable porn star over a pint and packet of crisps.
So, who is Lily Phillips beyond the headlines? Is she just this ‘normal’ girl whose keen interest is lots of limit-pushing sex? Or is she merely a living breathing caricature of men’s deepest – and often darkest – fantasies?
Well, there’s no better way to find out over a sticky-tabled spoons session – though do take your mind out of the gutter…
I get to Wetherspoons early, as every person taking someone on a date should do. Yet, panic quickly ensues as I forget it’s half term and it’s part of our British culture to enjoy a pub lunch with your brood in tow.
It feels hardly appropriate to date someone who gained fame for being ‘run through’, while children gorge on chicken nuggets on the table adjacent. I just hope that Lily doesn’t arrive prematurely.
Good job the pram brigade departed and Lily is a master at coming on cue – it’s part of her job after all.
Lily appeared as a vision of irony. Dressed in a full white outfit, more so a sacrificial virgin than the spawn of Satan who has the sex drive of a rampant rabbit. Is Lily the devil in disguise? Or is she really an angel outside of her job…
A formal handshake? An awkward wave with a lip clenching smile? Not quite. Lily embraced me with open arms and gave me a light squeeze. Hardly intimidating like I imagined.
Though it comes as a surprise, Lily may be the one harbouring some feelings of intimidation as she steps foot into a Wetherspoons for the first time since her teen years.
She’s used to floors being littered with condoms. So I hope the remnants of chicken nugget peels beneath offer her some homely comforts.
“I haven’t been here [Wetherspoons] in years,” Lily awkwardly admitted. She cemented her inexperience in the budget boozer by not understanding the cultural concept of 3 plates for £14.99.
I couldn’t even tempt her with a packet of prawn cocktail crisps or a bag of nuts. Perhaps, these snacks are triggering for her. Lily is the expert of all things sex, but it seems that I’ve got some cherry popping – or re-cherry popping – of my own to do here.
Like all good dates should do, I offer to buy Lily a tipple. It’s been said that Lily ‘has nothing behind her eyes’, yet they seem full of life and opposed to some reality distorting beer goggles.
“We’re getting drunk on this date?” Lily sarcastically commented when I asked if she’ll be joining me on the pinot.
Like much of her Gen Z peers, it seems like Lily is veering towards a more ‘sober curious’ mindset. Lily said: “You know, a glass of rose at night – yes. But I’m not a going-outer every weekend, partying hard.
“I always think I need to go out more, socialise more, drink more – like I’m 24. Then, as soon as I go out, the morning after I’m like ‘why the f** do I go out’. I have the worst hangxiety, I hate myself and I think I’ve embarrassed myself.
“It’s the worst.”
As someone close in Lily’s age, I too get hangxiety when I’ve been on the lash. Maybe she is this ‘normal’ girl who hits the club and has one too many like the rest of us. But, she’s not.
Her morning-after woes aren’t so much derived from ‘what did I do’ and more so ‘who saw what I did’ and ‘will it end up in the papers’.
Lily knows she’ll always be seen as that girl – the one who willingly slept with 101 men in a day – and that comes with a guard I’m eager to pull down.
“I always get scared of getting too drunk,” Lily continued. “You don’t want to be paralytic and people are like ‘that’s that girl’
“It’s not harder [to go out], but I’m just a bit more thoughtful. So I’ll go with a Diet Coke, my lips will start getting loose when I have one glass of wine.”
She’s noticeably playing with her hair, which makes me wonder – is this a sign of nerves or flirting?
Either way, Lily doesn’t want to get loose – not even a £2 glass of pinot grigio in this wretched economy can convince her to lubricate her inner thoughts.
Lily and I both agree on a Diet Pepsi. If she’s a ‘Spoons regular she’d have known that they don’t stock Coca Cola.
We slurp our drinks, both unaided by Dutch courage that first dates are usually fuelled by. Putting my cards on the table, I ask Lily how her dating life is since going viral last year – is she as inundated with suitors as she is rompers? Or am I in with a shot.
I suddenly feel very privileged.
“Funnily enough this is my first date in four years,” Lily shockingly admitted. “I don’t date – I just ignore that subject. It’s just not something I’m particularly interested in at the minute.
“Boys, girls – they don’t really interest me. Dating? I’m a very independent girl. I like my own space, I like living with my dog. I already co-habit with her, there’s not room for another one in the bed. Maggie takes up the whole of the bed, there’s no room for anyone else.
“As well as being my own person, I have my own head on my shoulders. Sometimes you see people in relationships and it can seem a little bit…I wouldn’t say controlling is the right word but they become one and they can’t think apart from one entity anymore.”
Lily’s own bed is surprisingly reserved for one – plus her pet – which seems to be the polar opposite from the conveyor belt of men welcomed to the bedroom she shoots content from.
And it might surprise you that, despite Lily not having been on a date for years, she has nailed down her flirting technique. While some believe that Lily has made a career from degrading herself, Lily’s tool to pull is lightly degrading others.
I feel spared when she admits she won’t be giving me a good grilling on this date – though I’m sure others would happily oblige.
“Usually making fun of someone,” Lily unveils her go-to dating technique, something that is reminiscent to playful school-ground teasing. “I wouldn’t do it with you because you’re too beautiful, smart and pretty. Usually digging into someone that means I’m flirting.
“Is that a bad technique? I think it’s because I quite like people digging into me…”
Lily possesses a natural charm and sweetness. Even if she did start mocking me I think it would come across as endearing. It’s easy to forget I’m sitting in Wetherspoons with one of Britain’s biggest porn stars, though her slight innuendos – whether they’re intentional or not – reminds me that sex is ingrained in Lily’s nature.
She bedded 101 men in a day, would later break the ‘world record’ of sleeping with 1113 in the same timeframe and admits sex is her “keen interest” just as crocheting might be to someone else.
It’s what she seeks the most “enjoyment” from, she tells me. It would probably make most people run a mile and it’s why much of social media’s courtroom handed Lily’s love life an expiry date.
But, here I am, sitting across from Lily in the name of romance and I’m eager to ask a typical ‘make or break’ first date question. What is her total lifetime body count? Well, she seems to have lost track herself.
Lily shared: “If I could put a guess on it, it would be – I really have no clue – but a rough estimate of 2000. Maybe a little less than…maybe 1900.
“I wouldn’t be shocked if it was 2000.”
Lily is incredibly nonchalant about her extreme body count. Yet, she’s very adamant about who she is and how she sees herself.
“I would say independent, I’d say bubbly – go on then give myself a compliment- introverted and fun,” she summarises herself with a little hesitation, mainly self-assuredness.
Some say Lily is lost, but it appears that she knows exactly what she wants and who she wants to spend her time with. That is mainly herself – and her dog, Maggie.
Some might say it’s too far to ask on a first date, but it’s a question Lily’s been met with time and time again.
Children? She hasn’t even thought about starting a family – even though much of society has deemed her unfit for her to ever consider being a mother because of her controversial career.
“It’s really hard to answer that question when I’m 24, living my best life, single, no boyfriend in sight or anything,” Lily said when asked if she wants to start a family. “I think I’ll cross the bridge when it comes to it but I’m not a planner.
“I’m waiting for my frontal lobe to develop.”
She’s only got a year until that. Maybe we’ll be on a play date at the creche next time we meet.
So the verdict? Will there be a second date?
“Thoroughly enjoyed myself,” Lily shared. “I feel like I’m just warming up back into the dating scene so it’s really got me into it Maybe a second date, where do you want to take me then? Maybe I’ll take you somewhere.
“I’m a big Nando’s girl, I’m not going to lie.”
It seems that Lily isn’t a fibber on the whole. Despite being visibly guarded around some subjects, she’s not afraid to be somewhat vulnerable and open up on her life outside of the Lily most people are familiar with.
Looking past how Lily made her name, you would just think she’s a ‘normal’ 24 year old woman. Someone who experiences hangover dread, enjoys spending time with her dog, relentlessly ambitious and isn’t overly fussed about getting a boyfriend – despite her penchant for sex.
Lily is no ‘normal’ person, but she certainly is a human.
She might have an abnormal job, one that perhaps quite rightly caused a public outcry at the time, and is weirdly not obsessed with Wetherspoons like the rest of the nation.
Lily has a warmness about her and a slight vulnerability like most young women do, reassuring she’s quite clearly sentient and not some sex puppet. Though when she wants to, she’ll be pulling the strings.
If the 101 men in half a day wasn’t a deal breaker, the fact that Lily is not well-versed in the lore of Wetherspoons could sign that we’re not a match made in heaven.
Lily departs Wetherspoons, leaving behind a good first impression and the lipstick rim around her glass that I’m sure many men would want to get their mouth around.
Perhaps we’ll see you for a cheeky Nando’s next time.