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This Empty Baby Shower Would Be Really Sad — If It Weren't A Total Scam

It all started with a tweet sent out by a woman named "Dory" about how nobody came to her best friend Chelsie Collins' baby shower at a Golden Corral restaurant in Ohio. In the photos she posted, there were tables set with pink tablecloths, pink balloon decorations, and no people.
"Nobody showed up to my best friend's baby shower," Dory wrote. "Just my boyfriend and me :("
According to New York mag, the photos got over 16,000 retweets before they were deleted on Wednesday afternoon.
Some people tweeted their sympathy.
Others blamed the flaky guests.
When asked where well-wishers could send gifts or donate money for the guest-less mom-to-be, "Dory" tweeted a PayPal link for donations. Over 350 gifts were bought on Collins' since-deleted Walmart registry.
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Then, people started noticing that something was off. For starters, the name on the PayPal account didn't match Collins' info; it said "Dorthy Holmes," presumably Dory's real name. Someone on Twitter who calls himself "Jimi the Juice Man" took it upon himself to investigate the situation. He dove deep.
He even called the Golden Corral in Zanesville, OH, and the manager told him that all 12 guests had showed up. The manager also confirmed to New York mag that "it was 12 people" at the shower.
New York mag spoke with Holmes and Collins.
"The moment the tweet was posted nobody was there. The tweet was 100% accurate at that point in time. It was not a turnout; her aunt was her only relative [at the party]," Holmes said. "I had two of my personal friends. Her aunt brought three children, and her little sister was there. That was it…there was definitely not 12 people there."
They said they have received over 300 donated gifts, but "less than $100" in cash. They also said they don't consider what they did a scam. "If they buy me baby stuff and we go take it back for money, that's what I feel like scamming would actually be," Collins said. "We are actually going to use this stuff." They also said they plan to donate some of the gifts to a local women's shelter.
In a since-deleted Periscope video called "The Truth," Holmes said she never asked for gifts or money, and only tweeted the donation links when people asked her about them. "I didn't ask for shit," she said. "We didn't ask for it to go viral."
Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking about or kids or not, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.

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