The 77th edition of the glamorous Cannes Film Festival saw the attendance of some of the most popular influencers in India, including Delhi-based fashion creator Nancy Tyagi. While they were appreciated for their style, everyone had one main question: what were influencers, who had no direct connection to the films being showcased, doing at Cannes in the first place?

The questions were answered by Aishwarya Subramanyam, aka Otherwarya, who decided to spill some behind-the-scenes secrets on her Instagram stories.

According to Aishwarya, the influencers who graced Cannes Film Festival paid an exuberant sum to be part of it. It was not their designer outfits or their vast social media influence, but cold hard cash that allowed them to walk to the Cannes red carpet.

“The reason for this rash of influenzas is that Brut is quite simply selling tickets to anyone who can afford to buy them. A one-off ticket to walk the red carpet could cost about 30 lakh rupees. An influenza will then get a sponsor on board who can pay for this, create content for them a Cannes, and walk the red carpet. That’s how it works,” Aishwarya wrote.

In one of her Instagram stories, Aishwarya shared a revelation from a follower who claimed that Nancy Tyagi, managed by Monk Entertainment (an agency by popular YouTube Ranveer Allahbadia) shelled out around 8 lakh rupees who attend the Cannes Film Festival.

But the secrets didn’t stop there. Aishwarya also went on to reveal the prices of tickets for various events at the Cannes Film Festival, disclosing how much influencers like Sharan Hegde, Raj Shamani and Vishnu Kaushal had paid to walk the red carpet.

Soon, a Redditor posted a screenshot of Otherwarya’s story, and netizens chimed in with their thoughts. Many expressed their disapproval that Cannes would allow influencers into an event that is about cinema, as they did from the beginning:

However, others expressed happiness with the success of creators, especially Nancy Tyagi.  One user wrote: “Looking at the details that she is managed by a monk and tagged Tanishq in one of her Cannes posts, it is quite possible that she paid or had a collab whatever, but she grabbed the limelight for her self-stitched looks, and it was way better than what others served.”