Influencer's Sons Were ‘Uncertain’ About Her Viral Fame. Then One Thing Changed Their Mind (Exclusive)
Influencer's Sons Were ‘Uncertain’ About Her Viral Fame. Then One Thing Changed Their Mind (Exclusive)
Zoey LyttleWed, February 25, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC
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Fiona MacBain.Credit: Fiona MacBain -
Fiona MacBain has established herself on TikTok by documenting her adventures camping around the Scottish Highlands for over 185,000 followers
The 55-year-old mom of three only started sleeping outdoors in the past few years, and recording social media content has helped her conquer her fear of the dark
She tells PEOPLE that her two teen sons were initially hesitant about their mother's viral presence, but MacBain used money from TikTok's Creator Fund to prove the benefits to them
To over 185,000 followers, Fiona MacBain is known by her TikTok username, @FionaintheWild. At home, however, she's primarily known as a devoted mom to her 27-year-old daughter and two teenage sons — though the kids have started to recognize MacBain's online celebrity status, too.
The content creator, 55, established herself on social media shortly after she started camping out around the Scottish Highlands, where she was born and raised. MacBain admits to PEOPLE that she wasn't always so outdoorsy; for a decent part of her adult life, she actually felt more confident walking around at night in big cities than she did in remote parts of Scotland.
After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, she lived in London and Tunisia. She eventually relocated back to the United Kingdom, where she raised her three children. She's been back in Scotland since 2004, living in Inverness, but she only started sleeping out in nature in 2023.
Fiona MacBain.Credit: Fiona MacBain
She conquered her long-held fear of the dark thanks to what could be considered a form of exposure therapy: during her first "trial night" camping out of Loch Ness, MacBain lost her way on the walk between her car and her tent. She ended up taking a moment to appreciate the "peaceful and nice" darkness as the stars lit up the sky.
A few weeks after her first foray into the unlit outdoors, MacBain started documenting her camping nights on social media. She recorded her first viral TikTok inside her tent, hoping to find some entertainment beyond the book on her Kindle.
"It was my genuine emotion: I was a bit bored and a bit fed up in the dark and a wee bit scared, because that was also my first camp where ... there was no phone signal," she recalls of the video posted in November 2023, which garnered over 181,000 views. "I couldn't scroll or phone anybody or text anybody, so I just talked about that."
MacBain adds, "The next day, when I walked back, I didn't edit it or anything, I just stuck it on TikTok. I was just really, really surprised that it was so popular within two days."
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What started out as a means of passing time and finding comfort in the solitude of the night has since turned into somewhat of a second career for MacBain, who otherwise works in local government administration. She's earned renown on a global scale, so naturally, her own community in Scotland is well aware of her content.
At first, MacBain admits that the recognition stirred up some hesitation in her 16- and 17-year-old sons.
Fiona MacBain.Credit: Fiona MacBain
"When I first started to get really popular, quite a lot of local people started noticing, and I think some of their peers started noticing," she shares. "They were a bit uncertain about people seeing their mum doing TikTok dances outside her tent, but now they've got used to it and they're very supportive."
While the boys don't appear in any of MacBain's videos, she says her daughter "loves to be in the odd TikTok" and has steadily been "really supportive." And these days, her sons are also all-in on their mom's online presence.
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It helps that after enough £1,000 (about $1,350 USD) monthly checks from TikTok's Creator Fund, MacBain was able to thoroughly wipe out any of her kids' doubts with a sweet vacation abroad.
"I used TikTok money to take them on this fantastic holiday to Sicily. We visited volcanoes and stuff," she says. "So I said, 'This is being paid for by TikTok.'"
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
