The comments arrived faster than Clarissa’s assistant could track. Edna, who was also monitoring them, answered several of them out loud and directly to the camera, having decided this was simply how it was done. She recommended her marmalade for people with sore throats, told one commenter that yes, she had made the curtains herself in 1998, and informed another, who had asked if the cottage was for rent, that it absolutely was not and she found the question rude.
Clarissa, to her credit, held her composure. She had clearly dealt with unexpected variables before. She pivoted smoothly, introduced Edna as a “wonderful local character,” and attempted to fold her into the content as a quaint backdrop detail.
Edna refused to stay a backdrop detail. She sold two jars of jam to members of Clarissa’s own crew, offered commentary on the candle’s scent, and, at one point, asked Clarissa to hold a marmalade jar so she could photograph it for her own account. By the time the stream ended, Clarissa’s comment section was ninety percent about the old woman with the marmalade.