'YOU SPEND A LOT OF TIME IN A DARKER PLACE'

Zara McDermott reports on the social media investigators who took over during the brutal Idaho murders case

Last year, Zara McDermott and her boyfriend Sam Thompson conquered the world of reality television – with Zara taking to the floor in Strictly Come Dancing and Sam winning the 23rd series of I’m A Celebrity, it seems there’s nothing they can’t do.

Now, Zara is pulling away from her reality roots and making a name for herself in the world of documentaries.

She’s already presented her own documentary titled Zara McDermott: Revenge Porn, and has appeared in the follow-up, Uncovering Rape Culture, as well Disordered Eating and Gaia: A Death On Dancing Ledge. However, she’s about to take her presenting to a whole new level as she ventures overseas to America.

In her latest documentary, The Idaho Murders: Trial By TikTok, Zara looks at the influence social media had on one of the biggest murder cases in 2022.

“It’s essentially a brutal murder of four college students [Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle] who were slain in their beds,” explains Zara. “It was absolutely tragic and horrendous, and I became aware of it a couple of days after the crime happened. What happens on social media, especially 

TikTok, is that the algorithm will send you back to the same topic you’ve consumed.

“Every day I was seeing the engagement on the videos increasing and to be honest, I was absolutely hooked.”

As viewership of the case increased across the world, so did the self-appointed investigators on TikTok. The sleuths took to the streets of Moscow in Idaho to find the culprit themselves, which is something Zara found particularly interesting.