A pair of former prison officers who turned to OnlyFans for cash have received more hate for their six-figure income than for the content they create. Ben and Kirsty Stroud started using the adult content platform after Covid-19 lockdowns shut down the country including their personal training business. After they were forced to close the doors of their gym, they had to think of other ways to earn a living. So they began selling pictures and videos of their sexual escapades online, primarily though the subscription platform OnlyFans. They quickly discovered they could make in a week twice what Kirsty could earn in a month driving deliveries for supermarket chain Morrisons. And as their audience of signed-up subscribers grew, the amount of cash coming in soared even higher. Ben, 44, said: "At first people were a little bit funny, but not many people. "We've got more hate for earning more money than for what we do; absolutely guaranteed, more hate for that. "We’ve had quite a few people when she got a new Range Rover and I got a new car and things like that got a little bit of nose turning. "I say to them that we pay more tax than you earn so who is contributing more to society? "But our true friends were like good for you." Kirsty, 33, added: "My family were always going 'when are you going to get a proper job' because I quit the prison service and then I was just coaching. "We were in the gym. I love my job but they don't see it as my job - 'you don't earn enough', blah, blah. "Now that I'm earning a lot they're like 'you're earning too much, you never do any work' and I'm just like, wow. "But they are supportive. I did say to them don't go looking too much into it but this is what I'm doing and they said 'as long as you're safe and you're happy'." Kirsty added: "I do competitions as well like cross fit competitions and I was really mindful about lots of people looking at you doing all these things that I would get a lot of hate, but I haven’t had any hate. "Loads of people have just been like it's cool, and people are really wanting to ask questions, they're really nosy and they’re fascinated." With fans paying almost £20 a month to view their explicit content, they were able to bank a large amount just from their first full month on the site. Ben said: "We were in trouble with the other businesses and stuff because we weren't really getting a lot of help from the government. "We were always off doing swingers parties and things anyway, and I watched a programme on this type of content creation and one of the girls was going 'I do this, I earn this much and this is what I have to do for it'. "Kirsty looks a specific way - muscles and stuff - and I looked and I said 'you're literally sitting on a goldmine, what are we doing? Let's just monetise what we're doing'. Eventually we said 'let's go for it'." He added: “At first people were a little bit funny about it, but not many people. "Our true friends were like 'good for you, I wish I had the balls to do it'.” While most of their friends and family have been accepting, it's the sudden wave of cash that seems to have been the most alienating for others. The couple from Folkestone met 13 years ago while both working in a prison on the Isle of Sheppey. They later started up a gym in Cheriton, Folkestone, and worked as personal trainers. Kirsty, 33, said: “When we first met we didn't just start swinging. "We had a couple of threesomes, we had friends around for dinner and you know what happens, we were just playing games and before you know it you're naked, and it's all that. "It kind of evolved from that and then we went to parties in London, private parties in big houses, and it kind of just went from there. "And then sometimes we've had a couple of people over here and stuff. So when we went to OnlyFans, being on camera and doing it in front of other people or our video person wasn't a massive thing. "The main thing is getting the new subscribers. "I've got 18,000 fans on my free page and then I've got like 450 fans on my subscription page. "It's about getting the new subscribers in every day, so the promotion is really important, because I could lose ten subscribers a day but then I need to try and gain 20." Running an OnlyFans site takes dedication. Creators perform, edit, upload content and interact with fans. Kirsty said: "It doesn't feel like a chore or a job because we just have so much fun and I like that it comes across like that in our videos. "People do say it's quite authentic - it's not forced." The couple value the way they are able to generate income this way, but there have been reminders that a lot of the power - and 20 per cent of their revenue - remains with OnlyFans. In the summer of 2021, performers on the site were stunned when the company - which describes itself as a "subscription social network" - announced it was intending to ban explicit content from its platform. For many, this w
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