Both on The Family Chantel and off screen, Chantel Everett and Pedro Jimeno’s bitter divorce is no joke.

In their court filings, both have leveled accusations against the other. And we all saw the pre-divorce drama unfold on camera.

Until this year, the troubled spouses were almost evenly matched in fan support. Now, that has changed.

Like the couples’ mutual acquaintances, fans are increasingly Team Chantel. She’s more popular than ever.

Obviously, Chantel Everett was already famous and popular.

In order to receive a 90 Day Fiance spinoff like The Family Chantel — the first of its kind — you can’t be universally hated or universally loved.

Chantel, Pedro, their respective relatives, and their marriage were both liked and disliked. They were polarizing enough to hold people’s interests.

Following Chantel’s separation from Pedro, her follower count has been on the rise.

Before The Family Chantel Season 4, Chantel already had 750,000 Instagram followers. That is no laughing matter.

For a relatively recent reality TV personality, that number is huge — and of course represents only a small fraction of her fans.

Now, Chantel has over 990,000 followers — nearly a million — solely on one platform, Instagram.

This means that her following grew by nearly 33% — by nearly 250,000 — in a matter of months.

Gaining a quarter of a million new followers on Instagram during one summer can be life-changing.

Pedro, at present, has fewer than 450,000 followers on Instagram. That is fewer than half of Chantel’s.

Now, obviously Instagram following is hardly an exact metric. Different people thrive on different platforms.

But when two people who either have the same fans or a huge overlap of fans have that huge of a gap in following on the same platform … it usually means something.

Now, Instagram is a photo sharing app. Yes, the corporate clown council at Meta sometimes wants it to be something else, but it’s a pic palace.

That means that hotties are naturally going to receive more attention, with rare exceptions. That is the nature of social media.

And there is no denying that Chantel Everett is a total smokeshow. But is that enough of an explanation?

Pedro is something of a hottie himself.

Part of this couple’s fan appeal has always been that they are both drop-dead gorgeous.

Even if many fans only feel drawn to one partner or the other (well, one ex or the other, now), that never hurt their popularity.

We could talk all day about 90 Day Fiance (and all of its spinoffs’) gender demographics, and how follower psychology works.

But ultimately, no matter whose chest a thirsty follower wants to bury their face in, that can’t account for Chantel having 100% more followers than her ex.

You know what can? What we have all seen play out in court documents and on screen.

On screen, we all watched Pedro be a total jerk.

Don’t get us wrong, Chantel made some mistakes, including showing up at his work function — even if his accused mistress might have been there.

But Pedro was dismissive of Chantel’s feelings. At times, he was even cruel. Withholding affection is not a way to resolve marital disputes.

Off screen, things have apparently been even worse.

Chantel’s response to Pedro’s divorce filing accused him of both domestic abuse and of adultery. The former was a horrible surprise, the latter was … not unexpected.

All together, this spells a lot of reasons for people to flock to Chantel, despite the 90 Day Fiance fandoms pervasive and infamous misogyny. We don’t know what reality TV future Chantel may have, but we’re sure that many fans will stick with her.

Chantel Everett is Clearly Taking the Fans in the Divorce was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip .