To their millions of YouTube followers, the Ingham Family's 'tax smart' life in Dubai certainly appears enviable. But a secret is lurking behind the scenes which could be about to tear their brand apart...

Published: 17:54, 9 June 2026 | Updated: 17:55, 9 June 2026 On the surface, the Inghams seem like any other attention-hungry British family documenting their lives on social media. Since starting their YouTube channel in 2015, parents Chris, 41, and Sarah, 40, have broadcast to their 1.38 million subscribers some of their most intimate moments, from footage of the birth of their son Jason to videos of their children opening presents on Christmas mornings and their move to Dubai. Their six children – Isabelle (whom Sarah had with a previous partner), Esme, Isla, Jason (known as Jace), Mila and Aurora, who range in age from two to 20 – are a permanent fixture in their content. In one video, posted last week, four-year-old Mila is seen going out to the supermarket to buy macarons with mum Sarah as a surprise treat. Another shows the children swimming in the pool and footage of their gym workouts. But while the Inghams, originally from Yorkshire, may appear willing to share everything about their lives online, there is something else they’ve been keeping from fans for the past year. For I can disclose that Sarah and Chris’s company, The Ingham Family Ltd, went into voluntary liquidation in May 2025 with huge debts of £137,000. The sum includes £91,500 owed to HMRC in unpaid corporation tax and VAT penalties, £30,000 to Lloyds Bank in Covid-era ‘bounce back’ loans and £15,000 to Capital on Tap, a credit-card lender for small businesses. It’s currently unclear whether the outstanding balance has been repaid to HMRC and the other creditors, and the company has not filed accounts since June 2023. When contacted, HMRC and Capital on Tap did not confirm whether the balances are outstanding. Since starting their YouTube channel in 2015, parents Chris, 41, and Sarah, 40, have broadcast to their 1.38 million subscribers some of their most intimate moments Although they haven’t opened up about closing down their company, the couple have previously referenced their finances when addressing the tax benefits that came with their move to Dubai. In one YouTube video, Chris said: ‘Why would you be based in a country where you have to pay the majority of your salary to the government? It doesn’t make sense. ‘If you have a business that’s not location-dependent and it’s not based anywhere other than Dubai then you’re missing a trick. ‘It’s nothing to do with tax dodging – it’s about being smart with your money. Anyone who knows business and knows money does exactly this.’ While the current state of the family’s finances is unknown, the content they’ve recently shared online certainly appears to suggest they’re not short of cash. For the past two years, the family have been living in a lavish four-bedroom townhouse with a garden in Dubai. Their sprawling home has clean white walls, white marbled floors and spacious bedrooms. Similar properties in the area can be rented out for around £5,200 a month. Their videos regularly document Sarah’s indulgent shopping trips and ‘hauls’, while the family have also bought a new dog, a cream-haired Dachshund, and a black-and-white ‘tuxedo’ cat in the past month. Just last week, in a video shared to YouTube titled ‘HUGE New Dubai House HAUL!’, Sarah announced: ‘We’re upgrading and we’re moving to a bigger place very soon’. In the same video, Sarah also boasted about items she had purchased for the family’s new home, among them a popcorn machine, mini waffle maker and new drinking glasses. She also mentioned other larger purchases she plans to have delivered to her new home, including an American-style fridge. A source close to the Inghams told me how Sarah has changed since earning large sums from posting content online. They said: ‘She’s very money-orientated, but I think that’s because of her background.  'She didn’t have a lot of things growing up. And now because she’s getting money she knows she can go out and do what she wants. She’s addicted to shopping.’ The Inghams have faced plenty of criticism from fans over the years, but for the first time my source, who used to be close to the family, has revealed how Chris dealt with negative comments online. Sarah Ingham shows off the new glasses she has bought for their new home in Dubai. Other items mentioned in her 'haul' video include a popcorn machine, mini waffle maker and an American-style fridge Sarah and Chris on their wedding day in 2015. The couple have six children – Isabelle (whom Sarah had with a previous partner), Esme, Isla, Jason (known as Jace), Mila and Aurora, who range in age from two to 20 They said that Chris previously encouraged friends and family members to use fake social media accounts to write aggressive replies to online trollers. Messages were shared with the Daily Mail which show Chris asking them to call someone who had written negative comments about the family ‘a pathetic, troll-looking “online troll” with a life so “happy and brilliant” that you spend your entire life online on a witch hunt crusade of the Ingham Family’. Then again, the Inghams are hardly strangers to controversy. In 2018, Chris was accused of being inappropriate with young female fans. It is alleged he messaged a 16-year-old, Jess Simpson, asking her to ‘sneak out’ of her hotel room in Disneyland Florida at night to meet him. When Jess, who was a devoted follower of the Inghams, realised that she was staying in the same hotel as the family, she messaged them online asking to meet. But within hours, the teenager said she was receiving direct messages on Twitter (now X) from Chris, who at the time was 18 years her senior. It’s alleged that Chris sent Jess a series of suggestive late-night messages, including calling her ‘mega pretty’, asking ‘you home alone?’ and telling her: ‘If you can sneak out without waking anyone then deffo come meet me!’ Jess opened up about the experience in 2018, saying: ‘I was a big fan of the channel so was really happy to meet up with him and his family when we were on holiday. ‘Then he started messaging me. It wasn’t until he began asking if I was alone and that he was going to come round “for a party” that I began to feel scared and that it was creepy.’ Her mother, Theresa Simpson, said: ‘I find the way Chris spoke to my daughter really worrying, and I think any parent would. My daughter had recently turned 16 at the time and she was vulnerable.’ Another 19-year-old fan, Bella Fearn from Cheadle, claims Chris sent her inappropriate messages on Snapchat after she met him at Alton Towers theme park in her home county of Staffordshire. She said: ‘He told me how I was gorgeous and he loved my pictures. I’d just finished work and sent him a picture and he told me to resend it without the towel. It was disgusting and just really inappropriate because he’s got a wife and kids and all these fans.’ The picture of the Snapchat message has since been shared widely online. Chris has denied these allegations and in August 2018 posted a 20-minute YouTube video – which has since been deleted – in response. He denied being ‘a sexual predator’ and said: ‘Have I ever done anything that could be classed as sexually grooming somebody? No. Hell no. Of course I haven’t.’ He continued: ‘A lot of people out there have wrongly jumped to so many conclusions about me. Wrongly and ignorantly named and labelled me so many things, twisted so much and made so many presumptions about so many things that are just completely wrong and disgusting.’ Around the same time in July 2018, the Inghams’ agency, Viral Talent, announced that it no longer represented them. They were contacted for comment. The family moved to Dubai in 2024, and have addressed the tax benefits that came with their move. In one YouTube video, Chris said: ‘Why would you be based in a country where you have to pay the majority of your salary to the government? It doesn’t make sense' A 19-year-old fan, Bella Fearn from Cheadle, claims Chris sent her inappropriate messages on Snapchat after she met him at Alton Towers theme park. She said: ‘I’d just finished work and sent him a picture and he told me to resend it without the towel.' Chris has denied the allegations Although the Inghams faced criticism online after the claims, they were never proven and seemed to be ignored by fans as the family continued to make content online for more than one million followers. Just a year after the grooming allegations, the family also faced a backlash when they were accused of ‘cashing in’ on their children by releasing a life-like doll that resembled their four-month-old son Jason, called the ‘Jace doll’. Made in collaboration with doll firm Mary Shortle, 250 were produced, retailing at £279. Buyers were also invited to the shop in York for a tea party with the Inghams, offering an opportunity to meet the real Jace. In August 2019, there was a fresh scandal after Chris and Sarah posted a YouTube video showing four-month-old Jace alone in a tent on the beach while they went swimming on holiday in Salou, Spain. One angry viewer, Emma, took to Twitter to say: ‘The Ingham Family left their 4-month-old baby unattended on the beach while they all went swimming in the sea. Who the f*** is that irresponsible? It takes seconds for someone to snatch a child.’ In response, Chris said: ‘We were in the water for no more than a few minutes together – Jace was in complete sight the entire time. We never took our eyes off him at any point.’ As the Inghams move in to their new home in Dubai in the coming weeks – and no doubt document the whole process – only time will tell if they paint the full picture of everything that happens behind the cameras. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. 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