'Posting on TikTok helped me through a dark time'

When Josie North and her brother, Harry, created their own party game inspired by a house fire in their family home, it looked like the only way was up.

The pair founded Hot House Games and co-created "Hit Send", a game that challenges players to send risky or funny texts for points, with YouTube collective the Sidemen.

After the game failed to sell as many units as they had hoped upon its launch, the siblings, from Bridgnorth, were determined to create better products, but their plans were hit by a setback.

North had been experiencing rash-like flare-ups on her skin since 2021. Despite treatment with steroid creams, the condition spread across her body and caused debilitating pain.

"From there, my life was never the same again... and this is the first time, this summer, looking in the mirror, that I recognise this person again," said North, who has spoken about her journey on TikTok.

"I've been in and out of hospital, A&E, looked quite literally like something of a horror movie, many a time."

She said it meant that her brother had to do a lot of "heavy lifting" with the business during times when she could not physically work.

"I came off an immunosuppressant early last year... and I had to go into hospital... I could hardly walk; my parents had to hold me up."

"They had to feed me with a teaspoon because I couldn't even open my mouth wide enough to properly eat; I was just in horrific, horrific pain."

Still working with the Sidemen - six influencers who have more than 23 million subscribers on the video platform - they began to create three new games and rebranded as Regrettable Games.

"My brother actually has a degree in psychology... he is very good at coming up with the game's mechanics, which is essentially how the game plays; how it works psychologically," she said.

"Where my expertise comes into play is the branding side and the packaging behind it... I think having that is almost as important as the actual game itself."

While dealing with flare-ups and trying to keep the business running, North took to social media to post about her skin.

"I felt like it just completely almost disfigured my face in a way," she said.

"I remember thinking to myself, 'I just feel embarrassed about the fact that people will look at me and probably think, 'Oh gosh, she's gone downhill; what's happened to her?'

"So I thought I'm actually going to be really open about it online and reach as many people as I possibly can."

North posted some of her worst flare-ups on TikTok. "When I started talking about it, some of my videos started going viral," she said.

"Throughout my journey, the community that I met on TikTok has been something that has literally carried me through at times.

"Being able to talk to people who are going through exactly the same thing when you literally sometimes do feel like you're the only person in the world that could be going through that much pain... having those people there, it's been amazing."

She said she wanted to help others who were going through similar struggles to her.

"At least there's been a little ray of sunshine in such a dark, dark period," she added.

The pair now have three party games on sale and will release four more next year.

"The main hope is that all the games do well across the world, and then we keep bringing out more and more games with different innovative twists, and bringing excitement to people's worlds," she said.

"I'd love to be able to carry on helping people with conditions such as mine and help people understand that beauty isn't just skin deep."

She said she has always pushed herself to never give up.

"Sometimes I couldn't even work, but I would try my best to at least get out of the house with my mum to go for a coffee just so I could see a glimpse of positivity in each day," she said.

"I remember a lot of people would comment on my TikTok saying, 'How do you even leave the house like that?'

"It would have been so easy just to give up and lie in bed... but I've always kind of been like, 'No, you need to carry on even at your hardest times'."

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