It’s been a tough year for wellness blogger Belle Gibson.

But for all the positive news in 2015, it’s also been a year of collective outrage. There was the CEO who earned himself the unenviable title of “world’s most hated man” when he jacked the price of lifesaving drugs.

There was the “wellness blogger” who was accused of lying about her cancer to make money.

There was the tennis player who told a fellow pro another man slept with his girlfriend.

And there was the US presidential candidate who offended in almost every way imaginable but outdid even himself when he proposed America “ban all Muslims”.

Some have apologised and made amends for their behaviour. Others are in jail for what they did to outrage so many. These are the people the internet hated most in 2015 and how they ended a tumultuous year.

SAM PEPPER

Former UK Big Brother contestant Sam Pepper did the unthinkable, all for a click. Pepper, a YouTube prankster from Britain, pretended to shoot and kill a man’s best friend in front of him.

In the video, which was viewed more than 9 million times and widely criticised for its violent plot, Pepper begins by telling viewers “Let’s see how (the victim) reacts to his best friend of five years being killed in front of him”.

The video shows two men being kidnapped. One is in on the prank, the other isn’t. Bags are placed over their heads and they’re taken to a rooftop where one is shot in front of the other as the pair beg for their lives.

The prank sent the internet into meltdown when the video was published and sparked a Change.org petition which gathered more than 216,000 signatures demanding “Sam Pepper be stopped”.

Fellow YouTubers labelled Pepper a “scumbag”. In one video: Etc News described Pepper’s pranks as “stupid”: “Most of the time they aren’t real pranks, they’re just people being annoying a***holes to other humans for no reason other than to syphon views out of the awkward experience.”

MARTIN SHKRELI

Shkreli last week quit his job, was arrested and charged with securities fraud. Picture: Craig Ruttle/APSource:AP

Shkreli, 32, was, until last week, the chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, a company manufacturing lifesaving drugs and turning a neat profit for those at the top.

He made the list — and arguably tops the list — of the most hated people in 2015 when he raised the price of a drug used by HIV patients by 5000 per cent, despite it costing little more than a dollar to manufacture.

He managed to upset people further by flaunting his wealth with the purchase of a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang album for $2 million and a series of inflammatory tweets. His year ended with a perp walk from his Manhattan apartment into the back of a waiting police car and charges for securities fraud and lying to investors. It’s been a bad year to be Martin Shkreli, but as we wrote last week, the man who covets attention at every turn is likely exactly where he wants to be: In the spotlight.

KIM DAVIS

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, right, refused to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples, despite legislation making same-sex marriage legal. Picture: Timothy D. Easley/APSource:AP

America turned a corner in 2015 when it legalised same-sex marriage around the country. Some people, including Rowan County’s Kim Davis, failed to move with the times.

The Kentucky county clerk made headlines in June when she refused to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples on the grounds that it violated her Pentecostal Christian beliefs.

So strongly did Ms Davis feel about her position that she even spent six days in jail defending it.

She’s both hated and made out as a hero by different communities and her legal saga is continuing as the year comes to a close.

BELLE GIBSON

Australian wellness blogger Belle Gibson should be glad to see the end of 2015, a year that saw her publicly shamed for lying about having cancer to turn a profit.

Gibson admitted she deceived her followers, friends and family about having cancer and curing her illness with healthy eating and natural therapies.

The 24-year-old was accused of fabricating her terminal brain cancer and making a profit from her story via her wellness app, The Whole Pantry. Speaking with The Australian Women’s Weekly, Gibson confessed to her lies. “No. None of it’s true,” she said.

A television interview with 60 Minutes divided viewers, who took to Twitter to share their outrage and their sympathy respectively.

DONALD TRUMP

Donald Trump is as divisive as ever. Picture: Robyn Beck/AFPSource:AFP

With every apparent misstep Donald Trump makes on the Republican presidential campaign, he appears to gain new followers. Such is the state of US politics.

Trump is loved by many who follow him from state to state to hear him speak about his vision for tomorrow’s USA. But he’s hated by those who view his policy ideas as small-minded.

Among a growing list of controversial statements he made in 2015 was one that stood out above the rest. In a press release, Trump’s people wrote: “Donald J Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

The candidate who proposed surveillance against mosques ends the year as popular among his devoted followers as ever and, according to some experts, with a genuine chance of winning the Republican nomination.

NICK KYRGIOS

Nick Kyrgios came under fire for his sledge against Stan Wawrinka in Montreal. Picture: Clive Brunskill/GettySource:Getty Images

For all of the Australian tennis superstar’s otherworldly talents, Nick Kyrgios has his flaws, too. The 20-year-old from Canberra made headlines on the court in August when he told world No. 5 Stan Wawrinka that: “Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend” and “Sorry to tell you that, mate.”

The Montreal Masters incident defined an otherwise successful year for Kyrgios who won more than half of his 43 matches and walked away with almost $1 million in prizemoney.

He finished the year ranked 30th in the world but had to endure a serious hate campaign, particularly on social media, during the height of the controversy.

WALTER JAMES PALMER

Walter Palmer killed well-loved Zimbabwe lion Cecil earlier this year. Picture: Craig Lassig/APSource:AP

Palmer became the target of an internet firestorm when he killed Cecil the lion in July.

The US dentist, 55, said his family and staff at his clinic were targeted with death threats by an outraged public. He said the hunt that led to the killing of the much-loved 13-year-old lion was legal and he had “no clue” the lion he was hunting was Cecil.

Cecil, a permanent resident of the Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, had been fitted with a GPS collar and was used as part of Oxford University’s research program.

Palmer said he shot the animal using an arrow from his compound bow outside the park’s borders but it did not die immediately. Charges against him were dropped.

ETHAN COUCH

Ethan Couch is on the run.Source:AFP

Couch’s infamy is the result of a heartbreaking drink-driving incident in which a number of pedestrians were struck and killed by an out-of-control vehicle he was driving.

The Texas teenager got drunk, got behind the wheel of a car filled with drunk passengers and ran down four people. He was 16 years old at the time and miraculously escaped prison by arguing his behaviour was the result of a spoiled upbringing courtesy of rich parents.

The 18-year-old dubbed “Affluenza Teen” was already hated online, but things got worse last week when a video emerged of him at a beer pong contest. As part of Couch’s probation, he is not, under any circumstances, to drink alcohol.

After the video was published on Twitter, Couch and his mother went “missing”. US Marshals released a wanted poster with his face on it overnight.

SALIM MEHAJER

Auburn Deputy Mayor Salim Mehajer leaves his Lidcombe home. Picture: John GraingerSource:News Corp Australia

Controversial Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer didn’t make any friends when he closed down a busy residential street for one of the most lavish weddings in Sydney history.

Things went from bad to worse for the wealthy Lidcombe resident when last week the NSW Local Government Minister urged him to step down and the Australian Federal Police slapped him with charges related to rigging the 2012 Auburn Council ballot that got him elected.

Mehajer says he’s the target of hidden agendas: “Welcome to politics,” he told AAP last week.

The deputy mayor faces a possible 10 years in jail if he’s found guilty of the charges.

JARED FOGLE

Jared Fogle was found guilty of child sex crimes last month. Picture: Michael ConroySource:AP

The former Subway sandwich king completed his very public fall from grace when he was convicted of child sex crimes last month.

The man who made millions spruiking healthy sandwiches as a weight-loss success story could spend up to 10 years in prison for paying to have sex with a 17-year-old girl and for offering a finder’s fee to prostitutes and other underage girls to put him in contact with others he could abuse.

Fogle’s fame made him an easy target once his crimes were made public. His year ends with him staring down the barrel of a lengthy jail term with his reputation — and his marriage — in tatters.