There is a difference; circumstances do matter.
Buying/breeding hamsters (and mice) as feeders for reptiles is a necessary evil. Reptiles need to eat, and rodents fit the size and dietary requirements. Plus, they aren't always fed live, some people prefer to euthanize them (humanely, or at least as quickly and painlessly as possible) so they don't suffer; while others leave them alive as a kind of enrichment for the predator.
It's sad, but if you have pets that need rodents as a food source it has to be done. How it's done varies, but it's all to the same end.
Boiling a hamster alive is not quick nor painless, and ILJ doesn't own any reptiles afaik. I find it extremely hard to believe she didn't have access to any other food at the time, and even then if the circumstances were dire enough where you had to eat your pet hamster you don't toss it into a pot, take a picture and caption it "swim bitch swim." It was needlessly cruel and unnecessary.