Speaker 1: Episode one, The Making of Michael Finch. It didn't take
Speaker 1: long for Michael Finch to make it big on YouTube.
Speaker 1: The eighteen year old instantly captivated audiences with his larger
Speaker 1: than life persona and unfiltered opinions.
Speaker 2: I literally had no idea how offended people can get
Speaker 2: by me saying cue, or just anyone saying cue, Like,
Speaker 2: if that means that I ain't ship, then you can
Speaker 2: eat my ass.
Speaker 1: Michael star began burning bright when he joined forces with
Speaker 1: Australia's Girl Shani Grimmond. The unlikely duo were an Internet sensation.
Speaker 3: Yeah it was your head. I will look at you.
Speaker 2: You look like someone from fucking Whovil Cindi leu is
Speaker 2: that you?
Speaker 1: Their catchphrases became a part of the zeitgeist.
Speaker 2: Fucking serious, get in there, Bindi king king. That's a
Speaker 2: problem that.
Speaker 1: YouTube was in its heyday and Michael and his influencer
Speaker 1: girl gang were the biggest stars in Australia. A fucking
Speaker 1: fat mouth and.
Speaker 3: Chi gives to me.
Speaker 2: Behind the scenes, no one sees it.
Speaker 1: But what happens when those friendships break down and you
Speaker 1: start losing your relevance. In this series, we explore Michael
Speaker 1: Finch's meteoric rise to internet fame and his impressive transformation
Speaker 1: from makeup guru to TikTok chev. We are journalist Sophie
Speaker 1: Kate and Amy Torbert, and this is outspoken. Plus, I'm
Speaker 1: so excited for this deep dive because Michael Finch has
Speaker 1: got to be one of my favorite influences. He has
Speaker 1: been for such a long time.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: For me, it was really Shiny Grimmond and Michael Finch
Speaker 1: that got me into YouTube and engaged in the world
Speaker 1: of influencers. And I think that's a similar case for
Speaker 1: a lot of our listeners. I remember there's was always
Speaker 1: such excitement when his vlogs came out. There were ones
Speaker 1: you instantly had to consume. Yeah, I think they were
Speaker 1: really a part of the golden days of YouTube. And
Speaker 1: it is crazy to look back at the wild ride
Speaker 1: that has been Michael Finch's influencing career for almost a
Speaker 1: decade now. I can't believe he's turning twenty seven. This,
Speaker 1: Oh my, that makes me feel so old, I know.
Speaker 1: Will He first launched his YouTube channel back in twenty fourteen,
Speaker 1: sharing makeup tutorials and product reviews, and I went back
Speaker 1: and had to look and He's deleted a lot of
Speaker 1: his old content, so the earliest videos I could find
Speaker 1: were him with his iconic pout and bleach blonde hair
Speaker 1: back in twenty sixteen. I don't really blame him for
Speaker 1: deleting these videos. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would
Speaker 1: be to have your high school self on YouTube, particularly
Speaker 1: because at the time there were so many trending videos
Speaker 1: around makeup, And it's wild to think about how our
Speaker 1: makeup has evolved. I mean, because I was having so
Speaker 1: much fun looking at these videos too, and I forgot
Speaker 1: how big of a thing under ie baking was. Yes,
Speaker 1: and also highlighter, because I didn't even wear highlighter anymore,
Speaker 1: but I remember champagne pop was literally the most popular
Speaker 1: makeup item. Yeah, it made me realize how old some
Speaker 1: of my makeup is that I still have, because I've
Speaker 1: got some of those iconic palettes that they would always use,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, geez, this is probably so out of date.
Speaker 1: I should not be using this. I think you need
Speaker 1: to throw that. Okays that since twenty fourteen, Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I do think you forget how revolutionary Michael Finch was
Speaker 1: on YouTube because you think about it. Yes, they had
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Star in the US, but in Australia we didn't
Speaker 1: have any males on YouTube doing makeup tutorials. And you've
Speaker 1: got Michael Finch, this teenager from a rural town in Victoria,
Speaker 1: sharing these amazing makeup tutorials and becoming a household name.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just his makeup that was a winner
Speaker 1: for people, it was his personality because he really did
Speaker 1: speak to an audience of young women and men who
Speaker 1: were perhaps struggling at school because he did talk about
Speaker 1: being bullied. And I know a lot of people have
Speaker 1: contacted him since he became famous, saying that he helped
Speaker 1: them so much through bullying and also depression and anxiety. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's easy to see how he cultivated such a dedicated
Speaker 1: following because he was not only loud and hilarious, but
Speaker 1: as you said, vulnerable and really real at the same time.
Speaker 1: I think, like most people, I came across Michael Finch
Speaker 1: through Sharny Grimman's channel, and Shaney was the Aussie it
Speaker 1: girl on YouTube at the time, and they were such
Speaker 1: an unbeatable duo together. Yeah, I mean, I would compare
Speaker 1: her popularity to that of Anna Paul at the moment,
Speaker 1: because I think a lot of people forget just how
Speaker 1: big Shanny was because she has sort of trailed into
Speaker 1: obscurity at the moment. I mean, she does still put
Speaker 1: out TikTok videos, but she was the it girl. She
Speaker 1: was the person that everyone watched. Like when her videos dropped,
Speaker 1: you'd be racing to go and watch them. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: like most YouTubers, Michael and Shannie met online, so they
Speaker 1: actually used to watch each other's YouTube videos and started
Speaker 1: messaging each other. So at the time, Michael was living
Speaker 1: in regional Victoria and Shanni was visiting Melbourne one weekend,
Speaker 1: so they met up and Michael did her makeup and
Speaker 1: then they went clubbing, and I think the rest is history.
Speaker 1: Really a bit of a fun fact there whilst I
Speaker 1: was trolling through old videos, apparently that's when he also
Speaker 1: met Lily Brown. So Lily Brown was a friend that
Speaker 1: happened to be in Melbourne. It's a bit odd because
Speaker 1: Lily Brown also lives in Brisbane, so I wonder if
Speaker 1: it was a bit orchestrated by her, because she really
Speaker 1: did be a permanent fixture on Michael Finch's Instagram stories.
Speaker 1: I don't think he was that big when he met Shanny,
Speaker 1: like Shanny was the one I think she. I think
Speaker 1: Lily was more hanging around with Shanny. Well that's what
Speaker 1: I mean. I mean, it's Luke critive to be hanging
Speaker 1: around any of them when you don't have a following yourself.
Speaker 1: Talking about looking at old videos, I saw the first
Speaker 1: video on Michael's channel that Sharanny was in and it
Speaker 1: was actually the second time they had met, and they
Speaker 1: were filming at her house in Brisbane because he'd come
Speaker 1: and stayed over for a sleepover at her house. And
Speaker 1: it was so funny because they did not seem like
Speaker 1: it was the second time they'd met. They were like
Speaker 1: razzing each other up, being so rude to each other,
Speaker 1: and they had such good chemistry and banter on camera. Oh,
Speaker 1: Michael Finch literally burped in her face and they said, Oh,
Speaker 1: all you do is fart around me, Shanny. That was
Speaker 1: so funny because Sharanny was answering a question about what
Speaker 1: her biggest pet peeves were and she goes people burping
Speaker 1: in my face and Michael had just done it to her.
Speaker 1: I feel like Michael's content started changing though when he
Speaker 1: met Shanny, because he used to do all of the
Speaker 1: makeup tutorials. But when he finally was hanging out with Sharny,
Speaker 1: that's when he started vlogging, and I feel like more
Speaker 1: of his personality came out and more people started loving him.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I feel like that was sort of the evolution of
Speaker 1: YouTube though, because in the early days of YouTube, so
Speaker 1: many people gained traction by copying other people's videos, whether
Speaker 1: it was twenty four hour challenge videos or trending makeup topics.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's really interesting to look at his growth
Speaker 1: in that respect. I also find it fascinating because clearly
Speaker 1: a lot of YouTubers make a bigger following by teaming
Speaker 1: up with other YouTubers. We've seen it with Saffron Barker
Speaker 1: and Anastasia kings North they met online as well. It's
Speaker 1: clearly a lucrative thing. It's like they kind of created
Speaker 1: their own Australian high powers in the US when they've
Speaker 1: got all the creators that come together. Yeah, and we've
Speaker 1: got to remember this was a time when a beauty
Speaker 1: influencer could really make or break a makeup brand. Yes,
Speaker 1: we've got TikTok now and products can go off, but
Speaker 1: the influencer space wasn't as saturated.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It was also at a time though, when gifting and
Speaker 1: collaborations weren't publicized as being so I was very much
Speaker 1: in the infantry.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It was the wild West then, so a lot of
Speaker 1: influencers could just cleverly integrate. Oh this is my new
Speaker 1: favorite foundation. Oh this is my new favorite makeup palette.
Speaker 1: And they'd just been gifted it by brands. But they
Speaker 1: were also making a lot of money off some of
Speaker 1: these deals. And the biggest brands at the time were Anastasia,
Speaker 1: Beverly Hills. I mean, I haven't really heard of them
Speaker 1: for a while. I don't buy any of their products anymore.
Speaker 1: We had the tart shaped tape, which Michael Finch seemed
Speaker 1: to swear by. Oh. They were always going on about
Speaker 1: Morphy as well, and I did see a loog. Shanni
Speaker 1: mentioned the Becker highlighter. Yeah, it was a Conic highlighter.
Speaker 1: I loved it. I also couldn't get past Shanny's really
Speaker 1: thick eyebrows. They were quite iconic at the time. I
Speaker 1: remember Michael Finch always used to say they looked like slugs.
Speaker 1: It was quite mean. It's interesting because I was listening
Speaker 1: to this interview with Britney Saunders, and she was saying
Speaker 1: that when she first got on YouTube, she started posting
Speaker 1: about makeup, but she wasn't even interested in it. Because
Speaker 1: everyone else was sharing about it. It was really the
Speaker 1: only way to get big on YouTube and then from
Speaker 1: their if you've got a following for being good at makeup,
Speaker 1: you could then start doing vlogs. That's so true, and
Speaker 1: I think that's why Michael has done so well because
Speaker 1: he was actually working as a makeup artist. He was
Speaker 1: doing people's makeup. He was actually was talented. Just yeah
Speaker 1: in it now. In addition to making beauty products sell out,
Speaker 1: Michael and Shannie also had the ability to make catch
Speaker 1: phrases and words go off. They even had their own
Speaker 1: language at one point, and their catchphrases was so iconic
Speaker 1: that Michael and Shanni launched a collaboration with Beginning boutique.
Speaker 1: Do you guys remember these clothes? Yes? I do. I
Speaker 1: actually think I've one of you. Bought me the hat
Speaker 1: that has thank you on it?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 1: Really, I bought the socks I reckon that. I feel
Speaker 1: like Michael Finch might have packed them himself though, Okay, Oh,
Speaker 1: I think Beginning boutique's quite big. I don't know if
Speaker 1: Amy you're thinking of. They had their own brand, so
Speaker 1: Shanny did have SG the label for a while. I
Speaker 1: think they were watches, and then they launched their own
Speaker 1: brand and started selling their catch phrases on that as well.
Speaker 1: These clothes were hideous because you hear about brand collaborations
Speaker 1: now with influencers, and the influencers will pick, you know,
Speaker 1: design outfits and stuff. But these were literally just merch
Speaker 1: So some of the tops had sea or thank you
Speaker 1: on there or not a problem like I just I
Speaker 1: mean very much relating to a teenage audience. It's pretty
Speaker 1: clever though. I'm sure this stuff just sold out instantly. Oh,
Speaker 1: I mean their catch phrases were everywhere. This wasn't just
Speaker 1: a small corner of the Internet that was saying them.
Speaker 1: Let's throw it to some of these iconic phrases because
Speaker 1: I think people enjoy hearing them.
Speaker 3: Again, Get in there, Bindy, way back on the butler.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, Ell you fucking serious, that's
Speaker 2: a problem that like, I kind of fucker dark BINDI.
Speaker 1: Listening to all those grabs, it just reminded me of
Speaker 1: an iconic YouTube video that came out someone made. It
Speaker 1: was like a mock version of an Alexa bring Brought
Speaker 1: Home to a family, except it had the voice of
Speaker 1: Michael Finch and of his friend Chris Fox, and it
Speaker 1: was their iconic catchphrases like it was just this Alexa
Speaker 1: just yelling at the household. It was friggin' hilarious.
Speaker 3: Can you hear me? Nope, it only hears you when
Speaker 3: you use the week word. We chose Alexa.
Speaker 1: We want to Alexa, what time is it?
Speaker 3: I think you need to relax.
Speaker 1: What time is it?
Speaker 2: Sit down, take a step back, take three steps to
Speaker 2: the left, four steps to the right. Get fucked.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing. Though not everyone got on board
Speaker 1: with these catch phrases, particularly the language that they developed,
Speaker 1: which really seemed to get on people's nerves during one
Speaker 1: of their trips to the US. So basically I think
Speaker 1: it was Rannie Sky, Wheatley, Shannye, Michael Finch, a couple
Speaker 1: of mothers, Lily Brown, they were all on this trip
Speaker 1: and they kept speaking in that voice and Candlestick and
Speaker 1: everything the whole time. Oh, the Kendle thing was so confusing.
Speaker 1: I actually watched their recent shot at video. Lily and
Speaker 1: Michaels and I didn't even know what they were talking
Speaker 1: about half the time because they kept saying Kendall Jenna
Speaker 1: all the time. Yeah, I think they took it a
Speaker 1: bit farther, But how hilarious for them knowing that they're
Speaker 1: were all of these kids in school yards just copying
Speaker 1: everything they said. Michael definitely didn't understand the hate that
Speaker 1: was being thrown towards his catch phrases. Here's what he said.
Speaker 2: I literally had no idea how offended people can get
Speaker 2: by me saying cue or just anyone saying cute. Like
Speaker 2: it's just one of those fucking stupid things that me
Speaker 2: and Shiny kind of just made up. And you know,
Speaker 2: it's just said a lot now.
Speaker 3: I'll just drop my brash.
Speaker 2: It's just said by a lot of people now, and
Speaker 2: you know, just different scenarios like one time when me
Speaker 2: and Shiny were in Bali and I was really drunk
Speaker 2: and we're going back to the hotel and I was
Speaker 2: walking past every single door going The amount of people
Speaker 2: that have done that and sent it to me on
Speaker 2: Twitter is amazing. When you guys like copy scenarios like that,
Speaker 2: it fucking kills us, like we die, We love it
Speaker 2: so much, and just like when you get your parents
Speaker 2: to say, like, BINDI come in now, hilarious, fucking hilarious.
Speaker 2: You guys are great, but yeah, so many people get
Speaker 2: so offended. Like I did not know it was such
Speaker 2: an offensive thing. I said something on Twitter this morning,
Speaker 2: and it's literally a status that someone's made saying can
Speaker 2: people stop thank you or thank you? Michael Finch ain't shit? Well,
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously, if it's getting to the point where
Speaker 2: you need to make a status, it must be a
Speaker 2: lot of people and getting really annoying. So if that
Speaker 2: means that I ain't shit, then you can eat my ass.
Speaker 1: I do think it has a lot to do with
Speaker 1: this group coming together, because, as we mentioned earlier, this
Speaker 1: friendship group was very influential and Shannie and Michael literally
Speaker 1: launched the social media careers of Lily Brown and Rannie
Speaker 1: Bransby and to an extent, Sky Wheatley because I remember
Speaker 1: Sky had been on Big Brother, but she wasn't really
Speaker 1: that popular on YouTube, and both Lily and her were
Speaker 1: just hanging around this group like a bad smell. When
Speaker 1: I was doing research for this episode, it was the
Speaker 1: first video I'd seen Lily and Michael in together and
Speaker 1: she was just like staring at the vlogging camera, like
Speaker 1: trying to be so over the top. And it's pretty
Speaker 1: interesting because they recently came out and said that they
Speaker 1: used to take shots of Oxy Shrow to be so
Speaker 1: hyped up here for the videos. Yeah, that makes more
Speaker 1: and more sense, doesn't it. Yeah, do you remember Lily
Speaker 1: also used to come up to the camera and just
Speaker 1: be like trying to smash the camera lens with her fingernail. Well,
Speaker 1: she did catch the attention of a lot of followers
Speaker 1: when she met Michael Finch and Charny for the first
Speaker 1: time at that Melbourne meetup, and basically she kept just
Speaker 1: yelling the whole time, and she kept being in the
Speaker 1: background of Michael Finch's snapchat. It was just like a
Speaker 1: competition who could be more stupid And I think that's
Speaker 1: why the group didn't work. We will go into that
Speaker 1: in next week's episode. Yeah, it was really who could
Speaker 1: be the most obnoxious. Yeah, but it was such huge
Speaker 1: stakes for them because, for example, look at Lily how
Speaker 1: much her career has exploded from just being friendly with
Speaker 1: them and launching a channel. They must have had so
Speaker 1: many people trying to befriend them just to get that
Speaker 1: internet fame. Now, one of my all time favorite YouTube
Speaker 1: videos has to be a balley trip that Michael and
Speaker 1: Channey went on together and it was Michael's first time overseas,
Speaker 1: and Shiny revealed that Mychael didn't actually know how to swing.
Speaker 1: He didn't really know much because like she kept quizzing
Speaker 1: him about Barley belly and he could see the sea
Speaker 1: in the horizon and He's like, can I get Bari
Speaker 1: belly from the sea or it's got salt in it?
Speaker 1: Like he was just so confused. Well, we forget how
Speaker 1: young he was now. Shani also shared Michael's lack of
Speaker 1: understanding when it came to geography. Let's throw to what
Speaker 1: he said.
Speaker 4: So I was just waiting for our taxi and Michael
Speaker 4: literally just asked the best question, you know how He's
Speaker 4: like really good with geography and all of that good stuff.
Speaker 4: He's like, don't film this, but can I ask your
Speaker 4: own question? He said, are we like still in the
Speaker 4: world like that little blue ball? Are we like there?
Speaker 4: And I'm like, well, yeah, Bally is in earth.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be my favorite clip from YouTube. It's ironic,
Speaker 1: it's absolutely hilarious. I do love that he let it
Speaker 1: go to air as well. Now we have been speaking
Speaker 1: a bit about this trip to the US, and I
Speaker 1: do think it's spelt the beginning of the end for
Speaker 1: this group and the popularity that they were experiencing at
Speaker 1: the time, because when they were all filming together, it
Speaker 1: felt like they were all trying to compete and outdo
Speaker 1: each other and who was the loudest, who was the silliest.
Speaker 1: That's because they were all just on oxy shredded. Maybe
Speaker 1: that's way it seems so chaotic. Yeah. The thing is,
Speaker 1: even though there was his undercurrent of competition within that
Speaker 1: friendship group, it was a really important group of friends
Speaker 1: for Michael and he actually made the move across to
Speaker 1: Brisbane from Regional Victoria to be closer to his friends. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and this was at a time when his YouTube career
Speaker 1: was really booming, and I think that he needed his
Speaker 1: friends and that vibrancy to be in the video. I mean,
Speaker 1: it would be hard to go back to your hometown
Speaker 1: in Regional Victoria and be filming these elaborate videos. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know his mum was in some of them, but
Speaker 1: it seemed like all his friends were in Brisbane. That's
Speaker 1: the thing. He would often travel to Brisbane to see
Speaker 1: Shani and his other YouTube friends, and it's so funny
Speaker 1: because he would film videos where he'd be third wheeling
Speaker 1: with Jonathan and shann and this took me back. I
Speaker 1: love that time of YouTube. I love like Jonathan was
Speaker 1: the ideal boyfriend. I actually recently watched a vlog where
Speaker 1: Michael was visiting and they went for a high this
Speaker 1: mountain together and Jonathan had been relegated to the backseat
Speaker 1: and he could tell you wasn't happy about it, and
Speaker 1: it was just so funny. How tall is Jonathan because
Speaker 1: he and Shannie looked the same high but now he's
Speaker 1: pretty tall. Yeah, because I'm going to say, now he's
Speaker 1: with Madison Woolley, who looks quite sure. I'm like, is
Speaker 1: Jonathan tull? Guy? What I recall seeing Michael and Shane's
Speaker 1: trip to Barley, and then I remember Shanne and Jonathan
Speaker 1: went to Barley and it was so evident she had
Speaker 1: such a better time with Michael. Yeah, who wouldn't. He's hilarious,
Speaker 1: I know, and I think not that long after that's
Speaker 1: when Shannee and Jonathan called a quit well for the
Speaker 1: first time. That we will actually be looking into that
Speaker 1: in another subscriber episode. Now. It was the first time
Speaker 1: that Michael lived out of home, and he decided that
Speaker 1: he wanted to live by himself because he said he
Speaker 1: liked his own personal space and he didn't want anyone
Speaker 1: at home whilst he was filming during the day and
Speaker 1: amy these moving vlogs. They were iconic, they really were.
Speaker 1: I think they're one of my all time favorite YouTube
Speaker 1: videos because they were just so much fun because Michael
Speaker 1: moved over with his mum and his dad came to help.
Speaker 1: And I think anytime you watch all those, you know
Speaker 1: that they're shopping at Kmart getting all the furniture, and
Speaker 1: he was just so boogie. But you feel really nostalgic,
Speaker 1: I suppose, thinking back when you moved out of home.
Speaker 1: I do love how clueless he was because we'll go
Speaker 1: into it more next week. But he has really become
Speaker 1: this chef on TikTok, whereas when he moved out of
Speaker 1: his home, he didn't know anything about cookie. You remember,
Speaker 1: he was just making all these big like jugs of
Speaker 1: juice of fresh like green juice, so cute, and his
Speaker 1: apartment had very twenty seventeen vibes, so he had a
Speaker 1: really large black leather reclined couch. He also had those
Speaker 1: huge display jars, very similar to what Chloe Kardashian had,
Speaker 1: and they were filled with cookies and lollies and chocolate,
Speaker 1: and I remember he was saying in the vlog to
Speaker 1: his mum stop eating all of them. But he also
Speaker 1: said that he didn't want have any junk food in
Speaker 1: the house apart from the jars. I do remember his
Speaker 1: iconic Christmas tree, like I recall, he put it up
Speaker 1: really really early and it was like the most bougie
Speaker 1: I think it was. It was black silver Christmas tree
Speaker 1: was amazing well, as all YouTubers do. He also had
Speaker 1: a designated YouTube room, which of course had two very
Speaker 1: large Ikea draws. To remember those drawers, every YouTuber had them,
Speaker 1: and they had all of their makeup perfectly sectioned off
Speaker 1: in their ogi's will. Also remember that in the background
Speaker 1: he had a very large portrait of himself holding Shani
Speaker 1: Grimman's dog Bindi. He was obsessed with Bindy. He actually
Speaker 1: moved across the road from Shanny so he could get
Speaker 1: to Bindy and take Bindy for walks and visit Bindi.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that they lived so close. I realized
Speaker 1: that either do you think he was obsessed with the
Speaker 1: dog or it just became a thing because it was
Speaker 1: his catchphrase. No, I think he was. I think he
Speaker 1: loved the dogs animals. I mean, he's got a couple
Speaker 1: of dogs himself. Now, shortly after the move, fans started
Speaker 1: trying to guess where he lived, and he addressed this
Speaker 1: on YouTube, saying he was aware of numerous Facebook threads
Speaker 1: where people were trying to guess his address. He then
Speaker 1: warned his followers if anyone rocked up to his house,
Speaker 1: they shouldn't expect him to be nice, and that he
Speaker 1: deserves privacy just as much as everyone else. I think
Speaker 1: this just shows how big he was at the time,
Speaker 1: the fact that people were putting energy into working out
Speaker 1: where he lived because they wanted to meet him so much.
Speaker 1: So from Barker on a recent podcast interview, and she
Speaker 1: was saying, at one stage they had so many people
Speaker 1: rocking up to their front door because people had pieced
Speaker 1: it all together, and that's one of the big reasons
Speaker 1: why her family ended up moving. But you can see
Speaker 1: how easily people can guess, Actually, there's a guy on TikTok,
Speaker 1: and basically people send him a video of where they are,
Speaker 1: Like it could just be out the back in your backyard,
Speaker 1: and he can guess where you are just by piecing
Speaker 1: a few details together. It's actually so much so people
Speaker 1: send that in just to see if he can work
Speaker 1: it out. It's to show how people have to be
Speaker 1: extra careful when they're online. But think how much Michael
Speaker 1: was sharing at the time, Like he was going to
Speaker 1: the local shopping centers. You could work out what cafes
Speaker 1: he was at well, it was pretty easy. He was
Speaker 1: also showing his view a lot of the time, and
Speaker 1: also he was often sharing about pre drinks that he'd
Speaker 1: have at his house and they would say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're going out to so Hopes. And it seemed like
Speaker 1: when he did move he was also just going out
Speaker 1: drinking a lot more. He did say that he would
Speaker 1: run into a lot of fans when he was out
Speaker 1: at a club, and he got a bit embarrassed about
Speaker 1: it because he said sometimes when he was blackout drunk,
Speaker 1: he would without knowing, be rude to fans. So fans
Speaker 1: would like say, oh I like your makeup or ask
Speaker 1: for a photo, and he would just say nothing. But
Speaker 1: then on the other hand, sometimes he said he just
Speaker 1: spent too much money on fans because if one came
Speaker 1: up to him at the bar, he would shout the
Speaker 1: whole friendship group drinks and he just wanted to he
Speaker 1: felt like he was indebted to them. So this probably
Speaker 1: was probably all these like varying reports about him. Like
Speaker 1: next bit, it was really rude. Yeah. Well, at the
Speaker 1: time he moved to Brisbane, he had surpassed one hundred
Speaker 1: thousand followers on YouTube, so he was rapid growing in popularity.
Speaker 1: And it's not clear how, but this is when Michael
Speaker 1: crosspath with serial entrepreneur and now controversial owner of Slickstick,
Speaker 1: Mia Plasic. So Mia quickly became Michael's manager and started
Speaker 1: strategizing how to make serious bank Yeah, and she started
Speaker 1: testing the water with meat and greets. And I did
Speaker 1: have a big laugh at this video because it was
Speaker 1: a professional video shot in twenty eighteen. And in the
Speaker 1: video we see Mia and Michael making their way to
Speaker 1: the first meet and greet, and it literally looked like
Speaker 1: designer brands had vomited on them. So they were both
Speaker 1: wearing black designer shirts and they were strutting towards the camera.
Speaker 1: It was at that time when obnoxious designer gear with
Speaker 1: all the logos was all the rage. And to top
Speaker 1: this off, the pair arrived to the meet and greet
Speaker 1: in eight rolls and literally we see fans mobbing the
Speaker 1: car and screaming and Michael puts down the window and
Speaker 1: waves to everyone. It just wore wasn't the vibe that
Speaker 1: any influencer would want to give out? Now, It's not
Speaker 1: really that raw, relatable vibe that people are trying to
Speaker 1: push on Instagram at the moment, don't you think when
Speaker 1: you look back, it's actually a real US influencer vibe
Speaker 1: to give out. And maybe that was me as do it.
Speaker 1: I think they were considered more of a celebrity though,
Speaker 1: because it wasn't a saturated market. We didn't have all
Speaker 1: these people wanting to be influencers and all these influencers.
Speaker 1: It was only a couple of people that were very
Speaker 1: well known. Yeah. Now this meet and greet, it was
Speaker 1: held at Sephora, and they had some very strong brand
Speaker 1: collaborations and the whole of Sephora was filled with fans
Speaker 1: who had apparently lined up since eleven the night before,
Speaker 1: and the line was literally so large that it stretched
Speaker 1: around the block. It was very reminiscent of the crowds
Speaker 1: we saw who rocked up for Anna Paul and from
Speaker 1: looking at the girls in line, it took me back
Speaker 1: so much because I forgot at the time what a
Speaker 1: uniform we used to wear. And the uniform was black
Speaker 1: skinny jeans and a danim jacket. All of them were
Speaker 1: wearing it. Yeah, but then with all extreme makeup like
Speaker 1: that Shanni and Michael would do. I recall at the
Speaker 1: time of this meet and greet, remember Kendall and Kylie
Speaker 1: were doing all those meet and greets around the US,
Speaker 1: and then they came to Australia. That's probably where the
Speaker 1: Kundall Jenna thing came. Maybe now. Shortly after the success
Speaker 1: of this meet and greet, Michael announced that he would
Speaker 1: be touring around Australia and New Zealand holding makeup master classes.
Speaker 1: And this was a stroke of marketing genius because he
Speaker 1: would use models to do makeup on and all of
Speaker 1: the models were his famous YouTube friends. So Lily Brown
Speaker 1: attended quite a number of these master classes, and Shannee's
Speaker 1: dog Bindy even made he put makeup ONDI no, he
Speaker 1: didn't put makeup dog. Yeah, they brought Bindi in and
Speaker 1: he was very protective over Bindi. He's like, everyone be quiet,
Speaker 1: she gets really scared. And I was actually quite astounded
Speaker 1: by how expensive these tickets were. Do you remember, well,
Speaker 1: I remember at the time he did come to Adelaide
Speaker 1: and I kind of wanted to go, but then they
Speaker 1: were way too expensive. What were they?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe it. So general admission was four hundred
Speaker 1: and ninety nine dollars and VIP was six hundred and fifty.
Speaker 1: This is making me feel better about what we spent
Speaker 1: on Taylor Swift. It's no offence to Michael Fish. And
Speaker 1: this was like six years ago, and the master classes
Speaker 1: were described as being limited, so there were spots for
Speaker 1: two hundred people at each session. Now I did the
Speaker 1: quick sums on this. So if we say half of
Speaker 1: the crowd of general admission and half for VIPs, that
Speaker 1: means that Michael was making approximately one hundred and fourteen
Speaker 1: one thousand of each show. So he did a total
Speaker 1: of six shows. That's six hundred and eighty four thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: And I feel like the overheads aren't huge. I mean, yes,
Speaker 1: he has to travel to the cities. But he's just
Speaker 1: using makeup that he probably got for free, no wonder
Speaker 1: he was rocking up in the gold Rolls Royce. What
Speaker 1: did you get for being a VIP, Well, you basically
Speaker 1: got a goodie bag. So this as a VIP, well yeah,
Speaker 1: but as journal sound like Taylor Swissing concert. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: general admission and VIP they both got goodie bags. But
Speaker 1: obviously if you're in VIP were slightly different. Now, a
Speaker 1: lot of the items were samples, so there were samples
Speaker 1: from benefits. They also had a tansy eyemask. There was
Speaker 1: a beginning boutique drink bottle, inglot samples, a bottle of
Speaker 1: BONDII sand, some lashes. It sounds like an influencers starter kit.
Speaker 1: Well they were lighter gummy Yeah, lighter gummies. They were
Speaker 1: so twenty seventeen. He also sold exclusive merch at these masterclasses,
Speaker 1: so then another stream of revenue. Surely the VIP's got
Speaker 1: to meet him. Well yeah, So basically the whole premise
Speaker 1: was that they would hire out a function space, generally
Speaker 1: an area where businesses would hold conferences. So they had
Speaker 1: a stage up the front where Michael would do his
Speaker 1: makeup tutorial. There was also a camera and a big
Speaker 1: screen so you could see the zoomed in effect of
Speaker 1: the makeup. There was also time for questions, a meet
Speaker 1: and greet, and of course some selfies, but yet not
Speaker 1: really getting that much for all of that money. I
Speaker 1: want to know how much of a Cutmea got from this. Well.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if this is the straw that
Speaker 1: broke the cup animals back in terms of their working
Speaker 1: relationship together, because rumors floating around the place are that
Speaker 1: they didn't end things very nicely. It's not surprising because
Speaker 1: Michael seems like a sweetheart, whereas there's differing opinions on Mea. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's so funny because she just came across as such
Speaker 1: a dick. It is interesting how much Michael has changed
Speaker 1: since having Mea as his manager, because when she was
Speaker 1: managing him, it really was when he was wearing all
Speaker 1: the expensive brands and being a little bit unrelatable. Do
Speaker 1: you also find it interesting that she set up all
Speaker 1: of these master classes and meet and greets at Sephora,
Speaker 1: and now she's gone on to create her own makeup
Speaker 1: brand of sorts like the hair Tool. I think she's
Speaker 1: one of those people that had probably been sniffing around
Speaker 1: Michael a bit like you. Maybe she was maybe a
Speaker 1: literally Brown in Melbourne, but yeah, she seemed to be
Speaker 1: just waiting for a big opportunity like that to attach
Speaker 1: herself to someone so well known like Michael Vinn. The
Speaker 1: opportunity to appear in his blogs and be associated with
Speaker 1: him was a big deal at the time. Even the
Speaker 1: fact that she would be the MC and announce Michael
Speaker 1: Finch and Lily Brown like it was just so cringe.
Speaker 1: It's quite clear that Michael's openness with his following though,
Speaker 1: did really strike a chord with followers, and at the
Speaker 1: master classes they would bring him lots of presents and
Speaker 1: fan mail. I used to love seeing him open. Here's
Speaker 1: Michael reading out a few.
Speaker 2: I feel like when you read letters from like subscribers
Speaker 2: and stuff, like, some of them are like they really
Speaker 2: hit home for you, Like you just don't know what
Speaker 2: they're going to say or like have a help dure
Speaker 2: or anything like that, so you have to like mentally prepare.
Speaker 3: Yourself to read them.
Speaker 2: I'm just going to read another one. Dear Michael, thank
Speaker 2: you for absolutely everything. Not only are you an icon,
Speaker 2: thank you for the makeup industry, but you have made
Speaker 2: an influence on who I am today, and I'm sure
Speaker 2: many others agree. After struggling with depression and anxiety or videos,
Speaker 2: your videos were always there to calm me, and for that,
Speaker 2: I'm forever grateful. Thank you once again for everything being
Speaker 2: an amazing person.
Speaker 1: I feel like if Michael Finch is wearing all these
Speaker 1: big brands now and showing off about the expensive things
Speaker 1: that he had, people wouldn't like it. But back then,
Speaker 1: because he was so relatable, I think people thought, oh,
Speaker 1: it's possible to be like him. If I emulate his behavior,
Speaker 1: I could be him. Yeah. I recall watching his stuff
Speaker 1: at the time and I wasn't like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: that's outrageous that he spent that much. That was kind
Speaker 1: of his personality at the time was Oh, he's a
Speaker 1: little bit bougie and he's fabulous and look what he's got.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like the Kardashians when you watch that
Speaker 1: and you watch more in Awe and Entertainer. But I
Speaker 1: think it's more that he was one of us, so
Speaker 1: we won't see him do well as well. With the Kardashians,
Speaker 1: it's like they've never been one of us. I think
Speaker 1: it was also very much of the time, though in
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, a lot of audiences weren't questioning as much
Speaker 1: what influences were doing. We were just sort of going
Speaker 1: along for the ride. Yeah, well, that's where we're going
Speaker 1: to leave things today. Next week we will be getting
Speaker 1: to the bottom of Michael's friendship breakdowns with Shanni Grimman
Speaker 1: and Lily Brown, as well as how Michael Finch went
Speaker 1: from baiting under his eyes to becoming a TikTok cooking sensation.
Speaker 1: This podcast was recorded on the traditional land of the
Speaker 1: Ghana people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to
Speaker 1: elders past and present