Speaker 1: Before we get into the show, we want to point
Speaker 1: out we recorded this episode yesterday afternoon, just before Anna
Speaker 1: Paul released her response to Mikayla Tester's allegations on TikTok.
Speaker 1: We will be delving into Anna's response in more detail
Speaker 1: on Friday's show. It's important to point out that Anna
Speaker 1: has denied body shaming a fan. She also said stories
Speaker 1: about her family's wealth have been greatly exaggerated and has
Speaker 1: called on social media users to end the hate and bullying,
Speaker 1: saying it's all Internet fun until someone dies. Hello and
Speaker 1: welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the hottest influencer
Speaker 1: and pop culture news twice a week. I'm Sophie Torba
Speaker 1: and on today's show, we're going to be diving into
Speaker 1: the Anna pol and Mikayla testers scandal. But first, Kate,
Speaker 1: you're back in the studio following your snake drama. Everyone
Speaker 1: wants a bit of an update. What's been a week
Speaker 1: and the snake still has not emerged. So we have
Speaker 1: had a net setup over the retaining wall that it
Speaker 1: went into, and we were told that it should be
Speaker 1: out within twenty four to four hours, but to give
Speaker 1: it a week just in case. So we're at the
Speaker 1: stage where we're like, do we take the snake net?
Speaker 2: That snake is long gone? Okay?
Speaker 1: Does he come back and get the net? Is that
Speaker 1: just he gives it away for free? Well, we did
Speaker 1: pay one hundred and eighty dollars for the snake catcher
Speaker 1: to come and not catch any snake, so I suppose
Speaker 1: it's for free. You've been sending me these hilarious snapchats
Speaker 1: of our mum going over to help you out with
Speaker 1: Jack and she's out hanging your laundry. But she's got
Speaker 1: a whistle in her mouth. She's been like hoping the
Speaker 1: vibrations of the whistle will keep any snakes away from her.
Speaker 1: It was so funny because I thought she was just
Speaker 1: gonna blow the whistle once and then go outside. However,
Speaker 1: she blew it the whole time she was outside continuously. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she looked like Terry Cruz from White Cheeks, you know
Speaker 1: that SCENEA in the nightclub and he's got that whistle
Speaker 1: in his mouth. A day for the Australians. Let's go,
Speaker 1: Mikayla Testa and Nepaul, We're on. This is our James Charles,
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Star, Tati Westbrook, moment. All right, this is drama
Speaker 1: getting Bogan version Australia's big US influencer scandal is playing
Speaker 1: out in real time. Beloved TikToker and Only Fans creator
Speaker 1: Anna Poul's reputation is in tatters following explosive claims made
Speaker 1: in an eight minute video by her former friend and
Speaker 1: fellow creator Mikayla Tester.
Speaker 2: The bust up has.
Speaker 1: Been dominating Millennial and jen Zetters for You pages, with
Speaker 1: the level of the scandal being compared to the twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen Taddy Westbrook and James Charles drama. Now, before we
Speaker 1: get into the scandal, Kate, can you bring listeners up
Speaker 1: to speed on who Anna and Mikayla are and how
Speaker 1: they're connected.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So we have spoken a lot about Anna Paul on
Speaker 1: this podcast, but for new listeners, she is one of
Speaker 1: Australia's biggest influencers. She has over seven million followers on
Speaker 1: TikTok and two million on Instagram. Well she did she
Speaker 1: used to? Yeah, now to give you an insight into
Speaker 1: just how big she is. In twenty twenty two, she
Speaker 1: shut down Perth CBD when she did a meet and
Speaker 1: greet and at the end of twenty twenty three, she
Speaker 1: launched her own skincare brand, Pauli's Skin, which sold out instantly.
Speaker 1: Now her fan base is predominantly young females who follow
Speaker 1: her daily vlogs where she spreads messages about kindness and
Speaker 1: body positivity. Ironically, there is a large portion of her
Speaker 1: followers who are completely unaware that she also runs a
Speaker 1: very successful OnlyFans account where she shares explicit content. And
Speaker 1: I think a lot of their parents are unaware. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she does also share any fans content. Also, when you
Speaker 1: say that her audience is predominantly young females, I have
Speaker 1: to point out they're mostly schoolgirls. Yeah, And if you
Speaker 1: read Anna's comments on TikTok, there are a lot of
Speaker 1: people that are completely surprised when they find out she
Speaker 1: has an OnlyFans account, in saying that she is one
Speaker 1: of the nation's top earners on the platform. Before she
Speaker 1: launched her skincare range, the AFR estimated she earned two
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty thousand dollars a month on OnlyFans. As
Speaker 1: for Mikayla Tester, she is also a top earner on OnlyFans.
Speaker 1: Is estimated she earns around one hundred and sixty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a month on the platform, so slightly less than
Speaker 1: Anna Paul. She also has close to nine hundred followers
Speaker 1: on Instagram and two point four million on TikTok. Now,
Speaker 1: Mikayla and Anna have been friends for years, and they
Speaker 1: became particularly close when Michayla started dating Anna's brother Adis
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen. Now they ended up breaking up in
Speaker 1: June twenty twenty two, but Mikayla and Anna continue to
Speaker 1: publicly stay friends. They left a lot of supportive messages
Speaker 1: on each other's social media accounts and everything seemed okay
Speaker 1: between them. Yeah, and when Mikayla was dating Addis, the
Speaker 1: pol family really took her in as one of their own,
Speaker 1: and Anna even referred to Michayla as her sister. And
Speaker 1: I remember when they broke up, Mikayla was particularly upset
Speaker 1: because she was no longer a member of the family.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just all about Addis, and I think that's
Speaker 1: because Michayla has been very open about her fractured relationship
Speaker 1: with her own family. They disowned her when she started
Speaker 1: only fans when she was a teenager pretty much, so
Speaker 1: the Pole family has been a second family to her
Speaker 1: and just recently in December, Michayla shared a video where
Speaker 1: she said her family had failed her in the worst
Speaker 1: way you could possibly imagine. So she alleged that she
Speaker 1: was abused by two much older male family members when
Speaker 1: she was a child, which is just horrific to hear,
Speaker 1: and it kind of gives you an insight into her
Speaker 1: mindset at the moment. She clearly is looking to open
Speaker 1: up about a lot of things that have gone on
Speaker 1: in her life. Allegedly. It seemed like for quite a
Speaker 1: number of years that Mikhayla Tessa really wanted to get
Speaker 1: back together with Adams Pole. She created a lot of
Speaker 1: content around it, but last year she actually made a
Speaker 1: new guy. They have since gone on to get engaged.
Speaker 1: She's an American body builder called Maxwell Krause. He also
Speaker 1: has quite a large following on social media. She seems
Speaker 1: very happy with him, and I think Mikayla being in
Speaker 1: this happy relationship has a lot to do with the
Speaker 1: timing of why these allegations are coming out, because it's
Speaker 1: clear that she is at a place now where she
Speaker 1: feels comfortable enough to start speaking on this topic and
Speaker 1: safe and supported clearly too. So now that we are
Speaker 1: up to speed. Let's get into this scandal. So the
Speaker 1: drama kicked off last weekend after Anna Paul told her
Speaker 1: followers she would be randomly gifting new subscribers to her
Speaker 1: Only Fans account cash rewards. Now, this isn't something new,
Speaker 1: so Anna has used similar incentives for her followers to
Speaker 1: promote her skin care line poorly and also her Only
Speaker 1: Fans account in the past.
Speaker 2: Anna went on to.
Speaker 1: Share screenshots from various followers who she'd ended up sending
Speaker 1: two hundred to one thousand dollars to as a cashback reward. Now.
Speaker 1: Last Monday, Mikayla Tester weighed in, writing on her Instagram story,
Speaker 1: if you have to incentivize people to buy your exclusive
Speaker 1: website by running cash giveaways on there and then posting
Speaker 1: screenshots of your Instagram so your underage followers spend ten
Speaker 1: dollars to hopefully win one thousand, you're basically running an
Speaker 1: illegal lottery and taking advantage of children. Its growth. While
Speaker 1: she didn't initially name Anna, it was pretty clear who
Speaker 1: she was talking about, and eight hours later she decided
Speaker 1: to go one step further and name Anna, writing I'm
Speaker 1: speaking on this because it's not only horrible. But every
Speaker 1: time Anna pulls one of these cash giveaway money grabs,
Speaker 1: my dms are filled with hundreds of people asking me
Speaker 1: for funds, slash help with all sorts of devastating things
Speaker 1: because they're at a loss for her. If your OnlyFans
Speaker 1: isn't selling and you need to pull cash grabs just
Speaker 1: to get subs or sell your skincare, then you need
Speaker 1: to reevaluate. Stop using and manipulating less fortunate people into
Speaker 1: sending their last ten dollars because you're promising the chance
Speaker 1: at more. I've had enough and I wish more people
Speaker 1: called a spade for a spade.
Speaker 2: This is exploitation. I was really shocked.
Speaker 1: When I saw this pop up because I was under
Speaker 1: the impression that Mikayla and Anna were still friends. Well
Speaker 1: I think Anna was under that impression because Anna actually
Speaker 1: commented on Mikayla's recent photo, which was uploaded on the Monday,
Speaker 1: saying sexy. Anna must have been unaware because that same day,
Speaker 1: Mikayla had unfollowed her on Instagram. Anna still does follow
Speaker 1: her and follows her to this day. Well, Anna didn't
Speaker 1: respond to Mikayla's call out, but she ended up deleting
Speaker 1: Instagram stories which related to the giveaway, and she said
Speaker 1: in her daily vlog on TikTok, this.
Speaker 4: Thinks in my room that make me happy when I'm sad.
Speaker 1: Anna looked visibly upset in this log. And this is
Speaker 1: the last log that she has posted on TikTok since
Speaker 1: this scandal. Yeah, so, on Wednesday, things escalated even further
Speaker 1: when Michayla uploaded an explosive eight minute expose on Anna
Speaker 1: to TikTok. My jaw dropped when I saw this video.
Speaker 1: The way Michayla began the video was so sensationalized, and
Speaker 1: the allegations just went on and on. It almost felt
Speaker 1: like something we shouldn't be watching. Let's have a listen
Speaker 1: to how Michayla began the video.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of things wrong with Anna Paul. It's
Speaker 5: way easier to hate me for calling her out when
Speaker 5: she's wrong than accepting that the Anna you guys love
Speaker 5: and idolize so much she never existed.
Speaker 4: You don't know her. You don't know her like I
Speaker 4: know her.
Speaker 5: You have never met her, and if you have, it's
Speaker 5: nothing more than a five second sulfie. These people that
Speaker 5: watch her don't know the another I know they know
Speaker 5: the other Anna, the one she wears when the camera
Speaker 5: starts rolling.
Speaker 1: The opening line line of this video has become a
Speaker 1: trending sound on TikTok. It shows what a savvy TikTok
Speaker 1: creator Mikayla is. Though she knew exactly which notes to
Speaker 1: hit with that well, she was clearly reading a written
Speaker 1: statement as well. It's not like she just jumped on
Speaker 1: her stories and said whatever she felt like and clicked
Speaker 1: up load. And I think that's why people took it
Speaker 1: so seriously, because this was obviously something that was very considered.
Speaker 1: It's very different to the other video she has put
Speaker 1: out there, and she made some very big accusations against
Speaker 1: not only Anna, but Anna's brother Adams Paul, who is
Speaker 1: Mikayla's ex boyfriend. The allegations level to Addis Paul are
Speaker 1: extremely serious in nature, and due to legal reasons, we
Speaker 1: will not be delving into those. We will be discussing
Speaker 1: the allegations leveled at Anna to do with her public
Speaker 1: persona though, and we do want to reiterate that the
Speaker 1: allegations Mickayla made are unfounded and are yet to be
Speaker 1: proven to be true. So we're not saying that they
Speaker 1: are true, but we're just simply reporting on what Michayla
Speaker 1: has alleged.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: In the eight minute video, Michayla spoke in more depth
Speaker 1: about Anna's cash giveaway, and she likened the giveaways entry
Speaker 1: mechanism to that of a lottery. She also alleged that
Speaker 1: it was unethical for Anna to direct her underage fan
Speaker 1: base to her only fans platform in order to enter
Speaker 1: the giveaway. Here's more of what she said.
Speaker 5: Anna's performative generosity like hiding money in cities or dishing
Speaker 5: out giveaways behind a pay wall reek of superiority, watching
Speaker 5: her fans scramble over scraps, fighting each other because they
Speaker 5: need these funds while she films it, flaunt her designer labels,
Speaker 5: endless holidays, and material excess. This is dystopian and out
Speaker 5: of touch. Anna is praying on the vulnerability and desperation
Speaker 5: of impressionable young fans for her profit under the disguise
Speaker 5: of self love, empowerment, and giving back. Ana may give
Speaker 5: back to the odd few people who she can post
Speaker 5: on an Instagram story for more promotion, and but everyone
Speaker 5: else falls short. Anna, if you truly wanted to give
Speaker 5: back to your fans, you would use a free platform
Speaker 5: such as your giant Instagram page with over two point
Speaker 5: four million followers, or if you truly wanted to give
Speaker 5: back to your ofs subscribers, you would do it privately
Speaker 5: within that platform. By posting ig stories advertising that you're
Speaker 5: sending money to subscribers, you are directly trying to lure
Speaker 5: new customers over to your page, a page which costs
Speaker 5: sixteen dollars to access. This sixteen dollars is essentially a
Speaker 5: lottery ticket.
Speaker 1: I was interested to know more about the legalities of
Speaker 1: Anna's cash giveaway.
Speaker 2: And what I found was it really is a great area.
Speaker 1: So from what I can establish, it depends whether Anna's
Speaker 1: giveaway fits under the category of a cash back offer
Speaker 1: or a lottery.
Speaker 2: And because Anna.
Speaker 1: Didn't specifically sell tickets, or organize dates or even set
Speaker 1: rules for her giveaway, by definition, it doesn't technically fit
Speaker 1: into the category of a lottery. What it does fit
Speaker 1: into is the a Triple c's definition of a cash
Speaker 1: back offer. So from what I can gauge, it doesn't
Speaker 1: appear that Anna has broken any rules. However, moving forward,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of influencers are going to be
Speaker 1: really careful about doing online giveaways because it is such
Speaker 1: a great area. Well, we have seen recently Adrian Portelli,
Speaker 1: who's known as the Lambeau guy or that guy that
Speaker 1: buys all the properties on the blog. He also actually
Speaker 1: dated Mikayla Tester for a short period of time during
Speaker 1: her breakup with Adams Paul I totally forgot about that. Well.
Speaker 1: He was recently charged with conducting an unlawful lottery in
Speaker 1: South Australia in December last year. So essentially the way
Speaker 1: his business works is people sign up to a membership
Speaker 1: to receive shopping discounts and as part of the membership offering,
Speaker 1: members are also granted entry into monthly draws for cash
Speaker 1: and prizes. And the law states that any lottery that
Speaker 1: is not licensed in the state is unlawful and organizes
Speaker 1: face a maximum penalty of ten thousand dollars. So the
Speaker 1: bow you're trying to draw here is that Adrian has
Speaker 1: been asking his audience to basically subscribe and become members
Speaker 1: to a shopping discount page which is totally unrelated to
Speaker 1: the lottery, which is somewhat similar to Anna asking her
Speaker 1: followers to sign up and become members of her OnlyFans
Speaker 1: account in order to win money.
Speaker 2: That is totally.
Speaker 1: Uncommon entry mechanism. You just got to dot the i's
Speaker 1: and cross the t's and make sure your teas and
Speaker 1: seeds match up with what you do. The issue is
Speaker 1: Anna didn't have any terms in conditions, and I think
Speaker 1: this is why so many consumers might have felt misled. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think there's going to be a lot of influencers
Speaker 1: taking note and making sure that they actually have te's
Speaker 1: and ce's moving forward, because I think social media is
Speaker 1: a little bit of a wild West with competitions, and
Speaker 1: people don't generally think that they're going to be cracked
Speaker 1: down on or even Aside from the legalities, I think
Speaker 1: Mikhayla also raised an important question around the ethics and
Speaker 1: appropriateness of marketing OnlyFans accounts to underage followers, because this
Speaker 1: is essentially what Anna was doing, and she has made
Speaker 1: it very clear that a large percentage of her audience
Speaker 1: are under eighteen, and if you look at her TikTok content,
Speaker 1: it very much appeals to an underage audience. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of discussion on TikTok since this
Speaker 1: scandal hit that Anna speaks quite often in a baby
Speaker 1: voice in her videos, and you know she lives with
Speaker 1: her mum and dad. She calls the mamma and Papa.
Speaker 1: It's all quite I don't say juvenile, but it is
Speaker 1: very childlike the way she acts on that. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: she has been accused of glamorizing sex work to her
Speaker 1: underage followers and one really popular sex worker on TikTok,
Speaker 1: Kayla Jade, she wad into it, and she didn't specifically
Speaker 1: name Anna, but she told her followers it's important for
Speaker 1: sex workers to be mindful of the content they create
Speaker 1: so there's no confusion around it. She said, there's nothing
Speaker 1: morally wrong with being a sex worker and wanting to
Speaker 1: promote it online, but there is a problem when it's
Speaker 1: exposed to the wrong audience. So she likened this to
Speaker 1: horror movies. She said, there's nothing wrong with enjoying horror movies,
Speaker 1: but would you show Texas chainsaw massacre to a room
Speaker 1: full of preschool kids. Kayla also made a really great
Speaker 1: point about the need for creators to be mindful and
Speaker 1: consistent across all platforms so their audiences are aware of
Speaker 1: what they're consuming.
Speaker 2: Let's have a listen to what she said.
Speaker 3: The majority of my audience is twenty five to thirty
Speaker 3: five because it's clear exactly what I do and I'm
Speaker 3: not trying to target a younger audience. Your audience is
Speaker 3: constantly under the age of eighteen and you're in SW
Speaker 3: have to reassess what you're doing, and it is your
Speaker 3: responsibility to fix it. Can neither change your content to
Speaker 3: be more appropriate for a younger audience, you stop promoting
Speaker 3: SW content on all platforms, or make the changes necessary
Speaker 3: to ensure your marketing to an adult audience. Parents also,
Speaker 3: should we be leaving their kids on supervised online because
Speaker 3: just like the engineer, they're going to see some shit
Speaker 3: they probably shouldn't. There are so many people in my
Speaker 3: space that do things that are crossing a line and
Speaker 3: don't sit right with me, and it can be frustrating
Speaker 3: because it brings negative attention to the whole industry.
Speaker 1: There's been so many people weighing into the Anna Pole situation,
Speaker 1: and in this case, I think it's really important to
Speaker 1: hear the perspective of someone who not only works as
Speaker 1: a sex worker as well, but works in the TikTok space,
Speaker 1: so to hear that she has a direct strategy with
Speaker 1: the content that she's putting out making sure that it
Speaker 1: is appropriate for her target demographic. I think is really interesting.
Speaker 1: I think the big difference between Kayla and Anna's content
Speaker 1: is that Anna puts out a very glamorous view of
Speaker 1: being a sex worker. So if you look at her tiktoks,
Speaker 1: it's all about her jetting around the world, which's eating
Speaker 1: in glamorous restaurants, driving luxury cars. Money clearly isn't an
Speaker 1: issue for her, and her fan base is predominantly teenagers
Speaker 1: who would be lapping up this type of content. They
Speaker 1: want to live the life that Anna Paul lives. But
Speaker 1: when you look at Kayla's content, she's done a really
Speaker 1: good job of not romanticizing sex work. I mean, she
Speaker 1: has said that she believes it's important to also show
Speaker 1: the unflattering.
Speaker 2: Side, and she does that.
Speaker 1: She tells some pretty full on stories, which makes it
Speaker 1: not the most appealing job to have. However, you would
Speaker 1: see being a sex worker as the most glamorous thing
Speaker 1: ever long. Anna's one thing that Kayla does do is
Speaker 1: she does often count words of cash that she's made
Speaker 1: from the night before to start her videos. But then
Speaker 1: you hear the reality of how she has got that money,
Speaker 1: and as you said, Amy some of these stories. I mean,
Speaker 1: the reason she's so popular is because these stories have
Speaker 1: you on the edge of your seat.
Speaker 2: But it doesn't glamorize it. It just portrays the reality.
Speaker 1: When you look at Kayla's content, it is clearly aimed
Speaker 1: at eighteen plus. She is pretty consistent with the type
Speaker 1: of content she shares. You would look at Anna's TikTok
Speaker 1: and be unaware that she actually was on OnlyFans. But
Speaker 1: is that because the algorithm punishes creators who do try
Speaker 1: and push people from Instagram or TikTok to OnlyFans? Because
Speaker 1: I've noticed that a lot of OnlyFans creators they have
Speaker 1: to use specific language like oh spicy content and really
Speaker 1: play around with it to suggest people to go onto
Speaker 1: their part. But also, because Anna is a sex worker,
Speaker 1: does that mean that she doesn't have another life? Like,
Speaker 1: does this mean that she has She isn't allowed to
Speaker 1: travel and have a glamorous life, and she isn't allowed
Speaker 1: to be a nice person.
Speaker 2: She is breaking down the stigma that.
Speaker 1: A sex worker has particular personality. Actually, at all of
Speaker 1: the characters, I agree, she's doing a really good job
Speaker 1: at breaking down the stigma. But she can't be relying
Speaker 1: on her underage audience to bump up her OnlyFans earnings,
Speaker 1: and if you look at OnlyFans as rules, it states
Speaker 1: that users must agree they are eighteen years or older
Speaker 1: before they're able to purchase any explicit content. I feel
Speaker 1: like the word that they must agree is important because.
Speaker 2: This site is not fool proof.
Speaker 1: Miners are lying about their age and falsifying their age
Speaker 1: in order to gain access to it. It's pretty similar
Speaker 1: to social media platforms where kids are pretending that they're
Speaker 1: older in order to get them. Now, let's get back
Speaker 1: into Mikayla's allegations. So she really hit Anna wear her?
Speaker 1: She alleged that Anna doesn't care about her fans and
Speaker 1: that the way she presents herself publicly is very different
Speaker 1: to the real Anna. This is some of what she said.
Speaker 5: Everything Anna does is calculated, but she masks the manipulation
Speaker 5: extremely well with an innocent, sweet girl facade. Your fans
Speaker 5: mean nothing to you, just like the animals you buy
Speaker 5: and palm off to others watching you be praised online
Speaker 5: for being kind and caring, But behind the facade.
Speaker 4: Lived an evil person.
Speaker 5: All while I'm receiving hate because I didn't create content
Speaker 5: like you everything people accuse me of being is exactly
Speaker 5: who you are. That was just the beginning of the
Speaker 5: pot that started boiling within me.
Speaker 1: I find it really interesting that Mikayla has brought up
Speaker 1: Anna's pets. We all know that Anna travels the world,
Speaker 1: yet her pets have become a huge part of her
Speaker 1: personal brand. So she has a number of hairless cats
Speaker 1: who remain at home for most of the time. There
Speaker 1: is a bit of a question mark over who actually
Speaker 1: looks after these pets whilst they're traveling all year. And
Speaker 1: to say that your fans and also your animals mean
Speaker 1: nothing to you is a really big thing to say
Speaker 1: to someone like Anna Paul who has based this online
Speaker 1: brand about being kind. And you know, if someone can't
Speaker 1: be kind to animals, that does say a lot more
Speaker 1: about them. It just shows how much this video went
Speaker 1: there because literally every aspect of Anna was being put
Speaker 1: onto the microscope and criticized. Well, she really did go
Speaker 1: for the jugular, particularly when she started talking about Anna's
Speaker 1: messaging around body positivity and saying that essentially she was
Speaker 1: virtue signaling and doing it for clout. She then recounted
Speaker 1: a time Anna met a fan saying.
Speaker 5: This Anna, Remember about god awful trend of people posting
Speaker 5: photos of influencers that they would and wouldn't feel comfortable
Speaker 5: wearing a bikini around. Remember those slide shows people would
Speaker 5: make with everyone in the family of all of you
Speaker 5: being labeled as safe and my photo was at the
Speaker 5: and marked as I would never feel safe in a
Speaker 5: bikinia around Michaela. Meanwhile, right before these videos were trending,
Speaker 5: in twenty twenty one, on the South Bank Bridge, when
Speaker 5: you were peak body positivity, love yourself version of Anna,
Speaker 5: a plus sized fan came up to you and asked
Speaker 5: for a hug in a picture.
Speaker 4: You smiled at her. You told her that you loved her.
Speaker 4: She told you how.
Speaker 5: Your words online have helped her be more comfortable in
Speaker 5: her body. The moment she walked away, you told Adis
Speaker 5: that she was annoying and gross and you didn't want
Speaker 5: to agree to the hug because she was fat and
Speaker 5: sweaty Adis laughed.
Speaker 4: These were your words, Anna, I heard them. Things like
Speaker 4: this were a common occurrence.
Speaker 1: It was really sad because after Mickayla made these claims,
Speaker 1: there were a number of women on tik tok who
Speaker 1: created videos where they shared their fan photos with Anna
Speaker 1: and they were saying, oh my god, I hope that
Speaker 1: this wasn't about me, and they then retold their story
Speaker 1: of meeting her. And as I said earlier, it's clear
Speaker 1: how strategic Michayla has been with this messaging because it
Speaker 1: kind of reminds me of me and girls when Caddie
Speaker 1: Harring hits were you in George where it hurts you
Speaker 1: know her man Candy and hers like. It's literally she's
Speaker 1: gone body positivity, her fans, her pets, like everything that
Speaker 1: we like about Anna she's saying is not true. And
Speaker 1: this is how I'm going to show you it's not
Speaker 1: true and prove it. Because a lot of people want
Speaker 1: to meet Anna Paul. She's shut down Perth CBD. And
Speaker 1: it's an experience that you always remember and you think,
Speaker 1: oh my god, it was so great. When I met her,
Speaker 1: she was just like she is on TikTok. But then
Speaker 1: to hear the conversation that occurs will allegedly occurred after
Speaker 1: she met a fan, it just hits you viscerally because
Speaker 1: you're like, I cannot imagine having such a positive experience
Speaker 1: but then having it completely altered. Hearing the reality of
Speaker 1: what happened afterwards. Well, on the Mean Girl's comparison, somebody
Speaker 1: said it reminds them of when Regina George would compliment
Speaker 1: someone on their tartan skirt or their bracelet and then
Speaker 1: be like, that's the fuggliest thing I've ever seen. An
Speaker 1: accusation that's been gaining a lot of traction on TikTok
Speaker 1: Is around Anna's upbringing. So Mikayla alleged that Anna lied
Speaker 1: about it. So she has spoken in depth on her
Speaker 1: social media channels about supposedly growing up poor, and I
Speaker 1: think that this has been a big part of her appeal.
Speaker 1: This Rags to Rich's story because it's kept her relatable
Speaker 1: because even though we see her documenting this very lavish
Speaker 1: lifestyle online, we're reminded by the fact that this is
Speaker 1: the first time she's experiencing it because she grew up
Speaker 1: with no Christmas presents and her family lived in a
Speaker 1: very humble house. People feel happy for her that she's
Speaker 1: able to gain this success, particularly when she gives her
Speaker 1: parents very lavish things that she positions that they couldn't
Speaker 1: afford and that she wants to spoil them.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: According to Mikayla, she says that Anna allegedly grew up
Speaker 1: in an upper middle class family. Here's some of what
Speaker 1: she said.
Speaker 5: Their dad, making triple the average Australian income per week
Speaker 5: had them living in a beautiful house on the water
Speaker 5: with a built in pool. I've seen the house in person.
Speaker 5: It's beautiful. Being upper middle class is not being poor, Anna,
Speaker 5: Your exaggerated stories for the Internet has always made your
Speaker 5: dad upset and me well, just angry, real victim of
Speaker 5: the system and poverty like you portrayed yourself online.
Speaker 4: Remember that time when he called you out in the
Speaker 4: living room.
Speaker 5: He didn't understand why you would post such things and
Speaker 5: he called them liars. But you need the story faking
Speaker 5: your poverty so people excuse your schemes and wealth and
Speaker 5: feel bad for you. Every calculated story is serving such
Speaker 5: an important role in supporting the other lies this web
Speaker 5: you're weaving to entrapt these people's pity.
Speaker 1: These allegations have led to a lot of people going
Speaker 1: back and doing their own research. I've seen some TikTokers
Speaker 1: finding real estate dot Com listings of the house that
Speaker 1: Anna allegedly grew up in, showing that.
Speaker 2: It was a beautiful house on the water front, two.
Speaker 1: Million dollar house. Somebody has alleged these are allegations. We
Speaker 1: don't know how true they are. Everyone's turned into detectives,
Speaker 1: haven't they had? So many of Anna Paul's supposed primary
Speaker 1: school and high school friends have come out of the
Speaker 1: woodwork given their viewer what she was like. And there's
Speaker 1: been also a lot of people trolling back through. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say her papa, I can't remember his name, but
Speaker 1: his his Instagram count to prove that he had a
Speaker 1: number of nice cars whilst they were growing up, because
Speaker 1: there was. Anna did make a claim that her parents
Speaker 1: had to be given a car because they couldn't afford one.
Speaker 1: And I'm seeing a lot of people clipping up content
Speaker 1: that Anna has previously shared as a teenager and then
Speaker 1: showing her completely contradicting herself in more recent vlogs. Well,
Speaker 1: it does play into the allegations that Verukas Salt made
Speaker 1: back in March last year. So she accused Anna of
Speaker 1: allegedly neglecting her father, Hans. So she claimed that her
Speaker 1: babysitter was dating Anna's dad and that she told her
Speaker 1: Hans lived in his van and didn't have money for food,
Speaker 1: and Ruka went on to say that she shared a
Speaker 1: mutual friend with the Pools, who backed up the babysitters
Speaker 1: claims and allegedly the way Anna and Adas treated their
Speaker 1: dad was quote disgusting. Now. Anna's dad later came out
Speaker 1: and said that the allegations were toxic misinformation. Interestingly, at
Speaker 1: the time, Mikayla Tester weighed into the argument, saying that
Speaker 1: Veruka's comments were not true, but did say that Hans
Speaker 1: was a hippie and he was known for sleeping in
Speaker 1: his van. We're getting two very different pictures here because
Speaker 1: Varuka's allegations are centered around the fact that the Paul
Speaker 1: kids didn't support their father to the point where he's
Speaker 1: having to live in a caravan and he needed support,
Speaker 1: is what she's saying exactly. Then, from Mikayla, we are
Speaker 1: been given the impression the Hans has been very upset
Speaker 1: about the way that Anna has portrayed her childhood because
Speaker 1: he worked hard to provide for his family and from
Speaker 1: all accounts it sounds like they grew up in a
Speaker 1: very nice household. Yeah, well, the claims don't really match up.
Speaker 1: I mean in saying that it is possible for people's
Speaker 1: financial situations to change throughout their lifestyle and a lot
Speaker 1: of people were waiting for Ruka to weigh in on
Speaker 1: Mikayla's recent claims, and she didn't disappoint, so she came
Speaker 1: out swinging, labeling An a manipulative and a compulsive liar.
Speaker 1: She wrote, she allowed the Internet to rip me a
Speaker 1: new one while she sat in a room on a
Speaker 1: cruise ship screaming at her dad to tell her what
Speaker 1: he said to my son's abysitter in Brackets partner. She
Speaker 1: knows everything I said was true. She was more than
Speaker 1: happy to sit in silence and let her fans bully
Speaker 1: me when I had pure intentions and told no lies
Speaker 1: only one month after my son's death. Now, among her allegations,
Speaker 1: she accused Anna of cosplaying, being poor, and stealing pieces
Speaker 1: of Michayla's life story and presenting them as her own.
Speaker 1: Ruka also alleged that Anna purposely set up Mikayla with
Speaker 1: Adas so he could get a cut of her OnlyFans earnings.
Speaker 1: She ended up writing this story took me five minutes
Speaker 1: to write and post because it's factual. I know Anna
Speaker 1: is sitting in her room talking to Addis and plotting
Speaker 1: her response to Mikayla. That's why it's taking so long.
Speaker 1: If Anna was who she says she is, she could
Speaker 1: open her camera talk click post. She has to plan
Speaker 1: her words carefully because it's going to be bullshit. This
Speaker 1: may just be my algorithm. But one thing I've been
Speaker 1: quite surprised about is the number of large creators who
Speaker 1: were siding with Michayla and who were quite happy for
Speaker 1: Anna Paul to be receiving this negativity.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: I don't know whether it comes down to jealousy within
Speaker 1: the industry, because Anna really has become TikTok sweetheart. Anything
Speaker 1: she touches previously has turned to gold. She's incredibly popular,
Speaker 1: and maybe some creators I'm not saying Varuka here, but
Speaker 1: maybe there are some creators who are seeing this as
Speaker 1: an opportunity to take her position. Well. People are definitely
Speaker 1: taking joy out of it. There seems to have been
Speaker 1: this mass pilon and to me, it kind of seems
Speaker 1: that everyone's been waiting for that gotcha moment with Anna
Speaker 1: Paul and now it's come. I am really not surprised
Speaker 1: that this has happened. I actually predicted that Anna Paul
Speaker 1: would be canceled this year, and it's not something that
Speaker 1: I am joyous in getting right because it's horrible to
Speaker 1: see anyone get canceled, no matter what the allegations are
Speaker 1: against them. And in saying that, I mean, as we say,
Speaker 1: we can't get into it legally, but it does annoy
Speaker 1: me that people are piling on Anna when there have
Speaker 1: been a lot of worse things said about her brother.
Speaker 2: That is what is so confusing about the situation.
Speaker 1: Does it come down to the fact that we expect
Speaker 1: a lot less from Attis and that's why we're not
Speaker 1: really shocked by these claims. That's not such a big
Speaker 1: deal because when he first came to prominence in twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: I think all of our initial opinions of him were
Speaker 1: quite low. If you reflect on the stories that we
Speaker 1: were covering in twenty twenty, it was around him trying
Speaker 1: to sell cryptocurrency to his impressionable audience. He had this
Speaker 1: real dickhead persona. He boasted about his fast cars and
Speaker 1: his boats. In saying that, since twenty twenty two, he's
Speaker 1: gone through this real transformation. That was after he broke
Speaker 1: up with Mikayla Tester, he started to present himself completely differently.
Speaker 1: He grew his hair, he wore more feminine clothes. He
Speaker 1: also took himself offline, so he doesn't actually post content anymore.
Speaker 1: He only appears in Anna's content. It also looked like
Speaker 1: he was living a simpler lifestyle, like, yes, he was
Speaker 1: going on these holidays, but he was in touch with
Speaker 1: his feelings, journaling, he was painting. I more think it's
Speaker 1: because the mainstream media can't actually report on what's been
Speaker 1: said about Yeah, but that's not stopping people on TikTok.
Speaker 1: On TikTok, people don't seem to understand the legal ramifications,
Speaker 1: and that's why I'm confused that there is not more
Speaker 1: being directed at Adas Pole.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: It also has something to do with the fact that
Speaker 1: Anna's got a much larger profile and he no longer
Speaker 1: is online. He only appears in the background. I think
Speaker 1: it's also because Anna hasn't come out and said anything,
Speaker 1: so everyone's been almost creating their own narrative on TikTok,
Speaker 1: and it's become a sport to.
Speaker 2: Have a go at Anna. Paul No.
Speaker 1: I think it also comes down to the fact that
Speaker 1: people feel cheated. They're like, you've told us that you're
Speaker 1: one way, and then apparently behind closed doors you're another.
Speaker 1: You do make a really good point, because it seems
Speaker 1: like Anna Poul's biggest crime at the moment is that
Speaker 1: she isn't a nice person as she presents herself on TikTok.
Speaker 1: It reminds me of the cancelation of Ellen DeGeneres. It
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, what she's not exactly the
Speaker 1: same when the cameras aren't rolling anymore. I also think
Speaker 1: it's a gendered thing and as a society we seem
Speaker 1: to have this thing where we love to tear women
Speaker 1: down and it's almost a bit of a case of
Speaker 1: tool poppy.
Speaker 2: Again.
Speaker 1: We can't get into the allegations made against Adams pol
Speaker 1: but they are far worse than the allegations that have
Speaker 1: been made against Anna Paul. There is no comparison.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: We did hold off ondiscussing this scandal until show because
Speaker 1: we were hoping that Anna Paul would have had an
Speaker 1: opportunity to reply to the allegations at the time of recording,
Speaker 1: though she has not, and this has despite it nearly
Speaker 1: being a full week since Mikayla made the allegations, and
Speaker 1: this has been very detrimental to her So far, she's
Speaker 1: lost over four hundred thousand followers on TikTok and fifty
Speaker 1: nine thousand on Instagram. Her skincare brand, Paulie, has also
Speaker 1: lost over thirteen thousand followers. On the contrary, though Mikayla
Speaker 1: has done well out of this situation. She has gained
Speaker 1: over two hundred thousand followers on TikTok and forty five
Speaker 1: thousand on Instagram. It seems like a lot of people
Speaker 1: have left Anna's page to go and follow Mikayla. I'm
Speaker 1: not entirely surprised that Anna hasn't said anything yet, because
Speaker 1: she used the same strategy of staying quiet when varukas
Speaker 1: Sault made the allegations against her dad. At the time,
Speaker 1: her dad did come out and label it as toxic misinformation.
Speaker 1: I didn't really agree with Varukasault saying, oh, she should
Speaker 1: just jump on her stories and say something and quickly
Speaker 1: post it, because these are really serious allegations that have
Speaker 1: huge reputational damage for Anna paul. I think, though, what
Speaker 1: she was saying was if she's so real and raw,
Speaker 1: she should be able to explain away these comments. Obviously
Speaker 1: there's a lot more brewing behind the scenes. What Mikayla
Speaker 1: Tester has said is extremely serious and I'm quite certain
Speaker 1: that they are currently in talks with their lawyers. That's
Speaker 1: why they need to be really careful with what they
Speaker 1: say moving forward, because anything that they do say will
Speaker 1: be used in evidence in that court case. Well, from
Speaker 1: a PR perspective, I've been thinking about if I was
Speaker 1: managing Anna Paul and how I'd actually respond to this,
Speaker 1: and it's a really difficult one. We have to remember
Speaker 1: that this only really happened a week or so ago,
Speaker 1: which is a lifetime on TikTok. Yeah. I think Anna
Speaker 1: and her team wanted to wait to see what the
Speaker 1: response was like and analyze it from there. Good well, Michayla,
Speaker 1: because Michaela has come out and made claims about Adams
Speaker 1: Paul in the past, which she herself said were unfounded
Speaker 1: and she actually made up previously just around their breakup
Speaker 1: and petty things in that maybe they were hoping that
Speaker 1: there might be a level of distrust towards world this
Speaker 1: would all blow over, and think that they I don't
Speaker 1: think that they thought people would take what Mikayla said
Speaker 1: as seriously and as verbatim as they had. I think
Speaker 1: that that is why they've left it brewing for a
Speaker 1: little bit.
Speaker 2: I also think that they.
Speaker 1: Didn't want to comment on anything straight away because there
Speaker 1: was a couple of days where the mainstream media wasn't
Speaker 1: reporting on this story.
Speaker 2: And if Anna was my client, I would.
Speaker 1: Say, don't comment on it yet, because the second that
Speaker 1: you comment on this story, that is when they can
Speaker 1: start running it. I would argue that the backlash on
Speaker 1: TikTok is more damaging to her than what's actually in
Speaker 1: the mainstream media, particularly because the mainstream media are being
Speaker 1: really careful with how they reported considering all the allegations
Speaker 1: that have been made against Adams Paul. Mikayla Tester has
Speaker 1: seemingly gone quiet on her own platform. When you go
Speaker 1: over to her TikTok, she hasn't posted any new videos
Speaker 1: since that video On Wednesday, she has been reposting a
Speaker 1: lot of content about Anna.
Speaker 2: Pol It Speaks.
Speaker 1: Volumes that this video is still live on Mikayla's TikTok account,
Speaker 1: because quite often when scandals like this erupt, the video
Speaker 1: only lasts a few days before the other person's legal
Speaker 1: team has issued them a cease and desist and ask
Speaker 1: them to take it down immediately. It actually worries me
Speaker 1: a lot, because, as we said, presumably the Polls have
Speaker 1: engaged a lawyer, and when it comes to defamation, they
Speaker 1: do take into consideration how many views a video has.
Speaker 1: That video is aging towards twenty million views. That is
Speaker 1: a lot of reputational damage to the Polls. I did
Speaker 1: find it interesting that at no point Mikhayla used the
Speaker 1: word allegedly, and at one stage when she was talking
Speaker 1: about addis, she referenced that her points would stand up
Speaker 1: in a court of law. Do you think she has
Speaker 1: had legal advice? Yes, I definitely think she has because
Speaker 1: this video was very different to other videos she's put
Speaker 1: out there. She read from a script. It's clear there
Speaker 1: was a lot of thought put into what was said.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if the whole script was approved
Speaker 1: by a lawyer that she worked with, or she formulated
Speaker 1: it with maybe a PR expert.
Speaker 2: To hit all of the right spots.
Speaker 1: I think the reason this video is still up is
Speaker 1: because Anna and Michayla are on pretty level playing fields.
Speaker 1: They both make a lot of money, so it's not
Speaker 1: as if Anna is reaching out to a smaller creator
Speaker 1: and threatening her. David doesn't have all the power in
Speaker 1: this situation, and it is really hard to actually launch
Speaker 1: a successful defamation case. A lot of the claims that
Speaker 1: Michayla's brought up, the Pauls would not want these going
Speaker 1: to court because she might actually have some proof.
Speaker 2: This is where things get really messy.
Speaker 1: I totally understand Amy where you're coming from with the
Speaker 1: claims about Adas. What has sort of shocked me, though,
Speaker 1: is because Anna Paul does have such a loyal following,
Speaker 1: I'm surprised that we haven't seen many people defending her online.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's just my algorithm, but I've
Speaker 1: seen no one coming to anarticularly because some of the
Speaker 1: comments that Mikayla has made about Anna, you could put
Speaker 1: them down to being pure here say, I understand that
Speaker 1: Michayla was in the inner sanctum, but when you look
Speaker 1: at her motive, she's a scorned lover, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? But she doesn't want to go well for
Speaker 1: the pol. But the consensus is and most people think this.
Speaker 1: People believe her people, But is it because we want
Speaker 1: to believe that someone isn't that nice?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: Why do we want to jump on that. The thing
Speaker 1: that's really sad about this is that these are two
Speaker 1: very young girls. They're both in their mid twenties. This
Speaker 1: scandal has gone international. We're seeing a lot of American
Speaker 1: creators and UK creators commenting on it. It's going to
Speaker 1: be detrimental for Anna Poul's brand and career on a
Speaker 1: bigger scale. She doesn't come out and say something soon.
Speaker 1: I think it's because Mikayla chose her timing very wisely.
Speaker 1: She didn't just do it after she broke up with Addis.
Speaker 1: You know, it's been years since they were a couple.
Speaker 1: She looks like she's moved on, she's engaged, she's happy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And when you look at what's been going down with
Speaker 1: Anna Pole, her popularity has been on the decline ever
Speaker 1: since she broke up with her long term boyfriend Glenn
Speaker 1: and when she launched her skincare brand poorly, because before
Speaker 1: she never used to do brand deals. She used to
Speaker 1: give people content and there didn't seem to be any
Speaker 1: sort of transaction going on unless you were over on
Speaker 1: her OnlyFans account. But for most people who consumed her
Speaker 1: content and TikTok, she just put out content for free
Speaker 1: and she never pushed any brand deals. Now she's got
Speaker 1: a skincare brand that she's spooked. She's broken up with Glenn,
Speaker 1: who everyone loved in her videos, and there's a lot
Speaker 1: of rumors going on about her new boyfriend, Amrik. I mean,
Speaker 1: she hasn't actually officially said that he's her boyfriends. A
Speaker 1: lot of people are upset. They feel like they've been
Speaker 1: let out of her life. They don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1: They say, well, what else is true? Yeah, exactly. And
Speaker 1: she's also done at a time where people are reflecting
Speaker 1: on the attention that we give sex workers like Bonnie Blue.
Speaker 1: Do you guys think that Anna can come back from this.
Speaker 2: I think she.
Speaker 1: Can come back from this, but it's going to be
Speaker 1: very difficult. We need to hear from her soon, and
Speaker 1: we need a convincing response because the longer the radio
Speaker 1: silence goes, the longer the anger grows, and the more
Speaker 1: narratives people start making up about her.
Speaker 2: That rhyme Sophie I did it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that she probably will bounce back from this
Speaker 1: because the way the internet works, it's so rapid pace.
Speaker 1: I mean, a week of this scandal feels like forever.
Speaker 1: Everyone's like, I can't believe she hasn't spoken, But in
Speaker 1: a month or two time, people are probably going to
Speaker 1: forget pretty quick.
Speaker 2: I also will forget about it.
Speaker 1: But what's crazy is that normally when a big scandal
Speaker 1: like this happens, people don't tend to lose as many followers.
Speaker 1: People actually gain more followers because people are interested in
Speaker 1: all of the drama. Yeah, one hundred thousand followers, regardless
Speaker 1: of if you started with seven million, is a lot
Speaker 1: of people to have just discarded. Yeah, we saw Matilda
Speaker 1: Jeff when her scandal happens, she actually gained followers. I
Speaker 1: think Anna could maybe gain some of those back when
Speaker 1: she does put out and explain a video. But is
Speaker 1: that just the way TikTok works? Because even if you
Speaker 1: unfollow Anna poll, you're probably still going to get her
Speaker 1: content back in your algorithm. Like I find when I
Speaker 1: follow people, they usually see less of their content. So
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's going to affect her that much.
Speaker 1: A lot of the time, these big scandals actually end
Speaker 1: up bolstering both parties careers, and I think that this
Speaker 1: was always going to happen to Anna Paul. There was
Speaker 1: always going to be a scandal that threatened to cancel
Speaker 1: her because that's the way we are, particularly in Australia
Speaker 1: with tall poppy syndrome.
Speaker 2: Whatever goes up has to come down.
Speaker 1: Well that's where we're going to leave things today. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for listening to another episode of Outspoken.
Speaker 1: If you did enjoy the episode, we would love if
Speaker 1: you could leave us a five star review as it
Speaker 1: really helps the podcast. This episode was recorded on the
Speaker 1: traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Plains.
Speaker 1: We pay respect to elders past and present.