Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
Speaker 1: hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
Speaker 1: Sophie Torbah and coming up on today's show, So for
Speaker 1: Dophah labels Australian Fashion Week a shit show and Sammy
Speaker 1: Guggenheimer is called out for mistreating a Stan. But first,
Speaker 1: Tammy Hembro declared over the weekend that she has baby fever.
Speaker 1: The mum of three went as far as asking her
Speaker 1: followers if she should have another baby, before adding kidding
Speaker 1: but not kidding Kate, a rather surprising revelation. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: wasn't what I was expecting from Tammy, considering the marriage
Speaker 1: breakdown rumors that are swirling. So Matt and Tammy still
Speaker 1: appear to be living in separate states, and Tammy has
Speaker 1: made it very clear that Matt isn't at home, so
Speaker 1: she's constantly posting with her kids watching movies in bed together.
Speaker 1: She also appeared Australian Fashion Week by herself. Matt's been
Speaker 1: making it pretty obvious that he is back living in
Speaker 1: Melbourne too. He's been going on a lot of solo
Speaker 1: movie trips. He also slept the MCG for charity and
Speaker 1: a couple of photos actually popped up of him chatting
Speaker 1: to some girls, which Tammy would not be happy about.
Speaker 1: And he's also been posting a lot of happy snaps
Speaker 1: with family. It almost gives the vibe that his family
Speaker 1: are rowling behind him.
Speaker 2: At this time.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, he shared a photo dump of pictures of
Speaker 1: him and his family standing next to this brick wall
Speaker 1: and wrote the caption brick by brick, So it seems
Speaker 1: like he's rebuilding himself.
Speaker 2: That's very deep from him.
Speaker 1: And he also shared a photo of him walking in
Speaker 1: a forest with his mum from twenty twenty one and
Speaker 1: then again in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: It shows how close he is to his family in Melbourne.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about these posts that Tammy uploaded
Speaker 1: on Sunday morning because they were very strange. So, she
Speaker 1: had been watching the Twilight series with her kids and
Speaker 1: she was saying how excited she was that they.
Speaker 2: Were getting into it.
Speaker 1: And in one of the movies, I mean, I'm not
Speaker 1: a Twilight stand so I'm not across this franchise, but
Speaker 1: there was a baby featured in it which looked like
Speaker 1: an AI baby.
Speaker 2: It's not actually a real baby, and she's creepy, wasn't that? Yeah.
Speaker 1: She took a photo of the television screen with the
Speaker 1: baby on it and wrote me baby feether with a
Speaker 1: shaking hands emoji and said, guy, should I have another one?
Speaker 2: Low now?
Speaker 1: That was quickly followed up with a picture of wolf
Speaker 1: on the bed and said kidding but not kidding now.
Speaker 1: This is all very strange because this comes off the
Speaker 1: back of her husband, Matt, speaking very openly about his
Speaker 1: struggles with fertility recently on the Inherited podcast. He doesn't
Speaker 1: like to call himself infertile, but he has said that
Speaker 1: there is a high likelihood that he will really struggle
Speaker 1: to have children yet because he can't naturally conceive because
Speaker 1: he doesn't have any sperm. He did say that there
Speaker 1: is a procedure that he can have that would increase
Speaker 1: the likelihood of him being able to have children. That's
Speaker 1: why I was so surprised that Tammy would share something
Speaker 1: like this, because it did seem quite insensitive to Matt
Speaker 1: and what he's been going through. The timing of her
Speaker 1: post was also quite curious because it was the same
Speaker 1: day that her ex fiance, Matt Paul, announced the arrival
Speaker 1: of his son with his fiance Anna Lee. So they
Speaker 1: called the baby Parker William Paul and he'll be the
Speaker 1: brother of Tammy Hembro's daughter, Posey. So they really like
Speaker 1: the double pea names Posey Paul and Parker Paul. That's
Speaker 1: quite a mouthful, and I'm going to be too critical
Speaker 1: of the names because I'll be putting my baby name
Speaker 1: out there soon. But I am surprised that you'd go
Speaker 1: with a double pe Well, Amy went with a double H.
Speaker 1: I think because p makes such a specific noise, like
Speaker 1: it's difficult to pronounce two peas two peas in the
Speaker 1: pot two piece. The birth announcement was really beautiful because
Speaker 1: they had a professional photographer. They're taking photos and one
Speaker 1: thing that stood out to me is that Matt just
Speaker 1: looked so thrilled and happy in the vision. And then
Speaker 1: I was comparing it to his appearance in Tammy's birth flog,
Speaker 1: and it was so clear that they must have broken
Speaker 1: up because his vibe was completely different.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It was really around the time of Posey's birth that
Speaker 1: followers started picking up on the fact that something wasn't
Speaker 1: quite right in their relationship. Matt Paul was beginning to
Speaker 1: be quite absent from Tammy's content similar to what we're
Speaker 1: seeing now with Matt's kowski. It does seem like Tammy's
Speaker 1: surrounded by babies at the moment, because prior to posting
Speaker 1: that she had baby fever, she had been hanging out
Speaker 1: with her best friend Isabel Laws and her new baby daughter,
Speaker 1: and there'd been a couple of photos uploaded of Tammy
Speaker 1: holding the baby, so this would be adding to it. Interestingly,
Speaker 1: Isabel Laws also recently unfollowed Matt Zakowski on Instagram, which.
Speaker 2: Created a few headlines.
Speaker 1: Matt really is not helping this situation. So on his
Speaker 1: podcast this week with Anna macavoy, they spoke about the candle, firework,
Speaker 1: and mirror theory, which is this social media relationship theory
Speaker 1: describing different types of relationships. When Anna was getting into
Speaker 1: these relationship theories, I felt like she had to stifle
Speaker 1: a giggle a couple of times because it was so
Speaker 1: clear that the firework theory, which we will throw to
Speaker 1: in a second, is literally Tammy and Matt. Oh, it
Speaker 1: was so awkward, Yet it was kind of like this
Speaker 1: laugh that she knew the audience would know that.
Speaker 2: This was about them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of like that she knows she's not
Speaker 1: allowed to say anything, but for the sake of their
Speaker 1: podcast and getting ratings up there, they'll start in fairing stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's throw it a little bit.
Speaker 1: Of that segment.
Speaker 4: So first, let's start with the firework, the most crazy one,
Speaker 4: as the name suggests, being a firework. So this love
Speaker 4: is the intoxicating love, the one that burns bright but
Speaker 4: fades quickly. So we've all had that relationship, I think,
Speaker 4: especially when I was younger, I think the firework theory
Speaker 4: happened a lot. Like you meet someone, it's explosions and
Speaker 4: then next minute like it's over.
Speaker 2: It all happens so quick.
Speaker 5: Super and literally. Is that what they called the burn
Speaker 5: bright eye on?
Speaker 4: Yeah, So it's exciting, it's dramatic, it's explosive, basically like
Speaker 4: an actual firework, it fizzles out quickly and often leaves
Speaker 4: behind a smoky aftermath of drama and emotional wreckage. Matt,
Speaker 4: can I relate, Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think in a couple of firework relationships, definitely. I
Speaker 5: feel like these ones, though everyone has to go through them.
Speaker 5: I mean, I say everyone, that's a bit of a
Speaker 5: broad statement, but I feel like you learn from them,
Speaker 5: and I feel like you better yourself from those relationships
Speaker 5: and understand a bit more about yourself and a bit
Speaker 5: more about dating. We've always said on this podcast dating
Speaker 5: is about learning, and to learn you need to get
Speaker 5: out there and explore different scenarios in different relationships. I
Speaker 5: think it's a very not useful, but it's something that
Speaker 5: might seem tramatic at the time, but you learn from it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the firework love rarely works out.
Speaker 1: The vibe I got from that is that Matt is saying, oh,
Speaker 1: he's learned so much from this firework relationship with Tammy
Speaker 1: and he's grown as a person and he's matured.
Speaker 2: Now that it's over. Is that kind of what you
Speaker 2: picked up on.
Speaker 1: I actually don't think it's definitely over. I think that
Speaker 1: they're on a break to improve themselves. So I think
Speaker 1: Matt is trying to say, like that brick by brick
Speaker 1: post that he did, that he's working on himself and
Speaker 1: he's going to return to Tammy a better man. How
Speaker 1: are you, I'm working on your relationship when you're not
Speaker 1: even in the same state well and not even liking
Speaker 1: each other's Instagram photos. I know that sounds petty, but
Speaker 1: I've noticed that they haven't liked any for weeks now.
Speaker 1: And the awkward thing is he's on this relationship podcast
Speaker 1: and he didn't mention his wife's name once, whereas Anna
Speaker 1: macavoy kept referencing her husband throughout all it. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: they were talking about how it's fun as a couple
Speaker 1: to do painting classes, and earlier in the year, I
Speaker 1: think it was around New Years, Matt and Tammy painted
Speaker 1: each other and he referenced that, but he didn't use
Speaker 1: her name at all or even reference who he did
Speaker 1: the painting class with. Yeah, Like, he didn't say my wife.
Speaker 1: He just said, oh, yeah, I did this with a
Speaker 1: partner once, I know, And despite not talking about Tammy,
Speaker 1: Matt referenced a friends with benefit situation which turned into
Speaker 1: a relationship. I'm sure Tammy would have been absolutely thrilled
Speaker 1: with this. So it got brought up when Anna was
Speaker 1: saying that most relationships start with some type of firework,
Speaker 1: and Matt said this.
Speaker 5: As with one when I was like cooking up with
Speaker 5: the girl for like a couple of years before I
Speaker 5: realized that she was cool shit can started dating her
Speaker 5: for over two years.
Speaker 4: That's that must be a rare scenario. Yeah, so what
Speaker 4: you guys were like friends with benefits. Yeah, and then
Speaker 4: it moved into it just it just.
Speaker 5: Got more and more, like you know, from every fortnight
Speaker 5: to like once a week, twice a week it like
Speaker 5: go home after going out with her or go like
Speaker 5: and then eventually just got more and more like you know,
Speaker 5: in the more you talk, and it was like dates
Speaker 5: more dates, and it just gradually became a relationship. Didn't
Speaker 5: work out obviously, Yeah, but you know you're young.
Speaker 1: Well, to be fair, he's obviously been told by Tammy
Speaker 1: that he's not to mention her at all and anything.
Speaker 2: To do with this situation.
Speaker 1: So if he does have this Dating and Relationships podcast,
Speaker 1: he really can only refer to past relationships. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: hearing that story made him sound like such a player
Speaker 1: and made it seem even stranger that he raced into
Speaker 1: this relationship with Tammy. I didn't pick up on that
Speaker 1: at all. I just thought he was talking about a
Speaker 1: relationship he had when he was quite young. I actually
Speaker 1: thought it might have been with that Genevieve that keeps
Speaker 1: calling him out. I mean, I love that he says
Speaker 1: it took him a couple of years of having sex
Speaker 1: with this woman to realize that she was a cool chick,
Speaker 1: I mean, how awful is that?
Speaker 6: Let's talk about Australian Fashion Week. This is my third
Speaker 6: year attending Australian Fashion Week and I just wanted to
Speaker 6: do a little debrief on how this year has been.
Speaker 6: So it's definitely been an experienced.
Speaker 1: TikTok girl Sophia Beg is at the center of an
Speaker 1: Australian Fashion Week scandal. The twenty one year old influencer,
Speaker 1: better known by her handle Sofa Dofa, labeled the event
Speaker 1: a shit show and called out media in attendance. Now,
Speaker 1: before we get into the drama, so can you get
Speaker 1: listeners up to speed with who Sofa Dofa is?
Speaker 7: Well?
Speaker 1: She is a big deal in the Australian fashion scene.
Speaker 1: She's a GenZ style icon with her own fashion label
Speaker 1: that often sells out now. When she was seventeen, her
Speaker 1: influencer career really took off off the back of her
Speaker 1: wearing a blue corset from Glassons.
Speaker 2: On her TikTok.
Speaker 1: That item immediately sold out everywhere and she attracted a
Speaker 1: mass audience which now sits at almost.
Speaker 2: Three million followers.
Speaker 1: She also made a name for aus when she called
Speaker 1: out fashion label White Fox Boutique and We spoke about
Speaker 1: Sofa on the podcast recently, as her name got dragged
Speaker 1: into the Anna Paul saga. So Mikayla Tester alleged that
Speaker 1: Anna Paul made derogatory comments about her appearance.
Speaker 2: In her Close Set Eyes apparently, and since then.
Speaker 1: A lot of people have had a soft spot for her,
Speaker 1: which is why when she uploaded a TikTok talking about
Speaker 1: her mistreatment at Australian Fashion Week, the people tuned in.
Speaker 1: The video went viral and has over a million views now.
Speaker 1: The video went for almost eight minutes and there are
Speaker 1: several parts that I want to discuss. The first is
Speaker 1: about the media in attendance. So Sofa called out the
Speaker 1: journalists doing vox pops outside the event. She labeled their
Speaker 1: questions as diabolical and inappropriate. Now, for those unfamiliar with
Speaker 1: the term vox pop, it's a short interview with a
Speaker 1: member of the public, normally in a public place like
Speaker 1: on the street or at an event, and the purpose
Speaker 1: is to gather a range of opinions or reactions. However,
Speaker 1: in this new age of media, the motive of vox
Speaker 1: pops has really changed, so they're now being used at
Speaker 1: events like these to try and create a viral moment
Speaker 1: that will gain a lot of engagement online. Things have
Speaker 1: really changed since the TikTok Awards because there are a
Speaker 1: couple of influencers who were caught off guard on the
Speaker 1: red carpet and fucked up and said stupid shit.
Speaker 2: That went viral.
Speaker 1: For instance, there was a general question which was being
Speaker 1: thrown at influences around whether they thought the job of
Speaker 1: an influence was hard, and most of them were smart
Speaker 1: enough to play it off and say, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: we're very lucky to have this position, whereas one influencer
Speaker 1: went into how difficult her role was and that the
Speaker 1: public would just be unaware of the amount of work
Speaker 1: that she put into it, which was not a popular response.
Speaker 1: There was also that clip of Anna Paul that went
Speaker 1: viral where she was asked if she could be another
Speaker 1: content creator for twenty four hours, who.
Speaker 2: Would it be?
Speaker 1: And she said someone that was super super rich that
Speaker 1: traveled a lot. And everyone's like, but that's you, Like,
Speaker 1: how unaware are you?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And you can see that this is a tactic that
Speaker 1: they've been trying to implement an Australian Fashion Week, because
Speaker 1: you would expect that there'd be a lot of questions
Speaker 1: about fashion and what the influencers are wearing. But instead
Speaker 1: reporters have been asking invasive questions to try and catch
Speaker 1: influencers out. Yeah, and it's always at the influencer's expense,
Speaker 1: isn't it now. Sofa was visibly taken aback when she
Speaker 1: was asked on camera how much she earns and to
Speaker 1: also divulge the biggest brand deal she's ever turned down.
Speaker 1: They also wanted her to name and shame that brand.
Speaker 1: This is what she said about it on a TikTok.
Speaker 6: I feel like the interviewer's sole purpose this year especially
Speaker 6: is just to catch people out with tricky questions that
Speaker 6: they know they're going to get like juicy answers from. Like,
Speaker 6: I feel like a lot of the questions they're trying
Speaker 6: to get Tea, they're trying to get juicy answers, and
Speaker 6: a lot of the questions you can see are visibly
Speaker 6: making the creators feel uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: I just think that this tactic is very unfair, particularly
Speaker 1: when you consider how young some of these influencers are
Speaker 1: and that they really haven't had any immedia training. That
Speaker 1: would be a very.
Speaker 2: Difficult question to answer diplomatically.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it kind of shocks me when you realize that
Speaker 1: Sofa Dofa is only twenty one years old, and it's
Speaker 1: not the first time that she's been rattled by an
Speaker 1: interview you before. So She was trolled after her exchange
Speaker 1: with Tony Armstrong at the twenty twenty three TikTok Awards,
Speaker 1: and during that interaction, Armstrong asked her how she was feeling,
Speaker 1: saying you look ecstatic and I'm pumped for you, and
Speaker 1: Sofa DPA replied, thank you, will stop flirting with me.
Speaker 1: It was really awkward. We did talk about it on
Speaker 1: the podcast when it happened. Just Tony hit back and
Speaker 1: said that he had a girlfriend and everyone was like, oh,
Speaker 1: good on him for turning her down. It was clear
Speaker 1: that in that moment she thought that he was giving
Speaker 1: her some type of compliment, and she explained later on
Speaker 1: that other people had been complaining that interviewees weren't giving
Speaker 1: them anything and she wanted to be fun.
Speaker 2: It was just really a joke.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that moment clearly lives rent free in Sofa's
Speaker 1: mind because she spoke about how she was freaking out
Speaker 1: during the Australian Fashion Week interviews and so as You
Speaker 1: touched on she's one of the influencers that hasn't had
Speaker 1: media training, and she said that she was stressing having
Speaker 1: to answer these questions alone without her manager or her mum.
Speaker 1: I think because these viral videos disappear so quickly from
Speaker 1: our fore pages that you forget how difficult it would
Speaker 1: actually be for people to put up with the brutal
Speaker 1: commentary that's going on in the comments section, because those
Speaker 1: influencers get tagged all the time, and if you're someone
Speaker 1: that looks at your tags and reads the comments, I mean,
Speaker 1: it'd be very hard not to read what people were saying.
Speaker 1: I know, people go, oh, well, just don't look at it,
Speaker 1: and it's like, well, her job and other influencers a
Speaker 1: job is to create content, and they have to use
Speaker 1: those apps in order to put their content out there
Speaker 1: and get paid, so of course they're going to look
Speaker 1: at their notification. And also, influencers get criticized if they
Speaker 1: don't respond to followers requests about where they got their
Speaker 1: outfere from, or if you look generally rude for not
Speaker 1: replying to a really lovely comment.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 1: During this TikTok video, Sofa said that she's often asked
Speaker 1: how she's so confident.
Speaker 2: Let's take a listen to what she said.
Speaker 6: Other creators or like just people in general. My dms
Speaker 6: were asking me like, how are you so confident? I'm like,
Speaker 6: I'm the least confident person ever, Like I have raging body,
Speaker 6: the small fear and on antidepressants.
Speaker 1: I found that really difficult to listen to. And it
Speaker 1: just shows what smoke and mirrors social media is because
Speaker 1: Sofa looks like such a confident person online.
Speaker 2: It also shows how.
Speaker 1: Detrimental the Anna Paul comments would have been for her
Speaker 1: mental health and also her confidence. Yeah, and unfortunately, it
Speaker 1: seems like the media ended up getting what they wanted,
Speaker 1: so a clip of an influencer calling out Sofa went viral.
Speaker 1: In in our deleted video, a journalist ask content creators
Speaker 1: attending the event to name a micro trend final boss.
Speaker 2: What does that mean?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I had no idea what this man. I had
Speaker 1: to do some digging. So it's a popular term on TikTok,
Speaker 1: and it's used in a derogatory way to describe someone
Speaker 1: who chases fashion trends and doesn't have personal style. So
Speaker 1: micro trends are really unpopular on TikTok at the moment.
Speaker 1: So to name someone who embodies.
Speaker 2: That is a very low blow. What do you mean
Speaker 2: they're in popular?
Speaker 1: I feel like for years now, all we've been seeing
Speaker 1: a micro trends. Is it sort of out of fashion
Speaker 1: to follow those? Is the way you're saying, Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: very unfashionable now to be seen to just be copying
Speaker 1: micro trends. You're seeing as someone that actually isn't very
Speaker 1: fashionable at all now. Most of the content creator's interview
Speaker 1: looked uncomfortable and avoided answering the question. However, controversial influencer
Speaker 1: Jamie as a party named Sofa. They said, I love
Speaker 1: watching Sofa dofa, but I felt like sometimes she doesn't
Speaker 1: do fashion the way I do fashion. So, for those
Speaker 1: not familiar with Jamie, they are a celebrity stylist who
Speaker 1: is non binary, so uses they then pronouns, and Jamie
Speaker 1: isn't a stranger to drama. Last year at the festival,
Speaker 1: they made headlines when they made this grand entrance into
Speaker 1: a show, flanked by helpers holding their dress. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: the backlash towards Jamie was pretty swift. They were instantly
Speaker 1: labeled a hypocrite online because they wore a sheene dress
Speaker 1: to the event. Which is a cardinal sin.
Speaker 2: And when we're talking about micro trends, Sheen is one
Speaker 2: of the biggest contributors of these.
Speaker 1: Yes, it was a very strange move, particularly after they
Speaker 1: wore Sheen. Now, on the topic of Sheen, I have
Speaker 1: to say the journalists ended up getting me because they're
Speaker 1: obviously trying to rage, bade everyone and create all this
Speaker 1: engagement because they were asking influencers what would you change
Speaker 1: about fashion in Australia, and a lot of influencers said
Speaker 1: fast Fashion. And I was just scoffing because I'm like,
Speaker 1: so many of you have promoted Fast Fashion, you're doing
Speaker 1: collaborations with Fast Fashion. I understand that it's something that
Speaker 1: we want to end, but if you're so passionate about it,
Speaker 1: don't promote it. I am just shocked that anyone would
Speaker 1: want to be seen wearing Sheen to Australian Fashion Week. Well,
Speaker 1: I think Jamie likes being talked about, so it was
Speaker 1: probably something that they thought would get a lot of attention,
Speaker 1: I mean, for the wrong reasons. Now, Sofa addressed the
Speaker 1: controversy in her TikTok video, saying this.
Speaker 6: I feel like the Australian influencer scene is already so
Speaker 6: toxic and we have such big like tall poppy syndrome,
Speaker 6: like we don't need other creators bringing people down. Also,
Speaker 6: I got named as one of them by someone that
Speaker 6: will shan to Australian Fashion Week.
Speaker 2: Well she has a good point, Yes she does now.
Speaker 1: Jamie responded in a lengthy statement on their Instagram story.
Speaker 1: In it they backtracked and claimed they didn't understand the
Speaker 1: question they were asked. They wanted to say that they
Speaker 1: had been unfairly edited, but was ultimately disappointed by how
Speaker 1: SOFA addressed it. They said, I think what you've said
Speaker 1: is questionable at best. It's a tough one because again
Speaker 1: Jamie has been set up by the journals. It's difficult
Speaker 1: in that situation when you put on the spot and
Speaker 1: you feel like you have to give a name. There
Speaker 1: may have been a lot of pressure in going on
Speaker 1: for them to give some sort of response, particularly after
Speaker 1: a lot of the other influences gave them nothing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but Jamie is known for creating controversies, so I think
Speaker 1: it works to some influencer's favor because Jamie is the
Speaker 1: type of influencer who likes controversy. They want to get
Speaker 1: that attention so you know, the journalists and influencers can
Speaker 1: work together. We've seen it with Anna Paul and Mikayla Tester.
Speaker 1: I think that is spurring a lot of this on
Speaker 1: because I think a lot of mainstream media went wow,
Speaker 1: that went off. Let's pit other content creators against each
Speaker 1: other and try and enjoy some of those cliques and views.
Speaker 1: As a journalist, I can completely see why they're following
Speaker 1: this direction. It's very clever. It's a great way to
Speaker 1: create engagement and also create brand news stories. Well, at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, traditional media is dying and
Speaker 1: media companies need to jump on these new forms of media.
Speaker 1: I mean everyone always complains about clickbait journalism. This is
Speaker 1: just the new form of it. It's keeping up with TikTok.
Speaker 1: They're trying to get eyeballs and interurn dollars. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I think that this style of questioning actually adds a
Speaker 1: lot of excitement and extra interest around their red car.
Speaker 1: But I think it'd be boring if it was just like, oh,
Speaker 1: what are.
Speaker 2: You wearing today? And why?
Speaker 1: Why do the journals have to play it safe with them?
Speaker 1: These people are earning a fluck ton of money. They
Speaker 1: all have managers maybe they should have a bit of
Speaker 1: media training in order to answer some of these questions. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The thing that makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable though,
Speaker 1: is the media exploiting these content creators and sort of
Speaker 1: engagement farming, getting all these comments on their videos and
Speaker 1: that obviously increases their views, But then they're not moderating
Speaker 1: any of the comments because of course not going to
Speaker 1: because that, you know, decreases the engagement.
Speaker 2: Well, that's obviously a separate issue in itself.
Speaker 1: I definitely think that the media has to have more
Speaker 1: responsibility over moderating comments sections and turning comment sections off.
Speaker 2: But in saying that, I.
Speaker 1: Do feel like if you have a public profile, you
Speaker 1: should be in a position where you can answer questions tactfully,
Speaker 1: like that sort of just comes with the job. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think we're going to see more and more influencers
Speaker 1: getting media training and then these type of vox pops
Speaker 1: will probably disappear because the journalists won't get what they want. Now,
Speaker 1: if things couldn't get any worse for Australian Fashion Week,
Speaker 1: Sofa Dofa had one last thing to say, so she
Speaker 1: labeled the event a shit show and said that the
Speaker 1: lack of diversity on the runway was fucking insane. Here's
Speaker 1: more of what she said.
Speaker 6: Part of my French. But like, I went to a
Speaker 6: show yesterday and the like diverse wasn't even in their vocabulary,
Speaker 6: like they didn't even know what that word was, and
Speaker 6: it was just so shit. Like I was just sitting
Speaker 6: there like this is so shit, Like right, Australian Fashion Week,
Speaker 6: where is the diversity? Where is the inclusivity? I just
Speaker 6: thought in twenty twenty five we would have been a
Speaker 6: lot better at that by now.
Speaker 1: Now not a glowing review by one of Australia's biggest influencers.
Speaker 1: I can just imagine the organizers seeing this all going down,
Speaker 1: particularly because this year the event was up in the
Speaker 1: air after sponsor IMG pulled out after running the event
Speaker 1: for twenty years. So the Australian Fashion Council saved the event,
Speaker 1: but they will not be liking this feedback. And I
Speaker 1: think that this is a big reason why people love SOFA,
Speaker 1: because she's not afraid to call injustices or things that
Speaker 1: she doesn't think are right out. I wonder if she'll
Speaker 1: be on the invite list next year, Like.
Speaker 3: Someone will be asking, oh, like so, what's happening with this,
Speaker 3: like when's this happening?
Speaker 8: Or like what is this?
Speaker 3: And that The influencers response is like, I don't understand
Speaker 3: why the fuck you would even comment this.
Speaker 1: The way influencers treat their fans in the spotlight after
Speaker 1: podcaster Sammy Guggenheimer scolded a longtime listener for daring to
Speaker 1: ask when her show was returning, The Influences, a lead
Speaker 1: podcast just for girls, has been on a temporary hiatus
Speaker 1: with no communication from either host about the state of
Speaker 1: the show's future. Yeah, and since late last year, there's
Speaker 1: been rumors of a friendship breakdown between the hosts, Sammy
Speaker 1: Guggenheimer and also Easy Armitage and what that means for
Speaker 1: their podcast going forward. So The Influencers launched their podcast
Speaker 1: back in March twenty twenty three, and the show follows
Speaker 1: the similar structure that we've seen a lot of influencer
Speaker 1: led podcasts follow. So basically, the women share updates about
Speaker 1: their lives and they and their audience figure out their
Speaker 1: early twenties together.
Speaker 2: It's nothing new, Yeah, I feel like that is the blurb.
Speaker 1: For so many influence podcasts now. Back in March, rumors
Speaker 1: of a rift between the hosts really ramped up when
Speaker 1: both Sammy and Izzy removed the just for Girls link
Speaker 1: from the Instagram bios, and there was this huge radio
Speaker 1: silence about what was actually going on, which often causes
Speaker 1: rumors to get out of hand and start taking a
Speaker 1: life of their own. So one rumor that gained a
Speaker 1: lot of traction was that the girls had a falling
Speaker 1: out over an ex. So many were convinced that Sammy
Speaker 1: was upset at Easy for sleeping with her ex. So
Speaker 1: Sammy got even by sleeping with Izzy's X. Now, I
Speaker 1: think we have to point out that those are unsubstantiated allegations.
Speaker 2: We have no idea whether that is true.
Speaker 1: But that is just the rumor that is going around
Speaker 1: on TikTok, which it's a pretty terrible rumor. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: the girls ended up taking the piece out of that
Speaker 1: rumor sharing this satirical video. So she fucked both my
Speaker 1: ex boyfriends, and I went, oh, I'm gonna now fuck yours,
Speaker 1: and now we're going.
Speaker 2: Oh, let's just be friends again.
Speaker 4: So that's the situation.
Speaker 6: Yeah, So we hated each other, so glad you were
Speaker 6: wife your mom now and like we you were beefing.
Speaker 1: So the boy were all also fucked your first boyfriend
Speaker 1: that you dated when you were sixteen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you didn't tell you that more ideas?
Speaker 1: Sorry?
Speaker 3: Oops?
Speaker 2: Where Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean it's one way to address a rumor. I
Speaker 1: do enjoy it when people just do it with a
Speaker 1: bit of humor.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, despite attempting to put the rumors to bed, listeners
Speaker 1: became suspicious again last month when the women stopped recording completely.
Speaker 1: So for the past four weeks they've just been uploading
Speaker 1: reruns with no explanation of what's going on or what
Speaker 1: their future plans are for the show. I hate when
Speaker 1: podcasts do this. We actually had a thread in our
Speaker 1: Facebook community about this, how a lot of influencers will
Speaker 1: start up a podcast and they don't realize how much
Speaker 1: work it is to actually have a consistent podcast coming
Speaker 1: out every week, and then they just go a wall
Speaker 1: and never return to it. I am still waiting for
Speaker 1: the Sam and Billy show to come back. That has
Speaker 1: been gone for a year. They've never updated on their
Speaker 1: social media accounts to say what's going on with it.
Speaker 1: It's like so unprofessional. I think a lot of influencers
Speaker 1: forget that if you start a podcast, you become part
Speaker 1: of people's weekly routines, and they build this parasocial relationship
Speaker 1: with you because I think I think on podcasts people
Speaker 1: speak in obviously conversation away, but they open up more
Speaker 1: like you feel like you really know someone when you
Speaker 1: listen to their podcast, and you feel like you're being
Speaker 1: shut out by a friend when suddenly the podcast just
Speaker 1: stops and there's no explanation as to what's going on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's definitely a strong parasocial relationship I think with podcasters
Speaker 1: and their listeners. And this is where podcast listener Nikita
Speaker 1: Kathleen comes into the story. So, Nikita has been a
Speaker 1: long time fan of the Just for Girls podcast, revealing
Speaker 1: she traveled for hours to attend the girl's live show
Speaker 1: and she's been to all of their events lined up
Speaker 1: to meet them. And she's also a paid subscriber to
Speaker 1: the podcast and spent over seven hundred dollars on Sammy's
Speaker 1: recent collection Drop.
Speaker 2: So she is a.
Speaker 1: Stand of Sammy Gugenheimer. Yeah, she's very dedicated to the girls.
Speaker 1: She's obviously invested a lot of time and money to
Speaker 1: support them. Yeah. Now, back in April, Nikita created a
Speaker 1: video asking whether YouTubers or podcasters owe their audience and
Speaker 1: explanation or an update when they take an unexpected hiatus
Speaker 1: or go mia. While the video was general in nature,
Speaker 1: Nikita did reference the Just for Girls podcast in passing,
Speaker 1: which in hindsight, she says she shouldn't have done. Now,
Speaker 1: the video started gaining traction and led to Sammy and
Speaker 1: Izzy weighing in in the comment section. It is unclear
Speaker 1: what the girls commented, because Nikita has since deleted the
Speaker 1: video out of respect for them, but she said it
Speaker 1: was clear that they were frustrated by the video, and
Speaker 1: she actually ended up messaging them privately and apologizing.
Speaker 2: She said.
Speaker 1: Izzy didn't respond to her message, but sam ended up replying,
Speaker 1: saying that she felt personally attacked by Nikita's video, especially
Speaker 1: because Nikita had been a longtime fan. Sam also said
Speaker 1: to her that the public doesn't know everything that's going
Speaker 1: on behind the scenes, and it's not fair for them
Speaker 1: to talk about it now. Fast forward a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks and Nakita, along with a number of other disappointed listeners,
Speaker 1: started asking the girls in their TikTok comment section about
Speaker 1: what was going on with the podcast, and Nikita explained
Speaker 1: that she was curious so she loves the show and
Speaker 1: wrote is the podcast coming back or is it just
Speaker 1: going to be reruns. Sammy ended up replying directly to Nakita, writing,
Speaker 1: we have spoken about this. I don't know why you
Speaker 1: feel the need to speak publicly once you have messaged
Speaker 1: me apologizing now. Nakita responded saying we only spoke on
Speaker 1: my video that I deleted and not the podcast. I
Speaker 1: was just asking because it's not in either of your
Speaker 1: bios anymore and people miss it. I'm not attacking you,
Speaker 1: but asking a question. I'm just wondering. As a fan
Speaker 1: of the pod.
Speaker 2: Nikita was really worried that people.
Speaker 1: Would come for her in the comment section, seeing as
Speaker 1: Sammy waded in and seemed to be annoyed at her,
Speaker 1: But in reality, a lot of the listeners were disappointed
Speaker 1: by Sammy's tone to her, and many noticed that Sammy
Speaker 1: liked one of the few negative comments that was directed
Speaker 1: at Nakita. So the negative comment said hopefully we can
Speaker 1: have an end to your trolling and speculation.
Speaker 2: We can only hope now.
Speaker 1: Nakita ended up creating a five minute response video explaining
Speaker 1: how she felt about Sammy's response. Let's ever listen to
Speaker 1: some of what she said.
Speaker 7: I just want to say. This was never supposed to
Speaker 7: be hate. This was never supposed to be me attacking them.
Speaker 7: I was really just curious as a fan as to
Speaker 7: what's going on, and a lot of other people were
Speaker 7: asking questions as well, And yeah, it kind of hurt.
Speaker 7: Her response kind of hurt because it's like it was
Speaker 7: only to me. She hasn't responded to anyone else. She
Speaker 7: hasn't addressed to anyone else. Everyone that's been asking, she
Speaker 7: hasn't said anything, and she could have just said like
Speaker 7: update coming soon or something, but like, yeah, like and
Speaker 7: because I've met her, like, yeah, kind of hurt. So
Speaker 7: I've since I'm followed. Unfortunately, it did hurt a little
Speaker 7: bit as a fan. It was a bit disappointing because
Speaker 7: I've put so much support and energy into them. I've
Speaker 7: traveled hours and hours to see them, Like you know,
Speaker 7: I've put in a lot of effort, I guess, and
Speaker 7: to not get the same public respect, I guess you
Speaker 7: could say back like I've always defended them and stuff.
Speaker 1: I felt really sorry for Nikita hearing this. It is
Speaker 1: clear that she has invested a lot of time and
Speaker 1: money into supporting these two women, and it feels like
Speaker 1: they were more than aware of this. They know exactly
Speaker 1: who she is, and I feel like Nikita's biggest crime
Speaker 1: is literally being upset that her favorite podcast isn't returning.
Speaker 1: I mean, it'd be worse if Sammy and Izzy when
Speaker 1: on this hiatus and literally none of the listeners cared
Speaker 1: or noticed. But you've literally got someone who's devoted to
Speaker 1: you being like, oh my god, I missed this show
Speaker 1: so much. Please let me know when it's coming back.
Speaker 1: And I don't know how difficult it would be to say, hey, Nikita,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. It was so excited that you
Speaker 1: love the show. We don't have any information right now,
Speaker 1: but we will update you as soon as we know.
Speaker 1: This really isn't an isolated incident. I mean, we've actually
Speaker 1: got to thread in our Facebook community about people who
Speaker 1: have been blocked by influencers, And often these people are
Speaker 1: fans of the influencer and they're merely just suggesting something
Speaker 1: in the comments, they're not trying to be rude, and
Speaker 1: then they end up getting blocked. And a lot of
Speaker 1: the time when this happens, there's this parasocial relationship that's
Speaker 1: going on, and you honestly feel so rejected. Like I've
Speaker 1: had heaps of influencers blocked me because of this podcast,
Speaker 1: and I feel a bit hurt because I'm like, I
Speaker 1: love watching your content and a lot of the time
Speaker 1: people then turn into not trolls, but they go on
Speaker 1: tatle life and they have a bit of a bitch
Speaker 1: about the influence. Yeah, it's kind of because you feel
Speaker 1: like the influence as a friend, and particularly if you've
Speaker 1: been supporting them for a long time. A lot of
Speaker 1: influencers forget about this parasocial relationship that people have with them,
Speaker 1: and they don't realize that these people have been following
Speaker 1: them for such a long time, and because they really
Speaker 1: love them and respect what they do. If there's something
Speaker 1: that they feel like they could be doing better, or
Speaker 1: they have a question about when something's coming back, they'll
Speaker 1: ask it. But they're not doing it with malice. They're
Speaker 1: just wanting to know something.
Speaker 2: It is hard.
Speaker 1: Because on the other side of it, we obviously have
Speaker 1: this podcast and we have a lot of listeners message us,
Speaker 1: and sometimes you have to go, oh, hang on, they're
Speaker 1: not having a go they're just sharing an opinion.
Speaker 2: But it's difficult to reatone over messages as well.
Speaker 1: You can sometimes feel like you are being attacked and
Speaker 1: you're like, hang on, I've tried really hard putting this
Speaker 1: content out, so I can kind of see a little
Speaker 1: bit where Sammy's coming from. I don't think she's executed
Speaker 1: it very well, because you need to go hang on.
Speaker 1: This is someone who is paying for my podcast subscription,
Speaker 1: is a fan of the show. They just want the
Speaker 1: podcast back. I think a lot of podcasters and influencers
Speaker 1: need to remember that this is a business at the
Speaker 1: end of the day. And if you were in any
Speaker 1: other sort of professional role and a client or a
Speaker 1: customer came to you with something they were dissatisfied about
Speaker 1: or just a general question, a lot of these times
Speaker 1: they're just questions.
Speaker 2: You could never respond so rudely to them. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: I mean, think about how many times you were working
Speaker 1: in a retail job and you'd love to tell someone
Speaker 1: to go get fucked, but you don't.
Speaker 2: Like you just got to be professional. And that's the thing.
Speaker 1: Even though listeners, unless you've got a sub channel, don't
Speaker 1: necessarily pay for your content, they are still supporting you
Speaker 1: by downloading your episode. They're helping you grow, They're helping
Speaker 1: you go higher in the charts, which leads to sponsorships.
Speaker 1: So I think that you need to have a certain
Speaker 1: level of respect for your listeners. Yeah, well, as you said,
Speaker 1: podcasters and influencers are nothing without the audience they have,
Speaker 1: so they need to treat them well. Now, Nikita's video
Speaker 1: has been doing the rounds on gossip sites, and most
Speaker 1: people are absolutely shocked by the way Sammy replied to her.
Speaker 1: One user wrote her reply was so unnecessarily rude to
Speaker 1: a simple question. Another said that all just popular, mean girls.
Speaker 2: Who you'd be scared of in high school.
Speaker 1: They don't care about the people that support them. They
Speaker 1: care about popularity and looking better than everyone else. Now,
Speaker 1: this isn't the first time that Sammy has been called
Speaker 1: out for being condescending to her fans. Back in February,
Speaker 1: she hit back at claims that she gate keeps her products.
Speaker 2: From her followers.
Speaker 1: Oh, I remember we spoke about it, because she speaks
Speaker 1: in this tone that is very condescending, and I think
Speaker 1: because she is such an attractive person that you do
Speaker 1: get a bit of a mean girl vibe from it.
Speaker 1: Or in this video, she was rolling her eyes and
Speaker 1: she pulled a lot of facial expressions where you got
Speaker 1: the vibe that as you say, Cay. She felt like
Speaker 1: she was superior to those she was talking to, and
Speaker 1: in the video she told her followers that they should
Speaker 1: try being an influencer and that she doesn't read her
Speaker 1: comments section to protect her peace, so that's why she
Speaker 1: doesn't reply about where her products are from. She also
Speaker 1: finished the video by essentially mocking her followers requests, saying, yeah,
Speaker 1: this pimple here's from chocolate.
Speaker 2: I bought it at Woolly's. And this video did not
Speaker 2: go down as.
Speaker 1: You can imagine, she ended up having to delete it
Speaker 1: because there was so much backlash. Now, this incident with
Speaker 1: Sammy and the listener led to this reaction video from
Speaker 1: TikToker Eva Dixon.
Speaker 3: Guys, I swear to fucking god, there's this niche of
Speaker 3: Australian influencers who literally act like their supporters are trying
Speaker 3: to kick their dogs. If I see another fucking instance
Speaker 3: where like someone will be asking, oh, like so what's
Speaker 3: happening with this, like when's this happening, or like what
Speaker 3: is this And the influencer's response is like, I don't
Speaker 3: understand why the fuck you would even comment this.
Speaker 8: Oh my fucking god, they're trying to support you I'm
Speaker 8: so sorry. It shows like it really shows that you're entitled,
Speaker 8: but it literally just comes off as so fucking entitled,
Speaker 8: like oh my god, God forbid someone to fucking support you,
Speaker 8: and you have to comment back and be like, oh,
Speaker 8: like it's happening, then your life is so hard, good grace.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's really spot on.
Speaker 1: There are influencers who give off this vibe that their
Speaker 1: fans are just these annoying inconvenience that they have to
Speaker 1: deal with and can't they just go and get free
Speaker 1: clothes and go to nice events without having to deal
Speaker 1: with his crescence. It's like they're dirt on the sole
Speaker 1: of their shoe and they're like, fucking get away, don't
Speaker 1: talk to me. And that video did resonate with a
Speaker 1: lot of people. It has almost generated half a million
Speaker 1: views and thirty eight thousand likes.
Speaker 2: What makes this story.
Speaker 1: Even weirder is that following this altercation with Nakita, Sammy
Speaker 1: and Izzy announced that Just for Girls is actually coming back,
Speaker 1: so following the debacle, they shared a photo of themselves
Speaker 1: at Coachella to their podcast page and wrote, We're back.
Speaker 1: After our amazing time at Coachella, we are back behind
Speaker 1: the mics next week recording year Epps can't wait for.
Speaker 2: You to hear it.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but couldn't they just fucking said that to
Speaker 1: begin with, instead of denigrading and insulting one of their
Speaker 1: longtime fans. Yes, like, why wouldn't you write, oh, news
Speaker 1: coming soon or something like that, And I'm like, how
Speaker 1: fucking dare you ask me one more time? Tone was
Speaker 1: just so patronizing. I am interested to see if Nikita
Speaker 1: will be tuning in maybe some hate listening now.
Speaker 2: Well, actually, she said that she has.
Speaker 1: Unfollowed both of the girls on Instagram, but if it
Speaker 1: were me, I probably would tune in just to hear
Speaker 1: what has been going on and whether they would reference you.
Speaker 2: She's definitely tuning in. Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1: Well. I think that is all we have time for today.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us for this episode.
Speaker 2: If you have enjoyed it, could you please make sure.
Speaker 1: You are subscribed on Apple podcast and also Spotify. This
Speaker 1: podcast was recorded on the traditional land of the Ghana
Speaker 1: people of the Adelaide Planes. We pay respect to elders
Speaker 1: past and present.
Speaker 8: I say