Speaker 1: This episode was recorded on cameragle Land.
Speaker 2: Hi guys, and.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of lifeOne Pad. I'm Brittany and.
Speaker 2: I'm Laura, and I don't often do this, but I'm
Speaker 2: coming straight.
Speaker 1: Hot out of the gate, heavy sweating, huge, humid, huge news, pulsating.
Speaker 2: I am pulsating. I was pulsating. Nothing got me hotter
Speaker 2: than what I'm about to say.
Speaker 1: Covered in pisada, rolling around in some garlic. No garlic
Speaker 1: gives me a yes.
Speaker 2: I would never do that, Darlick blokes me. It makes
Speaker 2: me fat.
Speaker 1: Parmesan cheese. This is not farting news.
Speaker 2: Officially, we don't live in Romania anymore. I'm sorry, Dracula.
Speaker 1: You were great while it lasted. I don't think you
Speaker 1: ever really liked it that much.
Speaker 3: I think you were trying to feign excitement, you know,
Speaker 3: when you know you don't like something but you're just
Speaker 3: trying to keep positive.
Speaker 1: It wasn't my top destination.
Speaker 2: No, I didn't dislike it, but it was never somewhere
Speaker 2: I was like, fuck, yes, like I get to go
Speaker 2: in Romania for a couple of weeks. But I made
Speaker 2: the most of it, for sure, and like I did
Speaker 2: what I could do there and I tried to be
Speaker 2: a tourist and.
Speaker 1: But it was it was just whatever. But we no
Speaker 1: longer live in Romania.
Speaker 2: As of yesterday, we officially live in Italy.
Speaker 1: It's like the choga la pasta.
Speaker 3: For someone who talks about how you used to live
Speaker 3: in Italy for an entire year. Your Italian isn't great,
Speaker 3: but you can work on it, and I think one
Speaker 3: day you're going to be fate.
Speaker 2: Order. I just ordered ice creams and a bottle of
Speaker 2: wine with one glass.
Speaker 1: That's what she needed to learn Italian. I'm glad that
Speaker 1: you got the important things down pat though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I learned when I got there. How
Speaker 2: to ask for the toilet the time, that's the time,
Speaker 2: what's the time please? And then how to order wine.
Speaker 2: So in serious news, yeah, Ben just yesterday moved to is.
Speaker 2: Actually I'm so proud of him. It is the biggest
Speaker 2: best move of his career. It's one of the top
Speaker 2: five leagues in the world. Like, this is the most
Speaker 2: amazing move for him. So he lives in Genoi. That's
Speaker 2: how you pronounce it. But if you don't know what
Speaker 2: well it actually is, Genoa's you know, like Genoa.
Speaker 1: But I didn't know.
Speaker 2: It's pronounced genoa with a deeper voice gemois genoi.
Speaker 1: Hot. Oh, there's hot, it's hot genoi. So it's really exciting.
Speaker 2: So he signed there, it was just announced.
Speaker 1: He signed that yesterday.
Speaker 2: He had like twenty four hours notice to move, and
Speaker 2: he literally called me and he's like, what do you
Speaker 2: think about Italy?
Speaker 1: And I said, my panties are off? Lanies are off?
Speaker 1: Signed me up, signed that toddline right there. I will
Speaker 1: do it if I have to.
Speaker 3: Hey, so I came over to BRIT's house yesterday and
Speaker 3: this is when you told me the news as well.
Speaker 3: And it does feel like it all happened very very quickly,
Speaker 3: and that's because it did. Are we allowed to talk
Speaker 3: about the speed of which Ben left his house, didn't
Speaker 3: pack anything, left a completely full apartment in Romania, and
Speaker 3: flew to Italy and now lives in Italy.
Speaker 1: It's a wild thing to get.
Speaker 3: Your head around that that is how someone could be transferred.
Speaker 2: It's actually crazy, and that's not just him.
Speaker 1: That's normal.
Speaker 2: That's standard, like football transfers. When something comes through and
Speaker 2: a team says that they want you, it's usually negotiated
Speaker 2: in like twenty four hours and then they want you
Speaker 2: the next day.
Speaker 1: That's it. So he still has a whole.
Speaker 2: Apartment in Romania with all his stuff. He literally packed
Speaker 2: one bag and one carry on of his life and
Speaker 2: flew the next morning. But I was like, it doesn't
Speaker 2: matter how quick it is, we'll sort out your apartment
Speaker 2: in Romania.
Speaker 3: You're like, I don't care as long as I now
Speaker 3: live in Italy, so long as my next holiday is
Speaker 3: not Romania and it's next to Positano.
Speaker 1: I googled it. First thing I go with Genera.
Speaker 2: I was like, would you like to go to on
Speaker 2: a day trip to Positano?
Speaker 1: And I was like, yes, I will.
Speaker 3: This is also the reason why so when Britain Ben
Speaker 3: first started dating and then we like flirted with the
Speaker 3: idea of you doing records from overseas. We got all
Speaker 3: the equipment for Life on Cup for you to be
Speaker 3: able to record overseas. And this is the reason why
Speaker 3: it's still in Scotland because I don't know where it
Speaker 3: is now. Like Ben had to move so quickly to
Speaker 3: Romania and you got to Romania, You're like, where's my stuff?
Speaker 1: And he's like, oh, it's in Scotland. And now he's
Speaker 1: in Italy.
Speaker 3: And he's just leaving off trail of stuff all over
Speaker 3: the world no matter where he goes, he actually is.
Speaker 2: So if I go to visit him and it's in
Speaker 2: record time, I will take stuff now because I've got
Speaker 2: a caught in Romania, and I've got a microphone in Scotland,
Speaker 2: and I've got who knows where anything.
Speaker 3: Is, which just means you're prepared no matter where you
Speaker 3: end up, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: But that means we can all go and do.
Speaker 2: A trip in Italy.
Speaker 1: Maybe I am so keen. Do we have any listeners
Speaker 1: in Italy the DM so then we can tax it
Speaker 1: after a Yeah, we just need one person's proof.
Speaker 3: I think if we got over there, we pick up
Speaker 3: a business card. I think that that's enough, right, Maybe not?
Speaker 3: Since I've now talked about it on the.
Speaker 4: Podybeah, I've just opened up the back end of the podcast.
Speaker 4: Last month, one hundred and seventy listens came from Italy.
Speaker 1: That counts one hundred and seventy people. That's old. Sorry, Yes,
Speaker 1: ye're true.
Speaker 3: That could be one person listening to one hundred and
Speaker 3: seventy episodes.
Speaker 1: So we need baby that one Italian listener.
Speaker 3: We've got one it's probably an Australian just traveling through
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 1: They're not even there now.
Speaker 3: Well, we are very happy for Ben, and in particular,
Speaker 3: we are very very excited for our tax deduction work
Speaker 3: trip that we are absolutely having in Positano as a mandatory. Well,
Speaker 3: I mean, lots of things have been happening in my household.
Speaker 3: Actually that's a lie. Nothing's been really happening in my household.
Speaker 3: I'm I just feel like I'm living vicariously through my
Speaker 3: husband because I have been put in charge of managing
Speaker 3: his socials and making sure that people vote for him
Speaker 3: and I'm a celebrity. To get me out of here.
Speaker 3: Matt's now been gone for two weeks, and tonight, because
Speaker 3: we're recording this on Tuesday, he is doing one of
Speaker 3: those fucked up eating challenges.
Speaker 2: Praying for him. It's the worst thing I've ever done
Speaker 2: in my life.
Speaker 3: This is why I think it's a bit rigged, because
Speaker 3: that was the one thing that he said he did
Speaker 3: not want to do, like that he would absolutely die
Speaker 3: if he had to do it.
Speaker 2: I said the same thing, though I don't think it's rigged.
Speaker 2: It's just there's just there's so many of them and
Speaker 2: there's not that many people in the jungle. It's just
Speaker 2: the way the cookie or the nipper crumbles.
Speaker 1: It's just how the anus falls apart, just how they
Speaker 1: cooked in your mouth. That's in your mouth. But yeah, look,
Speaker 1: just wanted to sneak it in there and say go
Speaker 1: vote for him. We'll put it in the show notes.
Speaker 1: I'll be shocked if he doesn't vomit. It is.
Speaker 2: I cannot explain how rank I was beside myself upset
Speaker 2: at it.
Speaker 1: I was upset.
Speaker 2: I was genuinely upset that I had even before I
Speaker 2: went there, like the anticipation, because you know it's made
Speaker 2: to be so you vomit. I was really beside myself
Speaker 2: and the stink bugs. Well, then they cut out my
Speaker 2: projectile vomiting. It was too much for TV. They didn't
Speaker 2: air half of it because I was like, I coughed.
Speaker 2: At one point I went I gagged.
Speaker 1: I went like this, look like.
Speaker 2: That, and a bit flung out and hit Roberts Shoe
Speaker 2: and they couldn't air it. They couldn't air it hit
Speaker 2: robert Shoe and I was like, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 3: I feel sick even thinking about it, and the thought
Speaker 3: that I have to watch that tonight at the same
Speaker 3: time as eating dinner, because.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, that's a choice.
Speaker 2: You don't have to eat your dinner at the same time.
Speaker 3: What's like seven o'clock, it's like dinner time, Tucker, Tuesday's
Speaker 3: dinner time.
Speaker 1: Wait half an hour.
Speaker 2: Laws, you don't have to be getting into your ravioli
Speaker 2: while he's eaten his nipples.
Speaker 3: Obviously, I'm a celebrity is taking over my household, and
Speaker 3: I have been watching it very religiously. However, there is
Speaker 3: another show which has just taken over everybody else's lives.
Speaker 3: And normally I am the one on this podcast who
Speaker 3: is an absolute devout watcher and consumer of Married at
Speaker 3: First Sight, But this year the tables have been old,
Speaker 3: turned around and switch a rude.
Speaker 2: The turn has tabled, and now I watched Maths. I
Speaker 2: never thought I would say that did you hate it?
Speaker 1: Or did you love it? I think both simultaneously.
Speaker 2: Both can be true. I couldn't stop watching it like
Speaker 2: a train wreck. But nothing has made me so enraged
Speaker 2: like I was so angry. And that's why I remember
Speaker 2: that I didn't like to watch in the past because
Speaker 2: I don't need the anger in my life. There's one
Speaker 2: person in the show that I have not disliked so
Speaker 2: fast in my life. And it was one of the
Speaker 2: bride's sisters. So one of the brides, Lauren, were introduced
Speaker 2: to her. She seems lovely at the start. I shouldn't
Speaker 2: say at the start, but I don't align with what
Speaker 2: she aligns with. She really wants to be like nineteen
Speaker 2: twenties bride. She wants to be at home and cook
Speaker 2: and clean and he goes to work, and she wants
Speaker 2: very stereotypical old school gender roles. Couldn't care less if
Speaker 2: that's what you want, Like, if that's what you want
Speaker 2: and you find a partner that that's what you want,
Speaker 2: that's amazing. But that's not what I aligned with obviously.
Speaker 1: But it was her sister.
Speaker 2: So it's Lauren's sister, Tamara, who was I guess, almost
Speaker 2: the star of the first episode in a way. She
Speaker 2: really stole the show, and she was just the most
Speaker 2: horrible person that I thought, this can't be real, Like,
Speaker 2: surely you can't be like that on national television at
Speaker 2: your sister's wedding.
Speaker 1: I did flick over.
Speaker 3: So as soon as Celebrity had finished, I flicked over
Speaker 3: to maths and I caught the end tail of this,
Speaker 3: and I don't believe for one second that that wasn't
Speaker 3: heavily produced. Like I don't actually think that there is
Speaker 3: anyone in this world who has that little self awareness
Speaker 3: that would behave the way that she behaved at the wedding.
Speaker 3: I saw that there was like drama around her getting
Speaker 3: the wrong meal and the way she spoke to the
Speaker 3: weight stuff, and then like she was heckling her own
Speaker 3: sister in the first dance. This is my only grite
Speaker 3: with Maths because I love Maths. I think it is
Speaker 3: too overproduced now because I think they know that they
Speaker 3: need these really extreme characters for people to have the
Speaker 3: outrage that you've obviously felt, brit But I think if
Speaker 3: you've watched enough seasons of it, you start to see
Speaker 3: the patterns and you start to see that actually those
Speaker 3: people are playing a specific character, and I think she's
Speaker 3: absolutely been egged up to be that person.
Speaker 2: There's no way that if their relationship, the sister's relationship
Speaker 2: was really like that and she really was that horrible
Speaker 2: twenty four seven, There's no way you sho'd be at
Speaker 2: the wedding. There is zero way you would have you
Speaker 2: would ever speak to her again, and you do see
Speaker 2: at the end tomorrow the sister walks out. She's had
Speaker 2: enough because she didn't get her prescatarian meal, she said,
Speaker 2: and she said, I'm the bride's sister. You were not
Speaker 2: treating me like I'm important enough kind of thing. And
Speaker 2: at the end she goes, I'm not giving you any more.
Speaker 2: And you hear her say that as she walks off,
Speaker 2: And I feel like that is a nod to the
Speaker 2: production aspect where they're like, just give us something else,
Speaker 2: give us something else. But something I did want to
Speaker 2: talk about that happened on There was a new couple,
Speaker 2: Carina and Paul. Now this apparently has never happened in
Speaker 2: Math's history. But they get to the wedding. They are
Speaker 2: at the end of the aisle. They're like frothying each
Speaker 2: other to the audience. They're like, you're very handsome, you're
Speaker 2: very beautiful.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: It looks amazing and you're like, wow, these people look
Speaker 2: really suited to each other. And he's really like she is.
Speaker 1: Standing, Oh my god, I'm stoked.
Speaker 2: Like then she walks off camera and she says to
Speaker 2: a producer basically, find me someone else, get me a
Speaker 2: new husband. I know him, and the producer looks really shocked.
Speaker 1: They're like, what you know him?
Speaker 2: Like, oh my god, I'm like, as if you don't
Speaker 2: know that from a production aspect. But apparently, long story short,
Speaker 2: they had dated before. Briefly, they'd matched online, They're dated
Speaker 2: in Perth. They'd gone on a hike, had a really
Speaker 2: amazing date. They kept texting each other, and then he
Speaker 2: ghosted her. So he just literally never messaged her again.
Speaker 2: The first contact that they have had from that original
Speaker 2: date was on national television getting married.
Speaker 3: So stupid, but also like they have to both be
Speaker 3: in on it for them to have known that they've
Speaker 3: been ghosted, do you know? I mean, like, how do
Speaker 3: they Otherwise this is like the most serendipitous, incredible production
Speaker 3: that's ever existed, or it's very very manufactured, and they've
Speaker 3: found two people who have been on a date and
Speaker 3: then ghosted each other. The thing is, though, is that
Speaker 3: that would be a particularly hard thing to find because
Speaker 3: how would you know unless someone's spoken publicly about going
Speaker 3: on a date with this person and being ghosted, how
Speaker 3: would you know that those two people have ever been
Speaker 3: together previously. So I just think that this has to
Speaker 3: be orchestrated as well for it to have actually been
Speaker 3: in a discovery.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't know because one thing that I did notice
Speaker 4: about this season, and I don't know if it's just
Speaker 4: the first ones that have gotten married, is that they
Speaker 4: seem to be matching them more with location, which I
Speaker 4: think is a really wise thing, because if you get
Speaker 4: someone who's from Perth and someone who's from Sydney, one person,
Speaker 4: if it works out, is going to have to move
Speaker 4: to the other side of the country. Like Perth is
Speaker 4: not that big of a city. I've got a lot
Speaker 4: of friends from there, and I think that the dating
Speaker 4: pool from what I've heard, it's pretty like you've kind
Speaker 4: of been through everybody.
Speaker 3: Like you think it was totally serendipitous that they have
Speaker 3: been matched together.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I think it could have been, but I was kind
Speaker 4: of picturing what I would do in that situation if
Speaker 4: I was walking down the island. This whole production had
Speaker 4: happened because I was on Maths and I recognized him, Like,
Speaker 4: it's surprising to me how long it took for them.
Speaker 1: To be like, guys, what the fuck?
Speaker 4: Like to the producers, I'm surprised they didn't say anything
Speaker 4: in the actual ceremony.
Speaker 2: I wonder if the ghosting was a bonus. So this
Speaker 2: is what I think has happened, because I, you know,
Speaker 2: Laura and I have obviously done a lot of reality
Speaker 2: TV and we've done a dating reality TV show. You know,
Speaker 2: the due diligence that they do on each person. What
Speaker 2: I think has probably happened is they've found the contestants
Speaker 2: that they think could be an option, and then they
Speaker 2: go through their social medias. I just wonder if maybe
Speaker 2: they were following each other on social media and the
Speaker 2: production team of at least seeing that there's some form
Speaker 2: of connection without knowing what, and then maybe when the
Speaker 2: ghosting came out, they've been like bingo, Like we couldn't
Speaker 2: have asked for that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because remember last year, wasn't there a couple that
Speaker 4: they were like intruders or something like that, and they
Speaker 4: went to the same gym or they knew each other's name.
Speaker 4: Remember they one of them got down the aisle and
Speaker 4: he was like, oh, hey, I can't remember whose name
Speaker 4: it was. But they had that moment where they realized
Speaker 4: that they actually knew each other from They hadn't dated though,
Speaker 4: they just knew each other. I think it was through
Speaker 4: like a gym connection or something. But the funniest thing
Speaker 4: about that situation with Paul and with Carina is that
Speaker 4: up until the point where she was like I know
Speaker 4: this guy and we've been dating before, I realized that
Speaker 4: I still have so much work to do. I think
Speaker 4: I've learnt so much from like producing this podcast and
Speaker 4: hearing so many of the experts talk about dating and relationships.
Speaker 1: But up until that point, I was like, he's the catch.
Speaker 4: He's the one where they've just got this amazing guy
Speaker 4: to like have on the whole season that everyone falls
Speaker 4: in love with. He's the guy, you know. He's talking
Speaker 4: French to her. He's handsome, he's tall, he's like hard working,
Speaker 4: like he's got all of it right.
Speaker 3: She was like, he's absolutely my kind of guy. This
Speaker 3: is in the car this morning, and I.
Speaker 1: Was like, oh uh. I was like, oh, so he
Speaker 1: must be a fuck boy there.
Speaker 4: Well, funnily enough, yeah, it turns out he's actually been
Speaker 4: on that show, The Love Boat.
Speaker 1: He seems like the guy who just tells you exactly
Speaker 1: what you want to hear.
Speaker 4: And I laughed to myself because I was like, I
Speaker 4: still to this day would have full looked at that
Speaker 4: like she's.
Speaker 1: Like, I am not as progressive as as I thought
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 2: But here's the question, what do you reckon you would do?
Speaker 1: Or have you ever gone back?
Speaker 2: Because like someone you've been dating completely like fucking cut
Speaker 2: you off, like hardcore ghosting. Then they've come back, so
Speaker 2: they've zombie you, and then you're like, yeah, cool, I'll
Speaker 2: tap that again.
Speaker 3: To be honest, I can't like nothing comes to mind
Speaker 3: as like an immediate example.
Speaker 1: However, I just know that yes.
Speaker 3: I absolutely would have, like I think about like you
Speaker 3: guys know, there's no secrets here. My dating in my
Speaker 3: twenties was an absolute fucking shit show. The amount of
Speaker 3: things that I tolerated or was just like yeah, second
Speaker 3: time hurt me again, that sounds good.
Speaker 1: People can change. Yeah, people can change. He'll change for me.
Speaker 3: I'm the exception, Like I would have done that easily.
Speaker 3: I also was. I was also the ghost who resurrected
Speaker 3: myself many times because I was And now I think
Speaker 3: about it, and I'm like, I only did that because
Speaker 3: I was bored and lazy and not lazy, sorry, bored
Speaker 3: and lonely. I was lonely and I wanted company, and
Speaker 3: I went through my phone. I was like, fuck, guess,
Speaker 3: I guess we got to go back to that guy.
Speaker 2: Don't you guys remember I think I told you on
Speaker 2: the podcast. But I had been on this dating app
Speaker 2: and I'd matched with this guy and we were talking
Speaker 2: and then I ghosted him. He kept wanting to meet
Speaker 2: up and I was just like, fucking I could not
Speaker 2: interested call me bonded, ghosted him.
Speaker 1: Three years later. People changed.
Speaker 2: Three years, I went on the app and the conversation
Speaker 2: was still there and I was like, got nothing else
Speaker 2: gone on? I was like, ready for that drink? He
Speaker 2: was like yeah, okay, that was it three years. I
Speaker 2: ghosted him for three years and he said yes without
Speaker 2: skipping a beat. We went to the date and it
Speaker 2: was the most boring night in my life. And I
Speaker 2: was like, that's why I.
Speaker 5: Go to you?
Speaker 1: Did you fucking still absolutely? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't. We didn't even kiss.
Speaker 2: I was like within ten minutes, I was like, this
Speaker 2: is why you go with your guys?
Speaker 1: Were you like I can't wait to ghost you again?
Speaker 2: I was like I got to go in three I
Speaker 2: got to go to the toilet and.
Speaker 1: Never came back.
Speaker 3: I think though your message ready for that drink? Well played,
Speaker 3: because I think most people would have been how have
Speaker 3: you been, and it's like, there's too much that's happened
Speaker 3: in three years, I can't catch you up.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure what I wrote to him was the
Speaker 2: answer to what he asked me three years ago. I
Speaker 2: just continue, Yeah, it was a continued conversation three years later.
Speaker 2: I just pretended that three years didn't go far. I
Speaker 2: literally just was like house seven pm.
Speaker 3: To be fair, though, good on him for not being
Speaker 3: angry because the amount of people and maybe I don't
Speaker 3: know if this is still a case on Tinder and
Speaker 3: online dating, but you'll be talking for a little while
Speaker 3: and you'll go cold because you're just kind of not
Speaker 3: into the chat, and like if you're not committed to
Speaker 3: the person, you've not been on a date or anything.
Speaker 3: I think it's okay to go cold on someone when
Speaker 3: it comes to chatting to them.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of part and pass of online dating.
Speaker 3: Of men who take it as a personal insult and
Speaker 3: then get angry at you because you haven't replied to
Speaker 3: their messages. To me, I think that that is like
Speaker 3: such a determining factor of someone's red flags, right, Like
Speaker 3: if their response to you not replying is I thought
Speaker 3: you were looking for someone, but clearly you don't have time.
Speaker 3: No am I the only one who received those type
Speaker 3: of messages.
Speaker 1: Because I'm so desperate.
Speaker 2: I was on the receiving end, Like there are seven
Speaker 2: I'm outside in the bushes, come out.
Speaker 3: Kisha never never didn't reply.
Speaker 4: Kisha triple texted for these couple though they'd actually been
Speaker 4: on a date. Also, I don't know if they'd hooked up.
Speaker 4: It kind of gave a little bit of a I
Speaker 4: was like, there's a bit more to this. I feel
Speaker 4: as though you guys hooked up and then he ghosted you,
Speaker 4: and that's why you're a bit like No, like I
Speaker 4: was a bit shit.
Speaker 3: Also, Yeah, I mean if you've been ghosted in the
Speaker 3: past by someone, and I mean like true ghosting, like
Speaker 3: really poor form. Three years, you've slept with a guy
Speaker 3: and then they've just absolutely fucking blocked you.
Speaker 1: What would that feel like? I have no idea, but I.
Speaker 4: Think in this by the way that was suck as
Speaker 4: it might absolutely know what that feels.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: It calls into question the kind of ethics around the show,
Speaker 3: which it does every year, but it's like, sometimes there
Speaker 3: are people who are undeserving of another chance or undeserving
Speaker 3: of you trying to work out whether or not you
Speaker 3: would be a good match. And it's like, I kind
Speaker 3: of feel sorry that this woman is now in a
Speaker 3: position where, in order to be in the experiment, she
Speaker 3: has to give a guy who's already treated her really badly,
Speaker 3: already compromised her boundaries, a chance at being and showing
Speaker 3: himself to be a good guy.
Speaker 1: It's a shit situation for her.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I did find this the next part that
Speaker 2: happened or that evening, I found it really interesting. So
Speaker 2: they were at the wedding ceremony and he said to her,
Speaker 2: are you happy if I go and speak to your
Speaker 2: family and tell them about what happened and our history
Speaker 2: and stuff like that, And she was like yeah, great.
Speaker 2: And then so he goes up to her parents and says,
Speaker 2: I just want to be really honest and forward. And
Speaker 2: he explained it, and he basically said, like, I didn't
Speaker 2: treat her right, I go to whatever, I didn't message her,
Speaker 2: but then put it down to like I wasn't in
Speaker 2: the right headspace.
Speaker 1: No, but wait it worked. Then they do an.
Speaker 2: Interview with the parents that are like the dad said,
Speaker 2: it's just so admirable. I think he's really admirable that
Speaker 2: he told the truth, and he's obviously very respectable. And
Speaker 2: then she was like, not many people would be able
Speaker 2: to go and speak to my parents like that, and
Speaker 2: I was like, wow, he just must have manipulated the
Speaker 2: entire situation.
Speaker 3: He's also just someone who's absolutely very good at and
Speaker 3: is literate in TV, like reality TV literate, so he
Speaker 3: knows that this is a situation he can't get out of.
Speaker 3: He knows he's going to be painted badly for being
Speaker 3: the Ghoster, and the only way to repaint that picture
Speaker 3: and to be seen as someone who is actually a
Speaker 3: stand up guy is to face it that way, which
Speaker 3: just means that he has either like a understanding of
Speaker 3: reality TV or he has enough self awareness of how
Speaker 3: he comes across, probably from lessons he's learned from his
Speaker 3: last experience of reality TV as to how he's going
Speaker 3: to navigate this, or he.
Speaker 1: Might have changed.
Speaker 2: Oh my god. I also know I don't want to
Speaker 2: judge the too quick, because at the end of the
Speaker 2: day I do.
Speaker 1: I haven't watched it, and I am at the.
Speaker 2: End of the day, there is something that's like cool.
Speaker 2: You don't have a choice but to own the situation.
Speaker 2: So I'm glad you did own it. I just think
Speaker 2: it's fascinating to watch, like from a fly on the wall,
Speaker 2: that you can use that honesty as like a bit
Speaker 2: of a manipulation technique, and whether that wasn't intentional or not,
Speaker 2: it very much worked. Like we just said, we've all
Speaker 2: ghosted people. Everyone does it if you go on one
Speaker 2: date or whatever and you're not interested. So I don't
Speaker 2: want to hold that against him, but I just feel like,
Speaker 2: like what Keisha said, I think there was more there.
Speaker 2: I think he was probably was a bit more of
Speaker 2: a turd burger than he's letting on. So maybe they
Speaker 2: did hook up or there was more of a connection
Speaker 2: and then he just completely blanked us.
Speaker 1: So that's yeah.
Speaker 2: I want to give him the benefit of the doubt
Speaker 2: for now, because it's very early days.
Speaker 3: You don't need to it's maths sound exactly like I
Speaker 3: did when I was a dated.
Speaker 1: I want to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Speaker 1: Maybe they've changed, maybe they've evolved.
Speaker 4: The guys who were manipulators, though they have evolved guys.
Speaker 4: We've spoken about this with some guys who use therapy
Speaker 4: talk as a weapon.
Speaker 1: Keep your wits about you, keep your eyes open.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I'll watch it anymore.
Speaker 3: It's see I feel jipped because, like I really want
Speaker 3: to be watching it, and now I kind of feel
Speaker 3: as though I have to support my husband.
Speaker 1: It's a real damn shame. Oh what are you going
Speaker 1: to do?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 1: Support my husband? I think I have to.
Speaker 2: That's the highlight.
Speaker 3: Everyone vote ten times, Matty Jay. Something that the three
Speaker 3: of us have been talking about for the last couple
Speaker 3: of weeks and it has been in the media again
Speaker 3: this week. So we were going to talk about on
Speaker 3: last week's podcasts, but unfortunately BRIT's infestation of Huntsman's brain
Speaker 3: Supreme shock. However, there's been updates and we thought if
Speaker 3: we're still talking about it two weeks later, it might
Speaker 3: be something that you guys are interested in as well.
Speaker 3: You may know the Today's show host. His name is
Speaker 3: Alex Cullen. He was recently stood down from the show
Speaker 3: for breaching the laws around cash for comment. However, him
Speaker 3: being suspended from his job and taken off the show
Speaker 3: has been quite controversial. You might be familiar with the
Speaker 3: billionaire his name's Adrian Portelli. He's the billionaire block guy
Speaker 3: who rocks up at all the block auctions and buys
Speaker 3: much all the houses. Well, they call him Lambo Guy
Speaker 3: because from like the first season he rocked up in
Speaker 3: his like Fluoro bright Lamborghini, and that's been his nickname since.
Speaker 2: And he's decided he doesn't like that nickname anymore.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so he wants to rename himself basically, and the
Speaker 3: Lambeau guy kind of monica that's followed him around.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's worse things you could be called, Yeah.
Speaker 2: But McLaren Man's not that much better.
Speaker 1: What is a McLaren isn't a type of car?
Speaker 2: Luxury car's a bit like.
Speaker 4: Lambo's are hot and sporty. McLaren's are like the same
Speaker 4: but kind of considered.
Speaker 1: A little bit more classy. This whole thing is so stupid.
Speaker 3: So basically, Lambou Guy no longer wanted to be called
Speaker 3: Lambeau Guy. So Adrian Pottelli got onto his social media
Speaker 3: and he said, I will give fifty thousand dollars to
Speaker 3: any journalist or presenter who talks about me and uses
Speaker 3: a different name first. And that different name that he
Speaker 3: wanted to go by was McLaren man. Now, this was
Speaker 3: all done as a bit of jest. However, the reason
Speaker 3: why this has become so controversial because Alex Cullen was
Speaker 3: the reporter who took him up on the bed. There
Speaker 3: was a cross during the Australian Open that involves Sarah
Speaker 3: Abdo and Carl Stefanovick have listened to this a little.
Speaker 5: Bit of celebrity spotting today. Don't believe Vanessa's been here.
Speaker 5: Danny Minogue as well. Adrian Portelli aka the McLaren guy,
Speaker 5: likely to make an appearance here today as well.
Speaker 1: But look for different luxury car.
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, yeah, pretty sure it's McLaren.
Speaker 2: Oh no, it's definitely McLaren That's why we can split
Speaker 2: the fifty grand.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The reason this is escalated to the point that it
Speaker 2: has is because Adrian Ptelly McLaren man, Jack and you'll
Speaker 2: give it to me.
Speaker 3: Actually, lambo guy, McLaren Man, McLaren man, whatever you want,
Speaker 3: we could split that actually.
Speaker 2: So the reason yeah, it escalated is because I'm desperate.
Speaker 1: Yes, Adrian paid up.
Speaker 2: Adrian was like, this was not a joke.
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you fifty k. Well done.
Speaker 2: Transferred in fifty K took screenshot of it, posted it,
Speaker 2: Alex shared it. It was all a bit of a
Speaker 2: pr funny jest. There was nothing that was secret about it.
Speaker 2: No one was trying to hide it like they really
Speaker 2: lent in. I saw it happening and thought funny. So
Speaker 2: colloquially in our industry it's called cash for comment. You're
Speaker 2: basically not allowed to be paid for any brand or
Speaker 2: personal advertising without making it very clear that it is
Speaker 2: a sponsored advertised post. That is what is in all media.
Speaker 2: But it looks different in different capacities for TV or
Speaker 2: for radio or for podcasting.
Speaker 1: Like everyone has their set of rules. Yes, McClaren man,
Speaker 1: it looks different for podcasting.
Speaker 2: Just to be clear, McLaren man. Yeah, the rules do
Speaker 2: not stand to you for.
Speaker 3: These standards are also set by AKMA, which is the
Speaker 3: governing body who puts rules and regulations in place to
Speaker 3: ensure that you know, free to air TV and radio
Speaker 3: and everybody else are abiding by an ethical code of
Speaker 3: standards and not misleading the public to buy into products
Speaker 3: or to buy into businesses that they otherwise wouldn't because
Speaker 3: of refer from a friend type situations.
Speaker 2: And you do actually see it a lot. Now, I
Speaker 2: don't think maybe the everyday consumer would see it, but
Speaker 2: when you're in media, I think you've got an eye
Speaker 2: for it, and sometimes I think you see things that
Speaker 2: are questionable lord that you would wonder, but they just
Speaker 2: slip under the radar. This couldn't slip under the radar
Speaker 2: because they lent him to make it a joke and
Speaker 2: a pr stunt. Nine reprimanded Alex and stood him down.
Speaker 2: Initially it was temporarily, and.
Speaker 1: I even thought that was like, oh, that was a
Speaker 1: big call.
Speaker 2: I understand that you need to punish him in some capacity,
Speaker 2: and he made to look like you were doing something,
Speaker 2: but I at the start was like, come on, guys,
Speaker 2: it was very obviously a joke. Alex made a statement
Speaker 2: saying I was always going to give it to charity.
Speaker 2: Channel nine made Alex give the money back to Adrian Pottelly,
Speaker 2: and Adrian Pottelly then split the money and donated it
Speaker 2: to two of Alex's chosen charity. So to be clear, now,
Speaker 2: Alex did not take a dollar and said he was
Speaker 2: always going to donate it to charity, which a big
Speaker 2: part of me believes because he's in media, he's been
Speaker 2: there with the network for five years.
Speaker 1: You do know the law.
Speaker 2: He was so open and public about it. It's hard
Speaker 2: for me to believe that he would have been that silly.
Speaker 2: I think the intention was always to gain some form
Speaker 2: of publicity for the show, for himself for the segment.
Speaker 2: That's why Karl Stefanovic doubled down and also made his
Speaker 2: jovial comments as well. Now he's been completely let go
Speaker 2: from the network. He will not work there again because
Speaker 2: of this cross and I personally feel like that has
Speaker 2: gone far too far.
Speaker 3: It's an interesting one because I think a lot of
Speaker 3: people feel as though there needs to be some sort
Speaker 3: of he needs to be reprimanded in some way, because
Speaker 3: I think it's tricky when you start to bend the
Speaker 3: rules and say, well, this type of kash for comment
Speaker 3: situations okay, but then this type of kash for comment
Speaker 3: is in the gray. The issue is is that it's
Speaker 3: something that does happen pretty often across media, and obviously
Speaker 3: there are watchdogs and people are called out for it
Speaker 3: all the time. But it seems like this is the
Speaker 3: most severe reprimanding that we've seen, especially since he didn't
Speaker 3: keep the fifty thousand dollars, didn't profit from this in
Speaker 3: any way, and now he's lost his job. Alex came
Speaker 3: out and said that this has been a very difficult
Speaker 3: time and I just want to say thank you to
Speaker 3: all the wonderful people who reached out. It means the
Speaker 3: world to me and to my young family. I missed
Speaker 3: my colleagues at the Today Show and wish them the best.
Speaker 3: Thank you again, and I look forward to whatever comes.
Speaker 3: So this is a presenter who's worked in that role
Speaker 3: for the last five years and worked alongside his co hosts.
Speaker 3: I can only imagine that this has been a massive
Speaker 3: blow to the show and to the teams in general.
Speaker 3: But I guess I sit on two camps because on
Speaker 3: one side, I think maybe the repercussions for this were
Speaker 3: too severe and don't seem to be in line with
Speaker 3: how Channel nine has handled cash for comment situations in
Speaker 3: the past, which we'll get into in a moment. But
Speaker 3: also on the flip side of that, I'm like, it
Speaker 3: was so brazenly obvious that this went against the code
Speaker 3: of conduct, and people as in the public, some people
Speaker 3: did have such an adverse reaction to it that I
Speaker 3: think that Channel nine's hands were sort of tied and
Speaker 3: they had to take action, but maybe it was too severe.
Speaker 1: I would be shocked.
Speaker 2: There is no one that would have been upset by
Speaker 2: the fact that a billionaire gave a charity fifty thousand
Speaker 2: dollars if that was the.
Speaker 1: Way it was going to go.
Speaker 2: And all we have is Alex's statement of saying, of course,
Speaker 2: that's what I was going to do. And this is
Speaker 2: why I find it hard to not believe him, because
Speaker 2: it was so obviously a joke and a stunt. He
Speaker 2: knows the rules, he shared the screenshots. There's no way
Speaker 2: he would have thought he was allowed to keep that.
Speaker 2: No one in media would have thought that that was
Speaker 2: going to be okay.
Speaker 1: Well, I have a question for you.
Speaker 3: Do you think we feel differently about it when it's
Speaker 3: kind of pose as an on air gag and one
Speaker 3: person seems to be benefiting from that on air gag,
Speaker 3: or is it more of an issue when it's a
Speaker 3: business that's profiting and it's done in a more sinister
Speaker 3: or manipulative way where someone's getting money back from a
Speaker 3: business in order to speak about them positively.
Speaker 2: My problem is when people are really subtly trying to
Speaker 2: promote a business and then take the money. But for
Speaker 2: this no one was genuinely being promoted a list of
Speaker 2: people's names. No one would have bad an Nyilid, no
Speaker 2: one would have thought twice about it. The money would
Speaker 2: have ended up going to charity. Which is why I
Speaker 2: have an issue with the fact that he's been stood down,
Speaker 2: because we know that there have been people that have
Speaker 2: done far worse and taken money and benefit profited from
Speaker 2: supporting businesses on the sly that haven't had the same repercussions.
Speaker 2: So I think for me, that's where my issue comes from.
Speaker 3: I think it's important to establish why these laws were
Speaker 3: brought in the first place, because they are rules that
Speaker 3: have been put in place to protect the public. So
Speaker 3: back in nineteen ninety nine, this was also the heyday
Speaker 3: of radio where talkback radio had such a stranglehold across Australia.
Speaker 3: There was an inquiry that was done from Alan Jones
Speaker 3: and also John Laws who were receiving cash from businesses
Speaker 3: and some of these businesses were quantas optors, Foxtel banking associations,
Speaker 3: rams home loans. There were so many businesses that were
Speaker 3: paying them in order for them to not speak negatively
Speaker 3: about their company on air, and this might not seem
Speaker 3: as significant now because I don't think talkback radio has
Speaker 3: the same hold on Australian public as it did then.
Speaker 3: But at the time these people were so incredibly influential
Speaker 3: that they had the power to really sway people's opinions
Speaker 3: around brands and around companies.
Speaker 2: Well, it was almost looked at as hush money as
Speaker 2: opposed to cash for comment, because it was like, we're
Speaker 2: going to pay you to not slag us and not
Speaker 2: sling mud at us. But they were found to have
Speaker 2: committed ninety breaches of industry codes of conduct, were estimated
Speaker 2: about eighteen million dollars, Like this was a huge amount
Speaker 2: of money.
Speaker 4: I think the interesting thing about it as well, and
Speaker 4: obviously we have a bit of more insight into the
Speaker 4: radio world, but at the time those two men were
Speaker 4: seen as such like brute forces in broadcasting. Really people
Speaker 4: trusted them. People had this like deep connection to the
Speaker 4: fact that they were the holders of information and the
Speaker 4: way that they got that information about what was going
Speaker 4: on around them was from these two men in radio.
Speaker 4: So there was also kind of this like betrayal aspect
Speaker 4: to it, where they found out the public found out
Speaker 4: you have been profiting off of deliberately misleading me.
Speaker 1: And that's why the Kasher comment rules came in.
Speaker 4: And for anyone who hasn't worked in media before, we
Speaker 4: have to do codes of conduct. When you work at
Speaker 4: a radio station, you have to do them every single year.
Speaker 4: You have to do compliance training, and I think it's
Speaker 4: the same for TV. From what I've heard from friends,
Speaker 4: like it's a really big deal.
Speaker 1: They want to make sure.
Speaker 4: That you're not doing things that are misleading to the
Speaker 4: public and you're financially benefiting from them because it reflects
Speaker 4: that trust, you know, it reflects the fact that the
Speaker 4: public can't trust what you're saying anymore.
Speaker 3: The only thing is, though, that I think is questionable,
Speaker 3: is that that to me, that is such an obvious
Speaker 3: example of Kasha comment. When you're receiving cash from a
Speaker 3: business to then promote that business in a positive light,
Speaker 3: very very clear cut. I don't think anyone would argue
Speaker 3: that that's misleading. We had those laws in place for influencers.
Speaker 3: Influencers can't work with brands without disclosing that they are
Speaker 3: getting paid by the brand to speak positively. In this
Speaker 3: instance of Alex Cullen talking about Lambeou Guy and calling
Speaker 3: him McLaren man, I just don't see who benefits from this.
Speaker 1: I don't see.
Speaker 3: I actually think it's such a great area because yes
Speaker 3: he received cash, and yes it was a comment, but
Speaker 3: that comment wasn't about a business. It doesn't sway public's perception.
Speaker 3: It really was this like very jovial pr able, almost
Speaker 3: like silliness to it. I get that a journalist shouldn't
Speaker 3: necessarily be paid fifty thousand dollars to say someone's name,
Speaker 3: but it doesn't have the same ramifications or impact on
Speaker 3: anybody as what these sort of examples do. And another
Speaker 3: example which I think is really important, and the reason
Speaker 3: why I want to bring this up is because it's comparative.
Speaker 3: So this happened under Channel nine. Last year there was
Speaker 3: an inquiry on Ben Fordham, who works on twogb which
Speaker 3: is part of Channel nine. For anyone who doesn't know
Speaker 3: how that structured, the inquiry found that he had broken
Speaker 3: the laws around cash for comment and that he had
Speaker 3: spoken about Uber, of which he is an affiliate for.
Speaker 3: So what happened on the show was that Ben Fordham,
Speaker 3: who has paid an incredible sum for his radio show.
Speaker 3: It's estimated that he's paid around one point five million
Speaker 3: a year, he was speaking about Uber saying that he
Speaker 3: has a secondary job. He'd taken his very first Uber passenger,
Speaker 3: and he spoke about how convenient Uber is and what
Speaker 3: a great secondary employment it is and the flexibility of it.
Speaker 2: Why was he on a secondary employment on one point five?
Speaker 3: Well, that's that's exactly the question that was raised, right,
Speaker 3: And the question is maybe he never was doing Uber
Speaker 3: as a secondary job, not because he needed to by
Speaker 3: any means, but actually because he was being paid to
Speaker 3: speak positively about the company. But none of this was disclosed.
Speaker 3: So the reason why I think we wanted to unpack
Speaker 3: this and kind of be like, well, why is this
Speaker 3: not apples for apples is that the reprimanding for that
Speaker 3: situation of Ben Fordham was simply that he was expected
Speaker 3: to do more training and the team around him, the
Speaker 3: production team, had to do more compliance training. So they
Speaker 3: would have had like a half day of compliance training.
Speaker 3: And it never really made media. It never really became
Speaker 3: a big song and dance. But in this instance with
Speaker 3: Alex Cullen, it has becomes such a huge thing, and
Speaker 3: I think it's to do with the media spotlight that
Speaker 3: was put on it. This couldn't just be swept under
Speaker 3: the carpet because of the publicity that it gained. And
Speaker 3: I think it's kind of unfair when you have two
Speaker 3: different media personalities who have done similar things. One arguably
Speaker 3: is far worse and he has received absolutely no punishment
Speaker 3: for it, and the other person has lost his job.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's fair at all, and I try
Speaker 2: to put myself in that position when I'm talking about
Speaker 2: these subjects, So I think it's important to be like,
Speaker 2: what would I actually have done.
Speaker 1: It's like I would have gone for the fifty thousand
Speaker 1: dollar cash. I would have I name this episode McLaren man.
Speaker 3: We will this episode is called McLaren man and owned
Speaker 3: to McLaren man.
Speaker 2: I do wonder if it's a bit of a bendy
Speaker 2: area that Alex would have said, do you know what,
Speaker 2: I think I'll be fine, Like, surely there will be
Speaker 2: no repercussions of this. If we can get fifty thousand
Speaker 2: dollars from a billionaire that doesn't need it and give
Speaker 2: it to a charity that needs it.
Speaker 1: Tell me a.
Speaker 2: Person that wouldn't say yes, it was so open and obvious.
Speaker 2: I don't think that he would have thought that this
Speaker 2: would have happened.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think only the thing that has been raised though,
Speaker 3: is that maybe the charity aspect came as a response
Speaker 3: to the punishment. So I mean, for anyone who's not
Speaker 3: familiar with the timeline, Alex himself hadn't come out prior
Speaker 3: to the investigation is saying that it publicly that it
Speaker 3: was going to go to charity. So people are kind
Speaker 3: of calling a little bit bullshit and being like, Oh,
Speaker 3: you're only saying that now because you're in trouble for it.
Speaker 4: I also don't know how he would have got the
Speaker 4: bank transfer to begin with without giving his bank details
Speaker 4: to exact clarencemen, so you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 4: you can't just transfer fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you can pay ID that.
Speaker 3: And I think that that's the issue, is like, if
Speaker 3: you did have every intention to give it to a charity,
Speaker 3: why wouldn't you have just said, Hey, I don't need
Speaker 3: that fifty thousand dollars. Can you donate it to this
Speaker 3: charity and send me the transfer so that I can
Speaker 3: see that you've transferred it to a charity. Why does
Speaker 3: it need to go into your bank account to then
Speaker 3: go into a charity bank account? So yeah, I understand
Speaker 3: that it probably raised some alarm bells for a few people,
Speaker 3: and I don't want to necessarily like question his intent
Speaker 3: with it, because there could be a very good chance
Speaker 3: that he did in tend to donate it to a charity.
Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, he doesn't have
Speaker 3: the money, and there's been twenty five thousand dollars donated
Speaker 3: to Salvation Army, and there's been twenty five thousand dollars
Speaker 3: donated to RSPCA. My big thing from this is that
Speaker 3: I think it is disappointing that a journalist has completely
Speaker 3: lost his job when other people have received a slap
Speaker 3: on the wrist for it. And I think that that
Speaker 3: is kind of the part where where I go, these
Speaker 3: rules need to be in place, but it's how we
Speaker 3: enforce them, and shouldn't there be a standardized way that
Speaker 3: we approach these situations.
Speaker 2: The only other thing that makes sense to me is
Speaker 2: that when he's sat down to do the training online,
Speaker 2: you know when you just click done, but you don't
Speaker 2: read it. He just didn't read the codes OFCONDA like
Speaker 2: you know, you're like, y, I've done it. I've done
Speaker 2: it fast forward. Because no one else would make such
Speaker 2: a blatantly obvious decision if you had read the rules.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 4: He would have had to have been aware of them
Speaker 4: because he's been a journalist for so long. The thing
Speaker 4: that I find really interesting is that I think regardless
Speaker 4: of whether he would have donated it to charity to
Speaker 4: begin with or not, I think the same rules still apply.
Speaker 4: And I very much I can't believe I'm actually completely
Speaker 4: defending Channel Mine here. I really do think it is
Speaker 4: important that these rules are in place and are enforced.
Speaker 1: And even though this situation seems as though.
Speaker 4: It's very victimless, I think that if you, like you
Speaker 4: said before, Laura, if you start to bend the rules
Speaker 4: for certain situations, well then you've got to bend them
Speaker 4: for all of them. And the reason that I think
Speaker 4: they had to crack down on this was because it was.
Speaker 2: So obvious they bent them for everyone else.
Speaker 3: Yes, and that's my issue, I understand, and I absolutely
Speaker 3: agree with you. I do think that those rules need
Speaker 3: to be in place, and I think, if anything, they
Speaker 3: need to be enforced in a way that's far more consistent.
Speaker 3: And I just don't think that it's fair when Akma says, okay, well,
Speaker 3: on one side, we're going to do an inquiry, and
Speaker 3: on the other side, someone's going to lose their job,
Speaker 3: and the determining factor for that.
Speaker 1: Is purely publicity.
Speaker 3: Public scrutiny shouldn't be the determining factor as to how
Speaker 3: bad someone's punishment is, because if that was the case,
Speaker 3: it's like, well, on one hand, ben Fordham just got
Speaker 3: away with it because no one really cared about the
Speaker 3: whole uber situation. Yeah, that's kind of why I sit
Speaker 3: in the in the gray with this one. I don't
Speaker 3: think the Channel nine are the perpetrator in this situation.
Speaker 3: I know that they had to do something, but I
Speaker 3: don't think that you can have a varied response in
Speaker 3: these situations.
Speaker 4: Do you think the other networks do you think all
Speaker 4: of the radio presenters, do you think all of the
Speaker 4: radio networks are going to be more transparent or do
Speaker 4: you think they're going to be more careful about making
Speaker 4: it more subtle so that people don't pick up on
Speaker 4: the fact that this is happening.
Speaker 3: I think Look, I mean, we've come a long way
Speaker 3: in terms of people having decent media literacy and being
Speaker 3: able to sniff at ads as opposed to say, like
Speaker 3: ten years ago. I think the general public didn't have
Speaker 3: a good grasp, say ten years ago, especially, and I'm
Speaker 3: talking about in general, talk about social media as well,
Speaker 3: when someone was being paid to influence a product or
Speaker 3: to influence a business. But I would say that this happens,
Speaker 3: and I know you mentioned earlier, it happens so frequently,
Speaker 3: especially on like morning shows, on some radio shows, where
Speaker 3: people will subtly talk about a product or subtly talk
Speaker 3: about a business that they love, but also they are
Speaker 3: in some ways getting a kickback from them, whether obvious
Speaker 3: or not. And I just think that maybe partly, yes,
Speaker 3: I do think that networks will be a little bit
Speaker 3: more subtle about it for a period, But I also
Speaker 3: think these things are flash in the pants. I think
Speaker 3: that as soon as the media cycle of this has
Speaker 3: died down, they will go back to doing the same things.
Speaker 3: And I just think that they've made a scapegoat out
Speaker 3: of Alex Cullen.
Speaker 1: I do think it's funny.
Speaker 2: Adrian Potelli did come out and say, like, you know,
Speaker 2: if Alex Losees's job, I'll hire him. I'll give you
Speaker 2: a job. I've got jobs going anyway. The jobs came out,
Speaker 2: they're like videographer jobs, it's like social media, like recording jobs.
Speaker 2: I was like, what do I think that's Alex cullins
Speaker 2: Ally you.
Speaker 1: Never know a hypod up scale.
Speaker 3: All right, it is time for accidentally unfiltered it your
Speaker 3: most embarrassing stories and if you had them on for us.
Speaker 1: Please send it on through.
Speaker 3: Two years ago, I went on a Kentiki trip to
Speaker 3: the UK solo and I had the time of my life.
Speaker 1: Yes, Queen.
Speaker 3: Since I was traveling solo, I had organized with my
Speaker 3: travel agent that I wanted transfers from my hotel to
Speaker 3: the airport. Anyway, I had a male friend from Kantiki
Speaker 3: who I teed up to have a shower at his
Speaker 3: hotel before my international flight. That evening, we went to
Speaker 3: dinner and I had the best Rahman of my life.
Speaker 1: This information is not imperative to the story, but you.
Speaker 2: Know I love that.
Speaker 1: Though we love a rama, it adds color.
Speaker 3: I went back to his house with him, had a shower,
Speaker 3: and shoved all my dirty clothes from the day of
Speaker 3: sight seeing into my backpack. Anyways, I then ran back
Speaker 3: to my hotel that I checked out of and hopped
Speaker 3: into my private transfer to get to the airport. I
Speaker 3: decided to rearrange my backpack whilst I was in the
Speaker 3: car and pulled out all my dirty clothes and refolded
Speaker 3: them and put them into the bag. The driver offered
Speaker 3: to turn the light on for me, as it was
Speaker 3: completely dark, but I was like, no, no, no, it's okay. Anyway,
Speaker 3: we arrived, I got my luggage, my backpack, and I
Speaker 3: headed into the airport and as soon as I'd walked
Speaker 3: through the security, I got a WhatsApp message from my driver.
Speaker 3: It was just a picture of my worn g string
Speaker 3: from the day, dirty side up, sitting in the backseat
Speaker 3: of his car. It gets worse. He called and then
Speaker 3: said that he was out the front and when I
Speaker 3: went back out he had it hanging from his finger
Speaker 3: out the window.
Speaker 1: Mortified. If you don't laugh, your cry, why why is
Speaker 1: he touching it? Just throw it in the bin? Hey,
Speaker 1: hang on.
Speaker 2: I have a similar story last year when I was
Speaker 2: in the Maldives on holiday with Ben. We were on
Speaker 2: a little island because everything in the Maldives isn't an island,
Speaker 2: and it was time to go. So to leave the hotel,
Speaker 2: you pack up and you get a speedboat or some
Speaker 2: kind of a boat back to the main island. To
Speaker 2: fly out, and so we got on the boat did
Speaker 2: the trip, and it wasn't a speedy boat. It was
Speaker 2: a mediocre medium speedboat.
Speaker 1: Just Ben and I.
Speaker 2: We medium sped back from our island to the mainland.
Speaker 2: And when I got off the boat, there was a
Speaker 2: member of the hotel staff waiting for us to greet us,
Speaker 2: and I was like, how did you get here? And
Speaker 2: in his hand he had a gift bag and in
Speaker 2: the gift like the gift bag was beautiful blue, had
Speaker 2: the hotel's name on it, and I said, oh my god, Ben,
Speaker 2: they've brought us a gift to say like thanks for
Speaker 2: coming and staying at the resort, and so it gives
Speaker 2: for the gift and I was like, thank you so much. Anyway,
Speaker 2: I was so excited and I opened the bag and
Speaker 2: there is nothing in the bag except a dirty, old
Speaker 2: rank g string. So I had obviously left one pair
Speaker 2: of undies.
Speaker 1: They've seen it.
Speaker 2: As soon as we've checked out, they have packaged my
Speaker 2: dirty undies up speed boted it to the island to
Speaker 2: get there before me and handed me back my dirty undies.
Speaker 1: I was mortified. That is amazing service. That's impeccable service.
Speaker 1: Speaking of dirty undies.
Speaker 3: Do you remember when I went to the beach and
Speaker 3: I picked up underwear that I thought was mine that
Speaker 3: I dropped and I got home only to find that
Speaker 3: I'd picked up someone else's dirty undies from the beach
Speaker 3: and brought them home.
Speaker 1: Why are we also right? I don't know. We've got
Speaker 1: some issues. Anyway, let's do suck and sweet. My suck
Speaker 1: for the week, I'm gonna keep it snappy.
Speaker 3: My suck for the week is that this last couple
Speaker 3: of days, the three days, I think, is the first
Speaker 3: three days that I've really felt the pinch of parenting solo,
Speaker 3: and also not just parenting solo, but like not having
Speaker 3: someone to share the weekend with it makes everything a
Speaker 3: little bit harder.
Speaker 2: So I feel that, yes, yeah, I don't share any
Speaker 2: of my life with anyone I.
Speaker 3: Know, but doing it like with kids in tow, Yeah,
Speaker 3: it just kind of felt a bit relentless. And there
Speaker 3: were quite a few battles this weekend, yeah, which I
Speaker 3: don't normally have to do solo. Usually when you're having
Speaker 3: a battle with the kids, Matt will step in and
Speaker 3: he will take over for a bit and then, like
Speaker 3: you know, you can tap out because you're overstimulated, you're tired,
Speaker 3: You're also feeling frustrated, and there is no one to
Speaker 3: tap out too, So that has been a little bit challenging.
Speaker 3: We're two weeks in to him being away and the
Speaker 3: girls are also not coping with it very well.
Speaker 1: They miss him so even Lola so much.
Speaker 2: They miss him so much, which is probably what he needed.
Speaker 1: They really do.
Speaker 3: And my sweet for the week was that yesterday morning
Speaker 3: I took the girls. I mean, we went to another
Speaker 3: water park. Would you believe it or not, But we
Speaker 3: went to this place called wild Play. It's Incentennial. If
Speaker 3: you're a mom and you've got kids, like fucking highly recommend,
Speaker 3: not getting paid to recommend that, just f why notash
Speaker 3: for comments, no cash for comments on the water No
Speaker 3: Centennial Park is not giving me kickbacks. But we just
Speaker 3: had a really really good morning together and like amongst
Speaker 3: the chaos of me saying that I felt like parenting
Speaker 3: was relentless, that was one particular part of our long
Speaker 3: weekend that I was like, my kids are cool, and
Speaker 3: they're at an age now where I'm like, you guys
Speaker 3: are cool, Like I like you as people, not just
Speaker 3: as kids, you know, not just because you're my kids.
Speaker 3: I like you because you've got a backbone, Lola.
Speaker 1: Okay, well my sack.
Speaker 2: This week was the last couple of days. I've had
Speaker 2: really bad vertigo, which makes me sound like I'm one
Speaker 2: hundred years old.
Speaker 1: You might remember I had it last year. I spoke
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 2: I had it one night last year. But I've had
Speaker 2: it for two days now. So it's like I get
Speaker 2: it in my sleep. So when I roll over in bed,
Speaker 2: it's so weird. It's so weird. When I roll over
Speaker 2: in bed, I'm so dizzy that it wakes me up,
Speaker 2: like you're nauseous. You can't like you stand up and
Speaker 2: you get dizzy. And so I had it both nights
Speaker 2: for two nights, and then this morning I thought were refine.
Speaker 2: And then I got to work and I was getting
Speaker 2: a coffee and I was with another quirk Collie and
Speaker 2: just like fell down on the lounge like out of nowhere.
Speaker 2: Everything is fine, and then I get this hectic moment
Speaker 2: of vertigo and I need to sit down, and then
Speaker 2: it passes again.
Speaker 1: Did you do a pregnancy test.
Speaker 2: I've done three pregnancy tests now today. Yes, yes, I'm
Speaker 2: not pregnant. Okay, I don't know how to double down
Speaker 2: on this. There's been a period and three pregnancy tests.
Speaker 2: I am not pregnant because I have had so many
Speaker 2: people message me saying you're pregnant.
Speaker 3: Well, it's only because yesterday when we talked, you had
Speaker 3: said you hadn't done one since Dubai, and then like
Speaker 3: tracking back on your cycle, you still hadn't gotten your period,
Speaker 3: and I was like, maybe just do one, just do
Speaker 3: it to be sure.
Speaker 2: No, I forgot that I had had my period on
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I thought that's a different conversation.
Speaker 1: Then from yesterday things have changed. How today I have.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent not pregnant. It's just a really random
Speaker 2: that sucks. So I hope it passes because it's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's pretty hectic, and my sweet this week I'm going
Speaker 2: against the rules. We're not allowed to say the same
Speaker 2: thing twice.
Speaker 1: I don't care.
Speaker 2: My sweet has been moving to Italy and getting like
Speaker 2: not just that it's Italy, but getting the job of
Speaker 2: a lifetime. I'm just so proud of him. I'm the
Speaker 2: proud of fiance. I could cry out thinking about it.
Speaker 2: He sent me like photos of humanis manage it taking
Speaker 2: the like usually family mem I'm really sad usually like
Speaker 2: partners and family are there and it's a really big
Speaker 2: nice moment that you sign and you're there together and
Speaker 2: they always get photos and I'll just never get to
Speaker 2: do that with Ben, and so he just sent me
Speaker 2: photos of him alone and just with his agent and
Speaker 2: like I should have been there, And it was really
Speaker 2: upsetting because I was like, I should be there with you,
Speaker 2: not just like saying well done from the other side
Speaker 2: of the world.
Speaker 1: So that was really that was also another suck. But
Speaker 1: I'm really proud of him.
Speaker 2: So that's my sweet and.
Speaker 1: My sweetest is that we all get to go to Italy.
Speaker 1: Now roll around in some garlic.
Speaker 3: That is it from us, guys. We hope you love
Speaker 3: the episode. If you did go and leave a review,
Speaker 3: call it like the.
Speaker 1: Highs and Lows now BRIT's cry you don't stop come
Speaker 1: on hun.
Speaker 3: And also you can watch any of this on Facebook,
Speaker 3: So you watch any of this.
Speaker 1: On YouTube, we don't actually put it.
Speaker 3: On Facebook, and we'll put the links to everything in
Speaker 3: the show notes, you know, the mom.
Speaker 2: Day dad to dot two friends and share the life
Speaker 2: because we love the man. The b b B b
Speaker 2: b B