Speaker 1: Before we get into the episode, we want to issue
Speaker 1: a trigger warning. We will be discussing themes around miscarriage
Speaker 1: and also eating disorders. Episode four, The Rebrand. Fresh off
Speaker 1: the back of a horror twenty twenty full of controversy,
Speaker 1: Sarah's Day was in desperate need of a rebrand. Her
Speaker 1: army of followers were turning into haters, and restrictive eating
Speaker 1: and ab selfies was so last decade. So what do
Speaker 1: you do when the brand you have built has been battered?
Speaker 2: You pivot.
Speaker 1: Sarah dropped holistic Health Princess from her bio and in
Speaker 1: doing so found God. The transition from wellness warrior to
Speaker 1: mummy blogger hasn't been a smooth one, though, With lucrative
Speaker 1: brand deals to compete for and a hungry community of
Speaker 1: new mums yearning for connection. Mummy blogging is a high
Speaker 1: stakes business venture. But what happens when your kids start
Speaker 1: becoming content and a heartbreaking diagnosis.
Speaker 2: Makes you evaluate at all.
Speaker 1: We are journalists Amy Kay and Sophie Torber and this
Speaker 1: is Outspoken Plus. Welcome back to our final installment of
Speaker 1: our deep dive series on Sarah's Day and what a
Speaker 1: wild ride it has been.
Speaker 2: Last time we were in your ears.
Speaker 1: We were discussing Sarah's three biggest controversies of twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: But we're now in twenty twenty one, and it was
Speaker 1: a big year for Sarah professionally and personally. So in
Speaker 1: January twenty twenty one, she finally launched her cooking app Sonny,
Speaker 1: which signaled a move to a subscription based revenue model.
Speaker 2: Now, the move.
Speaker 1: Appeared to be very lucrative, with Sarah flashing her cash
Speaker 1: on expensive gifts for her family. So she actually gifted
Speaker 1: her dad and Aston Martin for his birthday, and Kurt
Speaker 1: a speedboat for Christmas. Can you believe the collective gifts
Speaker 1: would have set.
Speaker 2: Sarah back around half a million dollars? At least she's
Speaker 2: been generous with her family.
Speaker 1: I know, it is pretty remarkable. Twenty twenty one was
Speaker 1: also the year Sarah got married and fell pregnant. Both
Speaker 1: story arcs provided the perfect opportunity for redemption. Yes, but
Speaker 1: brewing in the background was an influx of anonymous hate
Speaker 1: pages directed solely at Sarah Day. The worst of the
Speaker 1: offenders was an Instagram account called Salty's Day, which attracted
Speaker 1: eight thousand followers and was allegedly run by a school
Speaker 1: teacher who used to be a fan of the YouTuber. Now,
Speaker 1: the account was a byproduct of gossip forum Tattle Life,
Speaker 1: as the user used to go under the name Salty's Day.
Speaker 1: So the account took on a gossip girl persona with
Speaker 1: its bio reading your one and only source into the
Speaker 1: scandalous lives of Cronulla's elite xoxo. I remember you had
Speaker 1: to request to follow this page that was set on private,
Speaker 1: and I did enjoy seeing all of the big influencer
Speaker 1: names who were following Salty's Day. Yeah, it was intriguing
Speaker 1: to see who actually wanted to follow along. Now, in
Speaker 1: terms of the content that Salty's Day would share, there
Speaker 1: was a really large discrepancy between information that held Sarah
Speaker 1: to account and then content that was just playing bulling.
Speaker 1: So whilst the account did shine a light on followers
Speaker 1: who wrote in saying that they allegedly suffered eating disorders
Speaker 1: after following Sarah's diet plans, the account would also comment
Speaker 1: on the alleged procedures that Sarah had had done to
Speaker 1: her face. They accused her of having botox and lip fillers.
Speaker 1: It also called out her use of plastics the way
Speaker 1: that she posed her leg It was very critical of
Speaker 1: a recipe, saying that they looked like vomit. It also
Speaker 1: went as far as accusing her of being a cult leader,
Speaker 1: and the account owner had a real obsession with proving
Speaker 1: that Sarah allowed her son Fox.
Speaker 2: To watch TV. So it got very, very petty.
Speaker 1: It's a perfect example of a site that went too far,
Speaker 1: as in, you may have legitimate claims, but then to
Speaker 1: start picking on her child watching TV, that's when it
Speaker 1: gets a bit ridiculous and people start not listening. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the account owner really took it too far, and this
Speaker 1: was evident in the months leading up to Sarah's Day's wedding.
Speaker 1: So the page released private details about the wedding, including
Speaker 1: the time, date, and location. So you might be wondering
Speaker 1: how did they actually come across these details. Only all
Speaker 1: Salty's Day did was search Sarah's name on Google, which
Speaker 1: then led them to find an electronic wedding invite where
Speaker 1: guests could RSVP and also put in their dietary requirements.
Speaker 1: And on the page it had all of these details
Speaker 1: about the date and location, and the account urged followers
Speaker 1: to wreak havoc on the wedding by entering fake guest
Speaker 1: names to cause confusion. Now, for me, them exposing these
Speaker 1: private wedding details really did cross the line in my eyes,
Speaker 1: because it was so dangerous to put this information out
Speaker 1: there to a community of people who actively dislike her,
Speaker 1: because it not only put her at risk, but also
Speaker 1: her family, friends and young kids. Because who knows what
Speaker 1: these people were going to do. They could potentially rock
Speaker 1: up to the wedding egg her heckle her make her
Speaker 1: day really unpleasant, And it seemed like members of this
Speaker 1: page were sort of egging Salty's.
Speaker 2: Day on to share worse and worse information.
Speaker 1: Well, I just can't believe that this page was run
Speaker 1: by a school teacher. It was a rumor that her
Speaker 1: boyfriend found out that she was running it, and then
Speaker 1: she stopped because she was so embarrassed. And I feel
Speaker 1: like forums like tatle life, it's sort of like extremistbehavior.
Speaker 1: People go on there to have a bit of a
Speaker 1: rant about an influencer, and then they find these like
Speaker 1: minded people that agree with them, and then it just
Speaker 1: keeps going too far and more and more details about
Speaker 1: this person's life are picked on that really aren't that bad. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and at this time, Sarah did speak out about her
Speaker 1: concerns over her safety.
Speaker 2: Here's what she said.
Speaker 3: I've filmed this story section like five times. Yeah, come
Speaker 3: on me, because I have such anxiety of getting taken
Speaker 3: out of context.
Speaker 4: It's just like I don't.
Speaker 2: Know social media these days.
Speaker 3: It's like people forget you're a real person with like
Speaker 3: a real family, real friends, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And I just like, I'm really kind of sick of
Speaker 3: myself or like being twisted, you know. In saying all
Speaker 3: of this, I needed to take a little mental health break.
Speaker 3: I guess one thing I really struggle with is like
Speaker 3: I want to be open and honest when people say,
Speaker 3: why aren't you yourself on stories or why an't you
Speaker 3: on stories? I want to tell you. I want to
Speaker 3: tell you everything. But I don't want to condone the
Speaker 3: type of behavior that that five percent.
Speaker 2: I don't want to promote the.
Speaker 4: Things they do or promote the things they say.
Speaker 5: I don't want to highlight that.
Speaker 3: Because why would I big note that when there's so
Speaker 3: many other nice comments. It's just when it starts involving
Speaker 3: my family and like personal events and personal things and
Speaker 3: like where we live, like it's not funny anymore. And
Speaker 3: it's not just like cyberbullying, it's like dangerous, you know.
Speaker 3: So when it reaches that point, I'm like, it's beyond me.
Speaker 3: But yeah, just some things have happened this week, and I'm.
Speaker 5: Like, what is wrong world?
Speaker 3: I kind of like call out anyone or shout out anyone.
Speaker 3: I don't want it to be someone who's being mean
Speaker 3: and being nasty.
Speaker 4: I'd rather it be.
Speaker 5: Someone who's doing good in the world, or being supportive
Speaker 5: or even making me happy. I don't want to call
Speaker 5: out someone who's an online bully.
Speaker 1: It was quite rare at the time for her to
Speaker 1: acknowledge this hate page, because she had stayed pretty quiet
Speaker 1: on the amount of hate that she was receiving. It
Speaker 1: seemed like it was a breaking point for her. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it really was. Sarah's page is quite real and raw
Speaker 1: in the sense that she is not just a highlights
Speaker 1: reel for her. She does talk about negative things that
Speaker 1: happen in her day to day life, but it's usually
Speaker 1: things that piss her off, like her neighbors playing loud
Speaker 1: music or having renovations. She doesn't really touch on negative
Speaker 1: feedback that she gets from trolls. I think originally she
Speaker 1: didn't want to give any oxygen to the page, but
Speaker 1: it got to the point where she had to address
Speaker 1: it because so many people were talking about it. And
Speaker 1: something that is becoming quite synonymous in influencer and celebrity
Speaker 1: culture is that there's a tendency for super fans to
Speaker 1: turn into haters. And I read this really interesting article
Speaker 1: that took a look at when idolizing someone turns negative.
Speaker 1: So this article explained that there are two.
Speaker 2: Different theories about how this happens. And the first.
Speaker 1: Theory is that when you idolize someone, you're actually more
Speaker 1: attached to what they represent to you. So you're attached
Speaker 1: to this image that you have of that person in
Speaker 1: your mind and it somehow fulfills something inside of you.
Speaker 1: And that's actually called the Santa Claus complex. So, for example,
Speaker 1: people may have idealized Sarah's day for the way that
Speaker 1: she seems like a kind person, the way that she
Speaker 1: eats clean her perfect home, But the second that their
Speaker 1: image or the image that you have in your head
Speaker 1: of that person deviates, you decide that they're not what
Speaker 1: you thought they were. And I think that this happened
Speaker 1: a lot during a number of her scandals, So people
Speaker 1: were very disappointed in her for the cultural appropriation, the
Speaker 1: confusion over the bush fire money that was raised, so
Speaker 1: that turned into them being very distressed their image of
Speaker 1: her wasn't what she actually.
Speaker 2: Represents or is.
Speaker 1: I read a similar article where they were talking about
Speaker 1: when you have a crush on somebody but you don't
Speaker 1: even know them that well. So it might be someone
Speaker 1: at work that you don't talk to, or maybe it's
Speaker 1: a celebrity, and then when that person starts a new relationship,
Speaker 1: you actually mourn that person. It's more so the person
Speaker 1: that you invented in your mind. And I think the
Speaker 1: reason why so many people turned on Sarah's day was
Speaker 1: because they felt like her friends. So when these issues
Speaker 1: happened to her big scandals with the bushfires, people messaged
Speaker 1: her and were like, oh, Sarah, you should do this.
Speaker 1: And instead of her actually responding and saying like taking
Speaker 1: the criticism on board and saying I'm going to.
Speaker 2: Do better, she just went and blocked a lot of
Speaker 2: these people.
Speaker 1: And I think they felt like their friendship with her
Speaker 1: had ended, And that's why so many of the people
Speaker 1: went to Tattle to talk to like minded people. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people bonded over the
Speaker 1: fact that they had all been blocked by Sarah's day. Well,
Speaker 1: there's also another theory, and it's about human ego. So
Speaker 1: it's this need to compare. So when we idolize someone
Speaker 1: very quickly, we compare ourselves to the person that we idolize,
Speaker 1: so then we begin to feel inferior to that person.
Speaker 1: So the human ego can't handle this, and we then
Speaker 1: subconsciously try to gain an equal standing by tearing this
Speaker 1: person down so we feel better than them. So basically
Speaker 1: tool Poppy syndrome. Yeah, pretty much. That's so true because
Speaker 1: I feel like Sarah was most loved when she was
Speaker 1: an up and coming YouTuber, when she and Kurt had
Speaker 1: just got that small apartment.
Speaker 2: People love them.
Speaker 1: But I think when she started to get more and
Speaker 1: more successful off the back of the success of her ebooks,
Speaker 1: that's when people began to.
Speaker 2: Turn on her.
Speaker 1: And it's this parasocial relationship that we all have with influences.
Speaker 1: And for those who don't know, parasocial relationship is a
Speaker 1: one sided relationship where one person extends emotional energy, interest,
Speaker 1: and time and the other party is completely unaware of
Speaker 1: the other's existence. So for Sarah, she gives all access
Speaker 1: to her life, particularly when she first broke out onto
Speaker 1: the scene. As you were talking about Amy uploading videos
Speaker 1: every three days, so people genuinely felt like they knew
Speaker 1: her and knew what was best for her. Do you
Speaker 1: think also because she started to make a lot of
Speaker 1: money off the ebooks, people felt like she owed them
Speaker 1: because people had bought the e books and funded this
Speaker 1: lifestyle of hers, and people thought, well, you know, I
Speaker 1: should have a say in what you're doing. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think so, particularly if you are investing your own personal
Speaker 1: money into this person and then you're seeing them benefit
Speaker 1: from it, and then maybe people thought she changed a
Speaker 1: little bit with money. Now, we did briefly mention tattle Life,
Speaker 1: and I do think that this forum plays a large
Speaker 1: role in cancel culture, and I'd say that Sarah's Day
Speaker 1: has one of the largest threads out of any Aussie
Speaker 1: influencer on there. Actually, I think Sophie Gweedland has her beaten.
Speaker 1: At the moment that thread is going so quickly there's
Speaker 1: always a new one, and I'm like, hang, and I
Speaker 1: haven't read.
Speaker 2: These forty other pages.
Speaker 1: Well, something that's so fascinating about tattle Life is that
Speaker 1: so many people come together on this page and they
Speaker 1: form friendships due to their mutual dislike of a celebrity,
Speaker 1: in this case, Sarah's Day. And it's so weird because
Speaker 1: it's all of these people, as we said, who are
Speaker 1: super fans, but then they have this inherent dislike of
Speaker 1: her now and they go as far as contact doing
Speaker 1: Sarah's sponsors and demanding that they don't work with her anymore.
Speaker 1: But is that an issue because some of the scandals
Speaker 1: that happen with Sarah. I think that warranted that kind
Speaker 1: of response. And some of those people on there are
Speaker 1: super intelligent. When you read their posts, they're so articulate,
Speaker 1: and they probably think they're coming together to do the
Speaker 1: right thing, and in some instances, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of them have really good points. I think it's more
Speaker 1: so when it gets really petty that thing.
Speaker 2: Where I don't like it.
Speaker 1: I think it's the mob mentality on there, and that
Speaker 1: they all have to go one up again. It's sort
Speaker 1: of like they're trying to impress each other of how
Speaker 1: much they can ruin this person's life. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what I feel uncomfortable with, that the attempt to
Speaker 1: ruin someone's livelihood, Like you can be upset about what
Speaker 1: someone does, but I think when you start contacting people
Speaker 1: behind their back, it felt.
Speaker 2: It be uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: But I can see sometimes that being a positive thing.
Speaker 1: But I know where you're coming from when maybe someone
Speaker 1: hasn't really done the wrong thing. I think in the
Speaker 1: instance of Sarah's day in some of those scandals, she
Speaker 1: deserves to have people emailing brands. I think it comes
Speaker 1: down to the objective though. Is the objective because they
Speaker 1: really care about the issue, or are they just trying
Speaker 1: to ruin her because they personally don't like her. It
Speaker 1: reminds me a lot of the l Darby scandal, and
Speaker 1: there is a huge hate threat on her on tatle life,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people came together to reach out
Speaker 1: to every single brand that she'd ever worked with. I
Speaker 1: just think there's some people who like to kick people
Speaker 1: whilst they're down. I mean, those brands presumably probably don't
Speaker 1: want to work with the influencer anyway.
Speaker 2: They probably don't need your extra attention in trying to
Speaker 2: contact them.
Speaker 1: I think it's just when it feels like an orchestrated
Speaker 1: hate campaign, that's when you've got a problem with it.
Speaker 2: But if you are genuinely.
Speaker 1: A consumer that you've noticed something that an influencer does
Speaker 1: and message a brand. I think that's fine. But when,
Speaker 1: as I said, it's very orchestrated and backing up, I
Speaker 1: think that's when there's an issue.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Despite Salty's Day's attempt to ruin Sarah and Kurt's wedding,
Speaker 1: they did get married in Byron Bay without a hitch,
Speaker 1: and the wedding seem like the perfect opportunity for Sarah
Speaker 1: and Kurt to publicly discuss their Christian beliefs. So in
Speaker 1: their wedding video, which has a massed over one point
Speaker 1: five million views, Kurt spoke about how he and Sarah
Speaker 1: had both been brought up in Christian families, and Kurt
Speaker 1: explained that when Fox was born, they wanted to give
Speaker 1: him the same upbringing as they had, and it was
Speaker 1: a beautiful moment to bring them back into the church.
Speaker 1: God was mentioned a lot in their wedding vows, and
Speaker 1: the couple's personal pastor delivered the service. Let's throw to
Speaker 1: what Kurt said in his vows.
Speaker 6: During a really dark period of my life, I became
Speaker 6: reconnected with Gordon. I would pray for direction and purpose
Speaker 6: in my life. I prayed for a beautiful, skinny wife
Speaker 6: with some little surfy groms and just to live close
Speaker 6: to the coast. You Sarah really positively impacted my life
Speaker 6: and had such a massive influence on me and turned
Speaker 6: me into a better man.
Speaker 1: Who could forget the skinny wife comment where was his
Speaker 1: best man? Saying, maybe don't put that, Well, he's a
Speaker 1: celebrant who looks over the bows. They had their personal
Speaker 1: pastor there, so maybe it's different when it's a pastor
Speaker 1: compared to a celebrant. I remember it kind of came
Speaker 1: out of nowhere. All this mentioned to God because Sarah
Speaker 1: had mentioned a few times that they were going to
Speaker 1: church on Christmas Day. But when I saw that video,
Speaker 1: I was like, wow, I didn't realize they were so religious.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a bit of a shock.
Speaker 1: I mean. Sarah's sisters also spoke about Sarah finding religion again.
Speaker 1: So they said that she'd always been the black sheep
Speaker 1: of the family and never wanted to go to church.
Speaker 1: Apparently she used to be embarrassed to talk about God,
Speaker 1: but her sisters were really happy to see that she
Speaker 1: was finally speaking about God publicly, and also that Kurt
Speaker 1: was doing the same thing. Do you guys think that
Speaker 1: this sudden mention of God in Sarah's wedding video was
Speaker 1: a bit of a strategic way for her to try
Speaker 1: and break into the US market. Well, it was very
Speaker 1: interesting timing off the back of all of those controversies,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I do. I think that there was a
Speaker 1: lot of strategy involved. She's trying to make herself look
Speaker 1: like a good person. I think it's quite clear that
Speaker 1: her family were particularly religious, so they're clearly happy. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying it's something that's just been pulled out of nowhere.
Speaker 1: And it was a big shift for her to suddenly
Speaker 1: be so religious in her videos. And we've also seen
Speaker 1: this used by other influencers a bit of a tactic
Speaker 1: when facing scandal. So US fitness influencer Britney Dawn Davis,
Speaker 1: she suddenly became a Christian slash faith influencer after she
Speaker 1: was accused of misleading people with her ebook, so she's
Speaker 1: currently facing trial over the matter. Yeah, and upon reflection,
Speaker 1: I would say that Sarah's Day's core follower base is
Speaker 1: from the US because I feel like they've been somewhat
Speaker 1: removed from all of the drama that's been happening in Australia.
Speaker 1: After the promotion of this Sarah's Day special deep dive series,
Speaker 1: our US listeners have gone up, and it's because they
Speaker 1: is so interesting that Sarah. Well, a lot of the
Speaker 1: people leaving us hate and defending her were from America
Speaker 1: and they seem quite unaware of these scandals.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 1: A couple of months after her wedding, pregnancy rumors started
Speaker 1: swirling when Sarah shed an Instagram story where a Facebook
Speaker 1: messenger conversation was visible, so part of the conversation read
Speaker 1: sick the past two as well as eight weeks today. Now,
Speaker 1: this accidental disclosure caused quite the reaction on social media.
Speaker 1: Sarah's stands were over the moon, while her detractors accused
Speaker 1: Sarah of leaking the pregnancy details in an attempt to
Speaker 1: divert attention away from a radio segment on Hack that
Speaker 1: criticized her. People might think it's absurd that she planted
Speaker 1: this information because you really did have to zoom in
Speaker 1: to see.
Speaker 2: These conversations taking place.
Speaker 1: But this was out of time when these anonymous influencer
Speaker 1: pages were on the rise and people were wanting to
Speaker 1: create news out of anything, and.
Speaker 2: People were so tapped in because so many people were
Speaker 2: in lockdown, they were at home.
Speaker 1: And you get a lot of attention if you were
Speaker 1: an influencer, if you appeared on one of these pages,
Speaker 1: particularly with a pregnancy announcement like that is just big news.
Speaker 2: Well, we know it's huge business for her.
Speaker 1: I don't actually think that she purposely did it, because
Speaker 1: remember there was that other scandal where she left open
Speaker 1: and a few photo files and it's a like Selly
Speaker 1: light pick, and that made it all over. Anyone that
Speaker 1: knows Sarah knows that she's always leaving typos in her story,
Speaker 1: So I don't think she's got a huge attention to detail. Now,
Speaker 1: if you fast forward to late August, Sarah shocked her
Speaker 1: followers by announcing she was taking a break from social media.
Speaker 1: She wrote, be right back, just having a little social
Speaker 1: media break for the past two days and maybe tomorrow,
Speaker 1: Love you. Unsurprisingly, Sarah couldn't stay away. She shared a
Speaker 1: photo of her reading the Bible with the caption where
Speaker 1: I go when no one can answer my questions or
Speaker 1: make sense about circumstances. Sarah then shared a post where
Speaker 1: she wrote, to be as open as my heart will
Speaker 1: let me write. Now, I have chosen to openly admit
Speaker 1: that I am not okay and I'm going through some
Speaker 1: personal things right now. Maybe someday I'll open up about it,
Speaker 1: maybe not. I'm not even thinking about that right now.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to feel sorry for me, but
Speaker 1: I would appreciate prayer, prayer for peace and clarity for
Speaker 1: our little family. This is not about Lockdown's COVID vaccinations
Speaker 1: or anything of that nature, she continued, saying, Honestly, I'm
Speaker 1: not coping very well, and I can't jump on my
Speaker 1: stories and be my normal self. I never want to
Speaker 1: be fake, happy or bubbly. It's also not the kind
Speaker 1: of thing I want to talk about or want other's
Speaker 1: opinions on. I'm genuinely sorry for being somewhat secretive and confusing,
Speaker 1: but I am only comprehending my emotions right now and
Speaker 1: don't feel like sharing with the entire world when I'm
Speaker 1: emotionally exhausted and confused. New Despite saying that she wouldn't
Speaker 1: speak further on the very private matter, Sarah continued to
Speaker 1: post about her day. She said it was important to
Speaker 1: give herself a few days to cry, spiral a little,
Speaker 1: and feel confused, angry, and sit on the couch or
Speaker 1: in bed for seventy two hours and not move. She
Speaker 1: said she wanted to forget the reality and try and
Speaker 1: act and feel normal. She continued to explain that for her,
Speaker 1: being online is normal. Sarah then went on to share
Speaker 1: a video of her cradling fox and crying. She captured
Speaker 1: the video Okay, but honestly, I'm trying to fill our
Speaker 1: house with prayer and worship music this week, believing wholeheartedly
Speaker 1: in God's power. I was composed until Foxy came up
Speaker 1: to me and said, mummy sad. Sarah then shared a
Speaker 1: Bible verse that said, so do not fear, for I
Speaker 1: am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am
Speaker 1: your God. I will strength you and help you. I
Speaker 1: find it so utterly confusing that influencers have to announce
Speaker 1: that they'll be taking a break like that is just
Speaker 1: fueling speculation more. Why don't you just take the break
Speaker 1: and not say anything, because it just leads to more
Speaker 1: questions of people asking why are they taking a break?
Speaker 2: What's going on?
Speaker 1: It does, but Sarah posts so frequently that she kind
Speaker 1: of had to mention that she was going to be
Speaker 1: of social media. I know about that, but all of
Speaker 1: these posts, it got the rumor meal going, and the
Speaker 1: first rumor was that Sarah had miscarried, and a lot
Speaker 1: of people thought these posts were actually baiting the miscarriage,
Speaker 1: which upset a lot of people. The second rumor was
Speaker 1: that Kurt was cheating on her, which Sarah swiftly shot down,
Speaker 1: and the third rumor was that Sarah and Kurt had
Speaker 1: found out that baby had an abnormality. So another month
Speaker 1: passed on social media and Sarah still hadn't updated her
Speaker 1: followers about the personal issue that she was going through. Instead,
Speaker 1: she announced on September twenty that she was starting an
Speaker 1: eight week challenge with her ebooks. So to make the
Speaker 1: deal a little bit sweeter, she disc e books by
Speaker 1: twenty percent and promised to do the fitness challenge with
Speaker 1: her subscribers. So the fans who signed up to do
Speaker 1: the challenge with Sarah got a big shock when two
Speaker 1: days later, on the twenty second of September, she announced
Speaker 1: she was pregnant and therefore wouldn't be doing the challenge.
Speaker 7: Now.
Speaker 2: The announcement was.
Speaker 1: Really confusing and complicated for Sarah's followers. For one thing,
Speaker 1: it was very low key compared to Sarah's first pregnancy,
Speaker 1: announcement with Fox. The video went for just over two
Speaker 1: minutes and was styled in an old VHS way, and
Speaker 1: the date on there said the twenty first of January
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety three, and in the video there were clips
Speaker 1: of pregnancy tests, celebrations, sonograms, bump shots, and then the
Speaker 1: date was updated to the tenth of May nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 1: The video ended with an assortment of Bible verses, which included,
Speaker 1: for you created my inmost being, You knit me together
Speaker 1: in my mother's womb. I praise you because I'm fearfully
Speaker 1: and wonderfully made, and the last verse was for I
Speaker 1: know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord
Speaker 1: plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to
Speaker 1: give you home and a future. There were very mixed
Speaker 1: reactions to Sarah's pregnancy announcement. There was, of course, an
Speaker 1: outpouring of support from Sarah's fans, but there were also
Speaker 1: those who felt very triggered, as though Sarah had been
Speaker 1: baiting them over a miscarriage.
Speaker 2: Others were quick to.
Speaker 1: Defend Sarah, saying it's best not to judge the situation
Speaker 1: until they heard directly from Sarah and Kurt about what
Speaker 1: was going on now? Followers had to wait another three
Speaker 1: weeks for an update, so on the fourteenth of October,
Speaker 1: Sarah uploaded a video entitled Opening Up about What's been
Speaker 1: going on and Our Baby. In the YouTube video, Sarah
Speaker 1: and Kurt shared that their unborn son had been diagnosed
Speaker 1: with some unforeseen health issues. The health issue had been
Speaker 1: picked up at the ten week mark on a harmony
Speaker 1: test during routine prenatal testing and screening. Sarah said the
Speaker 1: test came back with an abnormality that she had never
Speaker 1: heard of before. The couple did not disclose what the
Speaker 1: health issue is, as they don't want it to define
Speaker 1: their son. They did, however, share that they were advised
Speaker 1: by doctors to terminate the pregnant seat for their child's
Speaker 1: well being as well as their own.
Speaker 7: Now.
Speaker 1: In a recent interview with Grace Beverley, Sarah opened up
Speaker 1: about the experience, saying that she had never been in
Speaker 1: a black hole like that in her whole life, and
Speaker 1: she was a shell of a person. So Sarah explained
Speaker 1: the situation was particularly hard to navigate because of her
Speaker 1: Christian faith. Let's throw to what she said about deciding
Speaker 1: against terminating her pregnancy.
Speaker 3: So I had to go in to numerous different genetic
Speaker 3: counselors and specialists in his genetic difference, and I couldn't
Speaker 3: go with my husband. So I went in and he said,
Speaker 3: do you know anything about your baby's condition? And by
Speaker 3: that time, it had been like three weeks, so I
Speaker 3: had like a month to sit on this. Oh my god, yeah,
Speaker 3: the anxiety. Yeah, and I'm not going to And so
Speaker 3: I'm a Christian, so that was even really hard for
Speaker 3: me to navigate because obviously Christian morals, life is life.
Speaker 3: But then I started researching this condition and this difference,
Speaker 3: and then I was trying to justify in my head.
Speaker 3: I was like, this is this is unfair selfless exactly.
Speaker 4: I'm like, am I.
Speaker 3: Doing him a disservice by bringing him into the world?
Speaker 3: And this, this, this, And I called my pastor like
Speaker 3: I'm ministar, and I was searching the Bible for a
Speaker 3: verse that gave me an out that was like listen
Speaker 3: to your gut, and I basically couldn't find it.
Speaker 1: It's really sad because ever since Malachi was born, there's
Speaker 1: been this online guessing game of what genetic abnormality he has,
Speaker 1: which is so disgusting, and I feel awkward even talking
Speaker 1: about it right now now. Sarah explained in a recent
Speaker 1: interview with Grace Beverley that people often message her demanding
Speaker 1: answers and criticize her for only telling half the details.
Speaker 2: Let's have a listen to what she said. I can
Speaker 2: imagine you have back class. That's like ridiculous.
Speaker 3: People say, oh, he doesn't look like he had Dann syndrome.
Speaker 3: I'm like, you never did, and then people were like,
Speaker 3: just confirm on to night does he have Dann syndrome.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm not going to play this game.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna say it's not that.
Speaker 3: It's not kid getting hot hot, getting hotter, getting hotter.
Speaker 2: We're not playing this game. I'm not playing this game.
Speaker 3: There is no method or there is no strategy.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: She went on to say it's not her place and
Speaker 1: she's not interested in being a spokesperson for the condition. However,
Speaker 1: if Malachi wants to one day talk about it, he can.
Speaker 1: Sarah also opened up about her decision to share that
Speaker 1: Malachi had a genetic abnormality. She said a part of
Speaker 1: the reason was that she was worried her midwives would
Speaker 1: spread the information as she had to disclose it on
Speaker 1: his medical records. I was really taken aback by this response.
Speaker 1: As health professionals take patient privacy very seriously, it's hard
Speaker 1: to imagine that a midwife would risk losing their job
Speaker 1: just to spread gossip like this. I think all three
Speaker 1: of us have really found the Malachi situation a difficult
Speaker 1: topic to discuss and provide our opinion on, because for me,
Speaker 1: it doesn't sit right to morally judge Sarah and Kurt's
Speaker 1: decision during a time of intense grief and pressure. I
Speaker 1: know there's a lot of people saying Sarah shouldn't have
Speaker 1: shared it to begin with, and it was very attention seeking,
Speaker 1: but because her job does fall into the category of
Speaker 1: sharing about her life.
Speaker 2: It's a really tough one of where do you draw
Speaker 2: the line.
Speaker 1: It does make me feel really uncomfortable that there are
Speaker 1: so many people out there trying to guess this poor
Speaker 1: little boy's health condition when it's something so deeply private.
Speaker 2: For me, though, I.
Speaker 1: Think that influencers could learn from this situation that they
Speaker 1: need to take a step back and actually go offline
Speaker 1: for an extended period of time rather than being rushed
Speaker 1: to give people an update. Because I feel like Sarah
Speaker 1: really fed into people's need for constant updates and information
Speaker 1: and maybe gave out information that she regrets, because it's
Speaker 1: impossible to take things back once you share them online.
Speaker 1: It's much easier to go quiet and provide clarity and
Speaker 1: updates later on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I can see why.
Speaker 1: People are arguing that Sarah and Kirk should have never
Speaker 1: shared these details about Malachi, because it is human nature
Speaker 1: for people to be curious and have the desire to
Speaker 1: learn more.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 1: And I think it's really difficult for Sarah because she
Speaker 1: is so used to sharing her children's lives online that
Speaker 1: it would have been this moment where she's like, I
Speaker 1: don't know what to do now. Eight days after giving
Speaker 1: birth to her son, Malachi, Sarah gave her followers a
Speaker 1: postpartum body update. She said that she had been inundated
Speaker 1: with followers asking for the update, but she did put
Speaker 1: out a disclaimer saying that she's very sensitive to other
Speaker 1: women's postpartum journeys and doesn't want anyone to compare their
Speaker 1: bodies with hers. She then proceeded to share videos of
Speaker 1: herself posing in front of a mirror in a sports
Speaker 1: bra and highwated bike shorts. There was a lot of
Speaker 1: flexing going on. She showed a lot of different angles,
Speaker 1: and she looked very lean and fit, with very clear
Speaker 1: ab definition and a thigh gap. It was very reminiscent
Speaker 1: of those body updates that she used to give during
Speaker 1: her project comebacks in twenty seventeen. And she also used
Speaker 1: this opportunity to announce that she and her physio Charlotte,
Speaker 1: had joined forces to create an ebook called The Pregnancy
Speaker 1: Workout Guide. I found this body check situation very odd
Speaker 1: because she gave this sort of obligatory disclaim about being
Speaker 1: sensitive to other women's journeys, but in the next breath
Speaker 1: she was showing off her very tone stomach and flogging
Speaker 1: off a pregnancy Workout guide. And it's sort of clear
Speaker 1: that she's aware that she needs to give her disclaimers,
Speaker 1: but I think she believes that she gives a disclaimer,
Speaker 1: she can then continue and do whatever she wants. Everything's
Speaker 1: just monetized, isn't it, though. Just every moment of Sarah's
Speaker 1: life there seems to be a new product or a
Speaker 1: new ebook brought out. Oh, this was clear strategy, because
Speaker 1: when Sarah is pregnant or when she gives birth, that's
Speaker 1: when the most eyeballs on her page.
Speaker 2: So the fact that she.
Speaker 1: Shows eight days after her son's birth to launch this collaboration,
Speaker 1: it was very clever and very strategic. She was also
Speaker 1: criticized for outlining her top tips for bouncing back after
Speaker 1: pregnancy during an episode of her Spotify exclusive podcast. So.
Speaker 1: The episode was entitled says He's top tips to bounce
Speaker 1: back after pregnancy, and the episode description read, before we
Speaker 1: get shunned for using the term bounce back, we don't
Speaker 1: mean getting shredded abs. We're talking about stretch marks, ab separation,
Speaker 1: and weight management. Here are a few tips of what
Speaker 1: to do during pregnancy to make your bounce back journey
Speaker 1: post pregnancy a little easier. I did laugh for the
Speaker 1: use of the word weight management because it's quite clear
Speaker 1: that they mean weight loss. I also didn't like how
Speaker 1: she touched on stretch marks, because really, how do you
Speaker 1: bounce back from stretch marks that.
Speaker 2: They're either there or they're not there.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, Sarah was forced to edit the episode an issue
Speaker 1: and apology. The apology said, we totally agree that bounce
Speaker 1: back culture is toxic and has no place in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two. While the episode itself was focused around taking
Speaker 1: care of yourself during postpartum, and not at all about
Speaker 1: bouncing back. We know that the title the episode was
Speaker 1: given did not reflect this. In future, we will ensure
Speaker 1: that we personally cross check all titles and social media
Speaker 1: posts before they go live to ensure they reflect the
Speaker 1: content of the episode itself. In light of all of
Speaker 1: the above, we have decided to remove the episode completely,
Speaker 1: as we don't want to contribute to messaging that doesn't
Speaker 1: reflect our own values or power women to always feel
Speaker 1: comfortable in their own skin. Why didn't they just edit
Speaker 1: the title if it didn't.
Speaker 2: The episode talk about passing the buck as well? Which
Speaker 2: one is it?
Speaker 1: Because they always talk about how you know, hands on
Speaker 1: they are with their content, but then anytime there's scrutiny around,
Speaker 1: it's someone else's fault. Yea, well, Amy. It's quite funny
Speaker 1: because in the actual podcast episode, Sarah says during the episode,
Speaker 1: now before you send me hate, this title is called
Speaker 1: how I Bounce Back? Now the word bounce back? Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, I was racking my brains. What else can
Speaker 1: I title this episode? She actually said that she titled
Speaker 1: the episode, and then Kurt's like, Nah, I don't care.
Speaker 1: Everyone's too sensitive, who cares about disclaimers. Let's just get
Speaker 1: into it, because honestly so I love the statement that
Speaker 1: they agree that bounce back culture is toxic and has
Speaker 1: no place. But Kurt literally mocked the people who found
Speaker 1: it offensive and labeled them as too sensitive. And ironically,
Speaker 1: they didn't actually end up removing the episode. They only
Speaker 1: remove that excerpt of Kurt saying that people are way
Speaker 1: too sensitive.
Speaker 2: It's just embarrassing.
Speaker 1: I think it just shows that they need to hire
Speaker 1: people outside of their little cronulla bubble like this is
Speaker 1: a prime example that someone needed to listen to the episode,
Speaker 1: read the title and go, no, we can't have this.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't you think Spotify would be like nah? But they're
Speaker 1: aware of it themselves, like Sarah even said, oh, I
Speaker 1: didn't know what to call it.
Speaker 2: So if you're aware that it's offensive, why is it?
Speaker 1: I think with the Spotify thing, because they had to
Speaker 1: do a podcast every day that'd almost run out of content.
Speaker 2: And we're just say, oh fuck it, we'll just do
Speaker 2: this one.
Speaker 1: The thing is, though, surely if she had a media
Speaker 1: advisor or PR manager, they could have come up with
Speaker 1: a better apology than that. Now, circling back to the
Speaker 1: first of January twenty twenty two, and Sarah released her
Speaker 1: new ebook Sweat Limitless, which is the final progression in
Speaker 1: the series and touted as the most advanced so The
Speaker 1: eight week fitness plan was said to be designed to
Speaker 1: burn fat, sculpt and tone your muscles whilst making you
Speaker 1: fall in love.
Speaker 2: With fitness now.
Speaker 1: It was marketed by Sarah as the fitness guide she
Speaker 1: followed in the lead up to her wedding. She even
Speaker 1: commented that she should have called the book Sweat It
Speaker 1: to wed it Now. For decades, there has of course
Speaker 1: been immense pressure placed on women to launch grueling fitness
Speaker 1: regimes in the lead up to their wedding, and we've
Speaker 1: seen so many phrases like shredding for the wedding become
Speaker 1: mainstream in recent years.
Speaker 2: Though, I really thought that there.
Speaker 1: Had been a big pushback on this term web shread
Speaker 1: because so many body positive activists and also eating disorder
Speaker 1: experts have highlighted how toxic this term is because it
Speaker 1: robs so many brides of actually enjoying the lead up
Speaker 1: to their big day and not feeling like they're enough.
Speaker 1: Things became more troubling when Sarah released a reel to
Speaker 1: her Instagram feed marketing the program further. Let's throw to
Speaker 1: the audio from that reel.
Speaker 5: To the girl who lays in bed every night and
Speaker 5: overthinks everything she ate that day, To the girl who
Speaker 5: forces herself to state the gym for over an hour,
Speaker 5: to the girl who dwells in guilt if she misses
Speaker 5: a workout.
Speaker 3: I was you.
Speaker 5: Getting myself to this point was far deeper than just
Speaker 5: the physical. It was about changing my mindset and creating
Speaker 5: a lifestyle, nourishing my body, listening to my body, moving
Speaker 5: because I love my body, not because I'm trying to
Speaker 5: fix it. So shout out to the girls who have
Speaker 5: come full circle and can rest in balance, consistency over burnout,
Speaker 5: balance over restriction, and finally listening to our bodies.
Speaker 7: Now.
Speaker 1: The backlash was swift, with followers accusing Sarah of promoting
Speaker 1: her program to people struggling with disordered eating. One follower wrote,
Speaker 1: so the way I see this, you're telling me to
Speaker 1: join your workout plan because I have anorexia. Do not
Speaker 1: see how specifically targeting eating disorders is immoral? Another wrote,
Speaker 1: this is targeting those with eating disorders, especially those with authorexia.
Speaker 1: Please stop this now. One comment to actually caught Sarah's attention,
Speaker 1: which sparked a response, so they wrote, this is such
Speaker 1: a damaging message. What you are essentially saying is that
Speaker 1: instead of working on yourself and learning to forgive yourself,
Speaker 1: we can purchase your exercise program and feed the obsession
Speaker 1: to have a certain body type. This comment was liked
Speaker 1: over seven hundred and ninety times. Sarah responded saying yeah, no,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm not essentially saying at all. Sorry, you've
Speaker 1: taken this in.
Speaker 2: A negative light.
Speaker 7: Now.
Speaker 1: Leading Sydney based eating disorder recovery coach Mia Finlay slammed
Speaker 1: the program's marketing campaign and said it was targeted at
Speaker 1: vulnerable people. In a YouTube video entitled Dear Sarah's Day,
Speaker 1: this is wrong, Mia said she had never seen a
Speaker 1: diet or exercise program specifically geared and targeted towards people
Speaker 1: who either have or are at risk of an eating disorder.
Speaker 1: She said, while there are many fitness influencers now co
Speaker 1: opting body positivity and intuitive eating, this is the first
Speaker 1: time she's seen someone co opt eating disorders and recovery.
Speaker 1: The timing of this launch was also put under the
Speaker 1: spotlight because she did release the ebook on New Year's Day,
Speaker 1: and this is renowned as being the most lucrative time
Speaker 1: of the year for the diet industry because you're coming
Speaker 1: off the back of Christmas when people have usually overindulged,
Speaker 1: and then of course most people set fitness based New
Speaker 1: Year's resolution. So it was completely strategic to launch this
Speaker 1: program when she did. And the legitimacy of this program
Speaker 1: has also been questioned because Sarah said that she created
Speaker 1: the full fitness plan, and that is despite the fact
Speaker 1: that she has no formal qualifications in fitness, and she
Speaker 1: also spoke openly in the lead up to her wedding
Speaker 1: about actually working with a personal trainer for at least
Speaker 1: six months to prepare. Now, despite this, her PT got
Speaker 1: no mention or wasn't credited in the ebook.
Speaker 2: Now, moving on from.
Speaker 1: The ebook drama, I really want to discuss Sarah using
Speaker 1: her kids's content because that came up in April twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two. So Sarah baited her then three year old
Speaker 1: son Fox's haircut for weeks. Now this was on your
Speaker 1: average kid's haircut. Fox's hair used to be very beautiful.
Speaker 1: It was long, blonde ringlets and it sat past his shoulders.
Speaker 1: So when Sarah finally shared the dramatic transformation. She disclaimed
Speaker 1: in the outro of the video that she doesn't use
Speaker 1: her kids for content. Let's throw to what she said.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like I said, I do feel a little bit
Speaker 3: weird of just like that was like the main part
Speaker 3: of the vlog because Malachi and Fox are the center
Speaker 3: of my life.
Speaker 4: Also Kurt.
Speaker 5: We love Kurt, but just being a mum, especially a
Speaker 5: mom of two now, my boys are just everything to me.
Speaker 4: I'm not going to become a family vlog channel.
Speaker 5: Like the boys are obviously a part of my vlogs,
Speaker 5: but I just don't ever want my videos to be.
Speaker 4: Centered around my kids. So this is kind of like
Speaker 4: an anomaly, just something a little bit different. But yeah,
Speaker 4: like moving forward and what I'll continue to do.
Speaker 3: This is the Sarah's Day channel, and I just want
Speaker 3: to make sure you know I'm protecting them and you
Speaker 3: know they can be featured and you guys see them
Speaker 3: all the time.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I just don't want my kids to be content,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 3: So yeah, obviously they're in my vlogs because they're with
Speaker 3: me all the time, but just moving forward, the vlogs
Speaker 3: will kind of not go back to normal but like
Speaker 3: they'll be back to like Sarah's day stuff of like,
Speaker 3: you know, in two weeks, I potentially get to go
Speaker 3: back to training, so I'll be vlogging all of that.
Speaker 1: This disclaimer was very much in response to the back
Speaker 1: line that Sarah had been receiving for clickbaiting Fox's hair,
Speaker 1: and it was quite uncomfortable to watch because it felt
Speaker 1: like she was almost trying to convince herself that she
Speaker 1: wasn't using her son for content, and a lot of
Speaker 1: people found it very hypocritical that Sarah said that this
Speaker 1: sort of video was an anomaly, considering her last three
Speaker 1: videos had been about her son. Along with the haircut video,
Speaker 1: she had shared a video of Fox meeting his baby brother,
Speaker 1: Malachi for the first time, and before that it had
Speaker 1: been Sarah's labor vlog. I think that she should just
Speaker 1: own the fact that she is moving over to a
Speaker 1: family esque channel exactly. And then, just two months later,
Speaker 1: after saying she didn't want to use her kids as content,
Speaker 1: she revealed on her podcast that she was considering starting
Speaker 1: a YouTube channel for Fox. So a then three year
Speaker 1: old Fox had asked his parents if he could start
Speaker 1: his own cooking channel, as he regularly cooks with Sarah
Speaker 1: on her channel now. Sarah said she was unsure whether
Speaker 1: she should let him and was concerned about trolling or
Speaker 1: Kurt said they should just do it. I think it's
Speaker 1: healthy for kids to do it. We live in a
Speaker 1: world of content now, you can't escape it.
Speaker 2: I love that. It's like, oh, but he asked us
Speaker 2: to create it.
Speaker 7: He's three kids want to be like a crocodile atag
Speaker 7: They don't understand the potential ramifications for having this channel,
Speaker 7: thetrolling that might go in the fact that you're also
Speaker 7: putting him out there to potential predators that they should know.
Speaker 2: Because Sarah has been on YouTube for so many years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what I think the thing is Fox has been
Speaker 1: a main character on her channel for four years now,
Speaker 1: and you can see by watching Sarah's content that he
Speaker 1: loves being in front of a camera and he's very
Speaker 1: aware of when he is being filmed. He often says
Speaker 1: things like welcome back to my channel and talks to
Speaker 1: the camera as if it's a person, just.
Speaker 2: Like Sarah does. Sad and scary, isn't it.
Speaker 1: It kind of makes me feel sad watching it because
Speaker 1: he kind of comes across as his performing monkey when
Speaker 1: the camera comes out.
Speaker 2: I think that's a lot of kids.
Speaker 1: Though we used to love it when our dad got
Speaker 1: the camera out. But I suppose it adds this added
Speaker 1: level that he knows that he's speaking to fans.
Speaker 2: And also he's spoken on.
Speaker 1: Sarah's story about the fact that he's had fans come
Speaker 1: up to him, so he's very aware of what's going on.
Speaker 1: And I do wonder when he gets older. I mean,
Speaker 1: at the moment, he currently plays up to the camera,
Speaker 1: but will he begin to get self conscious and start
Speaker 1: to moderate his behavior as he starts considering how people
Speaker 1: perceive him online. I think it will all come to
Speaker 1: a head when he starts going to school and children
Speaker 1: start saying stuff in the school yard. Also, there might
Speaker 1: be issues around his privacy if Sarah shares about the
Speaker 1: fact that he's going to school, or accidentally shares his
Speaker 1: school uniform. There's a lot of safety concerns around this
Speaker 1: type of exposure for someone who, Yes, influencers are famous,
Speaker 1: but then again they don't have the security that top
Speaker 1: celebrities have. I just can't imagine what it would be
Speaker 1: like to have your most private moments as a child
Speaker 1: shared to millions of people. I mean Fox's birth log
Speaker 1: has over nine million views. And there's just such an
Speaker 1: interest in Sarah's kids' lives, and that's because she has
Speaker 1: always shared them as part of her content.
Speaker 2: Imagine when Fox starts dating. Think about when you start.
Speaker 1: Dating someone you do a full deep dive on their
Speaker 1: social media. His potential date will be able to go
Speaker 1: see when he's born, We'll be able to see him
Speaker 1: toilet training. Well, no one knows the long term impact
Speaker 1: that family vlogging is going to have on future children
Speaker 1: because it is such a new phenomenon, And can you
Speaker 1: imagine being a kid and that every outing you go
Speaker 1: on is turned into a content shoot. You would feel
Speaker 1: like you need to perform rather than actually just enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1: To me, it's quite clear that Sarah is confused not
Speaker 1: only about the direction of her channel, but also how
Speaker 1: she feels about her kids being content on it. And
Speaker 1: ever since Sarah felt pregnant, her channel has taken a
Speaker 1: massive shift from health and fitness towards lifestyle and family content.
Speaker 1: And to me, the change makes complete sense seeing as
Speaker 1: it now reflects her new season. As she would say, so,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's so much that people have an
Speaker 1: issue with Sarah's channel evolving into a family channel, it's
Speaker 1: a fact that she's not owning it. And that being said,
Speaker 1: while people expect Sarah to share about her children, I
Speaker 1: think there's a line, and there's a difference between having
Speaker 1: your kids appear in the background of a YouTube video
Speaker 1: to actually basing the whole video around the child.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: At the start of the year, Sarah did speak about
Speaker 1: how this year was very pivotal for her on a
Speaker 1: YouTube channel. She expressed that she didn't want to be
Speaker 1: sharing vlogs about her life anymore because her kids were
Speaker 1: getting to an age where she wanted to look after
Speaker 1: their privacy. It's interesting because she has now reverted back
Speaker 1: to the vlogs. It didn't take her long to come
Speaker 1: back to that original content because it's clearly whateveryone wants
Speaker 1: to hear. No one's interested in seeing her workout routines.
Speaker 1: They want to know what's going on in her day
Speaker 1: to day life. So what do you guys think the
Speaker 1: next couple of years will hold for Sarah's day? Do
Speaker 1: you think that she still will be a big presence
Speaker 1: on YouTube or do you think that perhaps she's trying
Speaker 1: to step away from the spotlight well, I think the
Speaker 1: fact that Sarah and Kurt launched a creative agency called
Speaker 1: House of Grom's in twenty twenty two is sort of
Speaker 1: shows the direction that they're moving in.
Speaker 2: So Kurt previously did.
Speaker 1: Own his own creative agency, which was called Cage Tills,
Speaker 1: but the new rebrand saw Kurt and Sarah come together
Speaker 1: and establish their own collective brand, and now Sarah's own
Speaker 1: brands and podcasts work under the umbrella of the House
Speaker 1: of grom So they've set up their own studio in Crinulla.
Speaker 1: They also have plans to establish a photography studio in
Speaker 1: their new holiday home that they purchased in March. So
Speaker 1: it is clear that they are trying to establish alternative
Speaker 1: revenue streams in case their influence does come crashing down.
Speaker 1: And as we've seen during this four part series, there
Speaker 1: have been a lot of times when her influence has
Speaker 1: been tested. I found it quite interesting to look at
Speaker 1: their social blade accounts because while Sarah has one point
Speaker 1: two million followers on Instagram, that number has stayed very
Speaker 1: stagnant for the past few years and I had a look,
Speaker 1: so this month she has lost two thousand, seven hundred followers,
Speaker 1: and Kurt also lost one thousand, five hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: So I don't know whether it's because no one's interested
Speaker 1: in the new direction that she's potentially moving in. Even
Speaker 1: her Tattle Life threat has stopped, which she probably down. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's slowed down, which she probably likes. But I think
Speaker 1: it's indicative of Sarah sharing less content, being less controversial.
Speaker 1: At some point people are going to be less interested
Speaker 1: because I think a lot of the haters are actually
Speaker 1: fueling her popularity at the moment on social media. See
Speaker 1: I don't know if she's been less controversial. I feel
Speaker 1: like she is second guessing everything that she's saying, and
Speaker 1: perhaps that's why people are switching off, because I think
Speaker 1: what was one of Sarah's real highlights and positives of
Speaker 1: her channel was that she was so real and raw,
Speaker 1: and now you feel like she is pretending and kind
Speaker 1: of having to second guess everything that she's saying, and
Speaker 1: it's not as enjoyable to watch. I think it's also
Speaker 1: the loss of frequency. You know, she was posting three
Speaker 1: times a week that really got people engaged in her life.
Speaker 1: Now we don't know when we're going to see a
Speaker 1: new vlog, and she seems to be putting up a
Speaker 1: few more barriers. It does leave many questioning if we
Speaker 1: will see her choose to step out of the limelight
Speaker 1: for a more quiet life. But something tells me that
Speaker 1: she is an habitual overshare and really does enjoy the attention. Well,
Speaker 1: I think that's where we will leave Sarah's story for now.
Speaker 1: We have thoroughly enjoyed researching and putting together this four
Speaker 1: part series. Thank you so much for listening and it
Speaker 1: means the world to us that you are supporting Outspoken Plus.
Speaker 1: If you have enjoyed today's show, could you please make
Speaker 1: sure you share about the series on your Instagram and
Speaker 1: will be back in your ears next week for another
Speaker 1: episode of Outspoken Plus.
Speaker 2: This episode was recorded.
Speaker 1: On the traditional land of the Ghana people of the
Speaker 1: Adelaide Planes. We pay respect to elders past and present.