Speaker 1: Shanny Grimmond was the ultimate it girl of the twenty tens.
Speaker 2: I hope you guys like this vlog. If you did,
Speaker 2: please give it eight thumbs up because help me out,
Speaker 2: sir much.
Speaker 1: It all started on Tumblr, where she went by the
Speaker 1: handle vans and spray.
Speaker 2: Tans well Gobindy.
Speaker 1: When she was sixteen, she switched over to YouTube, sharing
Speaker 1: makeup tutorials and daily blogs alongside her school best friend chloe'zep.
Speaker 1: Her videos began attracting hundreds of thousands of views. Was
Speaker 1: Shany seen as the girl next door? Her channel reached
Speaker 1: new heights when the ultimate boyfriend of Instagram, Jonathan Sower,
Speaker 1: entered the scene.
Speaker 2: How do we meet on our birthdays? When we went
Speaker 2: out and we have the same birthdays?
Speaker 1: The twenty three year old accountant quickly became her manager
Speaker 1: and the pair became hashtag couple goals.
Speaker 2: Who was the first person to say I love you?
Speaker 2: And how did it happen?
Speaker 1: As me, of course, But it wasn't long before fame
Speaker 1: became overwhelming for the self confessed introvert.
Speaker 2: I want to keep my personal life personal private, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, So I'm going to share as
Speaker 2: much as I can without like you know, giving too
Speaker 2: much away.
Speaker 1: In this series, we explore the phenomenon of Shany grimmand
Speaker 1: and what happens when you want to pull back and
Speaker 1: live a more private life. Hello and welcome to Outspoken.
Speaker 1: I'm Sophie Torba and I have been hanging out for
Speaker 1: this series. It has been so highly requested, and I
Speaker 1: think that is because Shany Grimman was so many people's
Speaker 1: first introduction to the influencer world. I know for me,
Speaker 1: she was the first YouTuber I ever started watching. I
Speaker 1: vividly remember our younger cousin's girlfriend showing us Shanny's morning routine,
Speaker 1: and firstly I was shocked that people would actually be
Speaker 1: interested in that sort of content, but then I quickly
Speaker 1: became hooked as well. I also couldn't believe that someone
Speaker 1: would feel comfortable sharing that level of information and detail
Speaker 1: about themselves online, because we were living in the days
Speaker 1: of Instagram, where everyone was putting very curated photos up
Speaker 1: and here we were seeing Shany Grimman in her bathroom,
Speaker 1: no make up on taking us through her morning routine. Now,
Speaker 1: if you are a millennial, the handle vans and spray
Speaker 1: tans will make you feel incredibly nostalgic. So It is
Speaker 1: the handle that Shany Grimman created on Tumblr when she
Speaker 1: was just thirteen years old. Yeah, and in the twenty tens,
Speaker 1: Tumblr was a blogging platform teenagers used to express themselves,
Speaker 1: and it allowed users to design their own homepage where
Speaker 1: they could share curated images, videos, quotes, and also write blogs.
Speaker 1: We were a little bit too old for Tumbler. I
Speaker 1: don't ever remember having a Tumbler account, but I do
Speaker 1: remember my younger cousins having one. Yeah, I'm kind of
Speaker 1: glad that I missed that phase, because when you reflect
Speaker 1: on the sort of quotes that you might have been
Speaker 1: sharing around that time, it's quite horrifying and embarrassing. Well,
Speaker 1: I think Shanny would be cringing if she was to
Speaker 1: look back at her Tumbler now, because she was an
Speaker 1: open book on there. Her audience was made up mostly
Speaker 1: of teenage girls who really could relate to her struggle
Speaker 1: at school or with boys.
Speaker 2: I always, always, always am so open when I'm answering
Speaker 2: my questions, Like people ask about sex, boys, friends, family problems, school,
Speaker 2: and I literally answer everything. I'm the most honest person
Speaker 2: you'll probably ever know. Some followers aren't very open, obviously,
Speaker 2: and they're like Shany, why are you so open? Like
Speaker 2: why are you telling us your whole life story? And
Speaker 2: I'm like, well, people are asking and I want to
Speaker 2: be honest and like help you guys out if you
Speaker 2: need advice with my things that have happened to me.
Speaker 1: Shannie did say that Tumbla was her favorite platform because
Speaker 1: she found it was a non judgmental place where she
Speaker 1: could just be herself and people loved her on there
Speaker 1: because as you touched on Amy, the girls following her
Speaker 1: were also planning their school formals or their school these
Speaker 1: week celebrations, and they felt like Shani was their friend,
Speaker 1: so they felt like they could relate to every aspect
Speaker 1: of her life. And over four years, Shanni amassed a
Speaker 1: very loyal following of ninety thousand followers on Tumblr, and
Speaker 1: she decided it was time to build on that relationship further,
Speaker 1: so at sixteen, she started her own YouTube channel. The
Speaker 1: first video Shanny ever uploaded to YouTube was a makeup
Speaker 1: tutorial featuring her best friend, Chloe Zepp. The year was
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen and they were both sixteen year old school girls.
Speaker 1: They looked like such babies in this clip, so they
Speaker 1: were both wearing the big chunky necklaces that were the
Speaker 1: hottest successory at the time, and Chloe was Shany's model
Speaker 1: in the video, so Shany was explaining step by step
Speaker 1: of how she was doing her makeup for what they
Speaker 1: said was a casual night out.
Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Shanny and this is Chloe, my model.
Speaker 1: I couldn't get over how much a young Chloe Zepp
Speaker 1: looked like her son Aati. Oh, they look like twins
Speaker 1: in these old videos. Now, Shanie did begin sharing more
Speaker 1: mini tutorials, and they were only a couple of minutes long,
Speaker 1: and it did make me laugh because in one of
Speaker 1: the tutorials, Shanni explained how to do a sock onun
Speaker 1: which again I don't think she would be caught in
Speaker 1: dead now, but it was very of the moment. And
Speaker 1: in the comment section, Shanny would list all of the
Speaker 1: products she used and what she was wearing at the time.
Speaker 1: She didn't have any brand deals, but it's so clever
Speaker 1: because she was already authentically sharing about these brands, so
Speaker 1: it didn't look bad when she started being paid by
Speaker 1: them to promote them. And that probably wasn't a strategic thing, no,
Speaker 1: I think she was just genuinely sharing with her followers.
Speaker 1: Like she would with her friends, and I think she
Speaker 1: was emulating what other big YouTubers were doing at the time. Now,
Speaker 1: when it came to makeup, Shani was self taught, and
Speaker 1: ironically she learned her skills off YouTube when she started
Speaker 1: watching makeup tutorials at the age of ten, and while
Speaker 1: she was at school, Sharne said that she did want
Speaker 1: to do a course at MAC and become a qualified
Speaker 1: makeup artist. Now, I don't think she ever ended up
Speaker 1: getting qualifications in makeup again, that is just so twenty ten. Yeah,
Speaker 1: to be a makeup artist at MAC. Now. It wasn't
Speaker 1: until twenty fourteen when Sharnie started sharing more of her
Speaker 1: personality in her videos and she had the realization that
Speaker 1: people weren't just coming to her channel to learn how
Speaker 1: to do hair and makeup. They wanted to connect with her. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she did start creating chitchat get Ready with Me videos
Speaker 1: where she would answer questions about her life. And I
Speaker 1: had so much fun going back and watching these videos.
Speaker 1: So in one of Shani's early videos, she took part
Speaker 1: in a viral trend called the common White Girl tag,
Speaker 1: and she answered twenty questions so her followers could get
Speaker 1: to know her better. Let's give you a taste of
Speaker 1: some of the things we found out about Baby Shani.
Speaker 2: My favorite drink from Starbucks would have to be the
Speaker 2: Frappuccino's also known as Frape's, and I really love the camel,
Speaker 2: the camel and hazelnut and just the plain vanilla. They're
Speaker 2: so delicious, despite the fact that the like seven dollars
Speaker 2: for like a little cup this big, but so worth it.
Speaker 2: They're just amazing.
Speaker 1: I did laugh at how she pronounced Frabbe's. Look, I'm
Speaker 1: not throwing any shade at her, because we get criticized
Speaker 1: anytime we try and pronounce, so who knows she could
Speaker 1: actually be correct. And she did also answer a number
Speaker 1: of questions about her favorite social media apps at the time.
Speaker 1: Here's what she said.
Speaker 2: I don't have Twitter anymore. Well, I guess I do
Speaker 2: because I never deleted it, but I don't know how
Speaker 2: many tweets I've got. I probably have like one thousand
Speaker 2: tweets saying justin we please follow me Cody Simpson. I
Speaker 2: love you because I know Cody Simpson followed me and
Speaker 2: I was so excited. But yeah, I just don't go
Speaker 2: on it. I think it's so boring. And I'm just
Speaker 2: going to stick to my Instagram and Facebook and tumble.
Speaker 2: I'm obsessed with them so much.
Speaker 1: I totally forgot that school kids would use Twitter to
Speaker 1: beg for responses from celebrities. This really brought it all
Speaker 1: back to me. Remember how kids would also try to
Speaker 1: grow their Instagram following by writing like for like under
Speaker 1: celebrities or random's posts. Well, what's ironic is that so
Speaker 1: many influencers from back in the day they've been burnt
Speaker 1: from offensive tweets coming out. But I think for Shani's
Speaker 1: Twitter account, it's probably just more embarrassing in terms of
Speaker 1: her begging Cody Simpson to follow her. At this stage,
Speaker 1: Instagram had only been around for a few years. So
Speaker 1: the platform launched in twenty ten, and initially it was
Speaker 1: a way for people to connect with friends. I remember
Speaker 1: it was the days where you'd upload a photo and
Speaker 1: you'd probably get three likes. Yeah, and they always look
Speaker 1: really weird, like you use all these grainy filters. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it wasn't really a vibe. But then by twenty thirteen,
Speaker 1: the term insta fame it started to be thrown around
Speaker 1: a bit, so an SBS article described it as a
Speaker 1: term that refers to ordinary, everyday people who have a
Speaker 1: mass large followings on social media, in particular Instagram for
Speaker 1: no apparent reason. I remember I was working at Today
Speaker 1: tonight and I was trying to convince the boss to
Speaker 1: do a story about an influencer, and I was like,
Speaker 1: they've got nearly, you know, five hundred thousand followers, and
Speaker 1: he just didn't get it. He's like, why are the
Speaker 1: people following them? And I'm like, because they like their Contententa,
Speaker 1: because you did do a story about insta fame and
Speaker 1: you interviewed Kayla. It's seen it, and that was before
Speaker 1: she was obviously exploded in popularity. Well, she was pretty
Speaker 1: popular on there, but she not what she is now
Speaker 1: in terms of just how big she was back then. Well,
Speaker 1: this SBS article continued, saying, these people aren't movie stars
Speaker 1: or high profile athletes. They're not even bloggers. In fact,
Speaker 1: they don't even necessarily do anything other than take nice
Speaker 1: photos or more commonly, still have a nice photo taken
Speaker 1: of them. The author did note that in order to
Speaker 1: be Insta famous, you had to have a healthy or
Speaker 1: unhealthy level of narcissism. It said, no surprise on this one.
Speaker 1: You have to be pretty self involved to post thirty
Speaker 1: plus selfies a day and expect that other people are
Speaker 1: going to not only want to see them, but also
Speaker 1: like them. To be fair to Shani, I don't actually
Speaker 1: think she came across as a narcissist in her heyday
Speaker 1: on YouTube, But I think it was such a new
Speaker 1: thing for people to be posting selfies and really promoting
Speaker 1: themselves in this way because a lot of the time,
Speaker 1: you know, people would joke that you only put up
Speaker 1: photos of your food or other people. Yeah, I do
Speaker 1: get it, because then it was a weird thing, like
Speaker 1: people didn't really have careers in social media. Now we
Speaker 1: know that the people who were the early adopters are
Speaker 1: so clever because they're the ones who've made so much
Speaker 1: money off her. Yeah, And I mean, at this stage,
Speaker 1: the term influencer wasn't even widely being used, and Shani
Speaker 1: was taking inspiration from other beauty influencers in the space
Speaker 1: like Shan EXXO, Lauren Beauty and also Chloe Morello. And
Speaker 1: while she did have a big following on Tumblr, at
Speaker 1: this stage, she had around seventeen thousand followers on Instagram.
Speaker 1: Here's how Shani described how she used Instagram.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I just keep everyone updated on what I'm doing.
Speaker 2: I post like photos of my new video. If I
Speaker 2: like posted a new video that day, I'd be like, yo,
Speaker 2: check this out. And then I like post selfies and
Speaker 2: phes with my dog and my boyfriend and my friends
Speaker 2: and everything like that. So it's basically just my personal
Speaker 2: life on Instagram.
Speaker 1: I love how simple and authentic her posting sounded, and
Speaker 1: I think it genuinely was at that time, because we
Speaker 1: really didn't have the onslaught of paid advertise that we
Speaker 1: see now because every time I go my Instagram now
Speaker 1: I'm being sold something. Yeah. Well, it was actually in
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen that Instagram introduced the feature of paid advertisements,
Speaker 1: and this really changed things for influencers. So it enabled
Speaker 1: brands to connect directly with influencers across its platform, and
Speaker 1: selling products became easier than ever. With just a click
Speaker 1: of the button, influencers could share what they enjoyed, and
Speaker 1: they got paid for doing it. By the time, we
Speaker 1: weren't really savvy to this kind of advertising. It was
Speaker 1: before influencers had to declare paid partnership, so most of
Speaker 1: the time we were led to believe that the influencers
Speaker 1: really swore by these products, and it was a genuine
Speaker 1: recommendation from them, and for a brand to have a
Speaker 1: tick of approval from an influencer like Shiny Grimman, it
Speaker 1: was incredibly powerful and it resulted in dramatic sales for
Speaker 1: that brand.
Speaker 2: The thing that I want to talk about is the
Speaker 2: things that I got from Triangle dot com. And for
Speaker 2: you guys that don't know what that is, it is
Speaker 2: a bikini store and it also sells underwear as well.
Speaker 2: I swear by that side. They have the most amazing
Speaker 2: bikinis I have ever experienced.
Speaker 1: Now, due to the blurred line between recommendations and partnerships
Speaker 1: at the time, it is still unclear what was going
Speaker 1: on between Shani and Triangle, but all of a sudden
Speaker 1: she started sharing a lot about their swimwear, which was
Speaker 1: the bikini brand of the time. The hold the Triangle's
Speaker 1: tangerine set howd on the zeitgeist at the time was insane.
Speaker 1: But was that from Shanny like it was it Shanny
Speaker 1: that built them up or was it I definitely think
Speaker 1: the Shiny Grimmond effect really helped that brand. I had
Speaker 1: quite a few pairs of Triangle. I loved them at
Speaker 1: the time. I always wanted the orange bikini, but it
Speaker 1: was always sold out. Shanny did do a number of
Speaker 1: whole videos showing off the bikinis and talking about what
Speaker 1: she liked and she didn't like about them. If this
Speaker 1: was a paid partnership, I wonder how the marketing team
Speaker 1: Triangle felt about this comment.
Speaker 2: So here's People have been asking me if you can
Speaker 2: wear this set into the water or like take to
Speaker 2: the beach or whatever, and I would have to say
Speaker 2: that I would not recommend at the bottoms because, as
Speaker 2: I said before, they really see through and shear, so
Speaker 2: as soon as you get them weight, you're gonna be
Speaker 2: able to see everything. So I don't really recommend.
Speaker 1: That I love so much when I watched this bag,
Speaker 1: I do think it added to her review of the
Speaker 1: brand though, because it made it feel more authentic. And
Speaker 1: she did follow it up by gushing about the free
Speaker 1: bag that came with the bathers, so people will remember
Speaker 1: that it had this like drawstring bag and she said
Speaker 1: it was the perfect beach accessory, which I found so
Speaker 1: funny because all I could think about when I got
Speaker 1: that bag was clearly this was the offcuts of the bathers.
Speaker 1: It makes me think that maybe she was just gifted
Speaker 1: the bathers, and that's why she was able to be
Speaker 1: honest about them. Because a lot of influencers have come
Speaker 1: out recently and said, back in the day, we didn't
Speaker 1: realize what we were actually worth, and we were doing
Speaker 1: full on haul videos for a couple of free baths.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm disturbed about, because, as I said,
Speaker 1: I did have these bathers, I didn't realize that they
Speaker 1: were quite secret. Well, by twenty fifteen, Sharne's channel was
Speaker 1: starting to hit the big time, so she notched up
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand followers. I feel like we're so used
Speaker 1: to seeing big celebrations now when a creator reaches a
Speaker 1: million subscribers, but back then, one hundred thousand was such
Speaker 1: a big deal, and YouTube would reward creators by sending
Speaker 1: them a silver play button trophy.
Speaker 2: I hit one hundred thousand subscribers last week. I was
Speaker 2: so excited, Like you would not even believe my reaction.
Speaker 2: I was jumping off the walls, bouncing off the walls.
Speaker 2: I was so happy, and I'm still so happy. Thank
Speaker 2: you guys so much for subscribing to me. It honestly
Speaker 2: means the world to me. I wouldn't be here without you,
Speaker 2: as cliche as that sounds, but I just want to
Speaker 2: let you guys know how much you mean to me,
Speaker 2: and all the comments that you guys leave are just
Speaker 2: it makes my day.
Speaker 1: At sixteen, Sharnie was already planning to pursue YouTube as
Speaker 1: a full time career once she graduated from school, and
Speaker 1: it's not surprising, and she was starting to receive exciting
Speaker 1: opportunities from brands and agencies.
Speaker 2: I've been offered like a few modeling things and being
Speaker 2: a part of all these crazy things that I will
Speaker 2: talk about in the future. But yeah, I'm just excited
Speaker 2: to be independent and move out and just keep going
Speaker 2: with my YouTube because it makes me so happy and
Speaker 2: I just love you guys so much.
Speaker 1: After notching up one hundred thousand subscribers, Shanny made the
Speaker 1: move into blogging, and she was a natural from the
Speaker 1: get go. She had this really goofy side which shone
Speaker 1: through in her vlogs, and even though she was doing
Speaker 1: these really mundane tasks, she managed to make them really
Speaker 1: engaging and interesting. Yeah, I always remember she was down
Speaker 1: at the post office collecting all of the mail that
Speaker 1: had been sent to her. She was also doing giveaways
Speaker 1: for her subscribers, so she'd be posting, you know, things
Speaker 1: of lip smacker or just like random items. And her
Speaker 1: car was so relatable. It was like this old bomb. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she just recently got her license and she was driving
Speaker 1: around in this absolute shit tip of a car.
Speaker 2: I could definitely say that I am at the happiest
Speaker 2: point of my life right now, having my license, having
Speaker 2: the most amazing viewers on YouTube, having so much support
Speaker 2: from people. My life is just so great right now.
Speaker 2: And if any of you guys are going for your
Speaker 2: license and you're nervous, I know the feeling because I
Speaker 2: was so nervous before my test because I thought I
Speaker 2: was going to fail because I just didn't really have
Speaker 2: that much confidence. But I practiced a lot, like I
Speaker 2: just was driving a lot. Trust me.
Speaker 1: This is what made her so relatable because I think
Speaker 1: everyone will have high school memories of their first shitty
Speaker 1: old car. We actually had to share a red Burna
Speaker 1: which had no air conditioning. It's a rite of passage. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you have to have a shit car to begin with.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: In one of Shannie's blogs, she shared this video of
Speaker 1: her and Chloe on the side of the road because
Speaker 1: her car had broken down because overheated and they had
Speaker 1: to sit there waiting for it to cool down. Why
Speaker 1: does that remind me of that scene on Laguna Beach. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Kristen's car breaks down. She's like, I'm Dunzel with
Speaker 1: this and sel Donzel. It's kind of sad because there
Speaker 1: is this pattern when influencers start to make good money.
Speaker 1: Of course, they go out and buy new cars and
Speaker 1: they seem to rent or buy these amazing places, and
Speaker 1: that's when their audience suddenly doesn't feel like they're on
Speaker 1: the same playing field and they start to become a
Speaker 1: bit disconnected. Yeah, and it's an interesting one for Shanni
Speaker 1: because to begin with, she was the girl next door.
Speaker 1: She was very relatable, but as her wealth started to grow,
Speaker 1: her content then did become aspirational. But I think because
Speaker 1: she was so good at blogging and talking to viewers
Speaker 1: like they were a friend, people still bought in and
Speaker 1: enjoyed her content.
Speaker 2: Before we get started, I just want to ask you
Speaker 2: guys one question, and I'd really appreciate it if you
Speaker 2: could actually answer it in the comments below, and that
Speaker 2: is what kind of videos do you want to see
Speaker 2: on my channel? Because I asked you guys on all
Speaker 2: of my social media accounts, what video want to see?
Speaker 2: What videos in general you want to see? And not
Speaker 2: many people were saying like make cup or beauty related videos.
Speaker 2: A lot of them are more like vlogs and personality videos.
Speaker 2: And I'm really confused because I started making videos with
Speaker 2: may Cup tutorials and stuff, and now it's kind of
Speaker 2: getting overtaken by my vlogs and I'm like, what's going on?
Speaker 2: So I would love if you could let me know
Speaker 2: in the comments, what video you want to see?
Speaker 1: The overwhelming response from Shanni's followers was that they were
Speaker 1: obsessed with her vlogs and they wanted to know more
Speaker 1: about her private life, and she didn't really have any
Speaker 1: boundaries when it came to sharing her life online. The
Speaker 1: one thing that she was always so open about was
Speaker 1: her relationships, and it wasn't long before sixteen year old
Speaker 1: Shani introduced her first boyfriend, Sean, to her YouTube channel. Now.
Speaker 1: He made his first appearance in a video entitled Chubby
Speaker 1: Bunny Challenge with my boyfriend. I do remember these videos
Speaker 1: and for people who haven't heard of chubby Bunny, that is,
Speaker 1: of course, when you shove marshmallows in your mouth. At
Speaker 1: each additional marshmallow, you have to try and say chubby bunny.
Speaker 1: I think it's been banned though, because it's quite dangerous.
Speaker 1: A lot of people have passed out, or there's even
Speaker 1: stuff they choke on the marshals. Yeah. Well, despite being
Speaker 1: the same age, Shanni looked considerably older than Sean in
Speaker 1: this video. One commenter said, he looks like your younger
Speaker 1: brother who is trying to grow a mustache, because he
Speaker 1: did have a very patchy mustache which just looked like
Speaker 1: a few strands of pubes, almost like it was not
Speaker 1: impressive at all. To be fair to poor Sean, Shani,
Speaker 1: of course, is sitting there with a full face of makeup.
Speaker 1: I think girls do mature a lot faster, but they're
Speaker 1: also able, you know, we're able to look older because
Speaker 1: we're able to makeup in a certain way. One follower
Speaker 1: did say they were quite defensive over the relationship and
Speaker 1: said she obviously thought he looked good and thought he
Speaker 1: was a good person, so that's why she dated him. Now.
Speaker 1: Sean did appear in a number of her subsequent videos.
Speaker 1: He did go to Vanuatu with her, but with most
Speaker 1: young love stories, unfortunately it did end in heartache. A
Speaker 1: month out from her school. After two years together, Shani
Speaker 1: and Sean officially broke up, and despite the split, Shanny
Speaker 1: still took Sean as her partner to her school formal.
Speaker 2: We were dating for two years and we broke up
Speaker 2: like a month before formal, and I still wanted him
Speaker 2: to come because, like, I didn't want to take someone
Speaker 2: that didn't really mean anythink to me, Like, I think
Speaker 2: that's a bit silly, because you're going to look back
Speaker 2: at these photos like when you're older, and I want
Speaker 2: to look back and be happy with who I went
Speaker 2: with and stuff. I don't know, it's hard to explain,
Speaker 2: but I am glad that I took him. It was
Speaker 2: a little bit awkward just because like we only did
Speaker 2: just break up, but we're still friends. It's just really
Speaker 2: kind of weird.
Speaker 1: How juicy would it be if you were actually at
Speaker 1: Shanny and Chloe's school because you've got these two girls
Speaker 1: who were sharing all of these private details. I think
Speaker 1: it would have also brought out a lot of jealousy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because Shany was being offered all of these modeling contracts
Speaker 1: and opportunities to work with brands, and I think that
Speaker 1: people would have paid it out being secretly very envious.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Shanni went on to thank her audience for getting her
Speaker 1: through the breakup, saying she was crying her eyeballs out
Speaker 1: on Tumblr, but her followers were there for her the
Speaker 1: entire time. She then urged her followers going through tough
Speaker 1: times to reach out to her and chat to her
Speaker 1: about it and she will respond to them. So it
Speaker 1: really does show that relationship that she was building with
Speaker 1: her followers. It wasn't just a parasocial relationship because she
Speaker 1: was actually conversing back with them and it seemed to
Speaker 1: be like a real friendship. Yeah, and I think it
Speaker 1: really was Shannie's year twelve experience which really struck a
Speaker 1: chord with other teenagers. So she was going through these
Speaker 1: big life changes and at the same time, so were
Speaker 1: the people watching her loss. She would even share about
Speaker 1: fight she was having with her mom and how she
Speaker 1: was close to moving out on her own or with
Speaker 1: her brother. And she really did push the boundary when
Speaker 1: she shared a video about her schoolies experience entitled Schools Talk, Unconscious,
Speaker 1: underage Drinking and Drugs Now. In the video, she admitted
Speaker 1: to underage drinking and explained she was unconscious for four
Speaker 1: and a half hours after her drink was spiked at school,
Speaker 1: because that's awful. Here's what she said.
Speaker 2: So here, I was minding my own business on like
Speaker 2: the third night of schools with my friend Courtney, and
Speaker 2: we're just having some shots. I think I had like
Speaker 2: six shots in like three minutes. So that's really bad.
Speaker 2: I do not recommend that at all. So here, I
Speaker 2: was having a shot. So walked out the door to
Speaker 2: go to an apartment apartment kind of party across the
Speaker 2: road with court So I was already drunk at that stage.
Speaker 2: I went over there and then I was handed too
Speaker 2: like shots of something. I don't know what it was.
Speaker 2: I had no idea, and stupid Shany takes the shot.
Speaker 2: After I took that shot, I cannot remember one single
Speaker 2: thing that happened that night.
Speaker 1: So Shanny was taken to the paramedic tent and given
Speaker 1: a drip to get hydrated. She ended up vomiting on
Speaker 1: herself several times. Now paramedics were ninety five percent sure
Speaker 1: her drink was spiked. She did use it though, as
Speaker 1: an opportunity to encourage her audience to be vigilant with
Speaker 1: their drinks, and said she had learned from her mistake.
Speaker 1: I was very disturbed about another schooly story that she shared.
Speaker 1: So Shanny's friend won a schoolies competition to get a
Speaker 1: massage with Scotty Tea from Jordie Sure, what a blast
Speaker 1: from the past. Now, Shanny was allowed to come along
Speaker 1: as part of the prize and putting things into perspective.
Speaker 1: At the time, Scotti Tea was twenty seven years old
Speaker 1: and Shanny and her friend were seventeen. So who came
Speaker 1: up with this concept? Let's get this guy from Geordie Shaw,
Speaker 1: who's a ladies man. Let's get him this twenty seven
Speaker 1: year old around a bunch of teenage schoolgirls. Because Scotti
Speaker 1: Tea was good friends with Gary Beadle, they were known
Speaker 1: for just bringing girls home after all of their nights out. Now,
Speaker 1: when the girls arrived, they were told to get undressed
Speaker 1: in front of Scotty Tea to get ready for the massage,
Speaker 1: and Shanny said she told Scott to put his head
Speaker 1: in a pillow and not look at them, just highly
Speaker 1: in a pro Now, Following the massage, Scotti Ta asked
Speaker 1: for Shany's number and continued texting her throughout the night.
Speaker 1: He asked her to meet up and if she had
Speaker 1: a friend for his friend. So Shanny very quickly got
Speaker 1: the vibe that he was just interested in sex and
Speaker 1: said to have a good night. She clearly watched Sjordy Shaw.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, Scotti t caught her back and asked what was
Speaker 1: up and if she wanted to hang out the next
Speaker 1: night and have drinks, and she told him she was
Speaker 1: actually going home that day. She did confirm on her
Speaker 1: YouTube that she didn't go to drinks with him because
Speaker 1: she didn't want to have sex with him and that's
Speaker 1: all he seemed interested in. She even ended up making
Speaker 1: a snapchat where she explained that he just called to
Speaker 1: hang out, but she said that she couldn't because she
Speaker 1: was leaving now. She did say that even though she
Speaker 1: didn't want to have sex with him, she was quite
Speaker 1: star struck by this experience and was somewhat fangirling about
Speaker 1: him on her snapchat story. I wonder if he knew
Speaker 1: how big she was at the time. Well, Scott ended
Speaker 1: up seeing the snapchat story, so I assume he knew
Speaker 1: who she was, and he contacted her and said why
Speaker 1: did you make that snapchat and asked her to take
Speaker 1: it down, and she said she was mortified and embarrassed
Speaker 1: by the whole experience. W I'm assuming schoolies probably said
Speaker 1: please don't sleep with the teenage girls that were lining
Speaker 1: up activities with. Well, he continued to have a role
Speaker 1: with schoolies from that time on. It just seems highly inappropriate.
Speaker 1: I'd love to know how much he was paid. Well,
Speaker 1: he probably got paid for free because he was had
Speaker 1: no small board of young girls. No, he definitely would
Speaker 1: have been paid. I mean, that's at a time when
Speaker 1: they were absolutely huge and they were doing lots of
Speaker 1: club appearances. Now that Shanny was out of school, she
Speaker 1: was officially a full time YouTuber and this was fairly
Speaker 1: unheard of at the time. An influencer or a YouTuber,
Speaker 1: it wasn't really viewed as a job title or a
Speaker 1: career as it is now, because most people were unaware
Speaker 1: of how much money could actually be made through brand deals,
Speaker 1: and it was clear that YouTube was an escape and
Speaker 1: a passion project for Shanny during her school years. Because
Speaker 1: why she was so good at it, I think because
Speaker 1: she didn't go into it thinking I'm gonna make lots
Speaker 1: of money from YouTube like a lot of people do now.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, she wasn't that confident. It was
Speaker 1: kind of her way, her outlet, or yeah, well, any
Speaker 1: free time she got she would blog. And she had
Speaker 1: the realization that when it became her full time job,
Speaker 1: it would add a level of pressure because there was
Speaker 1: money writing on it, and I think she was worried
Speaker 1: that it would become less authentic because she'd be required
Speaker 1: to film on these days instead of choosing to film,
Speaker 1: And you could really see that she was grappling with
Speaker 1: it very early on.
Speaker 2: I personally don't really want to do a schedule because
Speaker 2: I don't want to feel like I have to upload
Speaker 2: videos because I do get paid to make YouTube videos,
Speaker 2: but I don't make them because I get paid. I
Speaker 2: make them because I love interacting with you guys. I
Speaker 2: love helping you guys, and just I don't know, I
Speaker 2: just love, love, love making YouTube videos. So if I
Speaker 2: was to make a schedule, I'd feel like I kind
Speaker 2: of have to make it on this day at this time,
Speaker 2: and I feel like maybe I wouldn't be as happy
Speaker 2: in that video or in the videos that I have
Speaker 2: to make, you know, I mean, like it's so hard
Speaker 2: to explain.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because there has been a number of studies
Speaker 1: that have come out that said, once something becomes your
Speaker 1: full time job, when previously it was a passion project,
Speaker 1: you do lose motivation. It's such a strange phenomenon.
Speaker 2: Ty, can you start this off because I'm scared, Well,
Speaker 2: you haven't you specimen men men in your life? Okay?
Speaker 2: And he's pretty too light gold and I'm pretty sure
Speaker 2: you had chockol in your mouth and it was pretty.
Speaker 2: But yes, I don't know what to say. I have
Speaker 2: seen someone I've seen, but he's gonna see this.
Speaker 1: Hell. This is where Jonathan Sour aka boyfriend Goals entered
Speaker 1: the chat. I was very interested to learn Shani and
Speaker 1: Jonathan first met on Snapchat. Yeah, and Shanny was only
Speaker 1: eighteen at the time and Jonathan was twenty three now.
Speaker 1: According to Shani, Jonathan randomly added her and they began talking.
Speaker 1: Wait was Snapchat? Was this like you know before Instagram dms?
Speaker 1: Like sliding into the dms? Was it a thing to
Speaker 1: connect with people on Snapchat? Or I would assume it
Speaker 1: would have been quite difficult to find her Snapchat. Oh,
Speaker 1: it all comes down to the fact that Shanni had
Speaker 1: a large following, and I'm guessing that Jonathan probably saw
Speaker 1: her online and thought, oh my God, I want to
Speaker 1: talk to her. She's hot, who is she? And then
Speaker 1: track down her Snapchat handle now on YouTube. Shanny said
Speaker 1: she still doesn't know how Jonathan found her Snapchat name,
Speaker 1: but as I said, I'm guessing he was aware of
Speaker 1: who Shanny was and pursued her. Now they started chatting
Speaker 1: on Snapchat and then moved the conversation to text, where
Speaker 1: they soon began texting every day. A cute fun fact
Speaker 1: that I had forgotten about this couple is that they
Speaker 1: share the same birth except they are five years apart.
Speaker 1: As you touched on, Jonathan is five years her senior,
Speaker 1: which at the time did seem like a pretty big
Speaker 1: age gap. It just reminds me of those girls at
Speaker 1: high school and they get their older boyfriends to come
Speaker 1: pick them up, and you think it's really cool, but
Speaker 1: then when you get out of high school, you realize
Speaker 1: it was a bit sad. Yeah, it was a bit
Speaker 1: sad of the older guy rocking up to the I
Speaker 1: in school. To be fair, though, I don't think it
Speaker 1: was a huge age difference between them. It didn't seem
Speaker 1: to be. Like Sharne seems a lot more mature for
Speaker 1: her age. Now back to how they met, They did
Speaker 1: speak via text for a few months until they randomly
Speaker 1: or not so randomly, ran into each other outside a
Speaker 1: nightclub on their joint birthdays. Here's what Sharnie said.
Speaker 2: We met up on our birthdays, which was completely accidental.
Speaker 2: I feel like, so we had the same birthdays. I
Speaker 2: was coming out of my taxi to go to a
Speaker 2: club and he was walking to a club. And I
Speaker 2: came out of my car out of my taxi and
Speaker 2: he was literally right there, like he was just walking
Speaker 2: to the club and I was getting out, and I
Speaker 2: was like, WHOA, I did not expect to see you here.
Speaker 2: I was not expecting that at all. And then we
Speaker 2: just met up at a different club later on, and
Speaker 2: then we're literally together for the next four days straight.
Speaker 2: And then we had sleepovers for like two months straight,
Speaker 2: and then we started dating.
Speaker 1: Well, I want to know, did they have snap maps
Speaker 1: back then? I'm assuming not. Well, it would have been
Speaker 1: easy to find her, because I get the vibe that Jonathan.
Speaker 1: I don't want to use the word stalked as an
Speaker 1: aggressive word, but I feel like he must have kind
Speaker 1: of worked in, worked out where she was going to
Speaker 1: be and wanted to make it happen because we've all
Speaker 1: been there before. Yeah, and as you know, as an
Speaker 1: eighteen year old girl, you would think, oh my god,
Speaker 1: this is fate. This is a sign that I should
Speaker 1: be with this guy. I've opened the taxi door. There
Speaker 1: he is. Do you think that Shanny might have worked
Speaker 1: out where he was going though? I got the vibe
Speaker 1: that he was the one really pursuing this relationship from
Speaker 1: the get go. He did have all of the ingredients
Speaker 1: to be the perfect boyfriend of Instagram.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you're an accountant, you're twenty three, you live
Speaker 2: with a few friends. Yeah, so I'm not from here
Speaker 2: from Rocky, im rock Hampson, you grew up in Rocky. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Shiny come and visited last week.
Speaker 1: He was really every high school girl's dream. He was hot,
Speaker 1: he was buff, he was the older guy, and he
Speaker 1: seemed mature and like he had his life together. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and with a new guy and life was a full
Speaker 1: time YouTuber. Shiny Grimman was no longer the regular girl
Speaker 1: next door. Every young girl was now aspiring to be
Speaker 1: just like her. That is where we will leave you
Speaker 1: for today's episode. Next week, we will explore what happens
Speaker 1: when your relationship turned sour and you become the center
Speaker 1: of Australia's hottest influencer click. If you did enjoy this episode,
Speaker 1: we would love if you could go and leave us
Speaker 1: a five star review because it really does help out
Speaker 1: the podcast. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram
Speaker 1: and on TikTok at Outspoken Underscore the Underscore Podcast. We're
Speaker 1: going to be sharing some amazing throwback posts of Shani
Speaker 1: and if you'd like to follow Kate, Sophie and I
Speaker 1: on Instagram, I'm just at Amy Torba, your Sophie Underscore
Speaker 1: Torba and Kate is at Kate Torbert. Get ready for
Speaker 1: the baby content. This episode was recorded on the traditional
Speaker 1: land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Plains. We
Speaker 1: pay respect to elders past and present.