Latest / Outspoken the Podcast / Influencers’ ‘Tone Deaf’ Chinese New Year Celebrations

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Influencers’ ‘Tone Deaf’ Chinese New Year Celebrations · Outspoken the Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Amy Torber and coming up on today's show, the Chinese
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: New Year debate blowing up on TikTok. Kat Clark's drinks
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: fridge divides opinions. Lucy Jackson's petition to get Tammy Hembrough
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: on her podcast. And Sarah's day's holiday home gets the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: green light. But first, a TikToker called Chloe Ray has
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: pointed out that Aussie influencers all speak with the same accent.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: And now I can't unhear it. Let's take a listen
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: to what she said.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Just stopping after every word.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: So now that I have all of the like that.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: It really irks me.
• 0:47
  Speaker 5: And I feel like I do it sometimes because I'm
• 0:49
  Speaker 5: so used to seeing other people do it online and
• 0:51
  Speaker 5: we just adopt it.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: So I was going to the shops the other day.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Is that not bang on? It's literally like influencers are
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: searching for words whilst they're speaking out loud. And it's
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: because they're so unsure of what they're about to say next.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, I feel for them whenever we have to
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: record any sort of content for our Instagram story, you
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: do find yourself automatically doing it.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: I think it's more of a case of you just
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: copy what you see online.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: And when everyone's doing it, you kind of think, oh,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: that's the persona that I have to put on when
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I'm talking on my Instagram story or TikTok. Yeah, I've
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: watched some old videos from Aussie influencers from about seven
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: years ago, and this was at the peak of Sarah's
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: day's fame. And I noticed that they all try and
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: emulate the way that she spoke back then. But now
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: they've completely changed and are speaking in their own tone
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: of voice. I think it's also because influencers vlog their
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: lives and they're basically giving you this rundown of their
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: daily errands. So it almost becomes this list that they're
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: reading out to us. I've been watching a lot of
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: US TikTokers and I've noticed that they ask for things
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: differently than Australians do. Like if I went to a cafe,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: I'd be like, oh, can I please get a this?
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: And they'll go, I'll do a caramel frappuccino. And it's like,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: if someone said to me, if I was working at
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: a cafe and they're like, I'll do, I'd be like,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: that's really rude. But I know that they're obviously not
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: trying to be. Do you know what? I also think
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: with the Aussie influencers, it's because they now second guess
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: every single thing that they say because they're worried about
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: getting cancelled. So it's almost like they're trying to think,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: one step ahead. That's why it's so slow. That is
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: so true. The comment section was pretty hilarious under this video.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: So one user wrote, I'm dot, dot, dot obsessed in
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: every sentence, which got over 500 likes. Whilst another said
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: the stretching out of the word literally and the product
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: tapping with a screaming face emoji. Sofa Dofa even weighed in, writing, guys,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: do I do this with crying faces? And added, I
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: fear I do. And the TikToker Chloe, who created this video, said, yes,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I love you regardless, queen. It's because we're
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: trying to think ahead and say the right thing.
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: I have seen so many influencers this Chinese New Year
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: talk about celebrating Chinese New Year and they are coming
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: off so fucking tone deaf.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Two prominent Australian influencers have been accused of trying to
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: exploit Chinese culture for their own benefit. Em Davies and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Jackie Alexander were labelled tone deaf by Asian content creators
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: after sharing Chinese New Year themed content. Kate, this content
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: sparked a big cultural conversation online. Before we get into
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Em and Jackie's posts, can you explain what is extra
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: special about Chinese New Year this year? Well, it's always
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: been one of the biggest cultural holidays globally, but the
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: reason it has blown up on TikTok is because this
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: zodiac year is a rare one. So this year, it's
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: the year of the horse, but it's not just any
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: horse year. It is a fire horse year, which only
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: happens every 60 years. So the reason why non-Asian influencers
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: are latching onto Chinese New Year this year is because
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: the fire horse year makes it a lot more special
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: and more marketable. The fire horse also plays really well
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: into TikTok trends because the energy it is traditionally described
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: as having is fast moving, transformational and change driven.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: And when you think about.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: It, these attributes perfectly align with current viral content trends
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: that we're seeing online. So like lock-in era, reinvention era,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: glow up. The themes also overlap with manifestation and astrology
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: content that are also very popular at the moment. Not
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: to mention, it also gives influencers a chance to use
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: the Zodiac animals as a personality archetype. So lots of
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: influencers have been using the Year of the Horse as
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: this personal branding narrative rather than a cultural one. This year,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Chinese New Year fell on the 17th of February and
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: leading into it, TikTok started circulating of white influencers talking
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: about the celebration. So some spoke about the Year of
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the Horse while others said that they were in their
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Chinese era. Other white influencers were even advising people about
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: what rituals they should be following before the new year started. Now,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Em Davies and Jackie Alexander were the most well-known influencers
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: to jump on the trend, but there were definitely others
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: doing it as well. It wasn't just these two women.
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: So in terms of Em's now deleted video, she offered
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: tips on what to do before the year of the horse.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: So she described the traditions as woo-woo crazy girl behavior.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: She also captioned the video, reminder, As long as you
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: are alive, you can begin again and again and again. Now,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: as for Jackie Alexander, she posted a video where she
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: mimed to a trending sound saying, I always get what
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: I want with the caption POV. You listen to the
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: girls who told you to wash your hair before the
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Lunar New Year. So 2026 will be a year of
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: wealth and prosperity.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Now, the backlash was swift.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: The first person I saw post about it on TikTok
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: was a creator called Soph, who goes by the handle SophNGU. Now,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: she posted a video urging white influencers to stop adopting
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: her culture.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Let's take a listen to what she said.
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: I keep opening my app and getting really triggered by
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: all these white influencers being.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Like, it's the year of the horse tomorrow. I'm like, guys,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: you grew up white. You've never culturally celebrated this. Like
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: this doesn't apply. You can't just like adopt this culture
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: and it's yours. Like stop. Despite only having a thousand followers,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Soph's video clearly resonated with a lot of people online
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: as it got over 250,000 views. It didn't take long
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: until more Asian content creators shared their thoughts. Jordan Tan,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: who has almost 50,000 TikTok followers, uploaded a video accusing
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: influencers of trying to turn her culture into a trend. Now,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: this video went absolutely viral and at the time of recording,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: it has over 800,000 views. And in the video, Jordan
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: really generously shared about what it was like growing up
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: mixed race in a coastal town in Australia where most
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: people were white. Interestingly, she said that two of the
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: influencers who have been called out for this trend actually
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: grew up in the same town as her. And she
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: spoke about how when she was younger, she would suppress
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: her Asian culture as she was very desperate to try
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: and fit in and embarrassed about who she was.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Now, she said that.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: She's done a lot of work to embrace her culture
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: since then and to unpack so much of her internalized racism,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: which is why it really frustrates her when she sees
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: non-Asian creators trying to make her culture into a trend.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Let's take a listen to some more of what Jordan said.
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: To see... Non-Asian people jump on this trend that is
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: not a fucking trend.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: It's, like, people's life.
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: Like, it's our culture and it's our identity. just because
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: it benefits them because it's trending because it they can
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: profit off it i am genuinely just so gobsmacked and
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: i'm pissed off i'm so pissed off because it's like
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: you are the same kind of people that make us
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: feel bad for being asian you are the same kind
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: of person who would.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Have bullied me at school for the kind of food
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: that i brought.
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: Or the kind of you know things that i wear
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: or the fact that i look different and i was
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: like an easy target for you to pick.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: On Another content creator called Grace shared similar sentiments and
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: called out influences for treating Chinese New Year like a
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: trendy aesthetic. She then said this.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: Don't get me wrong. I do love seeing people celebrate,
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: learn and take part in Chinese New Year and our culture.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: But I just want people to know that there's so
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: much more to it than what you see online. And
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: I really don't want it to be just a It's
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: not just like a once a year.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Moment for us.
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  Speaker 3: And my culture is not just some woo-woo crazy girl
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: thing that we do once a year to reset, level
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: up or whatever.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Now, while Grace didn't name any influencers, M Davies responded
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: underneath the video writing, this was so incredibly insightful. I'm
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: sorry if my video upset you. I removed it immediately
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: as I never intended to upset anyone. It was interesting
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: because within that comment section, several people started calling out
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Jackie Alexander for her video. So they claimed that they
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: tried to educate her on her own TikTok about what
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: was wrong with it. And then they accused her of
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: deleting their comments. Now, Jackie Alexander responded in the comments writing,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I want to apologize for my Lunar New Year video.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: My intention was to celebrate and take part in a
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: lighthearted way. I'm reading all the feedback, learning from this
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: and we'll do better in the future.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Thanks.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Now, a content creator called Raquel wasn't happy with Jackie's
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: response and shared a video dissecting her.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Apology line by line.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: So she accused Jackie of hiding and deleting comments from
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Asian creators and the community.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: She then said this.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: Why is it the moment that other creators challenge your perspective,
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: you then choose to silence us and speak over others?
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: Learning and doing better isn't just saying sorry. It usually
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: involves more than a short apology under a comment section.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: Learning and doing better is acknowledging harm openly and taking
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: responsibility on your own public platform. Real accountability means recognizing
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: the privilege you hold as a white creator, as well
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: as speaking out and supporting other communities that are right
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: now currently being put down.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: I found this really interesting timing because it comes off
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: the back of another popular trend which was sweeping TikTok
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: which was the you met me at a very Chinese
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: time in my life and this is where a lot
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: of non-Asian creators were really embracing Asian culture. They were
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: sharing different things that they were now doing. And this
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: divided Asian content creators because some were saying, oh, I
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: really like that other people are taking on our culture.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: And others said, well, actually, this annoys me because this
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: is something I've been paid out for or this is
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: something that hasn't been culturally accepted previously. Yeah, there were
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: a lot of Asian creators who saw this as a
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: positive step forward off the back of all of the
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: racism we saw before. around the COVID pandemic. In terms
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: of the timing as well it does come off the back.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Of the road beauty diversity.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Discussion so we spoke in length about how that event
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: was slammed for lacking diversity last week. If you haven't
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: heard the episode I suggest going and having a listen
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: it was from Tuesday. Now content creator Jordan Tan had
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: this to say on the connection between the road event.
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: It's so interesting to see influencers indulging in Chinese culture,
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: in ethnic culture, in things that people of color have
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: been doing for years and years and years. And they
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: love to just like pick and choose. But it's so
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: interesting watching them post about it, yet simultaneously not have
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: anything to say about the diversity conversation that all of
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: us women of color have just been having.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Jordan makes such a good point because it was really
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: disappointing to see none of the big name influencers who
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: were invited to the road event join in on the
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: conversation that was happening online. None of them said, hey,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: you guys have made a really good point. We need
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: to see more diversity at these type of events. We
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: need to hold the brands accountable. I understand that they
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: want to keep their name on the invite list. But
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: surely it comes down to moral ethics. And surely you
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: want to be around a diverse audience at these type
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: of events and have other people platform, not just the
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: same white influencers who all look the same. I mean,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: as we pointed out last week, it's not actually the
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: individual influencers fault for there not being diversity on the
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: guest list. But as you said, it would be nice
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: if someone could just be honest and say, look, we
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: were sort of scratching our heads too and thinking, where
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: are the other creators? Where is some diversity in this room?
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Because Soph and I have been to events recently and
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: we have felt extremely uncomfortable at the lack of diversity
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: in the room, whether it be race, age or body shape.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: And it is an uncomfortable feeling when you are on
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: that guest list and you might not necessarily agree with
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the different creators that have been invited to it. In
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: terms of Chinese New Year, I think that there's also
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: a lot of Asian creators who are frustrated to see
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: white influencers promoting their holiday. Because it is a real
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: opportunity for Asian creators to actually, one, get paid for
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: their work and two, speak about their culture to a
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: broader community of people.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: That being said, we have to take our hat off
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: to High Point.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: They did a really good collaboration recently with friend of
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: the podcast, Estelle Greepink, who is a content creator and
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: a seven journo. So her mom is Malaysian and they
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: were doing a promotion around Lunar New Year. And it
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: was really lovely because they were going around to the
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: different stores at High Point that had different celebrations on
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: and it just felt really genuine and authentic. And that
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: just shows that there are these opportunities that Asian creators
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: could be having, but unfortunately they're being given to the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: wrong people. I've got to do a shout out for
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Estelle's mum. How cute was she in the video too?
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Her mum looks like such a sweetheart. Everyone go and
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: follow Estelle because she has such great motherhood content.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: I understand where you're coming from, Sophie.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: It's a good opportunity for brands to work with Asian
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: content creators. The alignment is definitely there. However, that's not
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: really what this debate was about. It was about Asian
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: content creators feeling like their Chinese culture was being exploited
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: for influencers' benefits. And it was interesting how a lot
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: of the content creators said, look, these are the type
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: of people that I feel like would have been bullying
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: me at school. And obviously that's not directed specifically at
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: the influencers we have discussed because I think it's unfair
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: to typecast them as bullies. But it is interesting that
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: that is the tone that's currently online. I am sensing
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: this shift towards influencers. We obviously had a big shift
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: in 2020 off the back of COVID where everyone really
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: put the microscope on their behavior. But at the start
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: of this year, it's becoming more apparent that people are
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: sick of the same people getting invited to things, that
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: sick of influencers not being held accountable. And it's interesting
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: because I feel like Last year, we kind of took
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: our foot off of the brake and people were sick
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: of people holding influencers to account.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: But that's kind of changed again at the start of
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: this year.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: I think it also highlights the issue with TikTok that
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: sometimes things become a trend and people might not fully
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: understand the nuance of it and just how offensive it
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: actually is. Aussie TikToker Kat Clark has divided opinions by
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: setting up a snack and drinks fridge for delivery drivers
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: dropping parcels at her house. The influencer who now lives
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: in LA said this.
• 15:06
  Speaker 6: Pretty sure the mail guy hates me, but that's about
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: to change because I'm making him.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: A snack fridge. Ava and I have been doing a
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: lot of online shopping lately. To get to our house,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: you have to walk up quite a few stairs. Now,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: the first few months, the delivery driver was dropping our
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: packages off right at the door. But lately, he's been
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: leaving them at the bottom of the stairs. Do you
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: know what's really funny? I heard in a podcast interview
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: that apparently healthy vending machines... don't make half as much
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: money as the unhealthy ones. Like people were saying, oh no,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: if I just had healthy snacks, you know, as an option,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: I would opt for them. No, that doesn't work.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: I think we all knew that.
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Well, I have to take my hat off to Kat
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: because as this was a paid partnership, it was a
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: really clever way to promote the drink without it looking
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: like a straight hard sell. These random acts of kindness
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: videos are really popular over social media and psychologists say
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: it's because of this moral bias elevation. So basically you
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: get this uplifting feeling when you see someone doing something
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: good and it's only natural that you want more of
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: that feeling. So you go and seek out more of
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: these videos. Is it bad that it makes me feel skeptical?
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Because remember that people were doing all those videos where
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: someone would pay for someone's groceries and then, but then
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: they'd stick the camera in their face and it's like, well,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: You're doing it to get views, which in turn you're
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: making money from. So is this genuinely an act of kindness? Well,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: and Kat literally did it as a paid promotion. So
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: she wasn't actually trying to be nice to her delivery drivers.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: It's funny because I saw influencer updates share about this
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, I thought it was genuine.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: When I first saw it, I didn't realize it was
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: a paid partnership. And my first thought was, oh. Is
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: she just wanting to make sure that they actually leave
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: her package there?
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Because there is nothing worse when they take your package
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: back to the post office.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Often I'll be sitting in my office and I'll hear
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the delivery truck roll in. They will not even press
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: the doorbell. And suddenly I'll get a note saying, collect
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: it from the nearest post office. I'm like, fuck you. Well,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: getting back to Kat's video, it got a massive response
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: on TikTok. So at the time of recording, it has
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: had over 4 million views. And I'm not sure if
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: the supplement brand would be particularly stoked because there was
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: a pretty negative response to it. So there were countless
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: comments saying it's giving Serena Neal. So Serena Neal is
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: a TikToker based in Utah and she has over 6
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: million followers and she's best known for viral heartwarming content,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: particularly her annual angel tree videos where she shops for
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: gifts for children in need. And people were essentially accusing
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Kat of only creating this feel-good content to look like
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: a nice person and get mass views. People were getting
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: really picky in the comment section because one person said
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: that she shouldn't have put homemade orange juice into the fridge.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: So this person pointed out that she shouldn't have put
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: bottles that weren't sealed by a manufacturer in the fridge
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: and she could be held responsible if someone laced them
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: with poison. It sort of sounds like the paranoid thoughts
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: that all of our parents would have. You know, anytime
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: you'd go out trick-or-treating back in the 90s, you'll be like,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Someone could have injected that package with poison. Lucy Jackson
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: is starting a petition to get Tammy Hembrough on the
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Happy Hour podcast. On TikTok, Lucy revealed she wants to
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: start a new series where she interviews iconic guests. Off
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the bat, she said she believes they may be able
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: to secure an interview with Tammy. Let's listen to Lucy's
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: burning question for Tammy. And I would ask, fuck, marry, kill,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Matt Zukowski, Matt Poole.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: And Reese.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: This is iconic. I mean, where do we sign up?
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: I would tune in for this. Can someone make this happen, please?
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Tammy and Lucy's relationship is interesting because it was at
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Lucy and Nikki's housewarming party that Tammy met her fiance,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Matt Paul. So I wonder how that friendship is actually
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: going because we've spoken on the podcast how it seems
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: like there isn't much love lost between Tammy and Matt
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Paul at the moment. I wonder if Lucy has felt
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: some of that. And now she's like, oh God, I
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: can't just ask her to be on the podcast. I've
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: actually got to get, you know, some support around me.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: We've got to get fans reaching out to her. She
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: did preface that Tammy's one of her lovely friends. I
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: just think that she's maybe doing this to create a
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: bit of hype. I want to ask you guys, what
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: do you reckon her answer would be? Surely she would
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: fuck Reese Hawkins. I think that that one's kind of
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: off the bat is obvious after her recent behavior. Yeah,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: but I could also see her marrying Reese Hawkins as well.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, so many of her fans would absolutely love
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: to see that happen. And I can, out of all
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: of those partners, I could see her getting back and
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: having a relationship with Rhys Hawkins the most. Well, Matt
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Sikowsky was the only one that she married. So I
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: think she'd marry Matt Sikowsky. I don't like to say kill,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: but I think she'd probably like to see the back
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: of Matt Poole, especially after some of his comments on Instagram.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: And she's going to fuck Reese. No, because she's already
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: married Matt Sikowsky. This is in current day. Like who
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: would she marry now out of the three of them?
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Definitely Reese Hawkins. Tammy jumped in in the comment section
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: and wrote, ha ha ha ha ha, Lucy with crying
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: faces and a skull emoji. It was quite interesting though,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: because it seemed like a lot of people would prefer
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Lucy and Nikki to have the mats on. So one
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: TikTok user wrote, girl, I'd love both mats together. We
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: know they have tea. Whilst another said, yes, because after Tammy,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: they are friends. I'd actually love to hear Tammy on
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Happy Hour because I think Lucy and Nikki would really
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: go there even though they are friends. I mean, last
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: week we were talking about how Lucy Jackson said that
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: they should have Hailey Bieber on the show to ask
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: all of the tough questions. I don't think they'd hold
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: back and they could probably do it in a way
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: where people you know, Tammy would respect it, the audience
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: would respect it. Yeah, even when they had the Shameless
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Girls on, I think it was last year, and they
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: kind of made a few jibes as in Zara was
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: making out like she was quite bossy at work and
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: they're like, babe, like you sound quite scary. And it
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: was just so tongue in cheek. Well, talking about Matt Sikowsky,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: he was recently holidaying in Bali and he shared a
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: pool selfie on his Instagram story. And a lot of
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: people noticed that he scribbled out the tattoo on his
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: hip that says Tammy. And it does come after Tammy
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: revealed in a video that she was having Matt Sikowsky's
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: name and their wedding date lasered off her body. And
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: that was part of a paid partnership deal that Tammy
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: did for a numbing cream called Numbit. Ironically, Matt previously
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: promoted that brand ahead of their wedding when he was
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: getting his ex's name removed off his ass. My guess
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: is he subtly covered the tattoo because he didn't want
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: people to read into the fact that he hasn't had
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: it removed yet when Tammy's made it so clear that
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: she's got hers removed. I wonder if it also had
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: something to do with the fact that it looked like
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: he was whining and dining someone over in Bali. I
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: don't know if he actually took someone away on holiday
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: or if he just had a holiday romance, but maybe
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: he knew that that person was going to be looking
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: at his content and didn't want her seeing the tattoo.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Touching on the apparent romance that he's having in Bali,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: on Influencer Updates AU, she shared a post saying that
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: people were out at a cafe or restaurant and basically
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Matt and this girl were there and the waitstaff brought
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: out a cake that said congratulations on it, but they're
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: not sure what the congratulations was about. After a 17-month wait,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: the plans for Sarah's day's Spanish-inspired holiday home have finally
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: been approved. It has been a long time coming for
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: the fitness influencer and her videographer husband, Kurt Tills, who
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: purchased the property over three years ago. Let's have a
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: listen to what Sarah said.
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: Been waiting for this day for three years. And honestly,
• 22:24
  Speaker 6: there was points that I thought it would never come
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: and never happen, but we finally got DA approval for
• 22:31
  Speaker 6: our Spanish inspired house that we're building up the coast.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: It's our holiday house. I've been in the works for
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: three years.
• 22:36
  Speaker 6: So I think we purchased the property three years ago.
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: We've been designing and we lodged the DA 17 months
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: ago and it finally got approved. So today's our first
• 22:46
  Speaker 6: big meeting with everyone.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Amy, I'm pretty sure when we did our influencer predictions
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: for 2026 that we said that Sarah's day wouldn't get
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: approval and she might have to change up her design.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: So egg is really on our face at the moment.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: We've got most of your predictions right this year, so
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: you're bound to get something wrong. It's interesting because she
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: has been working with a team of experts to bring
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: the plans to life. She has a high-end architectural firm
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: on board. She also has T. White Buildings and Construction,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: as well as her good friend and bridesmaid, Maddie. who
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: works for an interior design company who also worked on
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: her house. So she helped her design her current Cronulla home.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: She seems to be getting a lot of work out
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: of it, doesn't she?
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, she's keeping her very busy.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: One follower ended up asking the question that's been on
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: everyone's lips, which is why has it taken such a
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: long time for the project to start?
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: So Sarah replied.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Slamming the DA process, saying it was an absolute joke.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: And she revealed that they had to actually escalate it
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: as the planning authority was just not getting back to them.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: She finished up by saying that they waited years for
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: an answer. Now, as you guys touched on a couple
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: of months ago, Sarah has launched a home account for
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: her holiday house. And of course, the account has a
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: fancy name. Let's take a listen to the reasoning behind
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: the name.
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: The name of our house is Sirocco. It's a wind
• 24:05
  Speaker 6: that comes from the Sahara and sweeps across the Mediterranean.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Now, one Italian follower pointed out to Sarah that she
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: got the word slightly wrong, saying that the Italian name
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: for wind isn't spelt the way that she spelled it
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: or pronounced like that. Instead of saying, hey, we got
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: it wrong. Thanks for your help. Sarah replied saying, that
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: is the name of the house, with a wink. The
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: follower ended up replying, I understand, but saying that you
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: named the house after the wind is incorrect because the
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: name of the wind is another one. No hate here.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: I understand it can be frustrating when someone corrects you,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: but Sarah has a real history of just biting back
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: at followers who are simply pointing out the accurate pronunciation
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: of something. Despite that negative comment, the majority of Sarah's
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: followers seemed really ecstatic for her and were keen to
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: follow the process. One said, can't wait for the inspo.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Me and my mum are renovating our kitchen into the style.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Whilst another joked, hoping when the house is finished, you'll
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: never have to do a caravan park again with a
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: laughing face. I love that. Adelaide influencer Ellen McGrath, known
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: by her followers as Smiley Citrus, gave birth to her
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: baby boy, Charlie James McGrath. So how refreshing is it
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: to hear an influencer give their baby a traditional name?
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: It's so rare, but it is so appreciated. Charlie is
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: such a cute name. I have to admit, I am
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: a bit of a smiley citrus stan. She became my
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: comfort watch when I gave birth to Luca because when
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: I would do my overnight feeds, I would put her
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: YouTube videos on and it was right before she announced
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: that she was pregnant. And as soon as she said,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: I'm having a baby, I was like, oh my God,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: I can't wait for all of the content. I'm going
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: to find it so relatable. And I think it's been
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: extra special seeing her document her pregnancy journey because around
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: two years ago, she opened up about experiencing pregnancy loss
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: and She bravely spoke about how the experience affected her
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: saying that there were no words to explain the pain
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: and heartbreak of the loss. So it's been really lovely
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: to see this pregnancy has been a healing journey for
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: her and that her son is finally here. Well, her
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: followers have been on baby watch for the last couple
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: of weeks because at the 40 week mark, Ella began
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: vlogging every day until she went into labor. I've never
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: seen an influencer do this before. I loved it because
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: She was basically showing how she and her lawyer husband, Nick,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: were soaking up the last of their dink days and
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: they were going to a lot of cafes and nice
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: places in Adelaide. And I thought it was quite brave
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: of her to do this because as soon as she
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: stopped posting, surely she knew that her followers are going
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: to be like, oh my God, the baby must be here.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: What's happening? I mean, it's a good way to create engagement. Well,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: it hit the four day mark and I must admit,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: I went into the comment section and a lot of
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: other people were posting like, oh, like, can we have
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: an update? Hope everything's okay. Sending you all big love.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: I think her last post was on the 17th of
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: February and it was, this pregnancy sort of bump update
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: where she was miming to a trending sound. And she wrote,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: ready when you are baby boy. And she had actually
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: dropped that she was open to having an induction. And
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: she had one locked in if she went past, you know,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: any longer than 41 weeks. And before that, she had
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: spoken about wanting a really natural birth. So I think
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: a lot of people were like, oh my God, she
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: must be in labor for a couple of days. Yeah,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: because it wasn't until Saturday that Ella announced the good
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: news on Instagram. She wrote, we did it. Charlie James
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: McGrath born 17th of February in true cheeky charlie boy
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: fashion with an emergency c-section and a few days being
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: looked after in the NICU we couldn't be more in
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: love and thankful for our little bean she included a
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: photo of herself being wheeled out after the c-section and
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: again like this is just developing the parasocial relationship I
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: have with her I was like oh my god I
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: feel so sorry for her because I have a feeling
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: that she gave birth in the same hospital as we did.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: And it was almost just too raw to see it.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: I really felt for her because I think it'd be
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: so tough if you had gone in really hoping for
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: this very natural birth. That was your expectation. And then
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: suddenly having to have an emergency C-section and not being
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: mentally prepared for that. Well, she said in one of
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: her recent vlogs that she was just happy for it.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: whichever was the safest way for her baby to come
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: into the world, which I think is a really good
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: way to look at it. I also got a bit
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: of PTSD after reading that they were in the neonatal
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: ward because that is also where my son spent a
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: couple of hours. And it is the scariest place I
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: think you can find yourself. And yeah, just seeing the
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: background or just it brought back a lot of memories
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: for me. So I hope that they are all doing okay. Well,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: I saw that they were already out at a cafe
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: and also a shopping center. So They must be feeling
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: pretty confident. They're obviously doing a great job if they're
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: already out and about. Yeah, it has been nice to see. Now,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: the Blue Tick Brigade was out in force in the
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: comment section. Sophie Jane Miller wrote, Charlie James, what an angel. Congratulations,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: you two. Whilst Georgia Richards wrote, he's here. I'm absolutely
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: hanging out for a birth vlog. I really hope that
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: that comes out soon, but understandably, it'll probably be a
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: couple of mornings. On that note, I think that is
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: all we have time for today. Thank you so much
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: for joining us for this episode. If you have enjoyed it,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: could you please make sure you are subscribed on Apple
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Podcasts and also Spotify. This episode was recorded on the
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: traditional land of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: We pay respect to elders past and present.