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Not Another Influencer Fitness Program · Outspoken the Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken.
0:05
Speaker 2: It's your dose of the hottest influencer and pop culture
0:08
Speaker 2: news twice a week. I'm Sophie Torber and coming up
0:10
Speaker 2: on today's show, mummy blogger Sarah Kearns is facing criticism
0:15
Speaker 2: after unveiling her plans to release a fitness program. Steph
0:18
Speaker 2: Glessmith's shock pregnancy news, but first Matt Sikowsky's ex Genevieve
0:23
Speaker 2: Ward has broken her silence just weeks out from her
0:26
Speaker 2: former boyfriend's wedding to Tammy Hembro. Kate, can you tell
0:29
Speaker 2: us what's gone down? Well, Jen has been silent thus far,
0:32
Speaker 2: but she has come out swinging in defense of podcaster
0:35
Speaker 2: Megan Passetto. So as we discussed a few weeks back,
0:39
Speaker 2: Megan released an explosive expose on Matt Sikowsky on her podcast,
0:43
Speaker 2: So Dramatic. And in the episode, the journalist claimed that
0:47
Speaker 2: Matt was a serial cheat who auditioned for Love Island
0:50
Speaker 2: UK while dating Jen and And she also accused Matt
0:53
Speaker 2: of cheating on Jen with Tammy. Now in the episode,
0:55
Speaker 2: Megan said that she got the information from Jen's friends,
0:58
Speaker 2: but I have a feeling it was really from Jen herself. Yeah.
1:01
Speaker 2: Late last week, Megan revealed she was forced to remove
1:05
Speaker 2: the episodes about Matt. She wrote on Instagram, my Matt
1:08
Speaker 2: Sikowski episodes have been taken down by the powers that be.
1:13
Speaker 2: If you would like to listen to these episodes in
1:15
Speaker 2: the time being, Until I sort things out, you will
1:18
Speaker 2: have to listen to them on Patreon. Now, this is
1:21
Speaker 2: where Jen comes in because Jen commented underneath the post,
1:25
Speaker 2: trying to silence you like he did me. He knows
1:28
Speaker 2: I have the print screens and she added a crying
1:30
Speaker 2: with laughter emoji. Now, Megan quickly shared Jen's comment to
1:35
Speaker 2: her Instagram story and added a poll asking her followers
1:38
Speaker 2: if she should publish the evidence. Yes. Now, the response
1:41
Speaker 2: was a resounding yes. And after obviously being bombarded with questions,
1:46
Speaker 2: Megan followed up with another post that read, for the record,
1:50
Speaker 2: the episodes were not taken down by me and not
1:52
Speaker 2: taken down because of lawyers or defamation. I can confidently
1:56
Speaker 2: back all claims in both episodes up with evidence. I
2:00
Speaker 2: will explain why they have been taken down in due time,
2:03
Speaker 2: but it has nothing to do with me not being
2:05
Speaker 2: able to back up the claims in the episodes. I
2:08
Speaker 2: wonder if it has anything to do with the platform
2:11
Speaker 2: that Megan's on. She is a Nova podcast. Matt's podcast
2:14
Speaker 2: is a Nova podcast. Well, they only recently got signed
2:17
Speaker 2: to Nova. I would have thought that they would have
2:19
Speaker 2: more loyalty towards So Dramatic. You'd like to think so.
2:22
Speaker 2: I mean, So Dramatic rates higher in the charts than
2:25
Speaker 2: Anna and Matt's podcast. I wonder if it's the Tammy
2:28
Speaker 2: Hembrough effect though.
2:29
Speaker 1: I definitely think it is.
2:30
Speaker 2: Maybe they're trying to get Tammy on board to do
2:32
Speaker 2: a podcast with Nova. I mean, Tammy recently appeared on
2:35
Speaker 2: Matt's podcast. They're clearly trying to boost ratings. I think
2:38
Speaker 2: it's interesting to hear the sort of behind the scenes
2:40
Speaker 2: because I think people don't really understand how podcast networks work.
2:44
Speaker 1: So for us, we're with ARN.
2:46
Speaker 2: So we talk about influencers and there are influencer-led podcasts
2:50
Speaker 2: who are also on the network, but our show is
2:52
Speaker 2: still independent. So The network can't control what we talk about. Yeah,
2:57
Speaker 2: we made sure when we signed our agreement with ARN
2:59
Speaker 2: because essentially they help us get sponsorship deals. They don't
3:03
Speaker 2: actually own our podcast.
3:04
Speaker 1: Or they don't help us produce it.
3:06
Speaker 2: And we have spoken about other talent who are have
3:09
Speaker 2: podcasts on the same network, but we've never been told
3:11
Speaker 2: that we're not allowed to. Even Carl and Jackie O,
3:13
Speaker 2: remember we had that big run in with them as well.
3:15
Speaker 2: And they're obviously an ARN podcast and the biggest radio show.
3:19
Speaker 2: I mean, it would be different if ARN owned our podcast.
3:22
Speaker 2: And I think with Nova, they probably are some podcasts
3:24
Speaker 2: that they produce in-house. So the legalities around that would
3:28
Speaker 2: be different. Well, hopefully we won't have to wait too long.
3:30
Speaker 2: I feel like Megan is going to bring out an
3:32
Speaker 2: expose very soon. Oh, she would be raring to go.
3:37
Speaker 1: Good morning.
3:37
Speaker 3: I've just been chatting with a brand that I work
3:40
Speaker 3: with all the time and I just was like giving
3:42
Speaker 3: her a bit of a pep talk and I was like,
3:43
Speaker 3: you know what?
3:44
Speaker 1: I think everyone could use this pep talk.
3:47
Speaker 2: Divisive mummy blogger Sarah Kearns is facing criticism after unveiling
3:51
Speaker 2: her plans to release a fitness program called Project Glow.
3:55
Speaker 2: The influencer who has no qualifications in fitness or nutrition
3:59
Speaker 2: is using her recent weight loss as a motivator to
4:02
Speaker 2: sell the program. Days out from the launch, Sarah's former
4:06
Speaker 2: business partner weighed in, slamming influencers for undermining experts and
4:10
Speaker 2: calling out Sarah's use of before and after photos. Now, Sophie,
4:14
Speaker 2: for those who aren't familiar with Sarah Kearns, she isn't
4:17
Speaker 2: a fitness influencer. She's known for parenting content. Yeah, that's
4:20
Speaker 2: why this thing is just so confusing. So she and
4:23
Speaker 2: her husband, Brad Kearns, are better known as dad, mom. Now,
4:26
Speaker 2: the couple's parenting content really started gaining traction after Sarah
4:30
Speaker 2: was admitted to hospital shortly after having her son, Finn.
4:34
Speaker 2: And Brad had to step in and be the mum
4:36
Speaker 2: and look after their kids while she recovered. Was it
4:38
Speaker 2: that type of content where the dads say that they're
4:41
Speaker 2: babysitting their own children?
4:42
Speaker 1: Oh, I hate that sort of stuff.
4:44
Speaker 2: It's like, you're not babysitting your own kids. You're actually
4:46
Speaker 2: just looking after your kid. And it's all like, oh,
4:48
Speaker 2: what a great dad. Thank God he's stepping in and
4:50
Speaker 2: raising his own children. But it's also that the hopeless dad.
4:54
Speaker 3: I hate it.
4:54
Speaker 2: I hate it. Now they live on the central coast
4:56
Speaker 2: of New South Wales and To me, they come across
4:59
Speaker 2: as your typical Aussie battlers. I mean, their content isn't
5:02
Speaker 2: that aspirational content. It's that relatable content. And they generally
5:07
Speaker 2: play into all of the old tropes about, you know,
5:09
Speaker 2: the old ball and chain. And, you know, they take
5:11
Speaker 2: the piss out of each other. Can I ask you,
5:13
Speaker 2: do you think the term ball and chain is offensive?
5:16
Speaker 2: Because Daya was telling me the other day that he
5:18
Speaker 2: had this meeting and this girl was saying that she
5:21
Speaker 2: found the term Mrs. offensive, but she thought old ball
5:24
Speaker 2: and chain was okay. I think old ball and chain
5:27
Speaker 2: can be sort of jokey and comical.
5:30
Speaker 1: I mean, I wouldn't really like to be referred to.
5:32
Speaker 2: I would not be thrilled to be referred to the
5:34
Speaker 2: old ball and chain. There's definitely a negative connotation. I
5:37
Speaker 2: think Mrs. kind of sounds possessive. I think that's the
5:40
Speaker 2: issue with it.
5:40
Speaker 1: It's so colloquial. Yeah, it's a bit bogan.
5:43
Speaker 2: That's what I said today. I said, I'd be less
5:44
Speaker 2: offended by Mrs. than the ball and chain. I just
5:47
Speaker 2: don't like it either. Now, Sarah doesn't have a particularly
5:50
Speaker 2: large following. She has around 90,000 followers.
5:52
Speaker 1: So It's interesting that she is releasing a big program
5:56
Speaker 1: like this.
5:57
Speaker 2: While she doesn't have a massive following, I feel like
5:59
Speaker 2: a lot of people are engaged with her content.
6:01
Speaker 1: Because she- Probably for the wrong reasons.
6:03
Speaker 3: Yeah.
6:03
Speaker 2: There's a lot of hate following, I think, going on
6:05
Speaker 2: because she is a massive topic of discussion in our group. Now,
6:09
Speaker 2: over the past few months, followers have noticed that Sarah
6:12
Speaker 2: has lost a lot of weight, 25 kilos to be exact.
6:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's been doing a lot of body checks.
6:17
Speaker 2: And I feel like whenever someone loses a lot of weight,
6:20
Speaker 2: suddenly you see a lot of mirror selfies. And She
6:23
Speaker 2: said that she has been inundated with messages from followers
6:26
Speaker 2: asking her how she's lost the weight and what her
6:28
Speaker 2: secret is. So this was really the catalyst to launch
6:31
Speaker 2: her own fitness plan. I mean, there's not enough on
6:34
Speaker 2: the market, is there? Particularly run by influencers. It's a
6:37
Speaker 2: very under-saturated market. It's not really something that ties in
6:40
Speaker 2: with their brand normally, is it? Yeah. Well, she said
6:43
Speaker 2: that she really wanted to help her followers find their
6:46
Speaker 2: glow and which I have to say in 2024 is code.
6:50
Speaker 1: Word for lose weight.
6:51
Speaker 2: I am just so sick of these fitness programs that
6:55
Speaker 2: are marketed as, oh, we're just trying to help you
6:58
Speaker 2: find your glow. And it's not about weight loss, but
7:03
Speaker 2: you're also trying to lose 25 kilos at the same
7:05
Speaker 2: time as glowing. But to be fair, if someone was
7:07
Speaker 2: to put out a marketing campaign that was literally saying, oh,
7:11
Speaker 2: this is how you lose X amount of weight, it
7:12
Speaker 2: would be heavily criticized. I mean, it'd be refreshing.
7:15
Speaker 1: At least you know what you're getting. I'm so sick
7:16
Speaker 1: of being sold a lie.
7:18
Speaker 2: Well, Jennifer Aniston recently brought one out that was exactly
7:21
Speaker 2: like that. It was like, you can look like me
7:22
Speaker 2: if you do X, Y, and Z. And yes, it's
7:24
Speaker 2: very old school, but I think that as consumers in 2024,
7:28
Speaker 2: we kind of can see through the bullshit now. And
7:31
Speaker 2: how do we get a copy of that guy? What
7:33
Speaker 2: I didn't like as well is that she kind of
7:36
Speaker 2: acted like she was a hero for helping everyone out.
7:39
Speaker 2: She's like, I just need to help my community. So
7:41
Speaker 2: that's why I'm releasing the guide. I mean, it's not
7:43
Speaker 2: because she wants to make a lot of money off it.
7:45
Speaker 2: It's because she wants to help people. Do you think
7:47
Speaker 2: a lot of influencers who have recently lost a lot
7:50
Speaker 2: of weight are keen to actually push that they're doing
7:52
Speaker 2: it in a healthy way? Because there's so many rumors
7:54
Speaker 2: about Ozempic flying around. Yeah. Well, it's funny you say
7:57
Speaker 2: that because a lot of people who are like, oh,
7:59
Speaker 2: she's just on Ozempic. So I do think that there
8:02
Speaker 2: is an element of wanting to say, I actually worked
8:05
Speaker 2: hard for this. Yeah. Now, the initial promotion around this
8:09
Speaker 2: workout guide was really odd because there was very little
8:12
Speaker 2: detail about what was actually on offer. And this led
8:15
Speaker 2: to a lot of confusion. So she announced the program
8:18
Speaker 2: through a reel, which included phone vision of her working
8:21
Speaker 2: out in the gym, as well as a before and
8:24
Speaker 2: after selfie. Now, over the vision, she wrote, at the
8:27
Speaker 2: start of 2023, I made myself a promise.
8:30
Speaker 1: It was my time. It was hard.
8:32
Speaker 2: I wanted to quit more than once, but I worked
8:34
Speaker 2: on my mind, body, and my self-love. I received hundreds
8:37
Speaker 2: of messages asking for help. So I created a six-week
8:41
Speaker 2: journey to arm you with the tools and techniques you
8:44
Speaker 2: need to make lasting changes in your life too. Project Glow,
8:47
Speaker 2: launching November 12. She then went on to list that
8:51
Speaker 2: the program would include nutrition, exercise, body image, menstrual cycle,
8:55
Speaker 2: women's health issues, Reiki healing, mindfulness, life hacks, product recommendations,
9:01
Speaker 2: and so much more in capitals. Now, Sarah was quite
9:04
Speaker 2: vague when it came to who was actually involved in
9:06
Speaker 2: setting up this program. So she mentioned that there would
9:09
Speaker 2: be trusted practitioners on board, but she initially didn't specify
9:13
Speaker 2: what their qualifications were. It doesn't make sense to me
9:17
Speaker 2: why she wouldn't have included these so-called experts in the
9:21
Speaker 2: early marketing collateral because I would think that they would
9:24
Speaker 2: be a big sell. Yeah, it kind of seems like
9:26
Speaker 2: a second thought and maybe she's copped criticism after this announcement. Well,
9:29
Speaker 2: she has, which we will get into. The whole feel
9:32
Speaker 2: of this announcement was really low budget. I was surprised
9:35
Speaker 2: that she didn't have a videographer professionally filming the reel.
9:38
Speaker 2: Everything was just on her phone. And it also surprised
9:42
Speaker 2: me because following this reel, She put up a ton
9:45
Speaker 2: of Instagram stories and they were all just slabs of
9:47
Speaker 2: text explaining the program. And what made it even more
9:51
Speaker 2: awkward was that the text was riddled with errors. I
9:54
Speaker 2: just found it a really odd move because for someone
9:57
Speaker 2: like her, who's built a following out of connections, with
10:00
Speaker 2: her audience, wouldn't it be better for her to actually
10:03
Speaker 2: jump on her stories and talk about the effect that
10:06
Speaker 2: this weight loss and also this mind shift has had
10:09
Speaker 2: on her? I'm guessing it's because she wasn't that confident
10:12
Speaker 2: to talk off script about it because health and fitness
10:15
Speaker 2: is a really touchy subject. I mean, we know that
10:18
Speaker 2: she's already copped some criticism for the way she's marketed it.
10:21
Speaker 2: So it shows that she's not ultra confident in the
10:23
Speaker 2: messaging that she's putting it out. Well, it was really
10:26
Speaker 2: emphasized how quickly this was thrown together in one of
10:29
Speaker 2: the slides because Sarah wrote, this won't be one of
10:32
Speaker 2: those drip feed releases. I've mentioned it was in the
10:34
Speaker 2: works a few times and kept you all waiting. So
10:36
Speaker 2: we are all systems go. Subscribers will get access to
10:40
Speaker 2: join tonight. Then I'll open up to the masses ASAP.
10:43
Speaker 2: There are very limited numbers. It's interesting that she keeps
10:47
Speaker 2: harping on that there's only limited spots. This is a
10:49
Speaker 2: clear marketing technique to create urgency and urge people to
10:52
Speaker 2: buy because one user jumped on and on the website,
10:57
Speaker 2: you can click how many of the programs you want
10:59
Speaker 2: to order and they entered in 9,999 and they could
11:03
Speaker 2: add it to their cart. So it shows that she
11:05
Speaker 2: is expecting to have large numbers sign up. It's not
11:08
Speaker 2: this limited, very exclusive program that she's acting like it is. Yeah,
11:12
Speaker 2: because making it sound exclusive gives off the impression that
11:15
Speaker 2: she's going to be heavily involved in supporting the community.
11:18
Speaker 2: But if there's 10,000 people doing it, it also makes
11:21
Speaker 2: it sound like there's a live element to it and
11:23
Speaker 2: maybe they're doing live workouts together. Well, what is it?
11:25
Speaker 2: Is it an e-book?
11:26
Speaker 1: It's so confusing. So it's not an e-book.
11:28
Speaker 2: It is... that they've got pre-recorded workouts that Sarah.
11:33
Speaker 1: Is doing with a PT.
11:34
Speaker 2: And then there's a community element, I assume, which is
11:38
Speaker 2: a Facebook group where people can connect with the experts
11:42
Speaker 2: and talk to them. It's a pretty expensive program. I mean,
11:45
Speaker 2: it's a six-week program for $ 249. And when you compare
11:49
Speaker 2: it to Kik or even Sarah's Day's plans, it's very pricey.
11:52
Speaker 2: It is expensive. I am a Kik member. I have
11:55
Speaker 2: been for probably five years now. And I think like
11:57
Speaker 2: $ 120 for a year subscription. So for only six weeks,
12:02
Speaker 2: that is a lot. I also don't understand because it's
12:05
Speaker 2: not like Kick or Sarah's Day promote their program as
12:08
Speaker 2: having limited spots. Like they want to get as many
12:10
Speaker 2: people in as possible. I also think it's not very
12:14
Speaker 2: clear what you actually get for the $ 249 because there.
12:17
Speaker 1: Were just a lot of vague references. There was no
12:19
Speaker 1: real key messaging.
12:21
Speaker 2: And it's hard because she just seemed focused on telling
12:23
Speaker 2: everyone to sign up before they really knew what they
12:25
Speaker 2: were getting. What I found jarring about the promotion of
12:28
Speaker 2: this plan was the clear before and after photos Sarah
12:32
Speaker 2: chose to use. So she had two mirror selfies side
12:35
Speaker 2: by side showing just how much weight she'd lost over
12:38
Speaker 2: the past year. And this kind of marketing, it's very 2010s,
12:42
Speaker 2: particularly if you think about Kayla Estina's vibes. We were
12:46
Speaker 2: talking just a little bit earlier about how, why can't
12:49
Speaker 2: people be more transparent about what they're trying to sell?
12:53
Speaker 2: And that obviously worked for Jennifer Aniston because her whole
12:57
Speaker 2: image has always been based on what she looks like. Obviously,
13:00
Speaker 2: she's a brilliant actor as well, but everyone wanted her haircut.
13:03
Speaker 2: Everyone wants her toned arms from friends. So to use
13:07
Speaker 2: Jennifer Aniston as the product to sell her fitness guides
13:10
Speaker 2: is an obvious thing. But Sarah Kearns, you know, she
13:14
Speaker 2: doesn't have the star power of Jennifer Aniston. She has
13:17
Speaker 2: the relatability factor. So I know she's trying to relate
13:21
Speaker 2: to her audience to be like, I'm a typical mum. Look,
13:23
Speaker 2: I've managed to lose this amount of weight. but it
13:26
Speaker 2: does feel very backwards. But I think what was extra
13:29
Speaker 2: jarring is the fact that she's using these before and
13:32
Speaker 2: after photos, but then she's going on to claim that
13:35
Speaker 2: the program isn't about weight loss.
13:37
Speaker 1: It's about finding yourself.
13:39
Speaker 2: It's contradictory marketing. So she wrote, this is not a
13:42
Speaker 2: quickly lose weight by depriving and punishing yourself. This is
13:45
Speaker 2: a toolkit to help you live your happiest lives, to
13:48
Speaker 2: find your glow by working on your mind, body and
13:50
Speaker 2: nervous system. I just think by using a before and
13:53
Speaker 2: after photo, it totally goes against any of that. Yeah.
13:56
Speaker 2: As we were discussing, either go full bore and say,
13:59
Speaker 2: this is what you get. This is all about looking
14:02
Speaker 2: really good. This is about looking like Jennifer Aniston. Or
14:04
Speaker 2: you go the other route where it's all about mental
14:06
Speaker 2: health and self-improvement. Another weird thing about this launch is
14:09
Speaker 2: that Sarah's already started sharing positive reviews on her Instagram stories. What,
14:14
Speaker 2: before people have done this? Yeah, like despite the fact
14:16
Speaker 2: that the project hasn't actually launched yet. Yeah, so she wrote,
14:19
Speaker 2: I have just had all of these positive reviews flooding
14:22
Speaker 2: in and her heart could.
14:23
Speaker 1: Burst that she's so happy about it.
14:25
Speaker 2: And- Some super sleuths have pointed out that some of
14:28
Speaker 2: the reviews appear to be written by her close friends.
14:32
Speaker 2: It's got Mitch Orville, Tiny Trucks vibes. Remember all of
14:34
Speaker 2: those weird reviews? Yeah. Now, this is where Sarah Kearns'
14:38
Speaker 2: former business partner, Sarah Willis, entered the chat and she
14:41
Speaker 2: weighed in on the program. Now, it's quite interesting because
14:44
Speaker 2: the two Sarahs first crossed paths when Sarah Willis was
14:48
Speaker 2: running a gym called W Tribe on the Central Coast.
14:51
Speaker 2: And Sarah Kearns was a gym goer, so that's how
14:53
Speaker 2: they formed a friendship. Now, it is important to point
14:56
Speaker 2: out that Sarah Willis is a qualified personal trainer who
15:00
Speaker 2: is now also a psychologist. And it's pretty incredible because
15:03
Speaker 2: she was completing her degree while she was running her gym. Now,
15:07
Speaker 2: Sarah Willis ended up shutting down her gym as a
15:10
Speaker 2: result of COVID and also so she could focus on
15:13
Speaker 2: her study.
15:14
Speaker 1: And she moved to the.
15:14
Speaker 2: Hunter Valley and took over Glen Eden, which is in
15:17
Speaker 2: a state where she hosts wellness retreats. So she is
15:21
Speaker 2: very experienced in what she does. And during the pandemic,
15:24
Speaker 2: fitness classes.
15:25
Speaker 1: Were all moving online.
15:26
Speaker 2: So after she closed her gym down, she started up
15:29
Speaker 2: a fitness program with Sarah Kearns, which they named after
15:33
Speaker 2: her old gym, W Tribe. Now, did she partner with
15:36
Speaker 2: Sarah Kearns to use her profile? Yeah. So the whole
15:39
Speaker 2: niche was that these experts were training Sarah Kearns and
15:43
Speaker 2: it was launched as this six-week online fitness challenge. And
15:47
Speaker 2: The programs also provided access to meal plans, recipes, shopping lists,
15:52
Speaker 2: and they were put together by qualified nutritionists. No Reiki? No. Now,
15:56
Speaker 2: a unique element of the program was that you could
15:59
Speaker 2: earn points for every workout you did and if you
16:01
Speaker 2: reached nutritional goals.
16:02
Speaker 1: It sounded like a pretty cool program.
16:05
Speaker 2: It didn't last long, though, and neither parties divulged what
16:08
Speaker 2: went wrong. They both just said things didn't work out
16:11
Speaker 2: and that they didn't align. So it actually launched but
16:13
Speaker 2: just fizzled out. Yeah. So the program ran, but they
16:16
Speaker 2: just didn't continue it. To me, it seems like the
16:18
Speaker 2: program didn't really get enough people signing up to it.
16:21
Speaker 2: So maybe Sarah Cairns doesn't have that star power pulling
16:23
Speaker 2: people in. Now, Sarah Willis has a pretty large following
16:27
Speaker 2: on her own. So she goes by the handle The
16:29
Speaker 2: Travelling Psychologist, and she has a community of 43,000 people
16:32
Speaker 2: on Instagram. And she said that she was inundated with
16:36
Speaker 2: DMs about Sarah Kern's new program. So she decided to
16:40
Speaker 2: address her on her story, but she chose not to
16:43
Speaker 2: name Sarah, but rather said that she had received screenshots
16:46
Speaker 2: and messages about a fairly controversial influencer's new fitness program.
16:51
Speaker 2: And she also confirmed that she used to work with
16:54
Speaker 2: the said influencer. Before I said maybe the fitness program
16:57
Speaker 2: shut down because there weren't enough people wanting to be
16:59
Speaker 2: a part of it, but it sounds like maybe there
17:02
Speaker 2: was a friendship breakdown too. Yeah. Well, the thing is
17:05
Speaker 2: the Kearns are known for sending out legal letters. So
17:08
Speaker 2: I think that Sarah Willis in particular wanted to cover herself. Yeah,
17:12
Speaker 2: we've popped one before.
17:13
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, we have. That might come as a surprise
17:15
Speaker 1: to people because I don't think we actually spoke.
17:16
Speaker 2: Oh, did we speak about it? No, we spoke about it.
17:18
Speaker 2: But yeah, so she covered herself by saying that she
17:21
Speaker 2: was speaking about influencer run projects generally. And so she
17:26
Speaker 2: said that she would be addressing the issue of influencers
17:29
Speaker 2: in general releasing programs or products in areas they're not
17:33
Speaker 2: qualified in. Now, she touched on the impact that these
17:36
Speaker 2: types of fitness programs can have on vulnerable consumers and
17:39
Speaker 2: how they undermine experts who have spent years training in
17:43
Speaker 2: those fields. Let's listen to some of what she said.
17:47
Speaker 3: I guess one thing that's really important to note is
17:49
Speaker 3: just because you do something or experience something in your
17:52
Speaker 3: life does not make you an expert to teach others
17:55
Speaker 3: about that process in their life. You can, of course,
17:59
Speaker 3: become the expert on your own weight loss journey or
18:03
Speaker 3: your own birth journey or your own parenting journey. But
18:09
Speaker 3: it takes a lot more than just experiencing that to
18:13
Speaker 3: have the skills and qualification and credibility to teach others.
18:18
Speaker 3: In the wellness industry specifically, there is a lot of
18:21
Speaker 3: vulnerable people who have tried a lot of things and
18:23
Speaker 3: there's a lot of barriers that to them achieving their
18:28
Speaker 3: goals that are so much deeper than just needing someone
18:33
Speaker 3: to cheer for you or tell you what to eat, right?
18:35
Speaker 3: Most women, particularly who are having struggles with their weight
18:40
Speaker 3: or their wellness, the issues for them run so much deeper.
18:47
Speaker 3: Most women are smart, intelligent women who know what health
18:51
Speaker 3: looks like, but there's deeper barriers affecting them. And, you know,
18:55
Speaker 3: the risk is if we just keep throwing programs at
18:57
Speaker 3: them that don't address the root cause, we're creating further
19:01
Speaker 3: damage for them. I think it's really fucking risky for
19:05
Speaker 3: the industry. It undermines all those people who go, I'd
19:08
Speaker 3: like to teach something and they go and learn the
19:11
Speaker 3: skills and get experience to teach it. It undermines those
19:14
Speaker 3: people doing the work, but it also puts the people,
19:18
Speaker 3: the clients at risk as well.
19:22
Speaker 2: I think she just articulated what everyone is thinking. And
19:26
Speaker 2: it's kind of awkward because we've had Sarah Kearns promoting
19:29
Speaker 2: this fitness program who doesn't seem comfortable or confident to
19:33
Speaker 2: even come on her stories and speak about the program.
19:36
Speaker 2: And then we have Sarah Willis perfectly articulate the.
19:39
Speaker 1: Issues with it.
19:40
Speaker 2: And she took a final swipe at Sarah Kearns saying,
19:43
Speaker 2: a general note for anyone navigating this industry. It's contradictory
19:47
Speaker 2: when someone claims their message isn't about weight loss. yet
19:50
Speaker 2: shares a before and after photo showcasing their weight loss.
19:54
Speaker 2: How does that make sense? Just be transparent and stop
19:57
Speaker 2: misleading people. Now, it wasn't long before followers began comparing
20:02
Speaker 2: Sarah's old workout guide with the new one. So a
20:04
Speaker 2: follower wrote on her post, I did the challenge with
20:07
Speaker 2: you and Sarah W twice. Is it the same kind
20:10
Speaker 2: of thing? Now, Sarah Kearns responded totally different. This is
20:14
Speaker 2: not a weight loss challenge. This is the result of
20:17
Speaker 2: the lessons and learnings I needed to go through to
20:20
Speaker 2: finally hit my goal weight years later. I'm down 25
20:24
Speaker 2: kilos and most importantly, I'm finally in such a good
20:27
Speaker 2: place around my body and accepting how it looks in
20:30
Speaker 2: all its changing forms. This covers everything from menstrual cycles
20:33
Speaker 2: to pelvic floor health, nutrition, to everyday moms putting balanced
20:37
Speaker 2: meals together, Reiki Healing and Mindfulness to Pathology Testing. It's
20:41
Speaker 2: a huge amount of content and support. Do you know,
20:43
Speaker 2: I love this bullshit. It's like, I really just want
20:45
Speaker 2: to help my followers. If you want to help them,
20:48
Speaker 2: then why don't you just share about it for free?
20:50
Speaker 2: Why is everything like, I need money for this? But also,
20:52
Speaker 2: as Sarah W said, what works for one person isn't
20:55
Speaker 2: going to necessarily work for another person. It's great that
20:59
Speaker 2: you have grown as a person and you're really happy
21:01
Speaker 2: with the journey that you've been on. But it doesn't
21:03
Speaker 2: mean that everyone else has to do the same thing
21:05
Speaker 2: as you, nor will they get the same results. Yeah. Now,
21:08
Speaker 2: following this criticism from Sarah Willis, Sarah Kern suddenly started
21:12
Speaker 2: sharing profiles of some of the practitioners who are involved
21:16
Speaker 2: in her program. So she asked her followers to meet
21:19
Speaker 2: the first three practitioners. Now, it included Sammy Rose, who
21:22
Speaker 2: is a registered counselor and personal trainer. And ex-friend of
21:25
Speaker 2: Ashley Bynes.
21:26
Speaker 1: So, I mean, that is a legitimate expert there. It
21:30
Speaker 1: then got a bit odd.
21:30
Speaker 2: So she included Sarah Kent, who is a Reiki master
21:33
Speaker 2: and intuitive healer. And then Nikki Reeves, whose claim to
21:36
Speaker 2: fame is a DIY queen. So DIY, how does that
21:40
Speaker 2: relate to the fitness industry?
21:41
Speaker 1: I have no idea.
21:42
Speaker 2: I do not know why you would lead with this
21:44
Speaker 2: because she's obviously inferring that she's going to introduce more
21:47
Speaker 2: experts along the way. Like this is how you make
21:49
Speaker 2: your own treadmill. She's trying to prove a point and
21:51
Speaker 2: she does have genuine experts on board. Why didn't she
21:54
Speaker 2: lead with a nutritionist or a psychologist, particularly when she's
21:58
Speaker 2: talking about you know, that this program isn't just about
22:00
Speaker 2: losing weight.
22:01
Speaker 1: It's about working yourself and glowing from the inside.
22:04
Speaker 2: It seems like she's doing a massive ring around trying
22:06
Speaker 2: to find some professionals, especially if you're leading with the
22:09
Speaker 2: DIY queen. I'm surprised she doesn't have a professional spray
22:12
Speaker 2: tanner for the glow that she's promising everyone. I mean,
22:15
Speaker 2: I don't want to shit on people's job titles, but
22:16
Speaker 2: it does sound like she's made half of these job
22:18
Speaker 2: titles up because she also recently touched on the fact
22:21
Speaker 2: that she has a menstrual coach involved in the program.
22:24
Speaker 2: I mean, shouldn't it be a GP or a gynecologist? Like,
22:27
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sorry, are these people actually qualified? My
22:30
Speaker 2: cravings throughout pregnancy was basically all of my comfort foods
22:33
Speaker 2: as a kid. So like just carbs and I was
22:35
Speaker 2: fine with it.
22:35
Speaker 1: I went with the flow.
22:37
Speaker 2: Now, this wasn't the news I was expecting from Steph Clare-Smith,
22:40
Speaker 2: particularly off the back of her controversial podcast topic last week.
22:44
Speaker 2: She has revealed that she's pregnant with her second child.
22:48
Speaker 2: And I want to know, Who is organizing her podcast
22:51
Speaker 2: episodes at Listener? Because last week she spoke very explicitly
22:56
Speaker 2: about having a vibrator get stuck up her backside. And
23:00
Speaker 2: then this week on her podcast, she announced that she's pregnant.
23:04
Speaker 1: Was it the conception story? Is that maybe what we
23:06
Speaker 1: were leading in with?
23:07
Speaker 2: In all seriousness though, it was really lovely news. And
23:10
Speaker 2: I really liked the way that they announced it on Instagram.
23:13
Speaker 1: So they had this photo shoot. I assume it was
23:16
Speaker 1: a professional photographer.
23:17
Speaker 2: It would have to be. Because it was this black
23:19
Speaker 2: and white shot of, Steph was in bikinis and she
23:23
Speaker 2: had her belly out and you could see all of like,
23:26
Speaker 2: Harvey's hand Josh's hand and also Ari her dog's hand
23:29
Speaker 2: touching her pregnant belly it really shocked me though because
23:32
Speaker 2: only just last week she posted a selfie in bikinis
23:34
Speaker 2: and she definitely did not look pregnant I don't know
23:36
Speaker 2: if it's that optical illusion where she's standing front on
23:39
Speaker 2: I think so it really didn't surprise me that she
23:42
Speaker 2: had a whole episode dedicated to discussing her pregnancy and
23:45
Speaker 2: that she held off from talking about a lot of
23:48
Speaker 2: those details on her Instagram story listener must have.
23:51
Speaker 1: A huge deal with them.
23:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, because they really are. The fact that they are
23:54
Speaker 2: holding off to tell all of those personal details on
23:57
Speaker 2: that podcast, they.
23:58
Speaker 1: Must be getting paid a lot.
23:59
Speaker 2: Well, they're details that I would actually want to tune
24:01
Speaker 2: in and hear as opposed to some of the other
24:03
Speaker 2: clickbaity stuff they've been talking about.
24:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I really enjoyed the episode.
24:06
Speaker 2: And I think it's because Steph actually felt comfortable talking
24:09
Speaker 2: about those details. Yeah, but because it wasn't about their
24:11
Speaker 2: sex life. It didn't feel forced like they'd been told
24:14
Speaker 2: you have to come up with some scandalous story. Yeah.
24:16
Speaker 2: I mean, they did have that rather awkward segment before
24:19
Speaker 2: the big news talking about plucking each other's chin hairs,
24:21
Speaker 2: which again felt forced. Like, oh, let's try and be
24:25
Speaker 2: as relatable as possible. As you said, though, this was
24:28
Speaker 2: a good episode in terms of the segment about the
24:30
Speaker 2: pregnancy because Steph did drop some interesting tidbits about it.
24:34
Speaker 2: So she said that they're not going to find out
24:36
Speaker 2: the gender of the baby. She said that Harvey wants
24:39
Speaker 2: a sister, but he thinks it's going to be a boy.
24:42
Speaker 2: The reasoning behind it was interesting because she said that
24:44
Speaker 2: she wants Harvey to not be the focus of the pregnancy,
24:48
Speaker 2: but to feel included. So she wants to make it
24:50
Speaker 2: more about him being the big brother to a baby.
24:53
Speaker 1: Than there being all this focus on, is it a
24:56
Speaker 1: boy or a girl?
24:56
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I also enjoyed hearing her talk about the
24:59
Speaker 2: process of deciding whether they wanted a second child, because
25:02
Speaker 2: I can kind of relate. She said, as soon as
25:04
Speaker 2: she had Harvey, everyone's like, well, when's the next one coming?
25:07
Speaker 2: And I feel like since I've had Jack, everyone's almost
25:09
Speaker 2: being like, oh, well, when's number two coming? And it's like,
25:11
Speaker 2: he's five months old. And it's not an appropriate question
25:14
Speaker 2: to ask anyone because No one is aware of people's
25:17
Speaker 2: personal fertility issues.
25:18
Speaker 1: Or whether they even want another child.
25:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, and she spoke about how Josh was actually on
25:23
Speaker 2: the fence about wanting a second child, particularly because last
25:26
Speaker 2: year they were dealing with a lot of behavioral issues
25:29
Speaker 2: with Harvey. So it was really Steph that was pushing
25:32
Speaker 2: to have this second child. It is interesting because Josh
25:35
Speaker 2: plays the part of the stay-at-home dad.
25:38
Speaker 1: And so he'd have to be on board.
25:39
Speaker 2: Well, they've only recently just put Harvey in daycare. So
25:42
Speaker 2: Josh has some time to return to work and do
25:45
Speaker 2: other activities. So it's going to be a big change
25:46
Speaker 2: for him. Yeah, well, Josh would definitely need to be
25:49
Speaker 2: on board with this decision, considering that he is the
25:52
Speaker 2: primary carer while Steph is at work. Now, Steph did
25:55
Speaker 2: speak about the first trimester and she said it's quite
25:57
Speaker 2: different because when she was pregnant with Harvey, they were
25:59
Speaker 2: in lockdown. So she could sleep a lot during the
26:02
Speaker 2: day and it didn't really affect her work. But now
26:04
Speaker 2: she's actually at work. So she's been feeling a lot
26:06
Speaker 2: more tired. And she spoke about how she's been a
26:09
Speaker 2: lot more nauseous. And she told this story about how
26:12
Speaker 2: her and Josh were in the car and she wanted
26:14
Speaker 2: to vomit in the car, but he really wanted to
26:16
Speaker 2: pull over so she would vomit out of the car.
26:18
Speaker 2: And then she's like, oh, I was in a nude
26:20
Speaker 2: G-string at the time. So I didn't want to get out.
26:23
Speaker 2: But there was no context to why she was just
26:25
Speaker 2: wearing a G-string. Imagine driving by and seeing Steph Clare
26:28
Speaker 2: Smith vomiting on the side of the road in a G-string.
26:30
Speaker 1: Do you reckon that even happened?
26:31
Speaker 2: I feel like the listener producers were like, Make the
26:33
Speaker 2: pregnancy announcement sexy.
26:35
Speaker 1: Like include something about a g-string we can cut up
26:37
Speaker 1: in there.
26:37
Speaker 2: Aren't you meant to be more nauseous if you're having
26:39
Speaker 2: a girl?
26:40
Speaker 1: Oh, I think all of that's bullshit.
26:42
Speaker 2: I was interested though to hear what her food cravings
26:44
Speaker 2: were and she admitted that the only thing she's been
26:47
Speaker 2: feeling like at the moment is chicken two-minute noodles. Oh,
26:50
Speaker 2: I had a craving for those when I was pregnant too.
26:52
Speaker 2: I totally relate to that. I mean, if we're going
26:55
Speaker 2: to be guessing the gender, I think more salty snacks
26:57
Speaker 2: are mean boy. I know we touched upon it at
27:00
Speaker 2: the start, but I just find the timing so odd.
27:03
Speaker 2: I mean, we said about the vibrator story, but also
27:06
Speaker 2: the week prior, Steph went on about having this huge
27:09
Speaker 2: announcement to make. And a lot of people thought that
27:12
Speaker 2: she was teasing a story about pregnancy loss, but she
27:15
Speaker 2: actually announced that she's got ADHD. Because she said that
27:17
Speaker 2: she was really struggling and that you never know what's
27:19
Speaker 2: going on in people's lives. It's also going to be
27:22
Speaker 2: really interesting how much of this child's life she chooses
27:25
Speaker 2: to share on her Instagram story, particularly after she's now
27:29
Speaker 2: started blurring her son Harvey's face out. And there's been
27:32
Speaker 2: a lot of discussion around that. Did you notice yesterday though,
27:35
Speaker 2: that she was sharing the face of her brother's child,
27:37
Speaker 2: her nephew? Yeah. I mean, I wonder if her stance
27:40
Speaker 2: is she's happy to share baby's faces because babies change
27:43
Speaker 2: so much.
27:43
Speaker 1: I just, it's all very confusing.
27:46
Speaker 2: I was surprised to hear that she included audio of
27:49
Speaker 2: Harvey finding out the news.
27:51
Speaker 1: It was a very cute reaction.
27:53
Speaker 2: But I'm just getting confused about what she feels comfortable
27:56
Speaker 2: and what she doesn't feel comfortable. Yeah, it is rather confusing.
27:59
Speaker 2: And again, it's obviously her decision what she shares. And
28:01
Speaker 2: it makes sense to me to put this marker of, okay, well,
28:04
Speaker 2: I've already shared his face before. So going forward, I'm
28:07
Speaker 2: not going to continue to share it because he's going
28:10
Speaker 2: to grow. But then I was listening to an episode
28:12
Speaker 2: of the Kick Bump podcast. It just popped up in
28:14
Speaker 2: my newsfeed. And Harvey's actually in the cover artwork. Oh, really?
28:19
Speaker 2: I didn't know that. I just, yeah, I would have
28:21
Speaker 2: thought you might change that considering it's a promotional material. Look,
28:24
Speaker 2: I think it's going to go all out the window.
28:26
Speaker 2: I think that Steph is a real oversharer and I
28:28
Speaker 2: think that's what makes her a good influencer.
28:30
Speaker 1: I love hearing about her life.
28:32
Speaker 2: I enjoy hearing about her children and I'm fascinated to
28:35
Speaker 2: see how this pregnancy goes. Well, I think that's all
28:38
Speaker 2: we have time for today. Thank you so much for
28:40
Speaker 2: joining us for this episode. If you have enjoyed it,
28:42
Speaker 2: it would absolutely make my day. If you could please
28:45
Speaker 2: leave us a review. Thank you so much to those
28:47
Speaker 2: who already have. I also really enjoy it when people
28:50
Speaker 2: share where they're listening to the podcast from. So if
28:52
Speaker 2: anyone's doing any Christmas activities, I know a lot of
28:54
Speaker 2: Christmas trees are going up at the moment. Please share
28:57
Speaker 2: that with us. This episode was recorded on the traditional
28:59
Speaker 2: land of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We
29:02
Speaker 2: pay respect to elders past and present. And don't forget
29:05
Speaker 2: to follow Outspoken on Instagram and also on TikTok at
29:08
Speaker 2: Outspoken underscore the underscore podcast. Thank you.