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Steph Claire Smith’s Husband’s Boys’ Trip · Outspoken the Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Kate Torber and coming up on today's show, Steph Claire
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Smith defends her husband's decision to go on a boys
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: trip while she looks after their newborn. Molly May's untouchable
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: status is under threat and Love Island UK's big revival
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: thanks to TikTok. But first, Gracie Piscopo has divided the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: internet by taking part in the You're So Funny TikTok
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: trend at an influencer event. For those not familiar with
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: this trend, content creators respond to the question, You're So Funny,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: with thanks. And then they share an anecdote explaining what
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: shaped their sense of humor. And it often can be
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: quite dark. So some people bring up childhood traumas or
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: their mental health struggles. And Gracie's response ended up being
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: very dark. This is what she said. Thanks, my ex
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: is in jail. Now, if that was too quick for people,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: she does say, thanks, my ex is in jail. Now,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Gracie is, of course, referring to her ex, Andre Ribello.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: They were in a relationship for around eight years and
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: had a child together before he was arrested in 2020
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: on suspicions of murdering his mother. Yeah, so in April,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: So prosecutors allege that Andre killed his own mother to
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: claim her $ 1. 15 million life insurance policy. And this was
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: apparently to keep up with his influencer lifestyle. Yeah, because
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: at the time of the murder, Andre and Gracie were
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: in significant debt that exceeded $ 100, 000. It's important to note
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: that Gracie has never been accused of any wrongdoing and
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: there is no evidence that she knew anything about Andre's crimes.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: And she really did distance herself from Andre during the trial.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: And for the last two years, she's been dating Daniel Klassens. Now,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: in terms of Gracie's comment, we put it out to
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Outspoken's audience and asked, Was it funny or insensitive? And
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: it was split right down the middle. How did you
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: feel about it? Look, I get that she was trying
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to be funny, but I think it comes across as
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: insensitive because somebody has lost their life. This is a
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: real person. This is the grandmother of her child. Yeah,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: and I think it's the way it was presented that
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: made me feel uncomfortable. It's obviously been said for shock factor,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: which will drive a lot of engagement, but it was
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: actually posted by a brand. So, and I think under
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the circumstances, as you mentioned, it would be really upsetting
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: for Colleen Ribello's family that's been used as a bit
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: of a punchline in order to get social media engagement. Yeah,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, there were other big name influences in this video.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Tammy Hembrough was in it and she said, well, thanks,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: I'm going through a divorce. Now that was funny. Like
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: that is actually- a good one to mention because it's
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: her poking fun at herself. Well, it was tongue in cheek.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, it might not be great for Matt to
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: see it, but I think it's a lot different to
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: poking fun at someone who has died, particularly Gracie Piscopo's
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: son's grandmother. I mean, I understand a lot of people
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: were saying, oh, it's a coping mechanism for Gracie. And,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: you know, we don't know how she's feeling at all,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: but I think it was distasteful. And if I was
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Gracie's PR manager, I would say steer clear of this topic,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: never talk publicly on it. particularly after all the media
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: coverage which said that Andre's motive for killing his mother
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: was to maintain this influencer lifestyle because even though she
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: had nothing to do with it, it still reflects badly
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: on her. Yeah, you want to distance yourself from that completely.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I wonder if the brand told her, like gave her
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the idea of saying that comment. Well, even if they did,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: she still doesn't have to say it. Surely you would
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: be like, no, that is completely wrong of me to
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: say in this jokey manner. And then Billy and I.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: are heading to home. So I'm so excited. Oh my God,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: they've booked me in for a massage and a bath
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: this afternoon. Steph Claire Smith has sparked debate after revealing
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: her family's unorthodox holiday plans. The fitness entrepreneur shared that
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: her husband, Josh, was off on a boy's snow trip
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: to New Zealand while she checked into a gifted stay
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: at a postpartum hotel with their newborn, Billy. As for
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: their four-year-old son, Harvey, well, he's staying with his grandparents
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: at the family's $ 8 million Murray River property. Straight off
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the back, this just sounds like rich people problems to me.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: But on a more serious note, it has sparked debate
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: around gender roles and support for primary parents. Now, these
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: unconventional holiday plans came off the back of a partnership
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: deal Steph struck with a postpartum hotel called Home. And
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: it turns out Josh was originally going to stay at
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: the hotel too. But Steph said she was happy for
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: him to holiday with his mates because he really needed
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the time away. As for Harvey, he couldn't stay at
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the hotel because it doesn't accommodate for kids over 12
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: months old. So in a bid to ensure he didn't
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: feel left out, Steph came up with the idea for
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: him to have his own little holiday. She finished off
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: by saying, we've all got some time to ourselves filling
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: up our cups. Now, a day later, Steph revealed that
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: she'd received a DM from a follower questioning Josh's need
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: to holiday with friends. The DM said, but why does
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: your husband need time with mates? Like, what about you?
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Doesn't sound at all like alone time for you, nor
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: a vacation for you. Like, I could never imagine my
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: husband going on a snow trip with friends while I'm
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: with the newborn baby. Like, what the fuck? He's always
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: either with me or the babies. Also, not to mention
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: you're like the one who works on top of it all. Sorry,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: but that doesn't feel right. I can't imagine. Now, Steph
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: admitted that the DM rattled her and went on to
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: defend her and Josh's decision. Interestingly, she turned it into
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: a conversation about the need to support primary parents. And
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: for those who don't know, Josh actually took on the
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: role of stay at home dad when Harvey was born.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: while Steph returned to work full time. Yeah, so Steph
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: declared that dad's lives change too when they become parents
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: and it doesn't mean they don't deserve time to themselves
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: or with friends. So she went on to explain that
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Josh feels very isolated being a stay-at-home dad because most
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: of his friends work full time. She wrote, so I've
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: always encouraged him to book in some time out of
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the house and to connect with friends. And the same
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: goes for me. When I'm not working, I'm craving me
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: time slash alone time and or time with friends to recharge.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Josh does so much to support me and our family.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: He is constantly putting us first. So I'm sorry, but
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: he absolutely does deserve this time away. I'm going to
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: be honest. My initial reaction to this story was that
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Josh shouldn't be going overseas on a boy's trip when
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: he has a newborn. I thought the optics were really bad. Yeah,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: I think that most people would say that and go,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: what the fuck? Like, why is he leaving when the
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: baby is only very young? However... I think Steph brought
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: up some really good points.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: And originally it didn't surprise me that a follower pushed
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: back and said, I can't believe you're letting him go.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: But then when I read Steph's explanation, it really made
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: me question my initial response because when she spoke about
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: how Josh was feeling isolated, it really hit a chord
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: with me because I've been feeling very similar for a
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: year now. I've never joined a mum's group and none
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: of my close friends have had children until recently. So
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: I know what it's like to be the parent that's
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: at home. and you're waiting for your husband to get home,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: and you don't really go out that often. You don't
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: spend a lot of time with people. So when you
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: do have time to spend with friends, it's so important. Well,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: for Josh as well, because most of his friends were
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: actually at work, they weren't being stay-at-home dads, he probably
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have had that opportunity to even join a parenting group.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Are there even dad's groups out there? No, I don't
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: think there are. And it really opened my eyes and
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: made me think, well, this is quite a unique situation
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: because Josh is going to be the primary caregiver for Billy,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: their newborn baby. And he's in the position where he's
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: not the breastfeeding parent. So he can actually have a
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: little bit of time away from the baby because Steph
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: has chosen to exclusively breastfeed. He can have a little
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: bit of recharge time. while Steph is at this hotel.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: And then he's going to be back in the full
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: swing of things when Steph is back at work with
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: the newborn. Yeah. I mean, you've got to do what's
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: best for you and your family. It seems like Josh
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: might be burnt out and he needs that trip away
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: with friends in order to bunker down because Steph is
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: going to be back at work soon. And then the
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: responsibility of looking after Billy in the day is going
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: to be all on him. And I think it's pretty
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: clear that Steph and Josh have been really open with
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: each other on what they want and need from this
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: current dynamic. I'm guessing this could have been guided by
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: a therapist because Steph and Josh have been open that
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: they've been working with a couples counsellor around navigating Steph's
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: recent ADHD diagnosis. They even had their own couples counselling
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: session on Steph's podcast. So it's likely this was a
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: part of negotiations for Josh to continue to be the
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: stay-at-home parent. And that's allowing him to spend time with
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: friends because just 10 months ago, he was holidaying with
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: his mates in Europe just before Steph announced her pregnancy.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: I think a lot of people read into that because
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: it's not really the norm for couples to have holidays
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: without each other. But it has a lot to do
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: with the fact that they're absolutely loaded and they're able
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: to go on these holidays away from each other. Well,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: I suppose with normal people, if you're going to go
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: on holiday, you're saving up all year and going on
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: one with your family. Whereas when you have a lot
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: of money, you can go on multiple holidays. You can
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: go on boys trips, girls trips, family trips. Isn't it
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: funny the way though, that people judge Josh, because in
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: that initial message that that follower sent Steph, they said, oh,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: And you're having to go back to work. And can
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: you imagine if the roles were reversed? It's sort of
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: diminishing the role of a stay-at-home parent. Yeah, it's so
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: hypocritical because at one point they're saying, I can't believe
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Josh has left you at home to do everything. But
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: in the next breath, they're saying, oh, well, the role
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: of a stay-at-home dad's not even that hard and you're
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: the one earning all the money. It's like, well, pick
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: a side. And it's interesting to consider what this conversation
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: would have been like if it was a mother going
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: on an overseas girl's trip and leaving a newborn with
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: the dad. I think it's pretty fair to say the
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: woman would have been slammed even more, even if the
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: plan was for her to be the primary caregiver once
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: she's back and for her husband to return to work. Well,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: as we discussed last week, the absolute crap that Abby
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Holmes copped for actually going back to work, not even
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: going on a holiday, but for returning to the workplace.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: So maybe it's fair that Josh did cop it because
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: if he was a woman, he'd be also copying it.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Hashtag equality. I think it's just difficult for everyone to
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: disconnect the gender roles from the equation at the moment. Well,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, if Steph doesn't have
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: an issue with it, what's the problem? Yeah. On a
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: different note, how did you feel about Steph Clare-Smith being
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: gifted a stay at this postpartum hotel? I've seen this
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: hotel popping up everywhere. So they were recently featured on
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: an episode of the Baby Talk podcast and they're obviously
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: doing some great PR. Well, I mean, yeah, of course,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: there'd be other mums that would be really deserving of
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: this and would really appreciate it considering, you know, we've
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: mentioned a few times Steph's wealth. She obviously has a
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: very nice house that she could be staying in. But
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: from a marketing perspective, it's a great move to have
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Steph there. I mean, how many more people would have
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: learnt about this luxury boutique hotel because of this partnership.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: In terms of her house, she doesn't actually have a
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: particularly nice house at the moment. They're bulldozing it and
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: they're renovating their shed. But I get what you mean.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: She has the support where she could pay to stay
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: at this hotel because it does cost $ 1, 300 a night. Yeah.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: So she could have paid for it herself. She also could.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Of course she could have, but like if they're giving
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: it to her for free as part of this partnership,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're probably paying her to promote it as well.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: I can see why people were a little bit annoyed
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: about it because I think Steph has been really open
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: about the fact that she has a lot of help
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: from her parents. She also has the means to pay
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: for cleaners, which she does. She could have a night nurse,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: a night nanny. No, I completely understand that. I can
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: understand the frustration by people, but I also can see
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: why this particular boutique hotel has chosen Steph Clare Smith
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: to promote it because she has such a large audience.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: It makes a lot of sense. Yeah, and I can
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: see why she has allowed Josh to go on this
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: overseas trip considering that she is getting help around the
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: clock at this postpartum hotel. It's not like she's stuck
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: at home by herself looking after her newborn. Hang on
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: a minute. Are you my man? What? Yeah, you're not
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: my Meg exactly.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: So don't come on here walking up to me trying
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: to get you five minutes on TV when you'll never
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: be my Meg. You and all them other girls, you're
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: just jealous because I don't even want to get to
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: know you.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: That's the only.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Reason that you're causing problems for me and my Meg.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: We're absolutely fine.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: We don't need you to tell us whether we should
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: be open or closed or whatever.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: You're just jealous because you'll never.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: Be me or my Meg.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Love Island UK is having a revival despite its lagging
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: TV numbers. The 12th season of the series, which is
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: set to conclude next week, has instead captivated social media audiences.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: I have been living for this season of UK Love Island.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: I wasn't really keen on it last year. It didn't
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: captivate me. But every night I'm excited to watch it.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: And the producers need a pat on the back because
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: they have made some tweaks like the sleepover to create
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: extra drama early on. And I've never seen a season
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: like it. There is constant couple changing. And also the
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: casting has been excellent because The dynamic between the girls,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: often on Love Island, all the girls have each other's
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: back and they're best friends. But there is this standoff
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: between two groups of women that causes so much tension. Well,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: it really has been the make it or break it
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: season for Love Island. Before it aired, there was a
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: lot of talk about whether the show was going to
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: get canned because the ratings have been low. And that's
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: why I was really surprised. when I looked up this
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: season's ratings and saw that it actually wasn't doing that well,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: like as well as I expected. Yeah, so the season
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: launch was pretty successful. It got 2.6 million viewers, which
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: was almost double the audience of 2023's low of 1.3 million.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: The first week, though, it really lagged. It looked like
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: it was going to be a bomb, but it's now
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: getting similar viewership figures to season eight, which was the
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: successful season with Ekansu and Davide. The numbers are a
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: long way off 2019's heyday, though, when six million people
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: tuned in to see the finale of Molly Mae's series.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: It's also been competing with the seventh season of the
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: US version, which has had massive success. The big difference
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: now is that the way we watch reality TV has
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: completely changed thanks to TikTok. And when you look at
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Love Island's social media stats, its growth online has surpassed
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: its success on TV. So Love Island has gained 1.8
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: million followers since the start of 2025. With a million
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: of those on TikTok, it also has a collective following
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: of 13 million followers over its various official accounts. Wow.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: So it turns out people are really interested in Love Island,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: but they just can't commit to watching the TV show
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: every night. So the short form updates are really appealing.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Is this because TikTok has ruined our attention span so
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: we can't even sit through an episode of Love Island?
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: It's funny because I saw a lot of people saying,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: I can't commit to watching it every night, but I
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: can watch the updates on TikTok. It's like, I bet
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: you you're still sitting in front of your TV screen
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: and you're just scrolling. No, but it is summer in England.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: So people are out and about more. So it makes
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: sense that they're able to actually keep abreast of what's
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: going on on TikTok instead. Well, it does make sense
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: because when you miss an episode, you're like, oh my God,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: I'm behind. I don't understand the discourse that's going on
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: on social media. And I think that's a big draw
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: of Love Island at the moment. You want to be
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: in on the discussion. I think as well because there
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: are so many episodes each week because I started watching
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Love Island UK late. And when I finally watched the
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: first episode, I think there was something like 30 other
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: episodes I needed to catch up on. And often you think, fuck,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: can I actually get through that many episodes to get
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: up to date with it? Like, is there a point? Yeah,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: like it can be quite an intimidating feat. I mean,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: I have been getting through them quite quickly. Well, I'm
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: disappointed you're only up to Casa Amor. You have so
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: much more to go, which I'm kind of jealous of
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: because I'm completely up to date. I've just watched The Graftys.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Oh my God. The Graftys? Yeah. What's that, like an
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: award show? Yeah, they have the award show. They've introduced
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: it fairly recently. And it's just a way for the
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: producers to air clips of people talking behind each other's
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: backs and cause so much drama. It has caused chaos.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: But don't you think with so many reality shows, like
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: even if you think back to the US series of
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: The Bachelor, You had to put in that grind early on,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: you know, the first couple of episodes. It's a bit boring.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: The characters are being introduced and then it gets so good.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: It's like Gen Zers don't have the attention span to
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: actually put in that hard work. Yeah, they're not putting
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: in the effort. The thing is they are missing out because, okay, yeah,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: you can watch the best clips on TikTok but you're
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: not getting– the experience of the actual show. I do
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: draw the line at watching the unseen bits episodes. I
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: don't want to say this shit. I think there's a
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: lot of content creators who need a medal for ensuring
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: that Love Island is sticking around because while there's, you know,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: the funny or dramatic moments of the show that go viral,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: A lot of the videos are also created by people
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: completely disconnected with the show. They're the people at home
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: who are doing recaps or making funny clips. We need
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: to share the best Love Island TikToks because there's this
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: one comedian who keeps posting stuff about Dijon. Yes. And
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: he's like, my Meg, my mug. It is so fucking funny.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: That guy is fucking hilarious. There is a little bit
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: of a downside to it when you consider that A
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: lot of reality TV contestants used to complain about the
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: edit and how, oh, you're only seeing such a small
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: part of me in this hour episode. But when you
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: consider that now people are consuming Love Island via like
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: 30 second clips, you can imagine that people are being
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: completely villainized and you're really not getting a full picture
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: of who the person is. Well, have you had a
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: look at the contestants' Instagram accounts this year? Like, have
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: they gone off? Well, one contestant that has completely gone off,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: which actually surprised me, is Yasmin. So she wasn't very
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: popular when she came in as a bombshell, but she's
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: actually been nicknamed on TikTok Yaz GPT because I mean,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Rhys and I were discussing it and Sophie and Brandon
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: were also on the same page. Well, like she seems
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: like AI, like she's very robotic. She is like her,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: she's got the best posture. Well, like it's literally like
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: they've sent in an AI bot because she wasn't very
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: empathetic either. And Basically, that's what everyone has been saying online.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: And this video of her giving posture lessons has gone viral.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: It's had over a million views. And they recently did
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: a vote on the show who was the most popular contestant.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: And I was shocked when it was Yasmin. And then
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: it all makes sense. It's because of TikTok. Yeah, because
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Love Island made the decision a few years ago not
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: to tag the Islanders in a lot of their content
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: because they wanted to stop them getting bullied online. And
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: this really stemmed the flow of a lot of the
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: contestants attracting followers. It's interesting though, because it's no longer
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: that someone is just popular on the show. They have
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: to now have some sort of viral moment to get
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: really big. And that's what we've seen with Yasmin. So
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: it's really interesting to consider the way of how these
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: people are now building followings because Molly May was really
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: popular on her series of Love Island. But I wouldn't
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: say she would have had some viral moment that would
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: have seen her TikTok explode. So now we're actually seeing
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: contestants get really popular that you wouldn't expect. Yeah, but
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: is that going to have longevity then because it seems
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: like a bit of a fickle follow? Like with Molly,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: people follow her because they have seen her on Love Island.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: They genuinely like her. If you've seen five minutes of
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: someone with good posture and You're probably going to give
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: them a sneaky follow, but then forget about them. I
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: think it just plays into the saturated market that is
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: the influencer space at the moment. Also, the way these
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: clips are going viral that are completely out of context
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: to how they were meant. And I've been seeing a
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: lot of YouTubers complain about this occurrence too, where something
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: they've said in a long form YouTube video has been
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: completely taken out of context and they're trolled and they
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: just don't want to actually post content anymore. Yeah. Have
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: you seen that meme floating around of Harrison at the
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: airport with his mum and she looks like an older
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: version of Tony? I haven't, but you told me about it. Amy,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: who's your favourite guy on Love Island at the moment?
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: My favourite guy? I mean, I like Harry for entertainment purposes,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: but like he's a complete dickhead. If I had to
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: actually choose any of them to couple up with, I don't.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: know who I'd choose because even someone like Tommy, he's
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: apparently meant to be nice, but I'm like, I don't know,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: just something about him gives me the ick. See, I've
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: decided because Rhys and I were like, who would you pick?
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: I actually need to find out who he would, but
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: I would pick Connor. I love Connor. Yeah, Connor's really nice.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: He's growing on me. I love the accent as well.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: I was just sad that Megan left so early on. Oh,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Buckley and Amy. Oh, she's back. Oh, okay. That makes
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: so much sense because I was like, why the fuck
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: would they waste her? Like, why would they even have her? Okay, cool.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: I will get to the end of summer having not
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: done one fun thing. Followers have slammed Molly May, labelling
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: her out of touch after she complained in a recent
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: vlog that she hasn't done one fun thing this summer. Now,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: this is despite Molly sitting centre court at Wimbledon during
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: a brand trip with Evianne. Holidaying in the Isle of
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Man with Tommy Fury in his new 86,000 pound camper
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: van and celebrating her 26th birthday in Disneyland. TikTok has
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: been flooded with videos critiquing Molly with one user saying
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: she needs to spend more time with real people who
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: work nine to five jobs to get a grasp on reality.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: Molly Mae feels like she's not had any fun this
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: summer because she doesn't know real people. When you do
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: not surround yourself or go to an office or hang
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: out with people who are struggling to pay their council
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: tax bill or juggling a million and one kids, when
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: you don't meet real people with real problems, you become
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: isolated in your own little world and in your own
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: little bubble and you find every single thing that goes
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: wrong in your life the biggest inconvenience.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Look, I get where people are coming from because there's
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: nothing more infuriating when you see an influencer who is
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: so out of touch with reality. But I need to
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: defend Molly Mae here because I watched the full vlog
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: and her comments have been taken out of context because
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: she made these comments after she watched her sister Zoe
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: get all dressed up to head out with friends. And
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the comment was in reference to her not doing anything
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: fun with her friends. She acknowledged, oh, I've been on
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: brand trips, but she said she hasn't really got dressed
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: up because she's been at home with Bambi. And I
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: think she was kind of feeling sorry for herself. Because
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: she'd had a really tough week with her. And sometimes,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: you know, you just feel like you're at home permanently
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: looking like shit. I mean, it seems like she's been
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: a victim of this TikTok trend that we were talking
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: about with Love Island where influencers vlog will get clipped
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: up into a 30 second grab and then everyone in
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the comments goes wild.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: And do you remember back in 2020, she made headlines
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: when she was on Diary of a CEO. That was
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: not a good move for her. No. But she spoke
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: about how she only has a handful of friends and
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: it's very rare for her to go out and socialise
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: with people. Look, I've got a soft spot for Molly,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: I have to admit that, and I do hate it
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: when people are taken out of context and completely slammed.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: But then you are putting your highlight reel out at Disneyland,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Centre Court Wimbledon, all these events that would absolutely make
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: someone's summer. So to then say, oh, but I haven't
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: got to spend time with my friends is Yeah, but
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: you've done a lot of other cool stuff. Yeah, but
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: I also think that a lot of people are piling
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: on to Molly Mae and also her sister Zoe. We
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: spoke about it in our subs episode how Zoe Ray
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: had only lasted 48 hours in Bali because basically she
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: said it didn't live up to all of the hype
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: on social media and that with you zoomed out of
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: all the beautiful coffee shops, it basically wasn't very nice.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: And people have been absolutely slamming her. I mean, I
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: love Bali. I think she needed to give it more
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: of a go, but I think that Zoe's comments haven't
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: helped and now people are going, well, they're not one
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: of us. Well, again, those comments were clipped up on
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: TikTok and people ran wild in the comments. I think
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: though that Molly and Zoe are both massive influencers in
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: the UK and maybe they need to be more careful
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: and have someone actually view their content before it goes live. Yeah,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: but Zoe is clearly aware of it because in a
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: follow-up vlog, She mentioned how she wished she'd worn something
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: a bit nicer in her Bali vlog because she knew
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: that those clips were going to go viral on TikTok.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I think maybe they purposely leave this stuff in because
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: it actually makes them relevant. I mean, these days, influencers
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: are scared to say anything because of the backlash, but
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: it only really helps increase their profiles and keeps people
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: interested in what they're talking about. Yeah, I saw publications
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: being like, is this the end of Molly Mae? She's
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: so out of touch. So are 90% of influencers. That's
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: why we follow them because we want to live vicariously
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: through them.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Also the references to people saying that, oh, Molly went
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: on this trip to the Isle of Man in Tommy's
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: $ 68, 000 or $ 86, 000 camper van. That trip sounded fucking awful.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: That's probably why she was so depressed after it because
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: she said that they went on this car ferry with
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Bambi and normally Bambi is in this strict routine, but
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: they thought, oh no, we'll just give it a go.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: She screamed the whole way on the ferry. She didn't
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: get to sleep till 2am. It sounded like an absolute nightmare.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: That's the thing, though, because she's also now being attacked
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: for recent commentary she made about parenting. And that's because
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: she's opened up about her struggles with Bambi. So it
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: seems she can't win. It's like on one end, you
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: be relatable and you're accused of whinging. And then you say, oh,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: my summer actually wasn't that great, even though I got
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: to go to all of these events. And you're out
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: of touch. Yeah, well, one TikToker, she's gone viral. She's
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: a self-confessed stan of Molly, but she said even she
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: was irritated by Molly's complaints. Let's have a listen to
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: what she said.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: I was slightly agitated by how much she was frustrated
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: with Bambi for things that all of our kids do, right? Like,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: she doesn't finish all of her dinner. She had a meltdown.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: She wants to sit on my lap. Like, she just,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: I just sense the energy that she's just getting frustrated
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: with being a mum, maybe. I don't know if she's
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: frustrated with being a mum. I don't know if she's
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: frustrated because Bambi acts like a toddler, not as like
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: an aesthetic prop, maybe. I don't know.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: I'm just throwing wild accusations out there. I think that
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: comment about Molly being frustrated that Bambi wasn't some aesthetic
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: prop was a bit of a low blow. Has she
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: seen Indy Clinton's content? It's actually better if your kids
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: are wild. It's more entertaining. That is a specific niche
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: on social media where people love seeing kids wild. be naughty.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: I actually found it really refreshing, Molly, opening up about
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: her struggles with Bambi. I think sometimes people forget that
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Molly is 26. I mean, she's a first time mom.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: It's tough as it is. I mean, would people prefer
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: her to be acting as if everything was okay and magical?
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: I think at the moment we're seeing such a reckoning
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: with children being online. And I think that she is
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: getting this camp of people who are like, you shouldn't
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: be sharing Bambi. I mean, recently there was a clip
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: of Bambi urinating on the carpet that went viral. And
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I think that hasn't helped the situation with people being like,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: just stop sharing too much about her online. And I
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: think that's cascaded with people being like, oh, stop whinging
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: about it. Stop complaining about it. As an adult, she's
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: going to see this content. I saw that TikTok and I,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, I do think it's sharing too much by
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: talking about Bambi weeing on the carpet, but I had
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: to laugh because her poor cats, Eggie and Bread, they
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: have been blamed for urinating on her carpet. For freaking months.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: And I saw one comment that said something like, poor
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Eggie and bread copying the blame. And I think we
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: all know who the culprit has been. Well, again, in
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: that clip, Molly was slammed because her sister Zoe was
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: seen disciplining Bambi. Yeah. And she kind of took on
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: the role of saying, oh, why did you do it?
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: You're not meant to do it. Whereas Molly kind of
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: sat back and just filmed what happened. Yeah. Well, a
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: lot of people have also been asking, where is Tommy?
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: And Molly shared a new vlog on Monday where And
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: she addressed a lot of this backlash. And she also
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: spoke about Tommy and she said, well, he is there
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: 80 to 90% of the time, but I'm choosing not
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: to vlog when he's around because obviously them getting back
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: together is quite new. And she said, well, the other
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: time Zoe is with me and she's living with me.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: So of course she's helping me. I think this backlash
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: was always going to happen because if you reflected this
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: time last year, in August, she and Tommy broke up
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: and everyone felt so sorry for her. She was put
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: on this pedestal She was compared to Princess Diana. She
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: was the people's princess. And since her doco aired and
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: news broke that she was back with Tommy Fury, I
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: think a lot of people have got their backs up
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: about it. And we also got an insight into the
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: fact that Zoe does not like Tommy. So then that's
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: going to add more fuel to the fire. Like, oh, well,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: why is Zoe parenting and Tommy's not there? Well, you
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: mentioned the pedestal that Molly's on. I mean, this story
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: made its way from TikTok to the UK papers. So
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: in this recent vlog that Molly shared, She had four
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: pap cars following her this week, trying to get the
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: first snap of her since this controversy broke. I love
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: you say that with surprise. It's like media just scour
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: TikTok now for any sort of news story. It was
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: really clear in this video that Molly was grappling with
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: how much to actually share about Bambi and that these
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: comments had really gotten into her head because at the
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: start of her vlog, she was in the car with
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Bambi crying because she was so frustrated, but didn't really
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: share any details of what had happened. And at the
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: end of her vlog, Molly said, look, I'm actually really
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: bad with keeping secrets. Like you can just tell on
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: my face. She said, I was worried about going into
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: further detail about what had happened because of all the
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: judgment online. And she explained that she felt so suffocated
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: by the fact that she couldn't open up to her
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: vlog about what was going on and has decided that
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: she is just going to be honest moving forward. It's
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: interesting because it seems like this is a two-way transaction
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: for Molly and her followers. A lot of people have
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: come out and said, I feel seen, Molly, when you
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: talk about this type of stuff. And for Molly, she's
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: obviously getting a lot of messages back saying, oh, I'm
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: the same. And she gets validation through that. So I
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: think she just needs to keep sharing that content if
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: it makes her feel good and it's making other people
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: feel good and shut out the comments on TikTok. I
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: know that would be difficult. Yeah. Well, I think that's
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: all we've got time for today. Thank you so much
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: for listening to another episode of Outspoken. And if you
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: do enjoy our content, we drop a subscriber only episode
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: every Thursday, which is basically an extension of our show
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: where we talk more about influencer topics from the week. Also,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: on Friday, we are dropping part one of our two-part
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: series on Freely the Banana Girl. I'm very excited for
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: that to finally air. This podcast was recorded on the
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: traditional land of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: We pay respect to elders past and present.