Latest / Outspoken the Podcast / Ellidy Pullin’s Engagement Overshadowed By Sad Family Rift

Transcript

Ellidy Pullin’s Engagement Overshadowed By Sad Family Rift · Outspoken the Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: hottest influencer.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: And pop culture news twice a week. I'm Kate Torber.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: And I'm Sophie Torber. And coming up on today's show,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Anna Paul accused of closing up to NRL players in
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Las Vegas. the High Rocks poo saga dominating our news feeds,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: and could new social media laws bring back the golden
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: age of influencing? But first, Elodie Pullen's whirlwind engagement to
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Brock Wadsworth has been overshadowed by.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: A family rift.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: While the popular podcaster's news was met with much excitement online,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the father of her former partner isn't happy. Now, this
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: is obviously a very complicated family matter, but I have
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: to admit that my heart sunk when I saw the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: interview Chris Pullen gave to the Daily Mail.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Me too. I really felt for Elodie.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: For listeners not familiar with her backstory, she was in
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: a long-term relationship with Olympic snowboarder Alex Pullen, better known
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: as Chumpy. That was before he tragically drowned while spearfishing
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: in 2020. Now, the couple had been actively trying to
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: start a family. So following his death, Elodie made the
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: difficult decision to undergo IVF. Now that was a part
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: of a post-mortem sperm retrieval. And as the couple weren't married,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: she had to seek approval from Chumpy's parents, Chris and Sally.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Now they gave their approval for that to happen. And
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Elodie went on to give birth to the couple's daughter, Minnie,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: who was born 15 months after Chumpy's death. At the time,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: this story absolutely captivated the nation. And we were led
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: to believe that Elodie had a good relationship with Chumpy's family.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: As you said, they gave approval for her to go
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: through with the sperm retrieval process. But since then, it
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: seems like things are pretty rocky between them because despite
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Elodie being the mother of Chris's granddaughter, he didn't celebrate
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Elodie's news. He instead told the Daily Mail that in
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the light of her engagement, he would like her to
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: change her surname. He said, I don't think she'll change
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: her name because that's her whole persona. It's been her
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: cash cow. She's a Pullen, but she's not. They weren't married.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I hate it.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: But what do I do? All I can say is
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: what would Chumpy think about that? It annoys me because
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: it's out of our control. The Pullen family is very
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: much still in existence. There are about 30 of us.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: She has no relationship with any of us other than
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: my daughter. He then sadly went on to say that
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: he doesn't have a relationship with Elodie or his granddaughter Minnie,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: and he is blocked from her social media content. he
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: finished by saying he felt sorry for Elodie's fiancé Brock
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: and that it's going to end badly, adding, I suppose
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: this might create more space between us and her talking
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: about Chumpy because that will be a bit hard when
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: you're married to someone else. This is obviously a really
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: complicated situation. You've got a family going through grief and
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: then it's playing out in the media. Now, obviously, Chris
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Paulin seems to have sought out this Daily Mail journalist
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: because it's actually not the first time he's spoken about
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Elodie's to the Daily Mail, it appears Elodie and the
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Paulins have been estranged for several years now following a
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: dispute over the foundation Elodie set up in Chumpy's memory.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: So back in 2022, Chris shared an email he sent
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: the foundation expressing his concern of the change in direction
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: of the charity's focus. So it was originally set up
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: to focus on supporting youth sport. However, it's since pivoted
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: direction towards mental health initiatives. Now, Chris was concerned that
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: that the change in focus would lead to confusion around
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the circumstances of his son's death. So I can understand
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: where Chris was coming from in some respect because Chumpy
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: drowned after suffering a shallow water blackout while spearfishing. And
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: originally when the news was reported, there was some confusion
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: around what actually happened. I just think that this is
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: such a terribly sad story because you've clearly got a
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: father who's in the absolute depths of grief. This is
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: any parent's nightmare and he's trying to gain some control
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: back where he can. It's also really difficult because as
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: a parent, how do you move on from a situation
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: like this? Like obviously he feels like Elodie's able to
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: move on with her life and find someone new, which
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: she is well within her right to do. But for him,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: this has probably triggered him because he's like, well, I
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: can't just get my son back. I can't move on
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: from this. Yeah, but that doesn't mean he should lash
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: out at Elodie. I mean, I do think you're correct
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: in saying it seems like he is struggling to gain
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: some control, particularly because Elodie has got a podcast and
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: she's publicly spoken about her relationship and all the trials
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: and tribulations that she's gone through.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: But I mean, she has the right to share her story.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: I wonder if he feels that going to the media
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: is his only option because he wanted to say that
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: following his email about the charity, Elodie never responded and
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: blocked his phone number. So maybe this is his way
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: of communicating with her or getting his message across through
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: the media. As I said, we don't know what's going
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: on behind the scenes, but it was really jarring seeing
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Chris's comments juxtaposed with the fanfare online surrounding Elodie's engagement.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: To say her followers were excited is an understatement.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: The post got so much love and it was all
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: so genuine. At the time of recording, the post has
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: over 150,000 likes. and over 4,000 comments. I was just
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: so happy for her because to see someone go through
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: this tragedy and then find love again, it.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Was just really touching.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: I think what's also made a lot of people really
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: happy is hearing the special bond that Brock has with Minnie.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Elodie has previously praised her fiance for how much he's
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: embraced being a father figure in her life and how
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: respectful he is about Chumpy's legacy. Yeah, and it was
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: really sweet because when Brock shared the news to his
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Instagram story, he posted a photo of Elodie and Minnie
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: and wrote, officially my girls forever and ever and ever now.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: As much as this is such beautiful news, I can
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: also see why this news would be really triggering for
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Chris because you would feel like Elodie and Minnie are
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: moving on and that would be hard for him to
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: see because you'd be thinking, where does my son fit
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: into this scenario? I mean, we have heard obviously that
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Brock has really embraced Chumpy's legacy, but I suppose if
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: you're not now speaking to Elodie and you feel blocked
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: out of your granddaughter's life, you would think, well, what
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: room is there for us? It's just a really difficult
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: situation for everyone to navigate because this is quite a
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: well-winded relationship for Elodie. They actually publicly announced the relationship
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: back in November last year and she spoke on her
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: podcast pretty candidly about the relationship saying she found it
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: difficult navigating grief while falling in love and she admitted
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: to feeling really guilty about how happy she felt and
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: she said she was scared of her feelings. It would
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: just be so complicated and it would take a really
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: special person on the other end to be understanding of
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: the other person that's really going to always be in
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: their relationship, which is chumpy. On a more positive note,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: we need to talk about the ring because it was
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: absolutely stunning. A lot of people are saying it looks
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: like Taylor Swift's engagement ring and they've said that Taylor
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: has set the trend for bezel set engagement rings and
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: old mine cut diamonds. Now Elodie's ring was an elongated
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: cushion cut diamond set in yellow gold. It's five carats
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: and there's been a lot of chatter online whether it's
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: natural or lab diamond. I'm actually too scared to weigh
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: in because we always get negative reviews when we talk
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: about whether something's you know, a natural diamond or a
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: lab diamond or using the word real diamond. Whatever it is,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: the ring is stunning. Well, we have a clue because
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: the jewelry company who designed it has come out and
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: claimed the ring. They posted their congratulations to the couple. Now,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: their name is Alder Fine Jewelry. And in their Instagram bio,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: they describe themselves as natural diamond specialists. And they also
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: said they custom made the ring for Elodie. So AKA
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: it is a real diamond, which would have cost an
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: absolute bomb. Yeah. Well, the Daily Mail has had a
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: jewelry specialist analyze the photos of the ring. And they
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: said if it is a natural diamond, it's probably worth
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: around $ 250, 000 to $ 350, 000. What does Brock do? So he
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: is the managing director of a commercial fit-out company, a
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: little bit like what Sky Wheatley's ex, Lockie Ward, does.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: So I assume he probably does pretty well for himself.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I'm guessing there's probably also an element of a sponsorship
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: deal within there, as in there might be a gifted
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: percentage of the ring.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: Well, potentially.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, Elodie has a lot of followers and a
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: lot of people invested in this story. Aside from followers,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: it's also going to attract a lot of mainstream media attention.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: So I've never heard of this jewelry brand before, but
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: it's clearly being splashed everywhere. I would just love to
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: know if that is the case and a part of
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: this ring was gifted, how does someone go about setting
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: up this deal without their partner knowing? Okay. Most people
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: know that they're going to get proposed to before it's happened.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: They've been spending months planting the seed, you know, showing
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: photos of what they like, going into the jewel and saying, hey,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: this is exactly what I want. You know, lots of
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: people go in and get their ring designed and know
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: about it ahead of time. Where the surprise usually comes
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: in is that they don't know when or how they're
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: going to get proposed to. I mean, Elodie was proposed
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: to in Europe. And I feel like if you were
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: in that situation and you had a Europe trip coming up,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: you might start getting a little bit suspicious. Can you
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: imagine bringing a ring that's worth potentially $ 350, 000 through airports? Like,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: That would be an absolute fucking nightmare. It was pretty
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: funny because Elodie has met up with her podcast co-host
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Chloe Fisher and her family while they're in Europe and
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: she made Chloe put the ring on and she was
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: like filming and photographing what the ring looked like on
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: her hand because she said her hand was so much
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: more attractive than hers because hers is apparently all veiny
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: and it just reminded me we used to do that
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: just so you could get like the perspective of what
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: your ring looks like from other people. I totally get
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: that and I... almost got you Kate to pose with
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: my ring for an engagement photo like just you know
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the close-up of the ring that you want to do
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: because you have so much prettier hair than me. Like
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: I have these little gremlin hands that are always dry.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: My nails always look bad, but you've got lovely hands.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, we're clearly not identical in every aspect. Thank
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: you so much. That's quite the compliment. I feel like
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: my hands aren't very nice at the moment anymore. I
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: don't have my acrylic nails and they're pretty dry for
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: a motherhood. I do remember When I was around 12,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: my hairdresser said to me that I could be a
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: hand model. Now, she was obviously just being really polite
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: because I had quite long fingernails at the time.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: But you know when something sticks with you?
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Just take it. What an absolute compliment.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: There is a global reckoning coming for big tech. Online
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: harms have real-world consequences.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Australia's influencer industry could be in for a shake-up if
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Labor's latest social media laws pass. The government is proposing
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: a bill to let Australians turn off algorithms and and
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: choose the feed they want. The legislation is intended to
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: boost online safety, but could it also bring back the
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: golden age of influencing? Now, Kate, before we dive into
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: the ramification for the influencer world, can you get listeners
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: up to speed with Labor's plan?
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Proposed initiative is called My Feed, My Way, and it
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: will let social media users opt out of algorithmic feeds.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Labor says the reason for the change is to protect
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: people from extreme and harmful material.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: They're particularly concerned.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: About eating disorder content, misogynistic material, pornography and bullying. If
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: the bill passes, social media platforms who don't comply could
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: face fines of more than $ 100 million. I'm interested, how
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: will users be able to opt out? This is one
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: area that Labor have drawn a bit of criticism because
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: the proposed mechanism is a pop-up message, basically asking users
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: what they want their default feed to be. People don't
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: think it's actually sophisticated enough because we're used to seeing
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: pop-up boxes with cookies and people don't really take them seriously.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: To me, the other glaring issue is that people can
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: opt in or out of this. So a lot of
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: the vulnerable people who maybe are finding themselves consuming eating
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: disorder content or young males who are tuning into the
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: likes of Andrew Tate and that misogynistic type of content,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: they're not going to be wanting to opt out of that.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: They're already sucked into it. Yeah, but the issue with
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: making opting out mandatory is is censorship. And that's what
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: the Liberals and Nationals are already accusing Labor of trying
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: to do. It's so interesting to think about returning to
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: a news feed without an algorithm. I mean, back in
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: the day, obviously on Instagram, you just got fed things
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: in chronological order. So you really could go back and
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: look at what you've missed. Nowadays, I feel like I
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: miss my friend's content and it pops up like two
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: days later and you're like, that never even showed up
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: for me.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Remember when Instagram actually used to tell you that you
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: were all caught up? There was no doom scrolling. You
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: simply just ran out of posts to view.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: That's essentially what it's going to be like if you
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: opt out of the algorithm because you're only going to
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: see content from people or groups that you have chosen
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: to follow and So basically a throwback.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: To the early 2010s.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: I wonder though if some people's feeds will have nothing
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: in it because since the algorithms were introduced, a lot
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: of people have just stopped posting because they were sick
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: of their content.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Not getting any likes and not being served to anyone.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we spoke about this a bit on the subs
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: about how there's been a real shift in people's behavior
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: online in terms of posting and how there's almost this
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: embarrassment around posting about yourself online if you're just quote
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: unquote like an everyday person. And I think a lot
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: of it comes to do with not wanting to look
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: like you care or there seems to be like there's
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: a lot of lurkers online now. Like there's people who
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: see the content, but they don't want to engage in
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: the content. It's interesting timing from Labor because it's been
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: exactly a decade since Instagram switched over from that chronological
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: timeline to the algorithmic one, and also 17 years since
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Facebook introduced their newsfeed algorithm. God, it was such a
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: simpler time back then. And that brings us to the question,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: could this mean a return to the golden age of influencing?
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Because let's face it, 2016, 2017 was the peak time
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: for influencers. But since the algorithm was introduced, let's face it,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Instagram has never been the same again. Because before the
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: algorithm was it used to all be about the follow.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: The follow was incredibly valuable and you used to follow
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: someone because you actually wanted to keep up with their
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: life and their content. But when the algorithm was introduced,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: the people you followed basically disappeared from your feed and
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: it was all about discovering new content creators and content
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: creators then had to build engagement to actually be seen. However,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: if enough people opt out of the algorithm and the
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: follow may be valuable again rather than engagement. Yeah, but
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: I feel like that just helps lazy influencers because I
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: think ever since it changed to the algorithm and reels
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: and send-ons being important, influencers had to work harder to
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: get a new audience. And it allowed people who were
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: actually content creators to build and grow an audience. They
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: didn't just luck out because they struck at a time
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: when you know, it was easier to get a following.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's the thing.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: We now have different expectations on influencers. So I actually
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: think it puts the pressure on them to build a
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: proper fandom and go back to entertaining their followers rather
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: than just jumping on boring trends. And it's going to
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: favour people that go beyond just posting aesthetically pleasing photos.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: People want to follow people because they're good storytellers or
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: they've got a really good personality or they're experts in
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: the field. So you're saying that people really want to
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: curate their following list because it's all they're going to see.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: So they know that they have to opt into people
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: who genuinely entertain them because they're not going to be
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: fed random videos that the algorithm knows they'll like.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Because at the moment, it's all about, well, how do
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: I stop someone scrolling and watch my content? However, If
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: it reverts back, it's now about how do I make
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: someone care enough about me to follow me? Yeah, but
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: then how do you discover these new people?
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's the thing.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: These days, content creators have the ability to go viral
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: overnight because of the algorithm. So it's going to make
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: it a lot more difficult than it already is for
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: unknown creators to be discovered. So it is going to
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: be really good for those who have an existing audience
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: because they're essentially cutting out a lot of the competition.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Maybe the government is doing this because they're like, oh
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: my God, this next generation is just obsessed with being
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: an influencer and being a content creator. Let's squash any
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: possibilities of them doing that because we need to get
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: people back into the health system. We need people to
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: get into trades. We need people having real jobs that
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: impact the community in.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: A positive light.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think that's the purpose of Labor's bill,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: but we have spoken a lot on this podcast about
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: how oversaturated the influencer industry is. So the numbers really
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: could reduce if people do opt out of the algorithm
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: because people just essentially won't be able to find these
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: new creators. I mean, unsurprisingly, the head of Instagram, a
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: guy called Adam Mazzeri, isn't happy about the suggested change
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: and he's come out to defend algorithms. He claims that
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: getting rid of algorithms will make social media boring as
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: he says your feed will just be overwhelmed with brand content.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: His theory behind that is that brands are the ones
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: who post more than regular people. So if you opt
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: out of the algorithms, your feed will just be a
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: bunch of boring marketing posts from brands and sponsored influencer content.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's got a point, but wouldn't you just
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: unfollow those people? In saying that all, I do feel
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: sorry for small businesses who rely on social media marketing
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: because this is going to be a massive blow for them.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: I wonder if there's a little bit of virtue signaling
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: going on here with this proposed initiative. I personally... like
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: the fact that my TikTok or my Instagram knows what
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: I'm interested in and says, hey, here's some cool creators
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: that you'll also like. Yeah, but that's the thing, Sophie.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: You have the ability to opt out. So you might
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: not be negatively impacted by the algorithm. Your Christmas content
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: and home renovation content might be fine for your mental health.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: But for those who are vulnerable and struggling, this is
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: a great thing. No, I totally get that. But my
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: concern is that those vulnerable people won't be opting out.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but at least there's the ability to do it
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: rather than having no option.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Why don't we just make this sort of content illegal then?
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Why are there not more rules about what is and
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: is not allowed on social media?
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I think it's a step in that direction.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: And hats off to the Australian government in this space
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: because they are leading the world in this area to
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: make social media safer. A lot of other governments are
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: actually following what Australia did with banning social media for
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: under 16s. I mean, maybe if they could help with
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: the cost of living, that would also be greatly appreciated. Yeah,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that everything the government are doing are correct,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: but we do have to applaud them in this area
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: and making a stand against big tech. Let's get into
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: what's blowing up our group chat. Now, this week, the
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: rumor mill went into overdrive after Anna Paul was accused
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: of cozying up to NRL players. following a match in
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Las Vegas earlier this year. Now, the TikToker and OnlyFans
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: star was invited by the NRL to attend a match
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: back in March, and it was part of the NRL's
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: bid to expand the sport's global footprint. I was interested
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: to see that she was invited because this, of course,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: comes off the back of her mass cancellation.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm not really surprised. The NRL aren't without controversy themselves.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: So you think that she sort of fits into their branding,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: as per se?
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, at the time.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: She.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Shared a TikTok of her standing on the field in
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Las Vegas, cheering the team on and she was standing
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: very close to cheerleaders and she looked absolutely stoked to
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: be there. Now, these cheating rumors were ignited this week
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: by a TikTok account called Alice Michaela Anjamaya. The account
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: is named after Addis Paul's ex-girlfriends who have all gone
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: on to accuse him of sexual assault and domestic violence. Now,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Those are just accusations. Now, the account reshared a clip
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: from July showing Taylor Montoya, who is a journalist and
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: the wife of Bulldogs player Marcelo Montoya, playing a game
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: of two truths and one lie on Triple M. In
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the clip, Taylor explained that she was in Las Vegas
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: to watch her husband's team play. Following the game, she
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: says the players partied at a nightclub and it wasn't
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: long until Anna Paul joined in the celebrations. Let's take
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: a listen to what she said.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: It's no secret that the NRL invited Anna Paul to the. Oh, yes, yes.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: So we were rubbing shoulders with her there. And I
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: don't know what happened. But later that night, after all
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: the games, we all headed out to celebrate. So we're
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: in the nightclub.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: All the partners are there.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: And I turned to my left and I say, oh,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: my God, no way.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: That's Anna Paul. She's come to the club as well.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: And I could see her getting a bit close to
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: some of the taken partners. And I was like, no,
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: not going to do that. So then I took it
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: upon myself to go up and exchange a few words
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: with her and things took a turn and we both
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: ended up getting kicked out of the club.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: I'm so confused by this timeline because wasn't Anna Paul
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: dating Amrik at the time? She's only recently gone official,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: but they've been together, I think, since she split up
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: with Glenn. Yeah, that's what made this all a little
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: bit fishy for me. I immediately... went over to Anna's TikTok.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: I haven't seen her content for a year because after
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: all of the controversy, I unfollowed her. The day I
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: had a look, she had posted a video with her boyfriend.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: So I thought, well, this doesn't seem right. It does
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: seem like they may have split up for a period though,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: because she was always hanging out with Harry Jowsey and
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: they kept saying, oh, we're only friends, but.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: It was all a bit weird.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Now this clip went absolutely viral. At the time of recording,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: it has over 300,000 views. One person wrote under the post,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: if any wag was to say something, it would have
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: been Tay 100%. whilst another said Michaela was right about her. Now,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: this comment refers to Michaela Tester accusing Anna of having
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: an emotional affair on her longtime boyfriend, Glenn, with her
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: now boyfriend, Amrik. The background story is that Amrik's parents
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: supposedly ran the stables where Anna rode her horse and
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: they developed this relationship while she was still dating Glenn.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: None of that has been confirmed, but it was a
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: bit fishy. Now, the reason that this isn't all adding
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: up is because it's actually not true. It was one
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: of the lies that Taylor told as a part of
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: the radio segment. However, the Alice, Michaela and Jamiah account
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: clipped it up, making it sound like it was a
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: real story. That is the really dangerous thing about social media.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: The fact that vision can be chopped up to suit
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: a narrative that the poster wants. And the thing is
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: someone sent me through this TikTok and I was like, oh,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: my God, how are more people not talking about this?
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: And I had to go and seek out the original
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: clip to find out that this actually wasn't true.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: Now that's a good journalist, Sophie.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: You did your diligence watching the full radio segment.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Now, Sophie, we need to talk about the other story
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: that has absolutely blown up probably everyone's group chat. Now those,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: of course, are the photos of Australian athlete Joanna Whitech
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: competing in a high rocks event in Beijing. Now, the
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: reason they have gone viral is because she shit herself mid-race.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, putting it politely, I mean, I would have
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: said soiled herself. I think that gives a bit more
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: dignity to the athlete involved.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: Well, it's quite difficult to give this story any dignity.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: I did laugh at seeing the ways that the different
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: media essentially said shitting themselves. I saw the ABC was like,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: defecating or, you know, incontinence. Like they were just, they
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: were very PC about the whole thing. For the people
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: that haven't seen the photos, which I doubt there would
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: be many, but like this wasn't just like a single turd.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: This was literally, I don't know how to politely put it,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: but diarrhea running down her legs. I was so confused
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: because it was also on her arms. Was it because
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: she tried to wipe it? Like, I don't know how
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: that happened because it literally looked like chocolate sauce sprayed
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: everywhere when i viewed it i was like that's definitely
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: not chocolate sauce like it looked like it had a
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: chunky element to it i'm sorry for anyone that potentially
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: is eating breakfast while we're talking about this i mean
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: the photos were confronting i mean news sites even chose
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: to blur the photos and added image warnings i can
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: see why joanna currently holds the number one title in
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: high rocks because The fact that she just kept going,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: like she got it on her arms. There was someone
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: looking on like, what the fuck is going on? And
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: she just didn't care. Like she zoned everyone out. Do
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: you think she even knew that she had shit herself?
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: I think you know you've shat yourself. You would be
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: feeling ill.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: But maybe she was so in the zone.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't mean to bring Lucy Jackson up,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: but as a part of our live show, I'm hoping
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: that we're not in trouble for re-sharing this, but she
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: spoke about how she shit herself at a nightclub and
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: she actually didn't realise for a period of time. Can
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: I point out that this has been said during one
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: of her podcasts, this isn't some special, you know, behind
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: the scenes gossip. Yeah, so maybe it was a situation
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: where It wasn't until the smell hit her that she
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: realised what had happened. It's funny because obviously Sydney Sweeney
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: has been a hot topic this week for her controversial
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: ad for a betting agency. And, you know, since female
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: athletes have come out saying this is what a real
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: athlete looks like. I'm waiting for someone to make a video.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Not Joanna. Come on, shit.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Anyway, I move on.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Now, immediately people started questioning why event organisers.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: We've cracked it.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Why do we always have these poo stories? It's a Friday. Yeah. Now,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: immediately people started questioning why event organisers didn't force Joanna
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: to stop or why.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: What, shitting or just in the race?
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Didn't stop the race or why she didn't take a
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: bathroom break. Others said that it was unfair that she
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: continued to race as she was using shared equipment, which
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: subsequently became contaminated by the diarrhea.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: It's okay.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: It's a good way to win a race. Everyone's like,
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: we quit. Like, this has gone too far.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: One critic wrote, Joanna started suffering from diet. Sorry.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: It's so funny.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: This week, a lot of people have said, commended us
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: for being quite mature over our handling of the Lucy
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: and Nikki thing. And I think we're losing any.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Of that respect at the moment. Another sticky situation.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, one critic wrote, Joanna started suffering from diarrhea
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: as early as the second kilometre of the High Rocks
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: race in Beijing.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: No, she went on to claim the championship.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Her condition contaminated large sections of the racecourse. This created
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: huge disruptions for subsequent athletes and adds an enormous cleanup
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: burden to the event staff. Now, it's quite interesting because
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: event organisers, following this backlash... said that it was an
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: unforeseen situation and protocols became blurred. I mean, so essentially
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: they're saying this is the first time that one of
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: their contestants has shit themselves. I kind of question this
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: because it is widely known that running and doing any
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: sort of, you know, physical hit activities like this does
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: get your gastrointestinal system moving. I mean, that's why often
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: dogs need to poo on walks because once you get going...
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: You can't stop. So I don't know how this was
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: an unforeseen situation.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Do they need to put in the rule books now?
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: Like if you shit yourself mid-race, you're out. That's you done.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Well, ironically, High Rocks actually has a no spitting or
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: clearing of the nostril policy. You know how sometimes when
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: people go on a run and they're like, and they
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: blow their snout. That's just fucking pig. Like that is
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: just too far. Anyway, no offence if anyone does that.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: But a lot of people were like, well, if they
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: have a policy about not spitting– or not clearing your nostrils,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: and you'll apparently get a two-minute time penalty if you
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: do that. Why is there no time penalty for literally
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: having diarrhea all over the equipment? Like one critic said,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: so I can spit up on the course, but I
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: can shit myself. Good to know. I mean, because Joanna
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: went on to win that race. Should she not have
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: had a time penalty?
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, she pocketed $ 21, 000. But I mean, personally, I'd
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: probably pay $ 21, 000 not to have this happen to me
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: so publicly.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: What I love, though, was she really embraced it. So
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: she ended up posting a photo after the race of
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: her giving a thumbs up with the caption, go hard
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: or go home. It wasn't a popular one. A lot
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: of people were abusing her, saying it is just abhorrent
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: that you contaminated all of the equipment.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: It's not like she purposely did it.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: No, no, I know, but at the same breath, a
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: lot of people commended her for for her athleticism and
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: the fact that she did keep going. It was very mixed.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: And I actually think that she is going to become
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: one of those athletes like Ray Gunn, who's very controversial,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: but I think she will pick up a few brand
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: deals because of it.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Well, unfortunately for want of a better phrase.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: I think this may follow her around like a bad
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: smell for quite some time. I mean, that is a
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: bit of a low blow, Kate. I think that we
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: need to wrap things up before they go too down
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: the toilet here. This is a Friday and it could
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: get out of hand. Now, thank you so much for
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: joining us for this episode. We really appreciate your support.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: This episode was recorded on the traditional land of the
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: elders past and present. And if you have enjoyed today's show,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: could you please make sure that you are subscribed on
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a five-star review. Also,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: if you want to hear more from us, we drop
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: a bonus episode of Outspoken every Thursday for Outspoken Plus subscribers.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: All the details to sign up are in our show notes.