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Ashy Bines’ Beauty Brand Enters Liquidation · Outspoken the Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Amy Torber. I'm Sophie Torber. And I'm Kate Torber. And
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: coming up on today's show, Ashley Bynes' beauty brand collapses
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: into liquidation and Bonnie Blue's confusing birth announcement. But first,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Taylor Hansen has been announced as a Sophie, I know
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: you're incredibly excited about this because you sent it to
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: me immediately. I had to do a double take. I'm like,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: who is that? Do you not follow him on Instagram?
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I do follow him, but it was the first I
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: saw of it because it had literally just been posted.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I was very excited. I wonder if I can somehow
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: watch this live. Surely there's some streaming service I can
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: watch this on. I love Taylor Hance and I have
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: loved him since I was eight years old. And it
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: sounds like his brothers were quite shocked that he was
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: going to be part of the show. It seemed very
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: out of character for him to do something like this,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: but I think it's going to be great for their
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: music going forward. But the reason why it's quite shocking
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: is because Taylor has never been known for his dancing.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: He's always stood behind a keyboard. Yeah, but I think
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: his brothers also thought that he wouldn't necessarily like the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: limelight associated with it, even though he is obviously a
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: famous singer. For those who aren't Hanson Tragics like us,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: they two are Constantly. Well, since the middle of nowhere
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: took off in, what, 1997, they haven't actually stopped performing
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: at all. It's quite funny because his dance partner, Brit Stewart,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: admitted that she was so excited when she heard the
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: news that Taylor was going to be her partner because
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: she's a millennial and loved Hanson growing up. I wonder
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: if his kids will be at the performances because he
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: has seven children and they range in age from five
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: to twenty-three. Can you believe that?
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: So his eldest is called Jordan. Do you want to
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: know the other names? I know Penny. Yeah, there's Penny.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Penny and me was one of the bankers. Penny and
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: me tonight. Vigo, V-I-G-O, Willa, Claude, and Maybelline. See, that
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: disappoints me. I thought that he'd be one for traditional names. Well,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: when you've got seven kids, you're probably like, God, what
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: do I call her? Look at the mascara, Maybelline. One
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: thing I love about him is that he married a
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: fan because it just makes you think, oh, could it
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: be me? And They've literally been together since they were teenagers.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: I'm just disappointed that it's not Isaac from Hanson that's
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: on Dancing with the Stars. Amy was so desperate when
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: we were growing up to be different from Sophie and
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: I that she declared her favourite was Isaac. And no
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: shade to Isaac, great performer. But, I mean, whose favourite
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: wasn't Taylor? I probably could have understood Zach a little
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: bit more too. I don't know. Zach just seemed a
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: bit young even though I was like eight. He just
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: seemed like a little boy. I remember there was a
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: competition on a radio station that we begged our parents
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: to enter for us and you had to ring up
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: and there was a quiz and mum was like, quick,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: quick girls, what's the name of the album? And we're like, Hanson, Hanson.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: It was not, it was the middle of nowhere. Like
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: what fickle fans. We were actually going to get to
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: interview Hanson last time they were in Australia in person,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: but the only reason it couldn't go ahead was because
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: it was Isaac's birthday and they had something planned and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: we were like, I mean, sorry, that actually sounds like
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the biggest fob off now that I think of it. No,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: it was true. I think it was because we put
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: the submission in quite late and it was the only
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: day that was left that was available. I think they're
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: actually really nice guys to work with. Anyway, so long
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: story short, I think we'll be tuning into the US's
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars or at least keeping up with
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the clips of Taylor from TikTok. Well, they teased that
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: he may be dancing to Oom Bop in one of
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: the rounds and I reckon that clip will go absolutely viral.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I'm going to put it out there. He's going to
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: win or come second because... The Hanson fan base is
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: still going strong. Like there are fans that are so dedicated.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: I think there's like a Hanson day in Oklahoma where
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: they live and thousands of fans flock there to be
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: a part of it. Like this is still an active
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: fan group. I mean, millennials were going nuts over Garrett Graham,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: but I think that we're going to go even more
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: nuts about seeing our crush when we're eight years old
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: on TV again.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: But I also don't want my silence to look like
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: I'm hiding because I'm not.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: The company behind Ashy Binds' beauty brand Hideaway has collapsed
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: into liquidation with almost $ 2. 3 million in debts. The news
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: has left many questioning how the OG fitness influencer's business
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: empire got to this point. Now, Kate, our audience has
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: been patiently waiting for us to cover this story. And
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: I think in order for listeners to understand the gravity
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: of this latest business failing, they need to get up
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: to speed with Ashy's origin story. Yeah, and I would
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: hazard a guess that if you're a millennial listening, you
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: either did Ashy's Bikini Challenge or Kayla's. That's how influential
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Ashy Bynes was in the 2010s. Now, she was among
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the first wave of influencers to turn social media into
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: a business empire, and she built a massive following spruiking
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: her Bikini Body Challenge. Now, this program was incredibly lucrative
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: for Ashy and built the foundations of her business empire
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: and However, it also came with controversy. It was plagued
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: for years by customer complaints around subscriptions and billings. Now,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: at the time, Ashy claimed customers simply didn't understand the
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: terms and conditions of the program. I remember back in 2014,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: her diet plan was voted as one of the worst
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: by the Dietitians Association. It was ranked amongst the likes
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: of the Skinny Me Tea and the Lemon Detox Diet.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Isn't that so of that time? It's interesting you mention
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: her diets because- Off the back of her successful online venture,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: she then moved into a more physical one. So in 2014,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: she actually opened a gym called the Ashley Bynes Transformation Center,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: as well as a cafe called Ashley's Clean Eating Kitchen.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Oh my God, I had no idea that she had
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: her own cafe. Well, that's probably because it closed down
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: after six months. The gym was a little bit more successful.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: It stuck around for six years. At the time, Ashley's husband, Steve,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: described the gym closure as a consolidation and Ashley told
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: her followers that she no longer enjoyed any processes involved
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: in running the facility. Then there were Ashley's activewear brands.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: So in 2016, she launched Toned. Now that disappeared in
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: 2019 and was replaced by Baseline, which closed four years later.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: I'm actually very embarrassed to say that I purchased some
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: activewear from Tone, I think in 2017. It was this
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: cobalt blue. Remember that cobalt blue tank top that I
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: used to wear? It was very tight. Sophie seems to
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: be that person that got sucked into buying every activewear
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: line from an influencer. Like you have always talked about
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: how you got Sarah's Day stuff. Now here's the Ashley
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Bynes admission.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, in defense of my decision to purchase from
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: her brand, it was because I really liked that color blue.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Like that was having a moment. And actually it's coming back.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Henny have brought out cobalt blue jeans and a top.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: That's their new item at the moment. I can't get
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: sucked in again. I saw that and it surprised me
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: they deviated from chocolate brown. I was like, this doesn't
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: seem very Henny. Now, in terms of Ashley Bynes' decision
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: to shut down Baseline, at the time it was framed
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: as being a health-focused one because it shortly followed her
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: diagnosis with a brain aneurysm. But fans were quite sceptical
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: because When she shut it down, she claimed that Baseline
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: had fulfilled 500,000 orders. So people were like, well, if
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: it was that successful, why didn't you sell it? Now
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: that brings us to Hideaway. And interestingly, it started out
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: as a small family business run by Ashi's mum and stepdad.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Now they sold homemade soaps and body products on a
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: small scale. Back then it was actually called Hideaway Bay
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: after the beach Ashi's stepdad proposed to her mum on. Now,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: when Ashley came on board in 2019 as a co-founder
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: and creative director, she relaunched the business as Hideaway and
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: turned it into a major e-commerce brand. Now, over the
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: last couple of years, we have spoken about Hideaway quite
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: a lot on this podcast, and listeners will know that
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: this closure has come as no surprise to us. I'm
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: pretty sure that we predicted this a month or so ago.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: It is clear that the business has been struggling for
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: a while. In May, they shut down their New Zealand operations.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Then came lots of complaints about orders and delivery time.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: So some customers claimed that they have been waiting for
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: their purchases to arrive. And just last month, the brand
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: was under fire for its influencer marketing program and use
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: of AI ads, which we did cover in quite a
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: lot of detail. So it wasn't really surprising when the
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: news broke last week that Hideaway had entered voluntary liquidation.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: The story was broken by the Daily Telegraph. According to
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: the publication, Hideaway owes almost $ 2. 3 million in debt, including
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: half a million to the ATO and $ 13, 000 to employees.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: There's also a liability for more than $ 40, 000 in gift cards.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Other creditors include Shopify, American Express and Wayflyer Global. Now,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: the Daily Telegraph actually interviewed the owner of one of
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Hideaway's suppliers and a company called Boutique Logistics, and the
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: owner claims that they're owed $ 37, 000 and have been chasing
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the money since April this year. She also alleged that
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Hideaway started paying her $ 500 a week and made four
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: payments totaling $ 2, 000 and then suddenly stopped paying. The owner
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: then engaged a debt collector in July and said that
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: she found out that a liquidator had been appointed in August.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Another interesting point being reported regards Hideaway's assets. So despite
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the business reporting more than $ 1. 55 million in assets, their
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: net realizable value was listed at just $ 140, 000. Now that
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: basically means that's what the liquidator thinks those assets could
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: actually be sold for. That's not entirely surprising considering only
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago we were talking about that
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: micro-influencer who called Hideaway out for only wanting to pay
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: her in Contra. And when she had a look, the
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Contra was worth like 25 bucks. Like their perfume was
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: being chucked out for that price. Well, it's funny you
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: say that because when it came to just their stock,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: they listed it as being worth $ 850, 000. but liquidators believe
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: it could only be sold for around $ 81, 000. Now, when
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: you dig further into this story, what is particularly interesting
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: is the fact that Ashi doesn't personally own Hideaway, despite
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: her face being all over it. It's actually operated through
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: a separate company called Platinum Investment Group, which Ashi's husband, Steve,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: is the director of. Now, Ashi is in charge of
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: a chain of companies that Platinum Investment Group sits within.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: It's a surprisingly tangled corporate structure that is quite confusing.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: And some of the companies within that structure have some
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: very interesting names. So one of them is called ExitStrat. Now,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: you would assume that is short for exit strategy. Another
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: is LG Game, which I presume could be a shortened
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: version of Long Game. It's wild that they actually named
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: those companies that because if you were doing a company
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: search and these names popped up, It would raise a
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: lot of questions. I mean, it's pretty brazen, isn't it?
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Do you guys assume that the structure was specifically designed
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: to protect Ashi's personal wealth? I mean, that's what it
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: seems to be. Well, look, we don't have any evidence
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: that it was strategically created for that purpose. In saying that, though,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: the main reason people operate businesses through companies is to
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: limit personal liability and protect personal assets. So it is
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: a smart business move to set up a company like
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Ashi has done. In terms of what it actually means
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: for her personal wealth, the way that it has been
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: structured means she doesn't personally owe that $ 2. 3 million to creditors. Instead,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: the debt belongs to Platinum Investment Group. So creditors can
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: only claim against Platinum rather than against every company within
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: the chain. There is a caveat though. So when a
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: company goes into liquidation, it's the liquidator's job to work
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: out what happened to the company's money and assets. and
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: whether the directors or related companies have any personal liability. Currently,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: it is an ongoing investigation, so we're yet to know
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: the liquidator's findings. There are instances where directors can become
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: personally liable in certain circumstances, particularly if a company incurs
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: debts whilst insolvent. I just want to be clear, though,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: we are not suggesting that this is the case for
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Ashley Bynes. Those circumstances include a wide range of things,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: things like if a director traded while insolvent, or if
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: they use company money and assets improperly, the list goes on.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: That's when a director's personal assets can come into play. Now,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: since the news broke, everyone has been waiting with bated
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: breath to hear Ashi address the matter. And despite the
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: story making national news, there was radio silence from Ashi. Instead,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: she posted from a family holiday in a luxury Airbnb.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Not a popular move. No, I mean, it wasn't until
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: six days after the news broke that she finally addressed
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Hideaway's woes on her Instagram story. She started out by
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: saying that she'd rather speak than let others speak for her.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: She then said this.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: First of all, I wanted to start with my honest
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: truth that this past year has been the hardest year
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: of my business life. There are still things that I
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: can't go into for obvious legal reasons, and I hope
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: you guys can understand that, but also don't want my
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: silence to look like I'm hiding because I'm not.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: When anyone claims that they're telling their honest truth, it
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: always sort of raises a bit of a red flag
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: for me. It's like just the reiteration that it's the
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: honest truth. Is that a bit of a tautology? Seems
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: a little bit too much. Isn't the truth honest in
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: any way? Yeah, exactly. The irony is also not lost
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: on me that she says, look, I'm not hiding from
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: this and the brand is called Hideaway. What stood out
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: to me about that grab, though, is the fact that
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: she would voluntarily bring up that there are legal reasons
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: why she can't actually speak. Is this a way of
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: excusing why she went MIA or is there more to
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: the story that she can't currently discuss? I think it's
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: a bit of a cop-out. She really owes her followers
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: more of an explanation. It seems like she's using this
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: term about, oh, I can't speak for legal reasons, as
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: an excuse not to actually address what's happened. She is
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: the face of this business. Now, as Ashley often does best,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: she tried to put a positive spin on the story,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: framing it that she was proud to have run the
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: business for 10 years. Similar to when she announced the
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: closure of her activewear brand, she also claimed Hideaway had
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: served over 500,000 customers. She even made a comment that
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: no business lasts forever. I'm sorry, we should have known
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: that she was struggling with her businesses when she showed
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: us her Christmas tree. It was the worst Christmas. I mean,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, if you were apparently selling like all this
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: activewear and all of this perfume, you would have a
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: balsam hill tree. For those who don't know this random
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: reference that Amy's making, a couple of years ago, Ashley
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: shared a photo of her Christmas tree and it literally
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: looked dead set like a toilet brush with tacky tinsel
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: all over it. And she actually offered to pass it
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: on to flood victims. It was insulting. And it's like
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: fucking throw the thing out. Like, I'm sorry, if that
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: was on the side of the road, people would drive
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: past it. No one would be collecting that thing. It's done.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: I remember because we'd spoken about it on the podcast
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: and then Sophie and I went to Cheapest Chips and
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: we dead set saw an identical tree. It was like $ 10. Yeah.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Back to Ashley's comment regarding serving over 500,000 customers. Isn't
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: it curious that she's given the same stat for her
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: activewear brand that shut down and now for Hideaway? It's like, really?
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Is this a bit of a copy and paste? I mean,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: they clearly don't have, well, it doesn't look like they've
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: got money for a PR team. So they're like, fuck.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: And despite the comment about, oh, no business lasts forever.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: In the next breath, she then went on to say
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: that Hideaway is still very much up and running under
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: new ownership. So she claimed orders were still going out
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: as normal and all of Hideaway's gift cards and rewards
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: have been transferred over to the new owners. Let's take
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: a listen to more of what she said about those
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: new owners.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: Hideaway now has new owners in place who are very experienced.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: They are very passionate about what we do and genuinely
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: excited to take it forward and also that we're not
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: going anywhere. We're still very much a part of it.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: And you will keep seeing me around the brand in
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: the future. I'm very intrigued to know who these new
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: owners are. The fact that Ashi will still be involved
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: in the brand and the transfer of ownership has happened
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: so quickly makes me wonder if it's someone close to
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Ashi taking over, potentially family. I think you're on the money, Kate.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: It has to be some sort of family member who
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: is taking the reins of this business again. Because If
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: it was me and I was purchasing this business, I
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: would not want Ashley to be the face of it
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: again because clearly one of the reasons that her businesses
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: are no longer doing well is because she is becoming
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: irrelevant as an influencer. I mean, I think she had
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: her day in 2016, 2017. People are over it now.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: I'm actually disturbed though, generally speaking. that in Australia you
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: can set up a company and then it can become
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: insolvent and then you can just set up another company
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: and start it again when there's all these debts that
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: are owing to people? How is that a thing?
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Allegedly, yeah.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: It actually blows my mind. What I find really interesting
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: is that Ashley Bynes isn't the only OG fitness influencer
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: having to shut her brand down. At the end of
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: last year, Tammy Hembrough shut down her activewear brand Now
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: you've got Ashley Bynes' brand going into liquidation. As you
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: touched on, Soph, to me, it is a real reflection
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: of the state of the influencer industry at the moment.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: This industry is saturated and people are no longer influenced
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: by the influencer who has the most followers, but often
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: by micro-influencers who serve a particular niche. And I think
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: people follow Ashley and Tammy. because they're entertained by their life. However,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: I question whether they still drive sales. I don't think
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: they influence their followers to purchase like they did back
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: in the 2010s. I mean, I've made the admission that
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I bought one of Ashley Bynes' active web tops 10
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: years ago. If you think about it, I was in
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: my mid to late 20s then. As followers continue to
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: age with the said influencer, their financial situation becomes very different.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: So for me as a 37-year-old, I don't want to
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: be buying an Ashley Bynes branded perfume. You know what
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: I mean? Like I've got the money to buy a
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: good brand. Like I don't want to buy something that's
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: a crap. And I think that that's what a lot
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: of these influencers are finding. As they get older, people
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: outgrow them. You mentioned at the start of the episode
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: how you were either doing Ashley Bynes' workout or Kayla Acinas'.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: And it's so interesting now in 2026 to compare their success.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, Kayla is always on the rich list. She's
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: worth an estimated $ 170 million. I have never seen Ashley
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Bynes on one of these rich lists.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: And when you analyze the different paths that they went on,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Kayla has always stuck to her core brand. You know,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: she's the face of her workout program that's evolved into
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: being an app. But she's also gone into different ventures
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes. I think it was last year she
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: spoke about how she's invested in petrol stations and medical centers,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: and all of these things that don't actually focus on
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: her personal brand. Whereas Ashley Bynes, off the back of
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: the success of the Bikini Body Challenge, moved into gyms
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: and activewear, which at the time probably made sense that
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: you could convert your audience into paying customers. But she's
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: got this history of repeatedly moving into entirely different industries.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: And those ventures haven't had any longevity. And that's probably
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: why you don't see her on the rich list. Because
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: I don't think she's that rich. I also think it's
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: more than her just having too many fingers and too
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: many pies. I think it also comes down to what
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: she puts out online. She's very well known for her
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: infamous friendship bust-ups. She has recently become very controversial. She's
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: always talking couple of months ago, she was talking about
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: how we were all going to go into lockdown. I
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: don't think it's even recently controversial. She's been controversial for
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: a long time. Well, that's what I mean. Whereas Kayla,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: even though Kayla's actually had some pretty controversial things go
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: down in her private life, she still manages to keep
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: things professional. Well, I think that's also to do with
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: when Kayla's career started. You never really saw her face.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: It was more about her abs and her body. There
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: was a time where she didn't really show her face.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: And as you touched on, Soph, I think that's the issue.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: As she binds as brands are dependent on the power
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: of her personal brand, and it's no longer that powerful anymore.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: No.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Now, just to wrap things up, As she was also
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: forced to address how this liquidation affected her other business,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: She Rises. Now, She Rises started out as a podcast,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: but has expanded to include a coaching platform and wellness retreat.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: She confirmed it's a completely separate business that is thriving
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: and concluded it's where her focus has been for the
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: last couple of years. It was almost as if she
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: was inferring, oh, that's why Hideaway hasn't been that successful
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: because my focus has been elsewhere. She then finished up
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: by saying that it is tough to run a business
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: in Australia at the moment and called for businesses to
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: back each other. A rather interesting comment to make when
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Hideaway owes a lot of small businesses a lot of money.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: I'm pregnant.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Let's get into what's been blowing up our group chat,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: and that is Bonnie Blue's baby news. So earlier this week,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: she announced she'd given birth to her first child, She
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: shared the news by posting a black and white video montage,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: including vision of her in labor and cradling her baby. Now,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: it all seemed very sweet, but amongst that vision was
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: also a clip of a group of men wearing balaclavas. Now,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: they were a part of Bonnie's controversial sex challenge dubbed
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: the breeding event, where she claimed to have had unprotected
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: sex with 400 men in an attempt to fall pregnant.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Later that month, she announced the event had been a success.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Do we actually think that one of these guys is
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: legitimately the father? Well, that's what she's alleging. I mean,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: she's been calling this pregnancy a group project with all
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: of these men. It's so gross. But I think this
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: is all just, again, more Bonnie Blue rage bait. I mean,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: I've seen rumours circulating online that potentially Bonnie had IVF.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: The reality is, if you earn your income from OnlyFans...
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: and you fall pregnant, you may no longer appeal to
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the masses. I mean, I'm sure that there are some people,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: I don't mean to yuck anyone's yum, that are into
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: pregnant women, but I feel like her earnings would have
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: dropped off if she hadn't done all of these outrageous
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: pregnancy stunts. I actually think you're underestimating how many men
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: have a pregnancy kink. Look, I stand to be corrected
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: if that is the case. I've got to admit, when
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: you sent me the birth announcement, I had to do
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: a double take because I thought it was confirmed ages
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: ago that this pregnancy was fake because back in April,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: the media ran with the story after she uploaded a
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: video of her showing off a prosthetic stomach. Let's listen
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: to what she said at the time. So spring break
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: is done and I'm no longer going to need this
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: fake bum. So thank you for you middle-aged dumb parents
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: that fell for my rage break.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Not only is it paid for the villa, the sunshine,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: but over 100 million views has made me a million
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: pounds better off.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Now, I'm not the only one who was confused by this.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Lots of people flooded TikTok accusing Bonnie of posing with
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: a doll. Let's have a listen to what one TikTok
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: user said.
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry, but I'm calling bullshit. There's no way. I
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: don't believe this for one second. She has not had
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: a baby. I saw her documentary and that she... always
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: goes on about how she does all this stuff for
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: publicity and that she was always trying to do the
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: most outrageous things to get into the public eye, to
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: get into the media, to get subscribers, to get more money,
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: all that kind of stuff. I'm not buying that this
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: isn't another stunt. That does not look like a newborn baby.
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: It looks like a doll.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, I can see where she's coming from. It
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: does seem like something that she would fake. Yeah, when
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I first saw the photo, I was like, that does
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: not look like a real baby. But then I thought, well,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: potentially she could have posed with a fake baby because...
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: she didn't want to have the real baby in the photo,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: if that makes sense. Like she's trying to protect the baby. Well,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: in the birth announcement, the baby was blurred. I think
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: she's trying to keep their identity a secret. Thank God. Well,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: I've actually done some digging and it turns out that
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Bonnie's video in April was actually an April Fool's joke
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: that the media didn't pick up on. So she opened
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: up about the prank on her burner TikTok account where
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: she shares behind the scenes content. Now this clip was entitled,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: preparing to rage bait and included vision of her showing
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: off her pregnant belly before putting on the prosthetic one.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Let's have a listen to what she said.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: I put up a video on this BTS account and
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: my other Clippin accounts with me wearing a fake bump.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: I showed a fake bump and say, this bump is fake.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: I never said this pregnancy. Somehow in the press, all
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: over social media, Twitter and endless other platforms, It says,
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Bonnie confirms her pregnancy is fake. And that's in quotation marks. No,
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: I said the silicone bump that I am pinching between
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: my fingers is fake. And for anyone with a brain cell,
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: me saying the fake silicone bump, me saying the silicone
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: bump is fake, is very different to the words of
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: saying my pregnancy is fake. I'm happy to pay anybody
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: a million pounds if they find a video of me
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: saying my pregnancy is fake. I put these videos out
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: there knowing But it still surprises me how much Daily Mail,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: The Sun, Daily Mirror, Black Bible, endless articles all quote
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: me saying I said the pregnancy's fake. And what's scary
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: is so many of you believe the press and use
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: the press as a reliable way of getting your information
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: about the world.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Look, I'm very well aware that the media have flaws,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: but you've kind of lost me on this one, Bonnie, because...
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: You put that story out there. I know what you mean,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: but like she's got a point. There is literally zero
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: fact-checking these days in this clickbait world we live in.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Like a journalist would have just seen it and then
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: posted an article about it and then what generally happens
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: is another journalist then copies that article and prints it
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and there's not much fact-checking going on. I mean she
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: shared on her behind-the-scenes TikTok that this literally happened was bullshit.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: I just think, well, what did you expect? Like that
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: is the state of the media at the moment. Well,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: she got what she wanted. Well, that's entirely the reason
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: why she did it. And it did make me laugh
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: because her saying, oh, people are so dumb. She's correct.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Like people are just, I mean, we're buying into it
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: right now. But also those dumb people are probably your
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: core demographic paying your bills. So, you know, don't bite
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: the hand that feeds you. Now, what I found quite
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: funny about this whole story is the fact that Bonnie
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: gave birth at the same hospital Kate Middleton gave birth
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: to her three children. It's reported that the private maternity
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: services at this prestigious hospital cost between $ 15, 000 to $ 25, 000.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: So I feel like that debunks this whole claim that
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: the baby's not real. Like, I doubt this hospital will
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: let her go film all this fake content there. Then again...
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: You only see the front of the hospital, like it
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: showed the signage at the front. But there was vision
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: of her inside the hospital in labour. To be honest,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: after researching this for quite a number of hours last night,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: I'm still fucking confused because I was like, I was
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: looking at her and I was like, yeah, the stomach
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: looks real, but then we live in a world of AI,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: so who knows? And then she was showing photos of
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: her caesarean scar, but it looked quite healed if she's
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: claiming that she had the baby recently. Also, you'll notice
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: in vision that she has previously shown of her bump.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: She has like a hole where her belly button piercing was.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: And then in this after photo, she had a belly
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: button ring back in. And I was like, I don't
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: think that you could put a belly button ring back
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: in after having a baby. And Google confirmed this. Apparently,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: it would need to be a number of months after
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: giving birth, which makes me think, did she give birth
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: a while ago if she actually has.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: Had a real baby?
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: She most likely banked up a bunch of content. she
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: might actually be trying to create this speculation to keep
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: her baby safe. And people are like, oh, does she
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: really have a baby? And make sure that they actually
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: live a private life. The weirdest thing was, because I
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: was doing such a deep dive on this topic, I
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: watched so many of her behind the scenes videos and disturbingly,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: I found myself quite liking her. She came across as
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: quite funny and I don't want to say not normal,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: but you definitely saw this different side of her. And
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: she posted this video of herself on the toilet in hospital.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: So she's basically taking a shit after having a laxative,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: eating a piece of toast, and she was about to
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: drink a Pepsi Max. I was like, this is very
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: real and raw content. All on the toilet. Maybe she
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: really did give birth. I don't know. I don't know.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, on a more serious note, though, this whole
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: story has completely disturbed me because Like I get she
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: makes her money off rage baiting, but if there is
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: a real baby at the center of this, she really
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: has exploited this child all the way from conception until
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: this really gross baby announcement. Like nothing has been off limits.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: I read something about how she's against sexualizing the baby.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: but was happy to sexualize the pregnancy because she said
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: that's about her and not the baby. It's like, well,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: I bloody hope you're not going to sexualize your own child.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but she held this event called a golden
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: shower and she invited masked men to urinate on her
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: pregnant belly. I mean, imagine if you were the baby
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: finding that out, like that's just absolutely gross. She also
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: had a stretch me out event where she asked men
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: to assist her in getting 10 centimeters dilated. I'll let
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: you use your imagination as to how they attempted this. Look,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: I'm keen to move on quickly off the back of
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: that onto a new story that's been blowing up. I
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: really would like another tip. at this point. To use
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: my group chat is a clip of Alex Earle at
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: the premiere of her new reality show, finally addressing her
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: feud with Alex Cooper. Let's take a listen.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: How did it feel to finally address the Alex Cooper
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: situation on camera?
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: You know, it was, I'm happy that I said my
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: piece and whatever, but I'm happier just to like focus
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: on the premiere and having the show out there and,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: you know, hers are getting canceled. So it is what
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: it is. What a dick. Now, if you're not across it,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: Alex Cooper is the producer of quite a number of
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: reality shows. One of them is called Love Overboard and
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: that show just got cancelled by Hulu. God, what a burn.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: You can only imagine what she says about Alex Cooper
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: in her actual documentary if this is what she's saying
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: on the red carpet. Yeah, well, she's hinted, of course,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: that she's going to talk about this feud on her
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: reality show. I loved when the reporter asked Alex's sister
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: about the feud with Alex Cooper and She admitted that
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: there were quite a number of times where she told
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Alex Earle to put her phone down and not post
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: a TikTok rebuttal. Obviously, they wanted to save.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: It for the show.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, save it for Netflix, guys. I actually can't wait
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: for this because I need a new show in my life. Well,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: it actually launches today on Netflix. So your weekend is
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: all set up. If you're looking for another reality TV recommendation,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: I've been telling you to watch The Block for ages.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: It's getting really good. But also The Ultimatum on Netflix.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: There's a new series out. I'm obsessed with it.
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: Really? Yeah.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: I actually have enjoyed that previously. If you want to
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: watch something with Rhys tonight, watch the Ray Gunn doco.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Everyone's talking about it on socials. I suggested that last
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: night and he was like, I am not interested and
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: neither am I. No. I couldn't care less. It's actually
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: so good. Like it gives you such an insight into
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: how everything went so wrong. Like it was the husband
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: pushing this fucking dance the whole time. Like it's wild
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: what went down. All right. Well, if you watch Ted Lasso,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: I'll watch it. Well, on that note, that is where
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: we're going to leave things today. Thank you for listening
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: to another episode of Outspoken. If you enjoy the show
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: and want to hear more, we drop a subscriber-only episode
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: every Thursday for Outspoken Plus subscribers. All the details to
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: sign up are in our show notes. This podcast was
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: recorded on the traditional land of the Kaurna people of
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: the Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to elders past and present.