Latest / Outspoken the Podcast / Steph Claire Smith’s Husband’s Awkward Sex Dream

Transcript

Steph Claire Smith’s Husband’s Awkward Sex Dream · Outspoken the Podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Amy Torber. I'm Sophie Torber. And I'm Kate Torber. And
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: coming up on today's show, Karina Irby calls out fellow
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: influencer over alleged hate video, the ACCC finally cracks down
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: on influencer advertising, and Steph Clare Smith's husband's awkward sex
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: dream about her best friend. But first, Sky Wheatley has
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: reignited cheating rumors following a comment she made on a
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: brand trip with a tanning company. So she was out
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: at a brand dinner when she took part in a
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: viral challenge, which is called the no revenge trend. So
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: if you haven't seen this trend on TikTok, basically TikTok
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: users explain why they don't need to seek revenge on
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: a partner, either because they're winning in life or because
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: there is a legitimate excuse for the person's bad behavior.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Let's take a listen to what Sky said. Very revenge
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: because Lockie and I actually went together at the time. Now,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Sky and Lockie were on a much publicized break at
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: the end of last year, but they are back together now.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: So it sounds like potentially one of them hooked up
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: with someone else while they were on this break. It
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: does make it sound like one of them is in
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the wrong. Initially, I thought that it was Sky who
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: was throwing shade at Lockie and suggesting that maybe he
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: got with someone whilst they were on a break. But
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: It does actually come after Sky shut down cheating rumors
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: last month. So there were these rumors floating around that
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Lockie cheated with her best friend, Tori. And that speculation
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: was sparked late last year after Sky unfollowed both of
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: them on social media after she confirmed her split from Lockie.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: On her podcast, Sky said Tori and Lockie never had
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: a sexual relationship and it was a wild rumor that
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: really hurt Tori. So I don't know why she would
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: suddenly start to kind of insinuate that something else went down? Well,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Amber from Influencer Updates had another theory that this comment
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: was actually in relation to Sky being with someone else
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: because a few years ago, there were rumors that Sky
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: dated a woman. Yeah, and she recently addressed those rumors
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: and said that she was open to exploring her sexuality.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Guys, I've just been publicly called out and put in
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: my place and it's just proven to me, which breaks
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: my heart, that sometimes kindness gets you nowhere.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Karina Irby has accused fellow body positivity influencer Natalie Sanid
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: of creating a hate video about her. The bikini entrepreneur
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: took to TikTok to share her dismay, revealing she was
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: rattled by the situation. Kate, can you tell us more? Well,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Karina really didn't hold back. So she jumped on her
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: TikTok to address a video she felt was targeted at her.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: And while she didn't name the influencer, Natalie has responded
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: saying it's all been a bit of a misunderstanding. Now,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: It was clear what a kick to the dick this
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: video was for Karina. Now, for context, Karina has a
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: million followers on Instagram and over 640,000 on TikTok, while
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Natalie has over 46,000 on Instagram and almost 17,000 on TikTok.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: And Karina admitted that she loves Natalie and has followed
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: her for a very long time. Now that parasocial relationship
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: transitioned into what Karina thought was a real life friendship
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: after the pair recently met at a Breeze Balm influencer event.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: So Karina said they hung out all night, danced together
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: and took photos. She even went to the lengths of
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: sending Natalie a link to all of the photos that
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: she took from that night on a Dropbox link. And
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, that is a bit of a run around.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: So it's clear that she was really vibing this friendship
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: and very keen to impress Natalie. Now, a PR package
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: that Karina sent to Natalie appears to have been the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: undoing of this friendship. Let's take a listen.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Last week, I offered to send her some free bikinis
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: because I met her in real life. I didn't want
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: any posts or anything. I just said, hey, I'm sending
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: out some PR. Do you want some bikinis? All positive interactions.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: I've seen her walking around.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Now, let's be real. We all know when someone sends
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: out a PR package, they are expecting something. So Karina
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: was clearly hoping Natalie would share the products to her
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: followers that she sent her. I mean, you don't just
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: do it out of the kindness of your heart. But
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: then again, if we're looking purely at follower count, Karina
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: has a lot more followers than Natalie. So it's not
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: like Natalie would be doing her a huge favor by posting.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: She's not reaching that many people. I know she does
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: have more of a micro following. So her following may
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: be more engaged. Is that what you think Karina was after?
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: I think in 2026, we're almost at a point where
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: followings don't really matter. I think it's engagement. And a
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: lot of the time, these OG influencers who have somehow
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: managed to amass this massive amount of followers actually don't
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: have that much influence anymore. They might've had it back
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: in the day when it was easy to get to
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: pick followers up. But I think a lot of these
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: micro influencers have very engaged audiences. And it's clear that
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Karina wanted to tap into Natalie's audience. I mean, they
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: have that brand alignment, both pushing body positivity messages. So
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: I think that Karina was wanting to tap into that market.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I wonder if Karina thought, oh, I've got so many
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: more followers than Natalie. She's going to be flattered that
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I've sent her something. And, you know, she's got a
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: bit of a micro following. She'll probably just chuck it
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: up there. It'll all be good. I actually don't think
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: that Karina was necessarily expecting her to share about the bikinis.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: I think she was more trying to build a relationship
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: between the pair because often brands will do that. They'll
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: send items to influencers to then maybe collaborate with them
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: later on a future bigger project. Yeah, I mean, but
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: she's putting out the census because brands will send you
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: something and they say, oh, we don't expect anything. But
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: often they are testing to see, oh, hang on, they
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: have put something up. So maybe later we will build
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: upon that. Do you reckon it's a bit of dick
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: swinging when it's influencer to influencer? It's kind of like, hey,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: look at my successful brand. You're part of my posse now.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Here's some bikinis. I'm trademarking you. Well, it could just
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: be nice. Well, it's a clear... Yeah, it could be. Well,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: we're just... We're just trying to look from every perspective here,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: aren't we? Well, whatever the intention was, one thing was obvious.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Natalie was not impressed because she ended up uploading a
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: now-deleted video where she allegedly complained about the spam that
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: she receives from brands that she works with. Now, the
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: video was actually deleted before I was able to view it,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: but Karina claims that Natalie was upset and going on
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: this rant about the spam. And then Karina says Natalie
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: showed the camera her inbox, which was full of spam
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: from Karina Irby and her business name, Smile. Let's take
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: a listen to more of what Karina said.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: I just unsubscribe or I just delete it. But I'm
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: never going to go rant about a brand or a
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: person that I've met and had great interactions with and
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: will probably see again because I live near them and
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: I go to events with them and And then she
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: unfollowed me on Instagram as well. So she's made the video.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: And then she unfollowed me on Instagram. I'm not butthurt
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: about losing her as a follower or the video even.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I'm butthurt because I liked her. I had a great
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: time with her.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: I danced with her.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: I held hands and danced around with her.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: There's videos.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: I have a vlog of it on my TikTok and Instagram.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: And what happened? I don't know.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: I was so kind to her.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: And it got me nowhere.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: It got me I hate video on TikTok and now
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: me being all butthurt about being kind gets you nowhere.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: I'm rattled.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: So are they.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: There is no greater slap in the face when you
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: meet someone through work or socially that you think you
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: vibe with and then they unfollow you on social media.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: The way your stomach literally drops, it feels like they're saying,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: I want you out of my life. This has happened
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: to us a few times through the podcast where people
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: We've had them on the show. They followed us. We've
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: had a bit of a, you know, back and forth
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: in the DMs. And then years later, I've noticed that
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: they've unfollowed. And you're just like, what the fuck? Like
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: you actually feel like saying something because I know it
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: sounds pathetic, but an unfollow these days is a big
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: sign of, I don't want to talk to you. I
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: don't want anything to do with you. Like you're like,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: have I done something wrong? So I could kind of
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: see why Karina Irby was a bit rattled by the unfollow. Well,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: particularly when... someone unfollows you, but then you see them
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: crawling up the asses of every single other person in
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the industry. Whose side note they've spoken badly about just
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: throwing that one out there. Yeah. So you're kind of like, oh,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: hang on. So it does seem, it does seem personal
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: and clearly something personal has gone down between these two.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Everyone's going to be checking your follower list right now, Sophie.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Or going back through who we've interviewed and haven't interviewed.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Now getting back to what happened with Karina. So Natalie
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: ended up responding to her in a now deleted TikTok
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: and she claimed the post wasn't directed at Karina or
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: her business and it was all a misunderstanding. Let's take
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: a listen.
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: When I posted the video, I did not even realise
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: that what was in the inbox. So much so that
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: when someone commented on my video and asked me if
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: it was directed towards Smile Club and I said, no,
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: I was like, what? Like, why would it be directed
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: towards Smile Club? Anywho, didn't think anything of it because
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: it wasn't. I pride myself in transparency. If I wanna
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: call someone out, if I wanna call something out, if
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: I wanna call a brand out, I just will. I
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: just will, I have done in the past, I have
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: no shame in it. So to see it be misconstrued
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: in the way that it has.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Natalie went on to say that she messaged Karina privately
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: and removed her original video to avoid further speculation. I
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: actually think that Natalie was telling the truth. I don't
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: think she meant any of this. It seems like a
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: huge misunderstanding and Karina's ran off with it. The only
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: thing that's weird, though, is the unfollow.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Ugh, no.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: I think Natalie knew exactly what she was doing. I
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: don't think that this was all random and, you know,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: just happened to be 10 ton emails from Karina Irby
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: and Smile Club. I think that she was pissed off
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: by the emails. She felt like Karina was trying to
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: use her. So she thought, hmm, I'm going to put
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: a bit of a not so subtle jibe out there.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: And then if I get called out over it, I'm
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: going to play dumb and be like, oh, I didn't
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: mean to do it. That was just the emails in
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: my inbox. I don't know. I tend to actually agree
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: with Amy. I got a really good vibe off Natalie.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: The only thing that's confusing me is this whole unfollow,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: but we don't know when the unfollow actually took place.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: It appears this private conversation in the DMs between Karina
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and Natalie didn't go well though, because Karina returned to
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: TikTok with an update. So despite claiming that Natalie was
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: her favorite influencer and that she had accepted her apology,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: she then said this.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: So she did DM me on Instagram and she did apologize.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: And guys, you know what? Apology accepted. Life is too
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: short to be worrying and holding onto that kind of stuff.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Whether she did what she did intentionally, we will never know.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Only she will know. That's fine. She did follow me
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: back and then she has now unfollowed me again. Take
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: it for what it is.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't care. She then went on
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: to urge her followers not to troll Natalie and to
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: be kind. I know I have been on Karina's side,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: but that video there just screamed toxic positivity because what
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Karina was saying really didn't match the tone of how
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: she said it because she's like, oh, I didn't want
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: to throw gasoline on the fire. But by putting out
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: another video and pointing out that she unfollowed you again,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: that's exactly what you're doing. And also in her first video,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: she said, oh, I've never called out anybody in a video.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: It's like you are doing that right now. Particularly because
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Natalie's come out and said, look, this is a complete misunderstanding.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: She's apologized in her DMs. And then Karina has left
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: the original video up that calls her out, that basically
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: sends people across to her profile to troll her. She's
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: then uploaded a second video, which was full of negative
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: comments about Natalie. I mean, the first video Karina uploaded
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: has 680,000 views on it. So it seems a little
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: bit like she's using it for attention and engagement. It
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: seems less genuine, doesn't it? I love when influencers are like, now,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: I've just completely slammed this person but please don't send
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: them any hate. It's like do you actually think that
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: people are going to listen to that? It was almost
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: as if Karina was using this all for engagement and
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: acting like this big influencer had called her out when
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: in reality Natalie is a much smaller influencer than her.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: I don't get why none of these people just reach
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: out to each other via DM. Like why didn't Karina
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: just say, hey, like I noticed that. Was that about me?
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Because that wouldn't get any views or engagement. I mean
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: let's be honest, we've spoken about this a lot. Influencer
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: feuds and friendship busts up is what gets you attention
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: these days on TikTok and it's actually advantageous for influencers
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: to engage in this type of behaviour. Sometimes I think
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: you give these people too much credit though. Like sometimes
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: I just think they're immature and that's why they're jumping
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: on and having a go.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: It was weird.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: That'll all he'll add. Steph Claire Smith has revealed that
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: her husband Josh Miller had a sex dream about her
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: business partner Laura Henshaw. Now, she made the rather awkward
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: admission on the kick pod, which she hosts alongside Laura.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: The best friends were doing a segment on sex dreams
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: when Steph dropped this.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: We have had moments where we wake up in the
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: morning pissing ourselves over who we've had a sex dream.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: And what I wanted to tell you today is that
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: I recall very clearly in my mind that Josh has
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: had a sex dream about you.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: What? Yeah. Not the fuck? Yeah. Wait, that is? No.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: That is?
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: It was one of the funniest mornings we've both ever had.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: What?
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Because he. How come he never told me this?
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Because I think it's a bit random to imagine. Oh,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: by the way, Josh had a sex show about you
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: last night. But do you know why? That's weird. Do
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: you know why it's weird?
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Because I do think the general consensus from society is
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: if you have a sex show about someone, you like want.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: To have sex with them. But Josh does not want
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: to have sex with me. No, you guys are like
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: brother and sister. I don't want to have sex with Josh.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: It was... Is it just me? Or does anyone else
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: feel really sorry for Steph and Laura's husbands? Because they
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: seem to be the ones who are constantly thrown under
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: the bus for the sake of this podcast. I mean,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: this is a story that I personally would take to
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: the grave. I am shocked that Josh would have fessed
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: up and admitted this to Steph. Well, Steph said she
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: asked Josh if she could tell Laura and he said, yeah,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: it was fine. It's funny because our husbands weren't ultra
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: happy with the first episode of the mums group that
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: went out. They thought that we could have been nicer
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: about their parenting. And on the record, they are very
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: good dads. But that podcast is a place where mums
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: can have a bit of a vent, you know, about motherhood. Now,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: I said to my husband, Rhys, after hearing this episode,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: and also a recent episode they did on the Kick
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Bump podcast where Laura went into a lot of description
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: about her first time having sex with her husband postpartum.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I was like, you think we Say stuff about you.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Go listen to this podcast. The whole thing is with
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: the mums group, I don't even think we've said anything
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: bad about them. And also it's not like we've been
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: sharing really intimate details about them.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: No.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: In the case of Steph and Josh, it seems like
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: they have this policy or this blanket rule in their
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: household that if you have a sex dream about anyone,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: you have to fess up because Steph was saying that
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: in the past she's had those sorts of dreams and
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: she's felt too guilty if she doesn't tell Josh about
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: it straight away. I love how you say that as
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: if it's just such a common occurrence that they're just
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: every night they're dreaming about someone new. Is that really common?
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Because I don't think this is as common as they're
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: making out. I mean, I definitely don't think that they
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: were saying this is a daily occurrence. They have been
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: together for 15 years or something. But I think maybe
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: you shouldn't be so honest when this is a dream
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: that you've had about the person's best friend. I mean,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: who wants to hear that their husband has had a
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: dream that they've had sex with their best friend? I
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: don't even think it's that. It's up to them what
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: they share between each other. I think it's the fact
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: that they've gone and made it public and told the
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: best friend. I mean, that makes it awkward for Laura
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: and Josh. Laura made this 10 times more awkward than
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: it needed to be. She ended up asking Steph when
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Josh had the dream, what happened in the dream, and
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: whether they could get him live on the phone so
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: that she could ask him about it. Let's take a
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: listen to what she said because it was just like
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: verbal diarrhea. I'm sorry, I'm laughing because, like, the visual
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: of Josh and I having sex is so weird.
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: That's why we were laughing because we were both like,
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: what the fuck?
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: But I think.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Wait, did he give you details?
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, no.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: No, we didn't go into details.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Is it like where?
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: No, I don't think he even remembered. All he could
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: recall was that it was like an intimate dream and
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: that you were the main character.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Can we call him?
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: What? I, so I called him this morning because I,
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: when I was thinking ahead about this, remembered it and
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: just started laughing because I was like, how the fuck
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: did I not remember this earlier? And I think to
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: your point, like I've never brought this up with Laura.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: So I called him to like, make sure he didn't,
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: of course he was a little bit like, is that
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: weird that she knows that?
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: And I was like, I don't think so.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: Cause I think her mind is going to go exactly
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: how ours did and was like, That's so fucking random.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Hilarious.
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: Whatever. And so he was like, yeah, sure.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Tell him.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: So he already knows that I've brought this up. So
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: I don't think there's any, like he'll just be on
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: the phone.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: It was weird. That'll all he'll add. I wish they'd
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: called Josh because if I was on this podcast, I
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: would have asked him, was Laura's stopwatch included in the
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: dream that she famously used when her and Dalton conceived
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: their son? Was the timer on? Did anyone else feel
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: like Steph wanted to make it very clear that she
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: found the dream funny and that she wasn't jealous because
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: she prefaced so many times during this segment that they
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: laughed and laughed and laughed about this scenario. I actually
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: think Steph genuinely didn't care because if she did, she
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have brought it up. No, I don't think that
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: she cares about it, but I think that she didn't
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: want anyone in the media to pick up on this
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: story and be like, wow, the jealous wife and her
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: best friend. I think Steph's pretty confident in herself. She
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: knows that this was just a stupid dream. I think
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Steph definitely knows more details about the dream in terms
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: of what actually went down. And that might be why
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: she was laughing because as you touched on Amy, on
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: their podcast, they're very open about their sex lives. And
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Laura often gives off this vibe that she's not into
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: having sex with Dalton, her husband. And you know, she
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: famously said that it was a quickie that led to
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: the conception of her now son. So maybe it was, yeah,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if it was some sort of
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: funny scenario where Laura was like, you've got one minute,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: like very vanilla scenario. I mean, the thing is, I
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: think that Laura sounds like an absolute sweetheart. But I
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: do find on the podcast, she always has to over
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: justify her opinions with all of these little disclaimers. And
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: it gets to the point where it's quite exhausting to
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: listen to. For instance, I remember hearing that once she
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: mentioned on the podcast that she had to shave her
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: arms for an event, but she had to reiterate that
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: she chooses to shave under her arms. because some women
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: might like the hair and, you know, and you're just like, oh,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: it just can feel a bit performative. You're like, you
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: actually don't think that. You can tell Steph is just like, uh-huh, like, yep,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: just say what you want to say. It's like when
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: she had to preface with her birth story, all these
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: different things. She's like, well, the hospital room looked different
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: to how it might for others. And Steph was just like, yeah,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: this is your birth story. So you can just say
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: how you want. And that's the thing. I think Laura
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: is so worried about what listeners will think that sometimes
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: she gets in a bit of a, a tiz over it.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: And she actually ended up making it more awkward because
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: she ended up saying, oh, I think the general consensus
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: from society is that if you have a sex dream
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: about someone, you want to have sex with them. But oh,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: but not in this case. And it's sort of like,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: oh my God. To be fair, what's obviously happened is,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, Laura wouldn't have been fed this information live
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: on the podcast. They obviously had a planning meeting beforehand
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: and they said, is this okay to bring up? But
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: it would be very difficult if the producers have come
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: to you with, okay, well, basically, if someone has a
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: sex dream about you, it means they want to have
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: sex with you. And she's meant to be presenting that.
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: True.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: But it would be like pretty awkward to then say
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: that to Steph, who's just said my husband had a
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: sex dream about you. I actually don't think Laura had
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: any idea that Steph was going to drop the comment.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: I think she honestly just thought that this topic was
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: on sex dreams. The most awkward part for me though,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: was when Laura was talking about a psychologist who referenced
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: the fact that often you have sex dreams about people
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: because you're not getting something in your relationship. So maybe
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: you're having a sex dream because you're not getting enough
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: sex from your partner. And I could tell that Steph
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: had gone really quiet. I was like, fuck me, this
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: is such an awkward listen. Well, Steph's always been open
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: about her sex life. I mean, it made headlines when
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: she spoke on her podcast about doing a 30-day sex
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: challenge with her husband. And she often says, look, my
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: husband's libido is a lot higher than mine. I mean,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: I just think the whole thing is so fucking awkward.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: A Melbourne-based business has been fined nearly $ 40, 000 for not
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: disclosing their paid partnerships with influencers. It's the first time
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: a financial penalty has been handed down since the ACCC
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: began their major crackdown on misleading influencer marketing in 2023. Now, Kate,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: before we get into it, can you run us through
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: what the basic rules are that influencers need to abide
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: by when they advertise a product? So they have to
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: abide by Australian consumer laws, just like any traditional advertiser. Essentially,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: that means that they have to clearly disclose if they're gifted,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: paid or incentivized to promote a product. They also must
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: ensure any claims they make about the product are true
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: and not misleading. And I think a lot of influencers
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: off the back of this news would be quaking in
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: their boots because this fine seems to really be a
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: turning point for influencer marketing. Yeah, it is the first
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: time that financial penalties have been handed down since the
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: ACCC launched their crackdown in 2023. This is despite the
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: fact that the regulator investigated 118 influencers who failed to
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: disclose partnerships. Yeah, because up until this point, it seemed
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: like influencers and brands weren't taking the rules seriously because
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: they were only really getting a slap on the wrist
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: if they did the wrong thing. But that has all
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: changed now with the ruling and it will set a
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: real precedence. Yeah, I think big change is coming. Now,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the business to receive the first fine is an online
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: photo book retailer called Photo Book Shop. They were fined
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: for instructing influencers not to disclose their partnership with the
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: brand and for editing an influencer's paid review. The ACCC
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: actually released a screenshot from one of the written agreements
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: which read, please ensure that your videos do not mention
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: that the product is free, sponsored or that the photo
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: bookshop contacted you to create them in exchange for products.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Now this wasn't just a one-off either. The misconduct took
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: place 107 times. Wow. Interestingly, it was actually an influencer
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: who blew the whistle on the behavior and reported their
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: concerns to the ACCC. Well, they clearly knew that they
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: were doing the wrong thing. The fact that they're trying
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: to hide it. It's very strange to put that in
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: a contract though. You think you might say that verbally? Interestingly,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: when you go and look at Photo Bookshop's Instagram page now,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: they've gone and updated the post. So it now discloses
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: whether an influencer was paid or gifted. I'm wondering if
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: this was the direction by the ACCC. Oh, clearly. In
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: terms of this whole revelation, I was absolutely thrilled to
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: see that the ACCC is finally handing down some penalties
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: because as you touched on earlier, for three years now,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: influencers and brands have just carried on like it doesn't matter.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: And it's really irritating when you see influencers not disclosing
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: their partnerships. And it feels like they're purposely trying to
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: deceive their followers. I mean, we work with brands on
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: social media for Outspoken. And we always make sure we
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: use the paid partnership tools because not only do we
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: want to make sure we're not misleading our audience, but
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: it's also to protect ourselves. Yeah, and you see it
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: all the time. And it's often the same influencers who
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: continue to do it. And I often think, well, how
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: are they getting away with this? Is it because that
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: no one wants to report them because don't your details
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: then get passed on? Yeah, well, that's what's so interesting
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: about it because anyone can report an influencer. You do
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: have to provide your name and contact details. But I
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: think now that we are seeing influencers and brands get punished,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: a lot more people are going to be dobbing in influencers.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: It turns out that the ACCC can actually backdate fines.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: There is a limitation period of enforcement of six years.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: So technically, a post from 2020 could still be investigated
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: and fined today. It is a little bit trickier to
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: collect evidence over time. But essentially, if you have got
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: screenshots of an influencer doing the wrong thing or screen recordings,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: That can be used as evidence and repeated behavior also
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: leads to higher penalties. So it finally seems like this
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: wild west of non-disclosure is over and there's going to
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: be a level playing field finally, which I think is
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: going to be very welcomed, not only from a lot
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: of influencers who have been doing the right thing, but
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: also consumers and followers. Because whenever I see an influencer
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: clearly not disclosing a partnership, It really irritates me and
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: I tend to not trust anything that they have to say.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Whereas I think these days when you see an influencer
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: doing the right thing and using the paid partnership tools,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: you have a bit more respect for them. You're like, okay, well,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: you're actually doing your job properly and you're not misleading
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: your audience. Especially with the rise of a lot of
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: comedy creators on TikTok, you see some of them take
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: advertising to a new level. Like for instance, if you
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: look at John and Alex from the US, I think
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: everyone's seen them on TikTok. They post hilarious couple content.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I don't even realize I'm watching an ad till
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the last two seconds. And you go, that is a
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: well done advert. So I think a lot of brands
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: should be asking more from influencers or maybe the influencers
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: who have been given all these brand deals previously and
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: done the bare minimum, maybe they need to lift their game. Well,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: it's at a stage where you can't rest on your
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: laurels anymore because I think a lot of the old
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: school influencers who are used to not having to disclose
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: their partnerships are still go about where they suddenly jump
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: on their stories and they're talking to camera about their
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: nighttime routine. And then suddenly they're using all these products
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: that they've clearly been paid to spruik to you, but
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: they don't disclose it. I wonder if this is just
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: going to open the floodgates and we're going to see
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: so many more influencers. Especially if you can backdate it,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: like how many people, for example, on Tattle or one
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: of the Reddit threads, All of those people hate particular influencers.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: It's going to be a frenzy for them. They're going
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: to go back through all of the posts and report them.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: So there's going to be a lot of influencers you
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: can find. Well, that is where we're going to leave
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: things today. But if you want to hear more from us,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: we actually have launched a new podcast called The Mums Group.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: It comes out every Wednesday. So make sure you go
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: follow The Mums Group in its own Spotify and Apple feed.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: We also drop a bonus episode of Outspoken every Thursday
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: for Outspoken Plus subscribers. If you want to sign up,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: it's $ 5. 99 a month and you get an episode every week.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: All the details to sign up are in the show notes.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: This podcast was recorded on the traditional land of the
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: elders past and present.