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Life Uncut’s Paywall Backlash · 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.
0:09
Speaker 2: I'm Kate Torber. And I'm Sophie Torber. And coming up
0:12
Speaker 2: on today's show, the.
0:13
Speaker 1: Life Uncut podcast is under fire for introducing a paid
0:17
Speaker 1: subscription channel. And Tammy Hembrough shuts down claims her boyfriend doesn't.
0:22
Speaker 2: Pay his own way.
0:23
Speaker 1: But first, a speech at Annie Knight's wedding has gone viral.
0:27
Speaker 1: The OnlyFans star married her longtime partner Henry Brayshaw over
0:30
Speaker 1: the weekend. But all anyone can talk about is what
0:34
Speaker 1: the MC said.
0:35
Speaker 2: Let's take a listen.
0:36
Speaker 1: I just wanted to say a couple of quick thank yous. Firstly,
0:41
Speaker 1: to the caterers, the bar staff, the venue, and obviously
0:45
Speaker 1: the 30,000 sad, lonely men that paid for it.
0:50
Speaker 2: That's my one, that's it.
0:55
Speaker 1: Now, he is, of course, referring to Annie's OnlyFans subscribers.
1:00
Speaker 1: It didn't seem like the joke landed that well at
1:03
Speaker 1: the reception. Now the wedding reportedly cost $ 180, 000 and from
1:07
Speaker 1: all the vision I've seen, it looked like a very
1:10
Speaker 1: well-to-do event. Like it looked very fancy and the speech
1:14
Speaker 1: just didn't fit with the vibe. I feel like we've
1:16
Speaker 1: all been to a wedding though where the MC or
1:18
Speaker 1: the best man goes a bit rogue and it's a
1:20
Speaker 1: bit uncomfortable for all involved. I remember being at a
1:22
Speaker 1: wedding where the best man really stitched the groom up
1:25
Speaker 1: and he told his family that For years they believed
1:28
Speaker 1: that the best man had vomited in an esky, but
1:31
Speaker 1: it was actually the groom. And I thought, hey, this
1:33
Speaker 1: should actually be left for the Bucks party, not for
1:35
Speaker 1: the wedding. Yeah, I don't understand how that's appropriate at
1:37
Speaker 1: all for a wedding speech. It's not an opportunity to
1:39
Speaker 1: hang shit on the couple. You're meant to say nice things.
1:42
Speaker 1: In saying that, we each did a bit of a
1:45
Speaker 1: roast for each other.
1:46
Speaker 2: But they were funny.
1:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, actually, I was going to say, you told everyone
1:50
Speaker 1: that I wet my pants at the movie theatre at
1:53
Speaker 1: an age that I really shouldn't have been missing my pants.
1:56
Speaker 2: Well, you've aired it now publicly on this podcast.
1:58
Speaker 1: It turns out that Annie and Henry actually vetoed the
2:02
Speaker 1: MC making this reference in the speech. So he emailed
2:05
Speaker 1: his speech across before the wedding and they replied saying,
2:08
Speaker 1: you can't say any of that. And Annie said that
2:11
Speaker 1: he got carried away and ended up saying it anyway.
2:14
Speaker 1: And she said it didn't really land at the reception,
2:16
Speaker 1: but it didn't ruin the day. The juiciest thing is
2:19
Speaker 1: it was actually leaked by someone at the wedding and
2:21
Speaker 1: they only had 72 guests at the wedding.
2:24
Speaker 2: So you would presume.
2:25
Speaker 1: close friends and family plot twist. James Brayshaw was actually
2:30
Speaker 1: there and it was him that leaked it.
2:31
Speaker 2: Oh, you're joking.
2:32
Speaker 1: Okay.
2:32
Speaker 2: I was like, what?
2:33
Speaker 1: He actually attended because it was being reported everywhere that
2:36
Speaker 1: he did not attend. And I feel like he probably
2:38
Speaker 1: felt pretty vindicated after that speech, not attending.
2:41
Speaker 2: No, it was just a joke. He wasn't there.
2:43
Speaker 1: Henry's mum was there representing the family and Annie has
2:45
Speaker 1: since spoken about it. She said, I have been seeing
2:48
Speaker 1: way too many news articles focusing in on one bad
2:51
Speaker 1: joke or absence of one person. We had 72 guests
2:54
Speaker 1: at our wedding and every single one of them said
2:56
Speaker 1: that they have never been to a wedding filled with
2:58
Speaker 1: so much love and support. I feel immense sadness for
3:01
Speaker 1: the people who decided not to come on the day.
3:03
Speaker 1: That's going to be something they will regret for the
3:05
Speaker 1: rest of their lives. It is their loss, not ours.
3:08
Speaker 1: I feel like we're becoming sports journos here, which is
3:09
Speaker 1: quite ironic because that's what I wanted to be when
3:12
Speaker 1: I grew up as a teenager. But for those who
3:16
Speaker 1: aren't across football, James Brayshaw and his wife are no
3:19
Speaker 1: longer together. So that kind of gives more reason as
3:22
Speaker 1: to why she would attend and he wouldn't. Okay.
3:25
Speaker 2: There's a lot to unpack here. And you know what
3:26
Speaker 2: guys go and subscribe to Patreon.
3:31
Speaker 1: Life Uncut's decision to introduce a paid subscription channel has
3:35
Speaker 1: divided its audience. The popular podcast unveiled the news to
3:39
Speaker 1: its audience late last week, leaving listeners less than impressed.
3:43
Speaker 1: Some labeled the move as a cash grab while others
3:46
Speaker 1: were excited about the bonus content. Now, as a podcaster
3:50
Speaker 1: who literally has a paid subscription channel, I was glued
3:53
Speaker 1: to the comment section of this announcement post because it
3:56
Speaker 1: really sparked an interesting debate about what constitutes free content.
4:01
Speaker 2: Before we get into that though, Kate, can you bring
4:03
Speaker 2: listeners up to speed with how this all came about?
4:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it all started when Brit and Laura began
4:08
Speaker 1: breadcrumbing their audience that something big was coming a week
4:12
Speaker 1: out from this announcement. Now, the first clue was a
4:15
Speaker 1: reel of Brit, Laura and the Extended Life Uncut team
4:18
Speaker 1: miming to Sabrina Carpenter's house tour song in different rooms
4:22
Speaker 1: of a mansion. And that reel was captioned, we've been busy,
4:26
Speaker 1: more is coming. This was met with a flurry of
4:28
Speaker 1: excitement and racked up over 538,000 views.
4:33
Speaker 2: Then a few days later, they dropped the next clue.
4:35
Speaker 1: This time, Brit and Laura opened the door to the house,
4:38
Speaker 1: all glammed up, and they lifted up a collage with
4:40
Speaker 1: two microphones underneath. And the text said, hi, lifers, get
4:44
Speaker 1: ready to unlock more. As soon as I saw that clue,
4:48
Speaker 1: I was like, they must be doing a live podcast show.
4:50
Speaker 2: And Their listeners seem to be on the same wavelength.
4:52
Speaker 1: The majority of commenters said that they hoped that a
4:55
Speaker 1: live tour was coming. Well, awkwardly, there was also a
4:57
Speaker 1: handful of people saying, I think it's a paid subscription,
5:00
Speaker 1: but I hope not.
5:01
Speaker 2: Now, on Thursday, Brit and Laura confirmed.
5:04
Speaker 1: That they were in fact launching a paid subscription channel
5:07
Speaker 1: on Patreon called Life Unlocked.
5:09
Speaker 2: I like the name. It's clever. Yeah, I was like, oh,
5:11
Speaker 2: that's better than Outspoken Plus.
5:12
Speaker 1: LAUGHTER now in terms of how the offering was promoted
5:17
Speaker 1: they wrote the conversations we can't have anywhere else the
5:20
Speaker 1: stories that are too juicy for the main feed and
5:22
Speaker 1: a proper look at what goes on when the mics
5:24
Speaker 1: are off get even closer to the life uncut fam
5:28
Speaker 1: and be a part of a special community where you're
5:30
Speaker 1: in the room with us with all the chaos now
5:33
Speaker 1: in terms of how much this costs it's $ 6. 99 a
5:36
Speaker 1: month and you save 20% if you pay for an
5:38
Speaker 1: annual subscription so That works out to be under.
5:42
Speaker 2: $ 2 a week.
5:42
Speaker 1: In terms of what you get for your money, subscribers
5:45
Speaker 1: have access to a minimum of two exclusive bonus episodes
5:48
Speaker 1: a month. However, not all of these episodes are hosted
5:51
Speaker 1: by Brit and Laura. Instead, their producers, Soph and Lockie,
5:55
Speaker 1: will take over the mics as well as their husbands, Maddie,
5:58
Speaker 1: Jay and Ben. I think this would have been a
6:01
Speaker 1: bigger drawcard if Keisha was still a producer. At least
6:03
Speaker 1: Laura and Brut were upfront with the fact that they're
6:05
Speaker 1: not going to be hosting all of these extra episodes
6:07
Speaker 1: because I think otherwise it would have been.
6:09
Speaker 2: A bit disappointing.
6:10
Speaker 1: I think their fans would be interested to hear more
6:11
Speaker 1: from Maddie, Jay and Ben though. I would assume the
6:14
Speaker 1: episodes that feature them get a lot of downloads. Subscribers
6:18
Speaker 1: will also get first access to live show tickets and
6:20
Speaker 1: merch drops as well as membership to Life Uncut's Patreon community.
6:24
Speaker 1: I didn't know that they still had merch. Well, I
6:26
Speaker 1: think whenever they do a merch drop, you know, you
6:28
Speaker 1: get first access to it. I have to admit, as
6:31
Speaker 1: a podcaster, my initial reaction to this news was, how
6:34
Speaker 1: the hell do they have the capacity to produce any
6:37
Speaker 1: more content? They already release four episodes a week.
6:40
Speaker 2: Surely they're running out of things to say.
6:42
Speaker 1: Kate, we literally release four episodes a week as well.
6:45
Speaker 1: We have two main shows. One subscription and also a
6:48
Speaker 1: mum's group. I think the difference is that for the
6:50
Speaker 1: majority of our shows, we don't mind our own personal
6:52
Speaker 1: lives for content.
6:53
Speaker 2: Just for the mum's group.
6:55
Speaker 1: Yeah.
6:56
Speaker 2: No, quite often we actually.
6:57
Speaker 1: Talk about a pop culture mum related topic as well.
7:00
Speaker 1: So I think what you're saying is it'd be difficult
7:02
Speaker 1: to find two salacious things to talk about every month.
7:05
Speaker 2: Well, particularly because it's.
7:06
Speaker 1: Being promoted as too juicy to go on the main feed,
7:09
Speaker 1: but they really don't hold back on their main feed.
7:12
Speaker 1: Like I feel like they're pretty generous with the stories
7:15
Speaker 1: that they share. I mean, I suppose they used to
7:17
Speaker 1: do a radio show on top of their podcast. So
7:20
Speaker 1: they are used to pumping out a lot of content.
7:22
Speaker 1: Now the response to the subscription was mixed. While many
7:26
Speaker 1: lifers rejoiced in the opportunity to get more content, as
7:29
Speaker 1: we touched on, others were not happy. The comment section
7:33
Speaker 1: on the announcement post turned into a bit of a
7:34
Speaker 1: battleground between the listeners where they hashed out their differing views. This,
7:38
Speaker 1: of course, created great engagement for The Real and it
7:41
Speaker 1: ended up hitting over 620,000 views. One listener wrote, would
7:46
Speaker 1: love to know how they justify this to themselves as
7:49
Speaker 1: anything other than a money grab. tacky and disappointing for
7:52
Speaker 1: women likely to be within the top 5% wealth bracket.
7:55
Speaker 1: The Life Uncut Instagram account actually responded to this comment
7:58
Speaker 1: and wrote, imagine saying this after seven years and thousands
8:01
Speaker 1: of episodes for free for our listeners. Then we give
8:04
Speaker 1: extra content for the price of one coffee a month
8:06
Speaker 1: for those that would like it.
8:08
Speaker 2: And it's called a money grab. We really can't win.
8:11
Speaker 1: Interestingly, the original poster didn't back down. They hit back writing,
8:15
Speaker 1: to imply you haven't profited immensely from the success of
8:18
Speaker 1: Life Uncut is incredibly disingenuous. It hasn't been for free.
8:22
Speaker 1: You've profited from sponsors, tours, merch, etc. Simply because listeners
8:26
Speaker 1: haven't paid for content directly does not equate to the
8:29
Speaker 1: content you've produced as.
8:30
Speaker 2: Being for free.
8:32
Speaker 1: I've been a lifer from literally day one, which is
8:34
Speaker 1: why seeing the decision to place content behind a paywall
8:37
Speaker 1: at the height of your success so disappointing. It was
8:40
Speaker 1: at this point that Brit entered the chat. So she responded, sorry,
8:44
Speaker 1: but I couldn't disagree more. We give you four episodes
8:47
Speaker 1: a week for free for seven years and now you're
8:49
Speaker 1: telling us it is in poor taste to add an
8:51
Speaker 1: extra option for people that request more. We are taking
8:55
Speaker 1: away nothing from you. No one is making anyone sign
8:58
Speaker 1: up if they don't want to. The only disappointing comment
9:01
Speaker 1: is you saying it shows our true intentions. Makes me
9:03
Speaker 1: feel like you obviously don't know us or the podcast
9:06
Speaker 1: because if you did, you'd know that that comment is
9:09
Speaker 1: just simply so far from reality. Again, if it's not
9:12
Speaker 1: for you, that's okay. Just continue to listen to the
9:15
Speaker 1: huge amount of free content we provide every week. Laura
9:18
Speaker 1: eventually weighed into the debate as well with a lengthy
9:21
Speaker 1: response where she reiterated that Life Uncut's regular episodes weren't
9:26
Speaker 1: changing and the extra content is for the listeners who
9:29
Speaker 1: have been requesting it. She then added, I do think
9:32
Speaker 1: there's a broader conversation here about the value we place
9:35
Speaker 1: on creative work and particularly women being able to build,
9:38
Speaker 1: own and monetize businesses they create. We happily buy books
9:41
Speaker 1: from authors we love, tickets to see artists, subscriptions to publications, music,
9:46
Speaker 1: TV and countless other forms of entertainment. Podcasts take an
9:50
Speaker 1: enormous time, people and resources to make too. We're incredibly
9:54
Speaker 1: grateful that people choose to listen to Life Uncut, whether
9:57
Speaker 1: they ever spend a cent with us or not. But
9:59
Speaker 1: I also don't think there should be anything uncomfortable or
10:01
Speaker 1: shameful about creators saying, we made something extra and if
10:05
Speaker 1: you value it and want to access it, this is
10:07
Speaker 1: what it costs. No one is losing anything they already
10:10
Speaker 1: had and no one has to subscribe. It's simply an
10:13
Speaker 1: option and we're really grateful to the people who see
10:15
Speaker 1: value in it and choose to support it. It actually
10:17
Speaker 1: cracked me up seeing Laura and Britt's responses because it
10:20
Speaker 1: reminded me of the way we act when something goes
10:23
Speaker 1: down on our Instagram account. One of us will be
10:25
Speaker 1: really fired up and be like, no, I'm not putting
10:27
Speaker 1: up with those comments. And then the other person will
10:29
Speaker 1: be like, no, we have to be more measured.
10:31
Speaker 2: Clearly Britt was the one that was like, not today.
10:34
Speaker 1: She actually hit back at another listener writing, I'm not
10:36
Speaker 1: sure how you don't agree it's free when it's free,
10:39
Speaker 1: which to Laura added, Free to air TV is free.
10:41
Speaker 2: Yes, you get ads, but it's free. Radio again, it
10:44
Speaker 2: is free.
10:45
Speaker 1: It is just a very interesting interpretation when people try
10:47
Speaker 1: to argue it's not free. Just because something has an
10:50
Speaker 1: ad in it doesn't mean it's not free. There's so
10:53
Speaker 1: much to unpack here. Let's start with the debate around
10:55
Speaker 1: free content. Where do you sit with it? Look, I
10:57
Speaker 1: actually think that there is some merit in what listeners
11:00
Speaker 1: were counter-arguing in regards to, hey, you actually have financially
11:04
Speaker 1: benefited from us, even though we don't directly pay you.
11:08
Speaker 1: Because advertisers pay podcasters to access their audience and the
11:13
Speaker 1: audience is what makes podcasts commercially viable. So even if
11:17
Speaker 1: someone doesn't pay directly to listen to an episode, they're
11:21
Speaker 1: still contributing to the commercial success of the podcast. Also,
11:25
Speaker 1: Life Uncut have done a they have leveraged their podcast
11:30
Speaker 1: audience far beyond just on-air advertising. Which they should be
11:34
Speaker 1: allowed to do, may I argue though, because they have
11:38
Speaker 1: obviously built their community. They're putting the time and effort
11:41
Speaker 1: every week to produce, as you said, four episodes. That
11:44
Speaker 1: is a huge amount of work. But that's not what
11:46
Speaker 1: we're talking about. Of course they can. But I think
11:49
Speaker 1: it would have been helpful if they acknowledged that they
11:52
Speaker 1: actually do receive substantial commercial benefits from from building that audience,
11:57
Speaker 1: even if they don't directly charge them to listen. Totally
12:00
Speaker 1: understand where you're coming from with your argument, Kate. And
12:02
Speaker 1: I think that there is merit in that. The only
12:04
Speaker 1: thing that I'm struggling with is that they should be
12:07
Speaker 1: allowed to monetize extra content. It's not like they've suddenly
12:10
Speaker 1: slapped the fee on their current main shows that are
12:13
Speaker 1: out there and have taken them away from people. They're
12:15
Speaker 1: not forcing anyone to sign up. If you don't want
12:17
Speaker 1: to pay for the subscription, you don't have to pay
12:19
Speaker 1: for it. I think some listeners are more unhappy with
12:23
Speaker 1: the way that Brit and Laura have addressed it, though
12:24
Speaker 1: not so much that they have to pay because they
12:27
Speaker 1: feel like they're being unfairly labelled entitled.
12:31
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts about that?
12:32
Speaker 1: Do you think listeners have the right to express disappointment
12:35
Speaker 1: or question the value of the subscription without automatically being
12:39
Speaker 1: labelled entitled? I definitely think that listeners are within their
12:42
Speaker 1: right to question this subscription. As you mentioned before, Kate,
12:46
Speaker 1: A podcast isn't financially viable without an audience. So I
12:50
Speaker 1: do think that you need to treat your listeners with
12:52
Speaker 1: a level of respect. And I totally understand that Brit
12:55
Speaker 1: and Laura would have felt frustrated that their launch wasn't
12:58
Speaker 1: going to plan and maybe didn't anticipate the negativity. But
13:01
Speaker 1: in those instances, I think you have to be really
13:03
Speaker 1: careful with the way that you communicate back to your
13:06
Speaker 1: audience because people can get very sensitive and really hurt. Ironically,
13:10
Speaker 1: it's often the most outspoken people in the comment section
13:13
Speaker 1: that are the biggest fans. And they're not necessarily being
13:16
Speaker 1: entitled by expressing disappointment. I think what creators need to
13:20
Speaker 1: remember is Someone can love your work at the same
13:23
Speaker 1: time as criticize your business decision, but it's not something
13:26
Speaker 1: that's easy to just take on board, is it?
13:28
Speaker 2: It's never easy.
13:29
Speaker 1: Facing criticism, particularly from people who feel like they know
13:33
Speaker 1: you so well and have been following you from day dot.
13:37
Speaker 2: That's when it can get really hurtful.
13:39
Speaker 1: And I understand maybe why Brit got defensive and felt
13:42
Speaker 1: like she had to explain herself, particularly when people are saying, oh,
13:46
Speaker 1: you're just trying to grab money from us. It's easy
13:48
Speaker 1: to say when you're not emotionally invested in the situation,
13:51
Speaker 1: but I think it probably would have been better to
13:53
Speaker 1: avoid the back and forth in the comments, especially since
13:56
Speaker 1: it was with listeners who said that they've supported the
13:59
Speaker 1: podcast since day dot. It is hard when you get
14:01
Speaker 1: riled up in the comment section because sometimes we've had
14:04
Speaker 1: back and forth with people.
14:05
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say that they were. devoted listeners. I think
14:08
Speaker 2: that they were more people who didn't enjoy the content.
14:10
Speaker 2: But you actually never know.
14:12
Speaker 1: And you have to be careful you don't bite the
14:13
Speaker 1: hand that feeds you because while your listeners don't pay
14:16
Speaker 1: you directly, as we've touched on, if your audience drops off,
14:19
Speaker 1: so too does your revenue.
14:21
Speaker 2: The whole thing is subscriptions aren't new. So many podcasts
14:24
Speaker 2: have them.
14:24
Speaker 1: But I think the reason why there has been so
14:26
Speaker 1: much backlash to Life Uncut subscription is because in recent years,
14:30
Speaker 1: the veil has really been lifted on what podcasters make,
14:34
Speaker 1: particularly the top echelon. We've heard numbers being thrown around
14:38
Speaker 1: with Shameless earning $ 10 million, people would assume that Life
14:41
Speaker 1: Uncut would be making a similar figure. And I think
14:44
Speaker 1: people think, well, you already make fuck tons of money
14:47
Speaker 1: off this.
14:48
Speaker 2: Why are you trying to make more money?
14:49
Speaker 1: Whereas when it comes to smaller podcasts and maybe independent
14:53
Speaker 1: podcasts who people assume aren't making much money in advertising,
14:57
Speaker 1: they're happy to support them and pay their hard earned
15:00
Speaker 1: money for extra content. I have to point out Life
15:03
Speaker 1: Uncut is still an independent podcast despite listener doing their
15:07
Speaker 1: ad content. Yeah, but in saying that, I think that
15:09
Speaker 1: Laura and Brit weren't your typical people who start a podcast.
15:13
Speaker 1: They had the huge backing of being on a reality show,
15:15
Speaker 1: massive followings. So I don't think people view them as
15:18
Speaker 1: your everyday podcaster who's started from the ground up. Look,
15:22
Speaker 1: I don't think podcasters should have to justify why they
15:25
Speaker 1: want to create additional revenue streams like Brit and Laura
15:28
Speaker 1: are being forced to do. It's clearly a smart business
15:31
Speaker 1: move to diversify your revenue stream.
15:33
Speaker 2: So you don't just have to rely on advertising.
15:36
Speaker 1: I do think though that this reaction is being influenced
15:39
Speaker 1: heavily by, as you said, the perceived wealth of Brit
15:42
Speaker 1: and Laura. And I think that's because relatability has always
15:45
Speaker 1: been at the core of their content from the start.
15:48
Speaker 1: So as you touched on, It's not like Life Uncut
15:51
Speaker 1: are the first podcast to bring out a subscription channel.
15:54
Speaker 1: Mamma Mia and Shameless, who I would say are the
15:57
Speaker 1: same standard as Life Uncut, they're in this top echelon
16:00
Speaker 1: of podcasts that are making a lot of money and
16:02
Speaker 1: more power to them. But it wasn't like when they
16:05
Speaker 1: released their channels, they got a lot of backlash. But
16:08
Speaker 1: I think it's because Brit and Laura share a lot
16:10
Speaker 1: about their lives on the podcast and on social media,
16:14
Speaker 1: which means it's not as easy for them to hide
16:16
Speaker 1: their wealth and privilege like Zara or and Michelle can
16:19
Speaker 1: do from Shameless. The thing that makes me feel a
16:21
Speaker 1: bit uncomfortable, though, is there seems to be this level
16:25
Speaker 1: of shame being hurled at the women for just wanting
16:28
Speaker 1: to make money from their podcast.
16:29
Speaker 2: That they've created. That's what I don't like about it. Yeah,
16:32
Speaker 2: I tend to agree.
16:33
Speaker 1: I think there is a bit of internalised misogyny at play.
16:36
Speaker 1: But then again, I can see why people are feeling
16:39
Speaker 1: frustrated because we are in a cost of living crisis.
16:42
Speaker 1: People are struggling to keep roofs over their head, pay
16:45
Speaker 1: for groceries, pay for petrol and things have never been
16:48
Speaker 1: more expensive.
16:48
Speaker 2: And then it's hard to look on.
16:50
Speaker 1: And see, I suppose, people that you feel like they're
16:52
Speaker 1: your friends asking you for more money for something that
16:55
Speaker 1: you'd like to hear.
16:56
Speaker 2: It seems like as.
16:57
Speaker 1: Life on cut gets bigger and generates more income, a
17:00
Speaker 1: disconnect is starting to form between Brit and Laura and
17:03
Speaker 1: their audience.
17:04
Speaker 2: And as you said, it makes sense.
17:05
Speaker 1: A lot of the listeners are struggling with the cost
17:07
Speaker 1: of living. The RBAs just announced another rate rise. And then,
17:11
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of listeners would look at Brit
17:13
Speaker 1: and Laura and think, God, you've got it good. You're
17:15
Speaker 1: adding a subscription revenue on top of your already very
17:18
Speaker 1: lucrative podcast advertising and influencer partnerships.
17:21
Speaker 2: Is it fair? Probably not.
17:23
Speaker 1: I mean, they have earned that success, but can you
17:26
Speaker 1: understand it?
17:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, probably.
17:29
Speaker 1: I think a lot of this comes down to the
17:31
Speaker 1: parasocial relationship that listeners have formed with Brit and Laura.
17:34
Speaker 2: They feel this connection to them.
17:37
Speaker 1: And this is despite the fact that they don't actually
17:39
Speaker 1: know them in real life. And now in order to
17:42
Speaker 1: reach this new level of friendship and hear more about
17:45
Speaker 1: their lives, they have to pay. And that is literally
17:48
Speaker 1: the crux of the promotion. It's all about getting this
17:50
Speaker 1: greater level of intimacy with Brit and Laura, where you're
17:53
Speaker 1: amongst a select few who get to hear their private stories.
17:56
Speaker 1: So I think a lot of listeners who have been
17:58
Speaker 1: there from the start are getting a serious case of FOMO.
18:02
Speaker 1: And what has added an extra layer to all of
18:04
Speaker 1: this is on Wednesday, Brit announced that she was pregnant
18:07
Speaker 1: with her first child, which was incredibly exciting news. And
18:11
Speaker 1: she revealed the news during a surprise podcast segment with Laura. Again,
18:15
Speaker 1: I don't know what's happened to me, but I teared
18:17
Speaker 1: up watching that. Like it was just so cute that
18:20
Speaker 1: she wrote it from the baby.
18:21
Speaker 2: I thought it was funny.
18:22
Speaker 1: It took Laura a while to actually get it.
18:24
Speaker 2: She's like, hang on, what?
18:25
Speaker 1: You could tell her reaction was so genuine. I mean,
18:28
Speaker 1: the videos had over 1.5 million views. their listeners are
18:32
Speaker 1: desperate for more information, which is why this next move
18:35
Speaker 1: was quite controversial. So the day after Brit's pregnancy announcement,
18:39
Speaker 1: Life Uncut revealed that their latest subscription episode was an
18:43
Speaker 1: Ask Us Anything, where for the first 10 minutes they
18:45
Speaker 1: discussed Brit's pregnancy. Clearly they knew backlash was coming because
18:49
Speaker 1: they added Wednesday's episode will be dedicated to answering every
18:52
Speaker 1: question about Brit's pregnancy. It's so funny, Kate, because to
18:56
Speaker 1: peel the curtain back, you have been doing the research
18:58
Speaker 1: into this topic and Literally, as soon as you saw
19:02
Speaker 1: that Brit announced that she was pregnant, you're like, oh
19:04
Speaker 1: my God, they're going to put the next bit of
19:05
Speaker 1: this behind a paywall.
19:06
Speaker 2: And then this morning you sent.
19:07
Speaker 1: Me screenshots from the Live On Cut discussion group and
19:10
Speaker 1: you're like, pick this like a nose. It just made
19:13
Speaker 1: me laugh so much. Well, I was like, oh God,
19:17
Speaker 1: I was actually feeling anxious for them because I knew
19:20
Speaker 1: this would not be a popular decision.
19:22
Speaker 2: And it was not.
19:23
Speaker 1: One listener wrote, I'm all for the Patreon and totally
19:26
Speaker 1: understand why pods do this. But this does feel a
19:28
Speaker 1: bit icky to me to stick an ep titled Brit's
19:31
Speaker 1: Baby Bonanza behind a paywall so quickly after the launch.
19:34
Speaker 1: So many lifers have been along the journey with Brit
19:37
Speaker 1: and the podcast and it sort of feels like this
19:39
Speaker 1: is now being monetized. Now on that, it seems like
19:42
Speaker 1: they changed the episode title because when I went and looked,
19:45
Speaker 1: it was just called like Ask Us Anything. Another listener
19:48
Speaker 1: said disappointed this is paid content. I would consider Major
19:51
Speaker 1: Life Milestones content for the regular podcast as it has
19:55
Speaker 1: always been. Not extra content as Unlocked has been advertised as.
19:59
Speaker 1: Feeling robbed as a full-time listener from day one and
20:02
Speaker 1: I can't access this episode.
20:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, but in.
20:05
Speaker 1: Defense of Brit and Laura. They made the announcement of
20:07
Speaker 1: the baby news on the free app. Yeah, but they
20:09
Speaker 1: didn't go.
20:10
Speaker 2: Into it heaps.
20:10
Speaker 1: And obviously they've created all this excitement around it and
20:13
Speaker 1: listeners are really keen.
20:15
Speaker 2: I just found the timing really interesting.
20:17
Speaker 1: Did they time the subscription launch knowing that Brit was
20:21
Speaker 1: going to go public with her pregnancy announcement the week after,
20:24
Speaker 1: which would obviously bolster sales? Without a doubt, this would
20:27
Speaker 1: have been strategic. But again, I don't think there's anything
20:30
Speaker 1: necessarily wrong with it. It's very smart from a business perspective,
20:33
Speaker 1: even though There are some outraged listeners. I'm sure those
20:37
Speaker 1: people have signed up to listen to it too because
20:40
Speaker 1: they're just dying to hear more information. It doesn't make
20:42
Speaker 1: it right, but is it a good business move? Yes.
20:44
Speaker 1: I think a lot of the anger is not so
20:47
Speaker 1: much coming from the fact that people are like, I
20:48
Speaker 1: don't want to pay. It's more that people are fed
20:51
Speaker 1: up with being sold to. Off the back of the
20:54
Speaker 1: initial announcement, one listener wrote, I hate that everything these
20:57
Speaker 1: days is a thinly veiled ad. I'm always suspicious thinking
21:00
Speaker 1: someone's trying to push something on me because 99.9% of
21:02
Speaker 1: the time, they are. And I think this sums up
21:07
Speaker 1: how a lot of people are feeling because there's definitely
21:10
Speaker 1: been a shift over the last couple of years towards
21:13
Speaker 1: creators trying to turn their audience into direct customers. And
21:16
Speaker 1: we're now at this point where audiences have to actually
21:19
Speaker 1: assess what they're comfortable paying for. And we're seeing that
21:22
Speaker 1: play out in real time, particularly with Life Uncut's audience.
21:27
Speaker 1: I think there's just a lot of subscription fatigue going on,
21:30
Speaker 1: particularly because we're all having to cut back. So, you know,
21:35
Speaker 1: things that we were easily able to afford maybe five
21:38
Speaker 1: years ago, we can't afford now, even though we feel
21:40
Speaker 1: like we're working just as hard, working more hours, if anything.
21:44
Speaker 1: It's just this fucked cost of living. Yeah. I mean,
21:47
Speaker 1: there are so many services we're expected to pay for now.
21:50
Speaker 1: You've got, you know, music subscriptions, news publications, streaming services,
21:55
Speaker 1: online community, subsect.
21:56
Speaker 2: Newsletters, podcasts.
21:58
Speaker 1: And then on top of all of that, we're constantly
22:00
Speaker 1: being marketed to through social media. And I think The
22:04
Speaker 1: fact that Laura and Brit are influencers and also, you know,
22:07
Speaker 1: spruik things to their audience, I think that might also
22:11
Speaker 1: be leaving a bad taste in some listeners' mouths. Tammy
22:16
Speaker 1: Hembrough has shut down claims that her 23-year-old boyfriend, Grayson T. Moana,
22:20
Speaker 1: doesn't pay his own way. Speculation started to mount during
22:23
Speaker 1: the couple's recent romantic getaway to Singapore. I can see
22:27
Speaker 1: why there has been a lot of chatter around who
22:29
Speaker 1: was actually footing the bill for these luxury trips because
22:32
Speaker 1: Over the couple's eight month relationship, they've done their fair
22:35
Speaker 1: share of jet setting. So before the Singapore trip, they'd
22:37
Speaker 1: kept things pretty local. They'd only been traveling around Australia,
22:40
Speaker 1: but they went to some pretty epic spots. So they
22:42
Speaker 1: traveled to the Great Barrier Reef. They have spent time
22:45
Speaker 1: in day spas in Byron Bay. I mean, they even
22:47
Speaker 1: visited the bright lights of Adelaide.
22:49
Speaker 2: When Tammy left.
22:50
Speaker 1: Of course, appeared as a special guest on the much
22:52
Speaker 1: talked about Lucy and Nikki live show. Well, they've been
22:55
Speaker 1: to Adelaide twice because remember they went with Live Golf
22:57
Speaker 1: as well. In saying all of that, I assumed a
22:59
Speaker 1: lot of these trips were sponsored content. So it was
23:02
Speaker 1: really the brand that was footing the bill. Yeah. But
23:04
Speaker 1: it looked like the Singapore trip was a genuine holiday.
23:07
Speaker 1: Like I couldn't see any brand alignment there. Yeah. Well,
23:10
Speaker 1: particularly because Singapore does seem to hold a special place
23:13
Speaker 1: in Tammy's heart She actually lived there for a period
23:16
Speaker 1: of time. I think when she was around 16, 17
23:18
Speaker 1: with her mum. When I saw that they were in Singapore,
23:21
Speaker 1: I was gearing myself up for a proposal announcement because
23:24
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, this place is special to Tammy. She's
23:27
Speaker 1: already been engaged in the Maldives. Can't really top that.
23:31
Speaker 1: So you've got to go nostalgic. And Singapore is nostalgic.
23:34
Speaker 1: And it is also one of my favorite places to visit.
23:36
Speaker 2: I absolutely love Singapore.
23:38
Speaker 1: I was living for her content because I'm like, oh,
23:40
Speaker 1: recognize that place. Oh, I know what she's eating there.
23:43
Speaker 1: I'm sort of relieved that a proposal didn't take place though,
23:45
Speaker 1: as much as I would have loved it for the
23:47
Speaker 1: pure entertainment side of things.
23:49
Speaker 2: I don't think it's the right time for those two.
23:51
Speaker 1: I can't remember if I put this out publicly on
23:53
Speaker 1: the podcast or if I've just said it to you
23:55
Speaker 1: and Amy, but my prediction is they'll either be a
23:58
Speaker 1: engagement announcement or a pregnancy announcement.
24:00
Speaker 2: Before the year ends.
24:02
Speaker 1: I think you could be right. Now getting back to
24:04
Speaker 1: who is actually paying for these trips. It was quite
24:07
Speaker 1: interesting because Amber from Influencer Updates ended up talking about
24:10
Speaker 1: it on one of her lives and a follower wrote
24:13
Speaker 1: in asking, do you think Tammy pays for the dates
24:15
Speaker 1: and trips with Grayson? Now, Amber ended up saying that
24:19
Speaker 1: she does think it's Tammy who pays for the bulk
24:21
Speaker 1: of their holidays and dates, but she thinks that's pretty
24:24
Speaker 1: normal in a relationship when one person earns significantly.
24:27
Speaker 2: More money than the other.
24:29
Speaker 1: She added that surely Grayson wouldn't be able to afford
24:31
Speaker 1: going to Singapore willy-nilly as he's a very young guy
24:34
Speaker 1: in his 20s And she doesn't know if he has
24:36
Speaker 1: a proper job as he does casual modeling. That bit
24:39
Speaker 1: made me laugh because I know Amber tries to be
24:41
Speaker 1: so respectful and I don't think she meant to throw
24:43
Speaker 1: any shade at him, but it just cracked me up.
24:45
Speaker 2: I don't know if he's got a proper job.
24:48
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean, to be fair, I've seen this guy
24:49
Speaker 1: at my local Westfield all over the tarot cash ads.
24:52
Speaker 1: Like every time I set foot, there seems to be
24:53
Speaker 1: a new photo of him and they might be making
24:55
Speaker 1: a bit.
24:55
Speaker 2: Of coin out of that.
24:56
Speaker 1: I would love to know how much money he's earned
24:58
Speaker 1: off that tarot cash ad. It's funny because when I
25:01
Speaker 1: go to Marion, I see him and then I walk
25:03
Speaker 1: a bit further and there's an ad, I think it's
25:05
Speaker 1: at JJ's with Jordan Simi, who used to date Sammy Robinson.
25:09
Speaker 1: He was the one that tried to do that boxing
25:10
Speaker 1: fight to get Sammy to love him again. Oh my God.
25:13
Speaker 1: So it was so embarrassing. I was trying to film
25:15
Speaker 1: a video of both of those ads. I wanted to
25:17
Speaker 1: put it up on TikTok and be like, God, is
25:19
Speaker 1: this the only pool of men that they have to
25:21
Speaker 1: choose from? Why are boyfriends of Instagram everywhere? And we,
25:25
Speaker 1: all three of us were at the shops. We had
25:26
Speaker 1: our three prams and I sort of parked mine away
25:29
Speaker 1: from where the picture of Jordan Simi was. And I
25:31
Speaker 1: started recording and then I noticed that the shop assistant
25:34
Speaker 1: was literally standing in the front window right near the
25:37
Speaker 1: picture and just.
25:38
Speaker 2: Looking at me like, what the fuck are you doing?
25:40
Speaker 1: She probably thinks you're one of those saddos that wants
25:42
Speaker 1: to like buy the image to take home.
25:44
Speaker 2: I mean, do you remember those people?
25:46
Speaker 1: I remember when Cinderella Story was released at the movies
25:49
Speaker 1: and I think there was a big cut out of
25:51
Speaker 1: Chad Michael Murray and Hilary Duff. And we were all
25:54
Speaker 1: kind of coming up with a plan of how we
25:56
Speaker 1: could get it from the movies. I obviously pay for it.
25:58
Speaker 1: I think back in the day you could pay for it.
26:00
Speaker 1: Not really going to be stealing that walking out of
26:02
Speaker 1: the cinema. I love you're saying sados and then you're
26:04
Speaker 1: saying that we did that as teenagers.
26:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, but we were like 16.
26:08
Speaker 1: But I actually saw on this mum's Christmas Facebook group
26:11
Speaker 1: that I seem to plug every year.
26:13
Speaker 2: Go follow it.
26:13
Speaker 1: It's so good. that this woman was saying that after Christmas,
26:17
Speaker 1: when Peter Alexander gets rid of all their Christmas display,
26:20
Speaker 1: you can actually dibs it. You just call them and
26:23
Speaker 1: you can get like the cardboard cutouts of the ranges
26:25
Speaker 1: and stuff. And people have been using them in their
26:27
Speaker 1: own Christmas displays at home.
26:29
Speaker 2: Genius.
26:30
Speaker 1: Well, getting back again, I feel like we've had a
26:31
Speaker 1: few segues here, but getting back to.
26:35
Speaker 2: Whether Tammy's boyfriend pays for the trips or not.
26:38
Speaker 1: Tammy actually ended up weighing in on the comment section
26:41
Speaker 1: of Influencer Updates posts. She simply wrote, I don't. So
26:45
Speaker 1: confirming that she doesn't pay for all of the dates
26:47
Speaker 1: or trips.
26:47
Speaker 2: What do we think? Do we actually believe her?
26:49
Speaker 1: I think she's got out on a technicality because I
26:52
Speaker 1: think brands are paying for these trips. Yeah, true.
26:55
Speaker 2: It's not like she said he does. You know what
26:58
Speaker 2: I mean? We both don't pay for the trips.
27:00
Speaker 1: Well, the thing is when she was with Matt Sikowsky,
27:02
Speaker 1: there was a very similar narrative that Tammy was paying
27:05
Speaker 1: for everything. And she would often make TikToks or Instagram
27:08
Speaker 1: stories defending Matt saying that that wasn't true. Yet once
27:11
Speaker 1: they weren't together, she started trying to push this narrative
27:14
Speaker 1: that she did in fact pay for everything. I mean,
27:16
Speaker 1: at the Lucy and Nikki live show, she claimed that
27:20
Speaker 1: she paid for the bulk of the wedding. Matt has
27:23
Speaker 1: since said that that is not the case. Again, it'll
27:25
Speaker 1: be interesting though, if Tammy and Grayson break up, whether
27:28
Speaker 1: her story changes. I just think in this day and age,
27:31
Speaker 1: an influencer who has 17 million followers on Instagram is
27:35
Speaker 1: not paying for any holiday that they go on, or
27:37
Speaker 1: they are paying very minimally. So maybe the whole bill
27:40
Speaker 1: thing fits up to $ 1, 000 and Grayson may go, Tammy,
27:45
Speaker 1: here's your 500 bucks.
27:46
Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean? Like maybe it's just
27:47
Speaker 2: they cover the cost of food.
27:48
Speaker 1: I actually have to disagree with Amber's point about him
27:51
Speaker 1: being young and that means that he can't afford a
27:53
Speaker 1: trip willy-nilly. It's literally young people who always travel willy-nilly
27:57
Speaker 1: on holidays. They have no responsibilities and literally just burn
28:01
Speaker 1: through money that they probably.
28:02
Speaker 2: Shouldn't be spending.
28:02
Speaker 1: So I don't think that that's a good argument there,
28:04
Speaker 1: no offence to Amber, but it literally just cracked me
28:06
Speaker 1: up because I'm like, The only people who travel currently
28:09
Speaker 1: are young or old. Also reflecting on his overheads, it
28:13
Speaker 1: appears that he potentially now lives at Tammy's house. So
28:18
Speaker 1: I can't imagine, again, Tammy might want to set the
28:21
Speaker 1: record straight, but I can't imagine he'd be chipping into
28:23
Speaker 1: the mortgage. So what overheads does he really have? So
28:27
Speaker 1: maybe he is paying for half of the holiday, but
28:28
Speaker 1: just nothing else. Well, this Singapore trip has generated a
28:31
Speaker 1: lot of rumours and a lot of chatter that Off
28:34
Speaker 1: the back of it, a lot of people are still
28:36
Speaker 1: questioning whether Tammy Hembrough is.
28:37
Speaker 2: In fact pregnant.
28:39
Speaker 1: I want to point out that I think it's absolutely
28:40
Speaker 1: terrible to comment on a woman's body and speculate whether
28:43
Speaker 1: she's pregnant. We are only speaking about this because of
28:46
Speaker 1: what Tammy responded because she seems to be having fun
28:49
Speaker 1: rage baiting people. So one follower wrote under a post
28:52
Speaker 1: of her in Singapore, I can see a bump whilst
28:55
Speaker 1: another person flat out asked, are you pregnant? And Tammy
28:58
Speaker 1: ended up responding to this follower, maybe. Now, what was
29:02
Speaker 1: quite awkward as well is in the photo that people
29:04
Speaker 1: were commenting on, she was actually drinking a beer.
29:07
Speaker 2: And one follower said, she's literally drinking a beer. So
29:09
Speaker 2: why ask if she's pregnant? And someone wrote back to
29:12
Speaker 2: that comment.
29:12
Speaker 1: Pointing out that she was just holding the beer. There
29:15
Speaker 1: wasn't actually a photo of her drinking it. So presuming
29:18
Speaker 1: maybe she was trying to get people off the scent there. Also,
29:21
Speaker 1: there are so many non-alcoholic wines and beers that look
29:23
Speaker 1: exactly like their alcoholic counterpart.
29:26
Speaker 2: So you just can't tell these days.
29:28
Speaker 1: But as you said, I don't think it's cool that
29:30
Speaker 1: people are questioning her over her appearance in these photos,
29:33
Speaker 1: because I mean, if that's a baby bump, fuck, you
29:35
Speaker 1: don't want to see me after eating a big meal. Well,
29:37
Speaker 1: I think that is all we have time for today.
29:39
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us for this episode.
29:41
Speaker 1: If you have enjoyed it, could you please make sure
29:43
Speaker 1: you are subscribed on Apple Podcast and also Spotify and
29:47
Speaker 1: leave us a five-star review.
29:48
Speaker 2: This podcast was.
29:49
Speaker 1: Recorded on the traditional land of the Kaurna people of
29:52
Speaker 1: the Adelaide Plains.
29:53
Speaker 2: We pay respect to elders past and present.