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Matty J Defends Father of the Year Award · Outspoken the Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the hottest.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Influencer and pop culture news twice a week.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: I'm Sophie Torber. I'm Kate Torber. And I'm Amy Torber.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: And coming up on today's show, Matty J defends his
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: title of Father of the Year, Lily Brown and Jet
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Kenny's second wedding, and Smiley Citrus' heartbreaking decision to rehome
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: her dog.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: But first, Sofa.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Dofa has been labelled a hypocrite after appearing in an
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: ad for McDonald's. The well-known Celiac recently created a social
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: media storm after calling out Sydney Airport for its lack
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: of gluten-free options. But her latest campaign with the fast
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: food giant has left many scratching their heads as McDonald's
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: famously doesn't offer any gluten-free menu items. Now, Sophia was
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: promoting McDonald's new McGold card competition where you can win
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: free McDonald's for life. I mean, doesn't that sound like
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the dream? I wonder how that actually works. Surely there's
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: a limit. to how much McDonald's you can.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Have a week.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: There is.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: So a lifetime of McDonald's actually gets you $ 30 a
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: week for 40 years. So it works out to be
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: $ 62, 400 worth of McDonald's. With the way that fast food
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: places are going, $ 30 doesn't get you much these days.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Like I'm actually horrified when I get to the till
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: and they're like, oh yeah, $ 50.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: You're like, what? Fuck off.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Also, does it go up with inflation? Like, you know,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: because $ 30 might not even get you a meal a week. Also,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: the fact that they've capped it at 40 years, is
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: that kind of like the life expectancy if you indulge
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: in McDonald's.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: For every day of your life or something?
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: That's true, though, because so for Dover's demographic, people in
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: their early 20s. So what, you get free McDonald's to
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: your 60? I mean, I suppose it doesn't have the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: same ring to it, does it? It's pretty awkward because
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the whole premise of this ad is that Sophia is
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: wanting to win it. when we all know that she
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: can't eat much off the menu. I mean, maybe McDonald's
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: does want celiacs to win this because they probably would
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: end up not having to pay much.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: I think we need to throw to a clip of
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: The Grab to give it justice.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: Oh, my God, stop.
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: I'm here for September Golden Deals and look who's here. Tony. Hey. Tony,
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: come to town. Do you have it? The me gold card?
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Oh, always.
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: Three Maccas for life. Can you believe? Gold is so
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: my colour. Yeah, well, you can win your own too
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: with every golden deal on the My Maccas app.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: It's nice and shiny. Let's just put it away.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Nice and safe.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Now, the backlash came in pretty quickly. One user wrote,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: for someone who.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Kicked up such a stink with Sydney Airport for not
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: having gluten-free... Diva Sofa seems to be in a lot
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: of McDonald's ads with their new gold card. Someone else wrote, girl,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Macca's isn't gluten-free. And someone responded to that saying, picks
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: and chooses, I'm assuming. I wonder if that was anyone
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: from Sydney Airport's marketing team who jumped on there, who
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: were like, let's get her in the comment section. It
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: was pretty funny because Sophia's brand All For Mimi entered
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the chat. They had shared the collaboration on their own
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: channel and one follower commented underneath asking, well, what does
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Sophia actually eat there? And the brand responded saying she
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: removes the bun.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'm sorry.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: No one is eating McDonald's without the bun. Like that
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: is the best bit I have to add when it's
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: been steamed. Otherwise, it's just not it. And also the
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: reason that McDonald's doesn't offer gluten-free options is because they
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: can't actually guarantee no cross-contamination. So a lot of celiacs
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to take that risk. Why does it
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: remind me of on The Simpsons when Krusty does the
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: promotion for Krusty Burger and he spits everything out?
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Now, this story has made its way off social media
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: to the mainstream media. The Daily Telegraph slammed Sophia, writing,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Influencer Sophia Begg has been famously vocal about her gluten-free struggles,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: although it appears there's more flexibility when a paid partnership
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: is on the menu. I mean, to be fair, this
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: isn't actually a new partnership for Sofa Dofa. This is
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: a longstanding one.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: She's been working with them for years.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: She first got on McDonald's radar when she shaved her
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: head in 2015 to raise money for Ronald McDonald House.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: And she has done a number of paid partnerships with
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: McDonald's since then. Look, I can see with that context,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: the partnership makes more sense, but the timing is really off,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: particularly because this whole Sofa Dofa versus Sydney Airport went mainstream.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: And as soon as an influencer is on the mainstream
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: media's radar, they're going to write follow-up stories like the
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: one that they have done. And I can see why
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: people are annoyed because it does come across as a
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: little bit hypocritical. It's interesting that she hasn't hit back
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: by creating a TikTok video in response to this, probably
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: because she doesn't have much of a leg to stand on.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: A lot of people were also questioning whether her recent
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Marcha collaboration with Tropicca was actually gluten-free. I mean, a
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: lot of people said it tasted like fish. But, again,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: was it gluten-free fish?
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Well, fish doesn't have gluten in it, Sophie, so I
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: think that's redundant.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: Crumbed fish can.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but something doesn't taste like crumbed fish.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: It tastes fishy from a fish. Well, it was still fishy.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: Did you nominate yourself?
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: I would never.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: That would just be ridiculous.
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: Well, I'm just trying to work out how I can
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: get myself in the frame.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: For winning it next year.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Matty J has defended his title of Father of the Year,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: hitting out at critics who questioned the award. Over the weekend,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: the Father of Three was presented the award by the
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Governor-General at Kirribilli House. The news was shared across his
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: social media account, as well as the former Bachelor attending
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: multiple media ops.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: But it feels very self-indulgent to take that title of
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: Father of the Year. So it's still settling in. It
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: feels a bit strange. Does Dad deserve this award? Are
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: you questioning how did he win it?
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: You're not really sold.
• 5:49
  Speaker 6: Is he the best dad in Australia?
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: Oh, that's beautiful.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: What are some cool things that dad does?
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: Why do you love him so much?
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: What am I good at? He gives us horsey rides.
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: Oh.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: Is that right?
• 6:01
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: To win the award, I had to submit footage of
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: the horsey rides to make sure I was at the
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: highest calibre.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I think this is a great example of why people
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: love Matty J and have continued to support him since
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: The Bachelor. He approached it with this self-deprecating humour that
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Aussies love. It was like, oh, God, how have I
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: won this award? You know, I have no idea how
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: I've got here, but I'm pretty grateful about it. Well,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: he really was the perfect morning show guest because all
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: of those interviews are always a bit cringe and everyone's
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: smiling and nodding, but he played the part really well.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: And from what I took from his interview... it seemed
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: like he didn't take the award that seriously. Like he
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: was really proud to receive it, but it wasn't something
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: that was such.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: A serious thing for him.
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: And that's why what has unfolded has been quite surprising.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: So it all started when Amber from Influencer Updates AU
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: was asked in her live stream about Maddie's award. And
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: she ended up clipping up her response and sharing it
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: on a reel to her Instagram account. Let's take a
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: listen to what she said.
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  Speaker 6: I hate it. I don't care who wins it, who
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: doesn't win it. But I'm like, father of the year?
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: Are you serious?
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: I just don't even understand what the criteria would be
• 7:14
  Speaker 6: for this. It is so random to me. I think
• 7:17
  Speaker 6: that Matty J is obviously a very famous person and
• 7:19
  Speaker 6: whoever is running this award, great marketing to give it
• 7:22
  Speaker 6: to Matty J. I'm sure he's a great dad. I
• 7:24
  Speaker 6: don't deny that. But yeah, I just thought it was
• 7:26
  Speaker 6: a very strange award.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Now, surprisingly, Matty J ended up responding to this by
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: stitching up Amber's video. But instead of including her full spill,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: he edited out the relevant context where she questioned the
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: award itself and the marketing around it. So really it
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: came across like she was attacking him as the winner.
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: So the grab of hers that he responded to said,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I hate it. I don't care who wins it or
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: who doesn't win it. But I'm like father of the year. Like,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: are you serious? Like, I don't even understand what the
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: criteria would be for this. It is so random to me.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: So he took out all the bits where she was
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: actually saying, This award is silly.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: I don't get it.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, when I saw Matt's reel, I was like, wait,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: is she saying she hates it that Maddie's been announced
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: as Father of the Year? Because Amber is always really
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: careful and respectful about what she says about influencers. If anything,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: she's actually over the top nice. So I couldn't.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: Imagine her saying anything like that. Yeah, it was quite misleading.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Now, after Matt shared that edited clip of what Amber said,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: he followed up saying this.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: I'll be honest, that made me a little bit sad
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: when I watched that video. And I don't want to
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: try and sit here and justify why I deserve to
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: win that award. I just want to make you aware
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: of some of the things that I've done in the
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: space of parenting that you might not know about.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: He then went on to list his charity work, which
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: includes ambassador roles with the Australian Childhood Foundation, the Starlight
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Foundation and Movember. He also specifically highlighted that the work
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: has included supporting kids in the foster care system.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: He then spoke.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: About how he uses his social media platform and podcast
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: to push fathers to be more involved, present and emotionally available.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Let's take a listen to a bit more of what
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: he said about his podcast.
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: In addition to that, we've had a podcast now, Two
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: Dating Dads, for over three years, 260 episodes, over 100,000
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: listeners every single month. More than anything, we're just trying
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: to normalize the everyday struggles that parents are facing. But
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: more importantly, we're now bringing experts to educate us and
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: the listeners, moms and dads about really important topics, child
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: safety and body autonomy, miscarriage, sobriety, and postnatal depression. And lastly,
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: I'm so lucky to have such an amazing audience on
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: social media. And I hope that you can see that
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: I push my dads to be more involved, more present,
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: more emotionally available. Does that mean that I should be
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: father of the year?
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: Who knows?
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: But I hope that you can see I've done just something,
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: one little thing that might make me be considered for
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: the award.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Now, the response to this video has been huge. At
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the time of recording, it's been viewed over half a
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: million times, and it's also attracted over 750 comments. Matt's wife,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Laura Byrne, was one of those commenters. So she wrote,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: well bloody said. And that set the general tone of
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the comment section. The majority of commenters were all backing
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: him up saying, look, you didn't have to justify this.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: You very much deserve this award. I've got to point
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: out though, a large number of people commenting positive stuff
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: had blue ticks next to their name. So I feel
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: like some of those people might have an issue with
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Influencer Updates AU's page.
• 10:29
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I think when something like this happens, it's a
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: bit of a free for all for influencers to all
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: jump on the bandwagon and and try and tear a
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: page like Influencer Updates down. There were a couple of
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: people sticking up for Amber in the comments. One person wrote,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I don't think she's questioning you winning the award. I
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: think she's questioning the award itself. To which Maddie responded,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I struggle to understand someone who attacks an award that
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: champions dads to raise the bar and be more involved
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: with their kids and supportive of their partners. It's funny
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: because we actually spoke about Maddie J winning this award
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: on an episode of The Mums Group before this all
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: blew up and We shared similar sentiments to Amber. When
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: I first saw her, I was kind of like, what
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: the fuck even is this award? To me, I was like, well,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: how do you win Mother of the Year? Like we
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: had a bit of a joke saying, oh, well, should
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: we all be nominated for Mother of the Year because
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: we have a mothering podcast? I think the big issue
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: is the marketing of this award because Matt was able
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: to list off all of these amazing things he had
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: done and Yet none of that was mentioned in the
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: media surrounding the award. All we saw was that he's
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: been awarded this and it's because he's got a podcast. Yeah,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: and that he has three daughters. To me, naming him
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Australian Father of the Year, it makes it sound like
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: he's been objectively voted the best dad in Australia by
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: a judging panel who has gone and assessed all these
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: different dads in the country, when in actual fact, it
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: really is just a celebrity award. It really should be
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: named as most influential dad of the year because historically,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: This award has been deliberately aimed at high profile Australian
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: fathers who use their public platforms to promote positive fatherhood.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: So yes, tick, Matt has definitely done that. I mean,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: the Fathering Project describes it as an award for a
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: distinguished father who demonstrates support, guidance and love to his
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: children or other children through his work or family life.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: And other winners have included Hamish Blake, John Howard, Slim Dusty,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Steve Waugh, Dick Smith, The list goes on. And I
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: agree with Amber. I think the marketing of it is
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: off and it needs to be renamed. Yeah, I don't
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: think Amber was trying to be malicious at all. She
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: even went on to say what a good dad Matty
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: J is. The issue is that this award doesn't really
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: make much sense. I mean, in Maddie's clap back to Amber,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: he mentioned all of this charity work that he's done,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean that you're a fantastic dad. It
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: means like, yes, you're an amazing person, but then perhaps
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: maybe he should have won a community award, not father.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Of the year.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: It didn't make a lot of sense to me because
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: when I heard father of the year, I'm like, well,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: the only person that can sort of vote on that
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: is your own child.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: And obviously everyone thinks their dad is the best dad ever.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: And I'd also love.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: To know, did he actually nominate himself or is this
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: something where your kids have to nominate you? He definitely
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: nominated himself. This has been a massive plug for his
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: parenting podcast and a great boost for it to get
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: it out there to other dads. I have to admit,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: I was disappointed by Maddie's clap back at Amber and
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: it really went against what we know of Maddie J
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: because at the start of the topic, I spoke about
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: how he seemed quite nonchalant and quite self-deprecating about the
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: whole award. But then to get on your stories and
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: defend you winning it and say, oh, this is why
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: I deserve it and to be quite aggressive and then
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: essentially to send your audience against Amber and to create
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: a pile on When you took what she said out
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: of context, I found incredibly unfair. Yeah, and as you said,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: really out of character for Matty J because he comes
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: across as a really likeable larrikin. If anything, he should
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: have just ignored the commentary around it and maybe shared
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: some more pictures or some more information on his social
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: media channels about what it means to be Father of
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: the Year and maybe the things he has done over
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: the last three years, as he mentioned in this rant,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: to get that title. There's something really off-putting about someone
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: winning an award. and then not being able to take
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: on constructive criticism that really wasn't even aimed at him.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: It was aimed at the award itself and then hitting
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: back and justifying why you should have won. I almost
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: think that it would have been better coming from his wife,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Laura Byrne, who also has a massive platform. I mean,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: she ended up resharing Maddie's video on her own platform
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: that clearly amplified it, but it would have been better
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: coming from her.
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: We unfortunately had to make the really heartbreaking decision to
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: rehome Mabel. I don't even know what I want to
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: share or how I want to share this.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Adelaide YouTuber Smiley Citrus has revealed she made the heartbreaking
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: choice to rehome her dog, Mabel. The new mum was
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: forced to make the decision after a cocker spaniel couldn't
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: adjust to life with a new baby. So Smiley Citrus,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: whose real name is Ella McGrath, was forced to address
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: the situation after followers noticed the much-loved dog had disappeared
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: from her channel. I have to admit, I had a
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: pit in my stomach when I was watching this video.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: because as a Cocker Spaniel mum, this is quite possibly
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: my worst nightmare. I first came across Smiley Citrus's channel
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: because I heard that there was a YouTuber from Adelaide
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: with two Cocker Spaniels. And I was like, well, I
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: can relate to this. So she has a golden Cocker
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Spaniel called Mabel and an orange Roan called Elsie. I
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: knew this would be triggering for you, Sophie, because OG
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: listeners will know just how much your Cocker Spaniel.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: Archie means to you. He is Literally your son.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Initially, you told me that you didn't want to discuss
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: this topic on the podcast because it triggered you so much.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: And I don't think you're alone because a lot of
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Ella's followers actually picked up that Mabel was missing from
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: her vlogs before she actually addressed it.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: Well, that's what Ella said.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: She said that she was so shocked because she was like,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: instantly people were like, where is your dog? And I
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: think that is because anyone who knows Cocker Spaniels knows.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: That they are literally attached to to the hip to
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: their owners.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Like most of them have separation anxiety with their owners
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: and they're so in love with them. Like my Cocker
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Spaniel is sitting right next to me as I'm recording this.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: They know no personal space, these dogs. Yeah, so it
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: was really hard to.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Watch when Ella finally addressed what was going on. And
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: it was clear she was essentially forced into making this
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: announcement because she looked quite teary when she explained that
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: she actually wasn't ready to talk about it and it's
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: still so raw. but she had to address it because
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: she had been inundated with questions and messages on her
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: recent vlog. She said that most of her followers were
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: coming from a good place and they were just curious
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: as to where she was and worried about her. But
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: there were a handful of people who Ella said had
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: been very nasty to her. When I realized that this
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: was a rehoming situation, I felt quite nervous for Ella
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: because People are irate when influencers rehome their dogs. It
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: was only back in 2024 that Kyrie Harvey sparked massive
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: debate when she shared that she had rehomed her family dog, Socks. Now,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Socks was an Aussie doodle, so a larger, more active
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: dog than a Cocker Spaniel. And the reason she rehomed
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: him was because she said his size had become unmanageable
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: and she was worried about the dog's safety because he
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: was able to climb over the fence in their yard
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: and get onto the road. Now, She received a lot
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: of backlash because people were like, well, should you not
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: have researched your dog a bit better and not have
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: actually got a dog like that? She then later actually
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: got a Cocker Spaniel funnily enough and that caused a
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: lot of outrage. And I think people are just so
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: passionate about dogs and it's really difficult for influencers to
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: make decisions like this, even when it's what's best for
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: the dog, because they are going to receive backlash from
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: their audience. The thing is Ella's situation is completely different
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: to Kyrie Harvey's situation and she had to rehome her
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: dog for safety issues around her child. So she said
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: that despite what people think, this decision wasn't made lightly
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: and that she and her husband spent the last year
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: trying to resolve her dog's issues. But at the end
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: of the day, Mabel couldn't cope with the change of
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: a new baby. So she explained that it was evident
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: from the get-go that her dog was very anxious when
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: she fell pregnant. During the pregnancy, she said she and
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: her husband, Nick, tried to nip it in the bud.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: It sounded like they had dog trainers in, They were
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: trying to make sure that they exercise their dogs for
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: long enough. It seemed like the real issue was between
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: the two cocker spaniels. She actually revealed that when she
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: was 34 weeks pregnant, she had to go to the
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: emergency department because she had to break up a dog
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: fight between Mabel and Elsie.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: She said that Elsie became Mabel's punching bag.
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: I mean, how.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Horrible the fact that she obviously got injured during this.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: It just goes to show, and Ella actually touched upon
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: this in her YouTube, that you really don't know what's
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: going on in people's lives. YouTubers obviously show a curated
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: version of their life and you're not going to want
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: to promote the fact that your dogs are having these
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: issues because there are some people that just take things
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: way too far and could potentially dobber into the RSPCA.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Like you never know what people are going to do.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: And it's also an unresolved issue too. So like you're
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: hardly going to come on there and just say all
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: these problems when you don't have a solution for it.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: And as you said, people are so funny.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: Well, they also tried to do.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: A trial run where they had their second dog, Elsie,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: go and stay with their parents for a month to
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: see if Mabel acted any differently. But the time away
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: really solidified that Mabel would be better off in a
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: one dog household.
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: Let's take a listen to what Ella said.
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: I think when you're going through something that is so
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: difficult and you already feel so guilty, and then there
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: are people that are exploiting that or are running with
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: their own theories, it's just really hard, but that's also
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: a part of being online. and people are going to
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: think what they want to think.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Ella went on to say that she believes at her
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: core that Mabel would never harm her son, Charlie. But
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: there were instances where he was very close to being
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: caught up in something. You would hope that people would
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: be empathetic enough about this situation, that they would mind
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: their own business. But sadly, Ella said that some of
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: her followers have been running with their own theories and
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: speculations about Mabel.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: Let's take a listen to what she said.
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: I think when you're going through something that is so
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: difficult and you already feel so guilty and then there
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: are people that are exploiting that or are running with
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: their own theories, it's just really hard. But that's also
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: a part of being online and people are going to
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: think what they want to think.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: What is actually wrong with people?
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Like I don't even get what this big conspiracy theory is.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Anyone who watches her channel knows how big a part
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: of her life these two dogs have been. And I
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: just think it's so awful. Like this isn't your dog. Like, yeah,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: you've watched it on YouTube. You've never met the dog before.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Like fuck off and let them grieve the fact that
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: they've had to give their dog away because they're clearly
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: hurting at the moment. I agree with you, Soph, but
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: I think there would have been some valid questions where
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: people were genuinely concerned about the dog and upset because
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: people build this parasocial relationship with influencers. They feel like
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: they know the dog, but there's a difference between being
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: concerned and being outright rude.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a difference between being a complete prick. I mean,
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: what other option.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Did she have if she didn't rehome Mabel? And the
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: dog became aggressive to her son. Everyone be up in
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: arms and be like, why didn't you do enough to
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: protect your son? I mean, you literally can't win sometimes.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I wonder if the reaction has anything to do with
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: the rhetoric we're seeing on Mum Talk at the moment
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: about once you have a baby, you hate your dog.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: And there's a lot of pet aggression there. Yeah, we've
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: spoken in length on the mum's group about how we
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: don't like that. I wonder if some of the theories
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: are that, you know, she's had that and that's why
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: she's gotten rid of the dog.
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: She doesn't have time for the dog anymore, which is
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: clearly untrue. That's so stupid. Wouldn't she get rid of
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: both dogs then?
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: I think that people just always want to assume that
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: influencers are hiding something and you're not getting the full story.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, Ella went on to say that Mabel has
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: been rehomed with a family member and is absolutely thriving
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: in a one-dog household. She said that she still gets
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: to see her and she's been absolutely spoiled rotten. So
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, it sounds like this
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: was the best situation for everyone and the safety of
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: their child. Over the weekend, Lily Brown and Jet Kenny
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: got married for the second time in three months. The
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: lavish destination wedding in Sicily followed their low-key celebrations in
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: June when they officially tied the knot. There was a
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: lot of talk at the time about how chic Lily's
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: wedding look was, To refresh everyone's memory, she wore this
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: ivory pencil skirt with a matching jacket along with a
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: birdcage veil headband. And because there was a bit of
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: a confusion about this wedding, people thought it was actually
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: her one and only wedding. Everyone was like, wow, this
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: is so refreshing that this is her wedding look. Like
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: it's something that we really haven't seen a lot of.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, someone did compare it to Jewel Leeper's wedding look,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: but for an Australian influencer, it was something that we
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: hadn't seen.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: And that's why I think a.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Lot of people were somewhat underwhelmed by the dress she
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: ended up getting married in for the second nuptials. I
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: don't like to shit on anyone's wedding dress because she
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: did look very elegant.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: But to me, it was a really odd choice. It
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: looked very old, if that makes sense.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: Like it was very mature.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: See, I didn't dislike it, but it didn't have the
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: wow factor of the first wedding outfit. And I think
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: because she made such a bold move there, I was
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: expecting something more surprising and more out there. I mean,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: I think it was a very beautiful gown. It was,
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: for those who haven't seen it, it was very traditional.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: It had a gorgeous flowing train and veil. She wore
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: her hair back in a slick bun. Truth be told,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: when I saw their wedding photos pop up, I actually
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: didn't realise it was them.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I actually had to do a double take as well.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: I think also because it was obviously taken in Italy,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: so the background almost looked AI, like it was taken
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: on this beautiful stone staircase outside a historic.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: Italian venue and And it was really picture perfect.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: But then I suppose with all this AI that we
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: have at the moment, it was kind of like, is
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: this a real wedding photo? At the first wedding, there
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: was a lot of chatter about where M Davies was.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: People were very surprised that she wasn't in attendance at
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: the first wedding. People thought maybe there'd been some sort
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: of feud between them. She was definitely front and center
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: at this wedding though. She documented her trip over to Italy.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: So she filmed everything she ate in business class, She
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: made it very clear she was super excited to be
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: traveling alone. Yeah, she actually documented her trip over to
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Italy and she made it very clear that she was
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: super excited to be traveling alone without her daughter. She
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: said it was like a massive treat for her to
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: sit on a plane by herself. And to make things
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: even more special, she was traveling business class and she
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: said she doesn't do that often. And she ended up
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: filming everything she ate in business class. I'm a sucker
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: for these types of videos. I will watch most of
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: them to the end. I just love how most of
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the people in these videos seem to have no inhibitions
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: of how they're eating. And I think it's because everyone's
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: glued to their TVs when they're traveling. Like you're really
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: in your own little bubble. I think it's more so
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: in business class. You're in your own pod. So you
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: can sort of like let it all hang out. Not
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: that I've ever been in business class, but there's a
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: bit more privacy than.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: In cattle class. Privacy. I'm joking.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: I'm referencing faulty towers there.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: It was really interesting because after Lily dropped the official
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: wedding photos, Em started sharing some behind the scenes clips
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: that she recorded in the lead up to the wedding.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: And one has gone viral.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: It has over 247,000 views. I came across it and
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: I didn't actually realize it was Lily at the time.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: So in the vision, Lily is walking up a steep
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: set of stairs in Italy. wearing a rashy sarong and
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: reef shoes. And Em captured the video just a bride
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: in her rashy and reef shoes, trying her best not
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: to get any tan lines before the big day. It
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: actually reminded me of the Lily Brown from back in
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: the day when she used to slap her fingernails on
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Michael Finch's camera.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: I like that Lily Brown.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Now, apart from the official wedding photos, we haven't really
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: seen much more from the big day as of yet.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: We did get a sneak peek at the couple's welcome party.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: So They took over an Italian pizzeria and renamed it
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Bistro Kenny, which is pretty cool. It was such a
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: stunning setting. But one thing that stood out like a
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: sore thumb to me was the tablescape. So it was
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: set up in this traditional Italian way, but it was
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: almost too kitsch. Like it had a red checkered tablecloth.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: And then there were tomato cans with pasta in them
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: and pots of basil and tomatoes on vine and big
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: chunks of garlic all over the table. It kind of
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: looked like an ironic themed Italian party rather than something
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: that you'd actually get in Italy.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: I feel like you've got to go there in Italy,
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: even if it is a bit stereotypical.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: It was almost like they wanted to reiterate to anyone
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: watching the video that they were in Italy. Now, the
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: vision appeared to have been filmed by influencer and luxury
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: wedding content creator Olivia Burrows. And it's interesting because she
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: only returned to TikTok this week after more than a
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: year hiatus offline. And she returned by uploading this clickbaity
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: style video saying, I left my husband and my baby
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: for my business and I don't regret it. And she
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: went into saying that she spent 10 days overseas away
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: from her six-month-old baby and to film wedding content. So
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: I'm presuming that was for Lily Brown's wedding. She must
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: have been paid a pretty penny.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: To do so.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: I was going to say destination wedding videographers make absolute bank,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: obviously in the summertime in Europe. Now, one person who
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: featured a lot in the video content was Louis Dolman.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: So he is one of Lily Brown's best friends. And
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: you'll probably remember him from back in the day. They
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: used to call him Louis the Fly. Well, he was
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: at the first wedding too. So as you said, they
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: must be really close. Well, I think that's all we've
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: got time for today. Thank you so much for listening
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: to another episode of Outspoken. If you enjoy the show
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: and want to hear more from us, we drop a
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: subscriber-only episode every Thursday for Outspoken Plus subscribers. In this
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: week's episode, we have gone into more detail about what
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: really happened behind the scenes at the Lucy and Nikki
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: live show drama. We were, of course, backstage, so we
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: share what went down there. This podcast was recorded on
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: the traditional land of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: We pay respect to elders past and present.