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Sophadophaa's 'Clueless' Kmart Clothing Haul · 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: Kate Torber and coming up on today's show, Indy Clinton
0:12
Speaker 1: hunts down trolls with the help of a PI, Sofa
0:15
Speaker 1: Dofa is slammed for being clueless after her Kmart haul,
0:18
Speaker 1: Tully Smythe and Michael Staple's surprise past, and Ella Ding
0:22
Speaker 1: defends her decision to monetize her pregnancy announcement. But first,
0:26
Speaker 1: Tammy Hembrough has taken a dig at her husband, Matt Sikowsky,
0:29
Speaker 1: while she's away in Egypt. Isn't this Egypt trip very random?
0:33
Speaker 1: She is currently there hosting fans on an AW Adventurer event.
0:38
Speaker 1: It is the second trip that she's done with the
0:39
Speaker 1: travel company. And listeners will remember that late last year,
0:43
Speaker 1: she hosted fans on a trip in Greece, which got
0:46
Speaker 1: a lot of flack for being very expensive. Now, Matt
0:49
Speaker 1: Sikowsky didn't attend the trip to Greece, and it's clear
0:51
Speaker 1: he's not in Egypt at the moment with Tammy. He's
0:54
Speaker 1: in Melbourne hanging out with his family and his sister's
0:56
Speaker 1: golden retriever. It's like he wants everyone to know he's
0:59
Speaker 1: in Melbourne. That's the vibe that I'm getting. Now, going
1:02
Speaker 1: back to this trip, it spans eight days and it
1:05
Speaker 1: is incredibly expensive for fans. So a private room will
1:09
Speaker 1: set you back over $ 7, 500 whilst a twin room costs
1:13
Speaker 1: around $ 6, 000. I mean, you may as well go for
1:17
Speaker 1: the private room. I don't really get the connection between
1:20
Speaker 1: Tammy and Egypt because it's being promoted that she's going
1:22
Speaker 1: to be helping guide the tour. I laughed when I
1:25
Speaker 1: read that because she is going to be appearing alongside
1:29
Speaker 1: an Egyptologist. I believe that's how you pronounce it. So
1:32
Speaker 1: basically someone who is an expert in Egyptian history. And
1:37
Speaker 1: it's funny because on the website, it says that they
1:39
Speaker 1: will ensure an unforgettable adventure filled with history, culture, and connection.
1:44
Speaker 1: I'm assuming that Tammy's role is bringing the connection amongst
1:47
Speaker 1: the group. not the history side of things. It seems
1:50
Speaker 1: like she's learnt a lot already on this trip. She's
1:53
Speaker 1: been gushing about a lot of the historical facts that
1:55
Speaker 1: she's learnt along the way because they've been doing a
1:57
Speaker 1: lot of activities. So they've included exploring the Pyramids of Giza,
2:01
Speaker 1: sailing the Nile at sunset. They've done a traditional dinner.
2:05
Speaker 1: They visited temples. They've also done a cooking class and
2:08
Speaker 1: enjoyed a sunrise over the Sphinx. So it seems like
2:11
Speaker 1: it's been a very cultural trip. Was the traditional dinner
2:14
Speaker 1: that thing where I saw there was this guy making...
2:16
Speaker 1: some sort of meal, any spoon-fed Tammy Hembrough. I must
2:19
Speaker 1: admit that. It was rather awkward. I was surprised it
2:22
Speaker 1: ended up on her story. Well, Tammy has been sharing
2:25
Speaker 1: about all of the women on the trip. So she
2:27
Speaker 1: put up a post where she tagged every single follower
2:31
Speaker 1: slash fan who was there. I wonder if that is
2:34
Speaker 1: part of what they're paying for, exposure. to her millions
2:36
Speaker 1: and millions of followers or just the fact that they
2:38
Speaker 1: get to hang out with her? Oh, it's definitely just
2:40
Speaker 1: hanging out with Tammy. I wonder if they're trying to
2:43
Speaker 1: get all the details on the potential marriage breakdown. I mean,
2:45
Speaker 1: she has been wearing her rings over there.
2:47
Speaker 2: Yeah.
2:48
Speaker 1: I was surprised to see she was wearing her rings
2:50
Speaker 1: also from a safety perspective. I wouldn't want to be
2:52
Speaker 1: traveling with that massive diamond on my finger. Now, while
2:55
Speaker 1: exploring the temples, Tammy appeared to make a subtle dig
2:59
Speaker 1: at her estranged husband, Matsukowski. So She shared a photo
3:02
Speaker 1: of a tomb and wrote, he built this temple dedicated
3:05
Speaker 1: to his wife because he loved her so much. Okay.
3:09
Speaker 1: I want to point out that I am nowhere close
3:11
Speaker 1: to being an Egyptologist, but I did do a bit
3:13
Speaker 1: of research into this tomb. And apparently the Pharaoh in
3:16
Speaker 1: question who helped build it described his wife as his
3:20
Speaker 1: favorite wife. I mean, that's a good thing. And referred
3:23
Speaker 1: to her as the one whom the sun shines for.
3:26
Speaker 1: So it was very romantic. So On one hand, we've
3:28
Speaker 1: got this guy 4,000 years ago building a temple out
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Speaker 1: of sand to show how much he loved and respected
3:34
Speaker 1: his wife. Fast forward to 2025 and we've got Matt
3:38
Speaker 1: Sikowsky and Tammy Hembrough unfollowing each other weeks before their nuptials,
3:43
Speaker 1: not living in the same state, and Matt who is
3:45
Speaker 1: sliding into girls' DMs after the Grand Prix. So romance
3:49
Speaker 1: seems to be dead this century. I do have to
3:51
Speaker 1: stick up for Matt. At least he doesn't have multiple
3:53
Speaker 1: wives like the pharaoh. I'm back online for good.
3:57
Speaker 2: And that's what I'm doing.
4:03
Speaker 1: TikToker Indie Clinton has put her trolls on warning. After
4:07
Speaker 1: experiencing relentless online harassment over her recent nose job, the
4:11
Speaker 1: mother of three has called in reinforcements, Kate. Now, we
4:14
Speaker 1: have spoken in length about how awful the trolling of
4:17
Speaker 1: Indie Clinton has been. So if you wrote an article
4:19
Speaker 1: about it for Mamma Mia, it got to a point
4:21
Speaker 1: where other content creators and media organisations had to step
4:24
Speaker 1: in and call the behaviour out. I just haven't been
4:27
Speaker 1: able to comprehend how nasty people have been. The commentary
4:31
Speaker 1: has been next level, particularly when Indy has been so
4:34
Speaker 1: vulnerable and honest about the procedure in the first place.
4:38
Speaker 1: She didn't have to share the news with her audience.
4:40
Speaker 1: In fact, she said that she was actually considering hiding
4:43
Speaker 1: it from her audience because she didn't want to look
4:45
Speaker 1: like she was promoting plastic surgery as something that was
4:48
Speaker 1: just normal and everyday to do. Yeah, and due to
4:50
Speaker 1: the trolling, she went on a social media hiatus, but
4:53
Speaker 1: she returned about a month ago. And she's been posting
4:56
Speaker 1: as normal. And she actually shared a Q & A
4:59
Speaker 1: this week and addressed a follower's question about the recent
5:02
Speaker 1: trolling incident. So in it, she revealed that she's been
5:05
Speaker 1: working with a PI for a few months to find
5:07
Speaker 1: out who are behind the accounts who continuously bully, defame
5:11
Speaker 1: and harass her and her family. Do we think that
5:13
Speaker 1: these are Tattle Life accounts? Well, she referenced that the
5:16
Speaker 1: behavior is happening on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and other forums.
5:19
Speaker 1: I noticed that no one ever wants to name Tattle Life.
5:21
Speaker 1: I can see why. Yeah. Well, she wrote, the anonymous
5:24
Speaker 1: accounts and the faceless people hiding behind them need to
5:27
Speaker 1: be held accountable. I'm here to make a change for
5:30
Speaker 1: my children, your children, your nieces and nephews. She went
5:33
Speaker 1: on to say, no change is made if no change
5:36
Speaker 1: is done. I'm here to make an impact and a difference.
5:39
Speaker 1: I'm absolutely shocked at who these people are. That's all
5:42
Speaker 1: I can say for now as it's an ongoing investigation.
5:46
Speaker 1: This is quite interesting because a couple of months ago,
5:49
Speaker 1: we were approached by a some influencers who I'm not
5:53
Speaker 1: going to name who they are. They were micro-influencers who
5:56
Speaker 1: have been harassed on Tattle and they too were doing
5:59
Speaker 1: their own investigation and deep dive into some of these
6:03
Speaker 1: faceless trolls on these sort of forums. So it seems
6:06
Speaker 1: like influencers are really hitting back. Well, I can see
6:08
Speaker 1: why they're going to these measures to try and protect
6:11
Speaker 1: themselves because there isn't actually a specific anti-trolling law. Back
6:16
Speaker 1: in 2021, there was hope that the government will pass
6:18
Speaker 1: this specific social media anti-trolling bill. which would protect social
6:23
Speaker 1: media users from online harm. And the whole preface was
6:26
Speaker 1: that social media companies were going to be held accountable
6:29
Speaker 1: for the defamatory content posted by users. And it was
6:32
Speaker 1: also going to make it easier for victims to identify
6:34
Speaker 1: anonymous trolls because social media companies were going to be
6:37
Speaker 1: forced to unmask them so that the victims of trolling
6:40
Speaker 1: could pursue legal action. Unfortunately though, that bill was not
6:43
Speaker 1: passed and it's no longer being considered because there was
6:46
Speaker 1: a lot of criticism around it. People said it was rushed,
6:49
Speaker 1: it wasn't comprehensive enough and it was too narrowly focused
6:52
Speaker 1: on defamation. So I can see why influencers are now saying, well,
6:57
Speaker 1: I've got to take it into my own hands and
6:58
Speaker 1: unmask the troll. Because once you actually know who the
7:01
Speaker 1: people are, there are legal avenues you can go down.
7:05
Speaker 1: So of course, you can sue for defamation. You can
7:07
Speaker 1: also report trolls to the police for things like cyber stalking,
7:10
Speaker 1: threats of violence, or repeated unwanted contact. I also think
7:14
Speaker 1: when it comes down to it, that if you are
7:18
Speaker 1: unmasked and you're named and shamed online or have the
7:21
Speaker 1: prospect of being named and shamed, you're probably going to
7:24
Speaker 1: back off from doing it. Well, it's not so much
7:26
Speaker 1: about unmasking them to name and shame them. It's unmasking
7:29
Speaker 1: them so that the person who is being harassed can
7:32
Speaker 1: actually take legal action against them. Yeah, but I also
7:34
Speaker 1: think that some influencers like Indie are speaking publicly about
7:38
Speaker 1: the lengths they're going to in order to scare people
7:41
Speaker 1: into stopping and thinking about what they're doing. Even how
7:44
Speaker 1: she said that you will be absolutely shocked to see
7:46
Speaker 1: that these are just everyday people. I mean, I recently
7:50
Speaker 1: jumped onto a Tattle thread and I saw one of
7:53
Speaker 1: the users outline that they worked as a doctor. Now,
7:57
Speaker 1: they weren't necessarily bullying or harassing anyone, but they were
8:01
Speaker 1: contributing to a thread about some local influencers and basically saying, well,
8:06
Speaker 1: calling into question their work ethic and saying it's hard
8:09
Speaker 1: when you have a proper job like a doctor. So,
8:10
Speaker 1: I mean, it was interesting, their perspective. But again, I
8:14
Speaker 1: think that people... aren't actually aware that a lot of
8:17
Speaker 1: people who are trolling others, they have very professional backgrounds.
8:20
Speaker 1: They work in high paying and high flying jobs. We
8:23
Speaker 1: do need to remember that not everyone that participates on
8:26
Speaker 1: Tattle Life is a troll. There is a difference between
8:29
Speaker 1: people that are constantly abusing and harassing influencers and then
8:33
Speaker 1: people that want to hold maybe some bad behavior that
8:36
Speaker 1: they did to account. But I think the issue with
8:38
Speaker 1: Tattle is it becomes an echo chamber and the people
8:41
Speaker 1: who may have just jumped on because, oh, I didn't
8:43
Speaker 1: like how that influencer did this or that. Then they
8:46
Speaker 1: become radicalized in a way. Well, remember there was a
8:49
Speaker 1: woman behind an account which was born basically off Tatterlife
8:53
Speaker 1: called Salty's Day, where it just focused on Sarah's Day's indiscretions.
8:57
Speaker 1: And it was later revealed that the woman who ran
9:00
Speaker 1: it was actually a teacher. And everyone was shocked to
9:03
Speaker 1: hear that that was her job. And also, I think
9:05
Speaker 1: her husband or boyfriend had no idea that she was
9:07
Speaker 1: running this account and someone actually doxed her to her partner.
9:10
Speaker 1: And that's why she shut it down. In terms of Indy,
9:13
Speaker 1: when I was looking into the legalities around what she
9:16
Speaker 1: can do, it's quite interesting the fact that she lives
9:18
Speaker 1: in New South Wales because there's also Dolly's Law, which
9:21
Speaker 1: was passed by the New South Wales government in 2018.
9:24
Speaker 1: So the law is named in memory of Dolly Everett, who...
9:27
Speaker 1: very tragically died by suicide after sustained cyberbullying. So this
9:31
Speaker 1: new law criminalises cyberbullying and has strengthened penalties for online abuse.
9:36
Speaker 1: Surely if you're one of these cretins who's been trolling
9:39
Speaker 1: Indy Clinton, you'd be sweating.
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Speaker 2: Okay, I have a bone to pick with all of
9:42
Speaker 2: you because who is going to tell me that Kmart
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Speaker 2: clothes eat?
9:46
Speaker 1: Kmart's PR team is rejoicing after Gen Z It Girl
9:50
Speaker 1: Sofa Dofa declared the store is officially in its slay
9:53
Speaker 1: era when it comes to fashion. Whilst it's a win
9:55
Speaker 1: for the discount department store, The fashion TikToker was slammed
9:59
Speaker 1: for being late to the party with many labeling her
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Speaker 1: clueless and out of touch. Sofa, it's quite clear that
10:05
Speaker 1: Sofa isn't on the same side of TikTok that the
10:07
Speaker 1: rest of us are. No, bless her though, because she
10:09
Speaker 1: seemed genuinely excited to break this news about Kmart to
10:13
Speaker 1: her followers. It was as though she thought that she'd
10:15
Speaker 1: uncovered some sort of hack or this well-kept secret. I mean,
10:19
Speaker 1: when it comes to fashion, generally she is the one
10:22
Speaker 1: who is dictating the trends and jumping on things first.
10:25
Speaker 1: But in this case, it was just so awkward how
10:28
Speaker 1: much of a latecomer she was to this one. I mean,
10:31
Speaker 1: she seemed to be in disbelief at some of the
10:33
Speaker 1: dupes on offer. And she even asked her followers why
10:36
Speaker 1: people have been gatekeeping Kmart's clothes. She also put together
10:40
Speaker 1: a haul to show her followers. Let's have a listen
10:42
Speaker 1: to some of what she said.
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Speaker 2: Okay, I have a bone to pick with all of
10:45
Speaker 2: you because who is going to tell me that Kmart clothes.
10:48
Speaker 1: Eight.
10:50
Speaker 2: Why are we all gatekeeping? Also, why do I look
10:52
Speaker 2: like this? I'm so sorry. I'm gonna do a haul
10:54
Speaker 2: because I was in Kmart yesterday getting homewares and I
10:58
Speaker 2: checked out. I was leaving and I was like, okay,
11:01
Speaker 2: because I never go through the Kmart clothes because random.
11:04
Speaker 2: And I was like, literally picking up everything. So I'm
11:08
Speaker 2: gonna do a haul because I'm like a little bit shooketh. Like, okay,
11:11
Speaker 2: Kmart capris. Um, okay, like cutest bag I've ever seen
11:18
Speaker 2: for like $ 8. Are you kidding me? How much was this? $ 20.
11:26
Speaker 2: This would cost like $ 100 anywhere else. Who was gonna
11:33
Speaker 2: tell me, who was gonna tell me why you will
11:36
Speaker 2: get kipping?
11:37
Speaker 1: Um, hello?
11:40
Speaker 2: Like, why is no one talking about this? How much
11:43
Speaker 2: was this?
11:43
Speaker 1: $ 12. $ 12. I didn't know what to call it. It
11:50
Speaker 1: was so awkward because the general consensus in the comment
11:54
Speaker 1: section was that nobody has been gatekeeping Kmart clothes. In fact,
11:58
Speaker 1: there are quite a number of Aussie TikTokers who have
12:01
Speaker 1: literally built followings from sharing their Kmart fashion finds. Yeah,
12:05
Speaker 1: one user wrote, literally, no one was gatekeeping. I thought
12:07
Speaker 1: this was common knowledge. To which Sofa replied, what? Another said, babe,
12:12
Speaker 1: everyone is talking about it. To which Sofa replied, I've
12:15
Speaker 1: been living under a rock. It's just so surprising for
12:18
Speaker 1: someone like Sofa Dofer, who practically lives on TikTok, for
12:21
Speaker 1: her not to come across any of these videos. I
12:24
Speaker 1: question how Kmart's blue shirt dish dupe has not made
12:28
Speaker 1: its way into her For You page. Maybe because fashion
12:31
Speaker 1: TikTok is her job. When she's taking a break and
12:34
Speaker 1: having a scroll on the app, maybe she's looking at
12:37
Speaker 1: completely different stuff. Yeah, it'd be interesting to know what
12:39
Speaker 1: her algorithm is actually made up of. Now, her seemingly
12:43
Speaker 1: innocent haul seemed to also elicit a very angry response
12:46
Speaker 1: from some followers. who felt her video proved just how
12:50
Speaker 1: out of touch she's become. One user wrote, Now that
12:53
Speaker 1: comment received over 5,000 likes. Whilst another said, Now Sofa
12:55
Speaker 1: actually responded to that comment writing, How? I just didn't
13:10
Speaker 1: realize that they had nice clothes with a crying face.
13:13
Speaker 1: In response to Sofa, another user hit back saying, because
13:16
Speaker 1: none of us can shop anywhere but here. So this
13:18
Speaker 1: is giving clueless to the current money situation in this country.
13:21
Speaker 1: There was also a lot of comments regarding Sofa being
13:24
Speaker 1: so flippant about the cost of things because she was like, oh,
13:27
Speaker 1: this was just, oh, hang on, let me check the price, $ 12.
13:29
Speaker 1: Can you believe it? A lot of people were saying,
13:31
Speaker 1: oh God, when I go clothes shopping, I'm having to
13:33
Speaker 1: memorize exactly how much things are so i can see
13:35
Speaker 1: if they can fit into my budget even when she
13:37
Speaker 1: was showing this particular bag she's like oh this bag
13:40
Speaker 1: was about eight dollars and then she's like oh no
13:41
Speaker 1: actually it was twenty dollars like obviously that's not expensive
13:44
Speaker 1: but she's like oh generally a bag like this would
13:46
Speaker 1: cost a hundred dollars and i thought yeah and the
13:48
Speaker 1: fact that she said she was so busy that she
13:50
Speaker 1: just grabbed all of these clothing and it all came
13:52
Speaker 1: to 150 which is like nothing it's like well yes
13:55
Speaker 1: in the scheme of getting i don't know six or
13:58
Speaker 1: seven items yes that's pretty good when you compare it
14:01
Speaker 1: to other shops But then being able to drop that
14:03
Speaker 1: money so easily, like so many of us would have
14:05
Speaker 1: had to budget for that haul. Yeah. Whilst this hasn't
14:08
Speaker 1: been a particularly good PR move for SofaDofa, it's been
14:12
Speaker 1: great for Kmart. And there's been a lot of cynics
14:14
Speaker 1: who have questioned, is this an orchestrated PR campaign by Kmart?
14:19
Speaker 1: I mean, all I can say is it doesn't appear
14:21
Speaker 1: to be. I think that this was a genuine post.
14:23
Speaker 1: She didn't use any paid partnership tools. Kmart hasn't commented
14:27
Speaker 1: on the post. It seems to have been an organic discovery.
14:30
Speaker 1: I think she was just trying to create content that
14:32
Speaker 1: resonated with people. Well, she's known for creating so many
14:35
Speaker 1: hauls of just random things. I mean, it just shocks
14:38
Speaker 1: me that she has her own clothing line called All
14:40
Speaker 1: For Mimi, and she hasn't really done any research into
14:42
Speaker 1: the market, into competitors. I understand that her clothing is
14:47
Speaker 1: sold at a higher price point. But you think you
14:50
Speaker 1: would look at it and say, okay, so these are,
14:52
Speaker 1: this is where Kmart sits. This is where you sit
14:55
Speaker 1: on the scale. And this is like a higher end brand. Well,
14:57
Speaker 1: particularly when dupe fashion is so popular. I mean, that's
15:00
Speaker 1: what Kmart and Target seem to be doing best of
15:03
Speaker 1: at the moment. I do think it was a clever
15:05
Speaker 1: way though, to try and initiate a deal with Kmart
15:08
Speaker 1: in the future. I wonder if this will lead to
15:10
Speaker 1: a partnership deal. I think if I was Kmart, I'd
15:13
Speaker 1: jump on the opportunity, particularly to get some more Gen
15:15
Speaker 1: Zers into the store. Many people also did point out
15:18
Speaker 1: in Sofa's comment section that Target is also popping off. Yeah,
15:21
Speaker 1: I was thinking the same thing. I mean, I don't
15:23
Speaker 1: really love Kmart's clothes. I know you got around that
15:27
Speaker 1: dupe dish shirt. Oh, I was so quick to get that.
15:29
Speaker 1: But I'm not someone, I don't have an eye for fashion.
15:31
Speaker 1: I need someone to say, this item at Kmart is
15:34
Speaker 1: really good. But that's what everyone is doing online. You
15:36
Speaker 1: know what I mean? People are taking the guesswork out
15:38
Speaker 1: for you, which is why people are like, How has
15:40
Speaker 1: SofaDofa not been aware of this? Yeah, but I managed
15:42
Speaker 1: to go on Target's website and actually open things and
15:44
Speaker 1: be like, oh, I actually genuinely like that. Yeah. Oh,
15:47
Speaker 1: Target's great at the moment. The thing is, it's not
15:49
Speaker 1: just Kmart's PR team who's had a big win over
15:51
Speaker 1: this post. The store design team would be celebrating after
15:55
Speaker 1: hearing that Sofa only made the chance discovery about Kmart's
15:59
Speaker 1: clothes as she was checking out. So those of us
16:02
Speaker 1: trendsetters who have been in on Kmart secret for quite
16:05
Speaker 1: a while now, know that the store has been specifically
16:08
Speaker 1: designed to have the cash registers slap bang in the
16:12
Speaker 1: middle of the store. I actually hated it when they
16:14
Speaker 1: changed the store up like that. But it's so clever
16:16
Speaker 1: because it means you have to go into the heart
16:18
Speaker 1: of the store. You're more likely to walk past something
16:21
Speaker 1: that you like and it increases your chances of impulse
16:24
Speaker 1: buying something. I've never really, you know, like with the
16:27
Speaker 1: impulse buying with kids. But now that I have a kid,
16:29
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is fucking cruel. Like Jack is at
16:32
Speaker 1: the stage now where he loves pointing at things. I
16:35
Speaker 1: haven't had an instance where I've had to buy him
16:37
Speaker 1: anything from the shop yet, but I feel like it's
16:39
Speaker 1: just coming. Well, I'm not even thinking about kids. I'm
16:41
Speaker 1: thinking about myself as a magpie. Anything shiny I see,
16:43
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'll take that. I'll take that. The thing
16:46
Speaker 1: with Sofa is she may have never bothered to venture
16:48
Speaker 1: into what she presumed was daggy Kmart clothes if it
16:52
Speaker 1: wasn't for how the shop was laid out. So hats
16:55
Speaker 1: off to them. It's paid off for them. But it's
16:56
Speaker 1: not like it's a new store layout. Like it's been
16:58
Speaker 1: like that for a couple of years now. Yeah, I know,
17:00
Speaker 1: but it's paying off for them. Is she just not
17:02
Speaker 1: shopping at Kmart a lot? Yeah. I would like to
17:04
Speaker 1: know how many of the pieces that Sofa showed in
17:06
Speaker 1: the haul are now sold out because I feel like
17:09
Speaker 1: Kmart would be experiencing the full Sofa Dover effect. I mean,
17:12
Speaker 1: I'm such a sheep. I was like pausing, hanging like,
17:14
Speaker 1: which one was it? Which one does she say is cool?
17:16
Speaker 1: Because I've got no idea. See, I looked at those
17:18
Speaker 1: clothes and thought, not for me. They're definitely Gen Z clothes. Well,
17:21
Speaker 1: I thought they were ugly, but I'm like, I really
17:23
Speaker 1: don't know anything about fashion these days. I discovered that
17:25
Speaker 1: burgundy and maroon are apparently the colors of winter. I
17:28
Speaker 1: actually have none of those in my wardrobe. I knew that.
17:31
Speaker 1: And that chocolate brown. I met Michael, my husband, when
17:36
Speaker 1: he was working at Channel 9. This week, we shared
17:40
Speaker 1: an influencer family tree of sorts. Amy ended up creating
17:43
Speaker 1: this in between her feed. So she wanted to demonstrate
17:47
Speaker 1: the six degrees of separation between some of Australia's top influencers.
17:51
Speaker 1: And what seemed to shock a lot of people, including myself,
17:55
Speaker 1: was the revelation that former Big Brother contestant Tully Smythe
17:59
Speaker 1: used to date Love Islander Anna McAvoy's husband, Michael Staples.
18:04
Speaker 1: When I saw that, I was like, hang on, it
18:07
Speaker 1: kind of does make sense. I thought he looked familiar,
18:10
Speaker 1: but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. Before
18:12
Speaker 1: Amy posted it, I had to confirm with her. I'm like,
18:14
Speaker 1: are you sure that you're not confusing him with her
18:17
Speaker 1: ex-boyfriend Daniel? Because they sort of look the same. They
18:19
Speaker 1: do look very similar. Well, it's clear that Michael also
18:23
Speaker 1: has a type for blonde reality stars. So Tully and
18:26
Speaker 1: Michael actually started dating back in 2020 during the Melbourne lockdown.
18:31
Speaker 1: And Tully Soft launched the relationship several times during the pandemic,
18:35
Speaker 1: gushing that she couldn't survive lockdown without him. I think
18:39
Speaker 1: I would like to be reincarnated as one of Tully
18:41
Speaker 1: Smythe's boyfriends because the way she gasses them up when
18:44
Speaker 1: she's dating them is next level. Oh, it's very sweet. Yeah,
18:48
Speaker 1: it's so sweet. Like the guy that she's dating at
18:50
Speaker 1: the moment, Ned, he's a dentist from Melbourne. Oh my God.
18:54
Speaker 1: She literally just worships the ground he walks on. I mean,
18:57
Speaker 1: he seems like a lovely guy too. To be fair,
18:59
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, this guy's lovely. What a sweetheart. She really,
19:02
Speaker 1: like if she, well, I think she has got a
19:03
Speaker 1: marketing degree, but she'd be great for public relations. She's
19:06
Speaker 1: almost doing herself a disservice though, because I'm sure that
19:09
Speaker 1: there's a lot of single girls who are like, oh,
19:10
Speaker 1: maybe I should slide into his DMs. Like he seems lovely. Well, anyway,
19:14
Speaker 1: since her breakup with Michael, all of the photos of
19:18
Speaker 1: them were swiftly deleted, which I personally was gutted about
19:21
Speaker 1: because I had this real sick thing where I'm like,
19:23
Speaker 1: I just want to see a photo of them together.
19:24
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine them together because I look at
19:26
Speaker 1: Michael Staples and I'm like, that's Anna McAvoy's husband. Like
19:29
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine him with someone else. It's not
19:31
Speaker 1: like he's a public figure himself. Yeah. I was wondering
19:35
Speaker 1: how has he met these reality TV stars? And it
19:38
Speaker 1: turns out that he used to work for Channel 9
19:41
Speaker 1: in Melbourne as a group business manager. So he started
19:44
Speaker 1: working there in 2020. He stopped in 2023. So with
19:48
Speaker 1: Big Brother moving to Channel 9 in 2012, you'd assume
19:51
Speaker 1: that Tully, who was one of the biggest faces of
19:53
Speaker 1: the program, would have been invited to a lot of
19:56
Speaker 1: Channel 9 events. And that's where she presumably met Michael. Well,
19:59
Speaker 1: she also appeared on Big Brother again recently. But that
20:02
Speaker 1: was in 2022 once they'd broken up. Oh, okay.
20:05
Speaker 2: I see.
20:05
Speaker 1: But We know that Anna met Michael at a Channel
20:09
Speaker 1: 9 function. So Love Island Australia is a Channel 9 program.
20:13
Speaker 1: And she explained recently on her podcast that she and
20:16
Speaker 1: Matt Zukowski were appearing together at a promotional event for
20:19
Speaker 1: Channel 9. And she actually spotted Michael across the room.
20:23
Speaker 1: And she had this instant connection with him and said,
20:25
Speaker 1: I've got to go up to him. I've got to
20:27
Speaker 1: approach him. And it's lucky she did because Michael assumed
20:30
Speaker 1: that she and Matt were one of the couples off
20:33
Speaker 1: Love Island and that they were together. So He thought, obviously,
20:36
Speaker 1: that she was very attractive, but though I've got no
20:38
Speaker 1: chance here. They actually do look good together, Anna and Matt.
20:41
Speaker 1: I remember when they first launched their podcast, they drew
20:44
Speaker 1: people in by pretending that they were getting together. Yeah,
20:47
Speaker 1: I know there was a lot of confusion about that
20:49
Speaker 1: at the time. They really played into it. Now, I
20:51
Speaker 1: want to finish on a bit of a fun fact here.
20:52
Speaker 1: Before Michael met Tully, he was actually working over in
20:57
Speaker 1: the UK as a group head for ESPN. And when
21:00
Speaker 1: we reflect on Tully's most recent ex, Daniel, who again,
21:04
Speaker 1: looks very similar to Michael. It's quite interesting because he
21:07
Speaker 1: actually ended up moving to the US to work for
21:10
Speaker 1: ESPN and that's why their relationship eventually ended. So did
21:14
Speaker 1: he take his job? Well, no, because Michael was working
21:16
Speaker 1: in the UK. Oh, US, UK. Okay. Well, God, they're
21:19
Speaker 1: very similar. Are you nervous? We're having a baby. How
21:23
Speaker 1: does that feel for you? Ella Ding has defended her
21:28
Speaker 1: decision to monetize her pregnancy announcements. Last week, the former
21:32
Speaker 1: Mavs contestant revealed she was expecting her first baby via
21:35
Speaker 1: a sponsored post with Clear Blue Kate. Now, the backlash
21:39
Speaker 1: was swift with even her former bestie Dom criticizing Ella
21:42
Speaker 1: for monetizing her pregnancy announcement. Ella responded to the criticism
21:47
Speaker 1: in an interview saying it was a no brainer. She
21:49
Speaker 1: went on to say, when the opportunity came to me,
21:52
Speaker 1: I was like, well, Clear Blue literally told me I'm pregnant. Like,
21:55
Speaker 1: I don't really know how much more you can align
21:57
Speaker 1: with a brand. Side note, how expensive a pregnancy test? Like,
22:01
Speaker 1: oh my God, I just. When I had to get one,
22:03
Speaker 1: I just went to Woolies and said, what is the
22:05
Speaker 1: fucking cheapest one? Oh, really? I was the opposite. I
22:08
Speaker 1: got the most expensive one that was the digital test
22:11
Speaker 1: that said pregnant or not because I knew I would
22:14
Speaker 1: not be able to read. Like I'd be very funny about,
22:16
Speaker 1: is that a line? Is it not a line? Well,
22:18
Speaker 1: I got the cheaper ones that have the lines initially
22:20
Speaker 1: because I just was so curious. I'm like, I want
22:23
Speaker 1: to know. whether I'm pregnant or not. And then I
22:26
Speaker 1: thought I'm going to buy the expensive one when I
22:28
Speaker 1: reveal it to Brandon. Oh, well then didn't you actually
22:30
Speaker 1: screw yourself over? Like if you just bought the expensive one? Well, true,
22:33
Speaker 1: but I just wanted to know straight away. And I thought, well,
22:35
Speaker 1: I don't want to buy several of the ones that
22:38
Speaker 1: say pregnant. In terms of Ella, it's interesting that she
22:40
Speaker 1: said the opportunity came to her. It's like, Was her
22:44
Speaker 1: manager shopping it around? Oh, definitely. I mean, clear blue
22:48
Speaker 1: just didn't go, oh my God, I've got a feeling
22:50
Speaker 1: that Ella Ding may be pregnant and potentially she used
22:53
Speaker 1: our pregnancy test. Generally, when an influencer falls pregnant, their
22:56
Speaker 1: manager will put out a message to a number of
22:59
Speaker 1: pregnancy brands saying, hey, there's an opportunity here. Because when
23:03
Speaker 1: it comes to pregnancy, there's only such a small window
23:06
Speaker 1: of when those influencers can actually promote those products. And
23:09
Speaker 1: who can promote them? I remember Chloe Zepp and Mitch
23:12
Speaker 1: Orville got called out for being opportunistic for doing that
23:15
Speaker 1: with their first son. But it makes sense. I mean,
23:18
Speaker 1: influencers usually monetize these big life events. So as Ella said,
23:23
Speaker 1: having a baby is fucking expensive and the cost of
23:26
Speaker 1: living is fucked. So she's like, who wouldn't do it? Yeah,
23:28
Speaker 1: I thought that criticism of Mitch Orville and Chloe was
23:31
Speaker 1: pretty unfair, particularly because It's not as though it's a
23:34
Speaker 1: one-way exchange. Like the brand is actually getting huge value
23:38
Speaker 1: in working with them. Yeah, the brand definitely does get stuff.
23:41
Speaker 1: I think people are just uncomfortable with people monetizing pregnancies
23:45
Speaker 1: and babies. It's a really fine line getting it right
23:49
Speaker 1: and not exploiting a child. Ella seemed to be quite
23:52
Speaker 1: surprised that there was a negative response to this sponsorship.
23:55
Speaker 1: And she said that if anyone else got offered the deal,
23:58
Speaker 1: they would take it. It's clear that Ella has been
24:00
Speaker 1: working with her manager on this pregnancy announcement because she's
24:03
Speaker 1: just off the back of launched a solo podcast called
24:06
Speaker 1: The Ella Era. And her first episode was a pregnancy
24:09
Speaker 1: Q & A. So she, of course, used to do
24:12
Speaker 1: a podcast with Dom off Maths as well. Dom has
24:15
Speaker 1: come out and it seems like she's also trying to
24:17
Speaker 1: get coverage from Ella's pregnancy announcement because she said she's
24:20
Speaker 1: working on something that will divulge the tea about her
24:23
Speaker 1: friendship breakdown with Ella. Wow. Okay. So they aren't doing
24:26
Speaker 1: their joint pregnancy podcast then? No, just two separate ones
24:28
Speaker 1: where they have a go at each other. Let's get
24:31
Speaker 1: into our Friday debrief. Now, Soph, we're recording at your
24:34
Speaker 1: house and I'm surrounded by boxes at the moment. What
24:36
Speaker 1: is going on? Yeah, we've had to pause recording a
24:39
Speaker 1: couple of times for online deliveries that have been arriving.
24:42
Speaker 1: I'm in full nesting mode, which means that I've been
24:45
Speaker 1: spending most of my nights online shopping for baby stuff
24:49
Speaker 1: and also cleaning. I've been sending you guys so many
24:52
Speaker 1: Snapchats of my little projects I've been doing after work.
24:55
Speaker 1: So I, on Friday night, I did a tan and
24:58
Speaker 1: I want to put that out there only because Some
25:01
Speaker 1: naysayers said that I would stop tanning during my pregnancy
25:04
Speaker 1: because I couldn't be bothered. You pulled up your top
25:06
Speaker 1: before and I was like, God, you're very glowing and
25:08
Speaker 1: bronzed under there. Yeah. Your belly. Brandon dropped me because
25:12
Speaker 1: I had an ultrasound yesterday. He's like, I have to say,
25:15
Speaker 1: when you put up your shirt, I was quite shocked
25:17
Speaker 1: at how brown your bump looked. You do know that
25:20
Speaker 1: you're going to have to scrub that off for the cesarean. Yes,
25:22
Speaker 1: I do know that. But anyway, that is not part
25:24
Speaker 1: of this story. But I did do a tan on
25:26
Speaker 1: Friday night. And as I was drying, because Bondi Sands,
25:29
Speaker 1: you have to dry, like you have to Give that
25:31
Speaker 1: shit time to soak in anyway. I'm standing there in
25:34
Speaker 1: the nude in my bedroom, letting it dry. Thank you
25:36
Speaker 1: for that visual image. Quite a sight. And I was like, oh,
25:39
Speaker 1: maybe I'll just start rearranging some of my wardrobe. Like
25:42
Speaker 1: maybe I'll just fold some extra clothes. Anyway, I ended
25:44
Speaker 1: up redoing the whole wardrobe, getting rid of all of
25:47
Speaker 1: these clothes. It's so organized at the moment. It made
25:50
Speaker 1: me feel so much better. The next night, I then
25:53
Speaker 1: decided to tackle the bathroom. So I cleaned out all
25:57
Speaker 1: of the drawers. I've got everything organized. It was actually
25:59
Speaker 1: disgusting how many bin bags of old products had to
26:03
Speaker 1: be removed. Your nesting must be rubbing off on me
26:06
Speaker 1: because I did the same thing. I'm like, why am
26:08
Speaker 1: I holding on to all of these products that I
26:10
Speaker 1: don't use? Yeah, I think it also has to do
26:12
Speaker 1: with winter because you spend a lot more time at
26:14
Speaker 1: home and you just want everything to be organized and nice.
26:17
Speaker 1: Like a hotel. Like Hotel Hancock. Well, at Hotel Hancock,
26:22
Speaker 1: I think it's our last little reno before the baby
26:24
Speaker 1: gets here because we are finally having our carpets put in.
26:27
Speaker 1: So we have to haul all of our bedroom furniture out.
26:31
Speaker 1: Please don't lift anything. No, I'm not going to be
26:33
Speaker 1: lifting anything. So are you going to be sleeping somewhere else? No,
26:36
Speaker 1: because they do it that day. It only takes a
26:38
Speaker 1: couple of hours. Now, I had an epiphany this week.
26:41
Speaker 1: I did not realise how much I relied on technology
26:45
Speaker 1: while being a mum. I woke up on Tuesday morning
26:48
Speaker 1: to a panicked message from you saying that your street's
26:51
Speaker 1: power was out and you didn't know what to do
26:53
Speaker 1: because you couldn't get jack spot already well we were
26:55
Speaker 1: the only street in our area affected because a power
26:58
Speaker 1: line came down it was crazy though because it was
27:01
Speaker 1: only half the street so the other half of the
27:03
Speaker 1: street who have newer houses their electricity cables are underground
27:08
Speaker 1: because that area actually used to be a farm and
27:10
Speaker 1: that's now turned residential oh it's funny because we live
27:13
Speaker 1: 10 minutes down the road from you in a different
27:15
Speaker 1: suburb and The night before when the storm was sort
27:18
Speaker 1: of hitting, our television went off for probably 30 seconds
27:21
Speaker 1: and we looked at each other and we're like, no,
27:25
Speaker 1: and it immediately flicked back on. And being the dinks
27:27
Speaker 1: that we are for the next couple of weeks, we're like, phew,
27:30
Speaker 1: thank God. Like that was the biggest one of our concerns.
27:32
Speaker 1: This is the first blackout I've experienced as a parent
27:35
Speaker 1: and God, it hit differently in a very bad way
27:39
Speaker 1: because I rely on having access to electricity to look
27:42
Speaker 1: at Jack's baby monitor, his sound machine. the kettle for
27:47
Speaker 1: his bottles to be prepared. I had a stash of
27:50
Speaker 1: food frozen that's now been ruined for him. So Yesterday, I,
27:54
Speaker 1: you know, as most mums do, I ran down to
27:56
Speaker 1: my parents' house and asked them to help me. Well,
27:58
Speaker 1: I felt hopeless because again, I live down the road,
28:00
Speaker 1: but we don't have our nursery set up yet. When
28:03
Speaker 1: we do, it'll be much better because we'd actually have
28:05
Speaker 1: somewhere that Jack could sleep. Yeah. Well, we were so
28:07
Speaker 1: lucky because it went on, I think it was after
28:10
Speaker 1: 18 hours. I had to do the big clean out
28:12
Speaker 1: of the fridge. That was a task. I just feel
28:14
Speaker 1: so bad for everyone affected by the flooding in New
28:16
Speaker 1: South Wales. I mean, my day was impacted for 18
28:19
Speaker 1: hours by the power not being on. I mean, I
28:22
Speaker 1: can't imagine dealing with treacherous conditions when you're looking after children.
28:26
Speaker 1: So my heart goes out to all of those people.
28:28
Speaker 1: That is all we have time for today. Thank you
28:30
Speaker 1: again for tuning in to Outspoken. If you do love
28:32
Speaker 1: the show, we would really appreciate it if you could
28:34
Speaker 1: leave us a review and make sure you are subscribed
28:37
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Before we go, I have
28:40
Speaker 1: to give a plug for our subs episode, which dropped yesterday.
28:42
Speaker 1: On it, we discuss rumors that Sarah's Day and White
28:46
Speaker 1: Fox Boutique have parted ways after there has been quite
28:50
Speaker 1: a strange chuckout sale going on on their website. It's
28:54
Speaker 1: all of her old stock, bizarrely from 2020 on there. Yeah.
28:58
Speaker 1: We also spoke about how Sammy Guggenheimer is definitely a
29:00
Speaker 1: boost juice girl. Yeah. People who get it will get it. Yeah.
29:04
Speaker 1: And we also chatted about what's been going on with
29:07
Speaker 1: Jojo Siwa and Chris Hughes. I was trying to explain
29:10
Speaker 1: that whole scenario to my husband when we were going
29:13
Speaker 1: to bed last night and he could not care less.
29:15
Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, my God, and she sang Betty Davis'
29:18
Speaker 1: Eyes and she changed the lyrics to Chris Hughes and
29:20
Speaker 1: I could just tell he had no idea who Chris
29:22
Speaker 1: Hughes was and didn't care. Now, this podcast was recorded
29:26
Speaker 1: on the traditional land of the Kaurna people of the
29:28
Speaker 1: Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to elders past and present.