This episode was recorded on cameragle Land.
Hi guys, and.
Welcome back to another episode of lifeOne Pad. I'm Brittany and.
I'm Laura, and I don't often do this, but I'm coming straight.
Hot out of the gate, heavy sweating, huge, humid, huge news, pulsating.
I am pulsating. I was pulsating. Nothing got me hotter than what I'm about to say.
Covered in pisada, rolling around in some garlic. No garlic gives me a yes.
I would never do that, Darlick blokes me. It makes me fat.
Parmesan cheese. This is not farting news.
Officially, we don't live in Romania anymore. I'm sorry, Dracula.
You were great while it lasted. I don't think you ever really liked it that much.
I think you were trying to feign excitement, you know, when you know you don't like something but you're just trying to keep positive.
It wasn't my top destination.
No, I didn't dislike it, but it was never somewhere I was like, fuck, yes, like I get to go in Romania for a couple of weeks. But I made the most of it, for sure, and like I did what I could do there and I tried to be a tourist and.
But it was it was just whatever. But we no longer live in Romania.
As of yesterday, we officially live in Italy.
It's like the choga la pasta.
For someone who talks about how you used to live in Italy for an entire year. Your Italian isn't great, but you can work on it, and I think one day you're going to be fate.
Order. I just ordered ice creams and a bottle of wine with one glass.
That's what she needed to learn Italian. I'm glad that you got the important things down pat though.
Yeah, that's what I learned when I got there. How to ask for the toilet the time, that's the time, what's the time please? And then how to order wine. So in serious news, yeah, Ben just yesterday moved to is. Actually I'm so proud of him. It is the biggest best move of his career. It's one of the top five leagues in the world. Like, this is the most amazing move for him. So he lives in Genoi. That's
how you pronounce it. But if you don't know what well it actually is, Genoa's you know, like Genoa.
But I didn't know.
It's pronounced genoa with a deeper voice gemois genoi.
Hot. Oh, there's hot, it's hot genoi. So it's really exciting.
So he signed there, it was just announced.
He signed that yesterday.
He had like twenty four hours notice to move, and he literally called me and he's like, what do you think about Italy?
And I said, my panties are off? Lanies are off? Signed me up, signed that toddline right there. I will do it if I have to.
Hey, so I came over to BRIT's house yesterday and this is when you told me the news as well. And it does feel like it all happened very very quickly, and that's because it did. Are we allowed to talk about the speed of which Ben left his house, didn't pack anything, left a completely full apartment in Romania, and flew to Italy and now lives in Italy.
It's a wild thing to get.
Your head around that that is how someone could be transferred.
It's actually crazy, and that's not just him.
That's normal.
That's standard, like football transfers. When something comes through and a team says that they want you, it's usually negotiated in like twenty four hours and then they want you the next day.
That's it. So he still has a whole.
Apartment in Romania with all his stuff. He literally packed one bag and one carry on of his life and flew the next morning. But I was like, it doesn't matter how quick it is, we'll sort out your apartment in Romania.
You're like, I don't care as long as I now live in Italy, so long as my next holiday is not Romania and it's next to Positano.
I googled it. First thing I go with Genera.
I was like, would you like to go to on a day trip to Positano?
And I was like, yes, I will.
This is also the reason why so when Britain Ben first started dating and then we like flirted with the idea of you doing records from overseas. We got all the equipment for Life on Cup for you to be able to record overseas. And this is the reason why it's still in Scotland because I don't know where it is now. Like Ben had to move so quickly to Romania and you got to Romania, You're like, where's my stuff?
And he's like, oh, it's in Scotland. And now he's in Italy.
And he's just leaving off trail of stuff all over the world no matter where he goes, he actually is.
So if I go to visit him and it's in record time, I will take stuff now because I've got a caught in Romania, and I've got a microphone in Scotland, and I've got who knows where anything.
Is, which just means you're prepared no matter where you end up, one hundred percent.
But that means we can all go and do.
A trip in Italy.
Maybe I am so keen. Do we have any listeners in Italy the DM so then we can tax it after a Yeah, we just need one person's proof.
I think if we got over there, we pick up a business card. I think that that's enough, right, Maybe not? Since I've now talked about it on the.
Podybeah, I've just opened up the back end of the podcast. Last month, one hundred and seventy listens came from Italy.
That counts one hundred and seventy people. That's old. Sorry, Yes, ye're true.
That could be one person listening to one hundred and seventy episodes.
So we need baby that one Italian listener.
We've got one it's probably an Australian just traveling through as well.
They're not even there now.
Well, we are very happy for Ben, and in particular, we are very very excited for our tax deduction work trip that we are absolutely having in Positano as a mandatory. Well, I mean, lots of things have been happening in my household. Actually that's a lie. Nothing's been really happening in my household. I'm I just feel like I'm living vicariously through my husband because I have been put in charge of managing his socials and making sure that people vote for him
and I'm a celebrity. To get me out of here. Matt's now been gone for two weeks, and tonight, because we're recording this on Tuesday, he is doing one of those fucked up eating challenges.
Praying for him. It's the worst thing I've ever done in my life.
This is why I think it's a bit rigged, because that was the one thing that he said he did not want to do, like that he would absolutely die if he had to do it.
I said the same thing, though I don't think it's rigged. It's just there's just there's so many of them and there's not that many people in the jungle. It's just the way the cookie or the nipper crumbles.
It's just how the anus falls apart, just how they cooked in your mouth. That's in your mouth. But yeah, look, just wanted to sneak it in there and say go vote for him. We'll put it in the show notes. I'll be shocked if he doesn't vomit. It is.
I cannot explain how rank I was beside myself upset at it.
I was upset.
I was genuinely upset that I had even before I went there, like the anticipation, because you know it's made to be so you vomit. I was really beside myself and the stink bugs. Well, then they cut out my projectile vomiting. It was too much for TV. They didn't air half of it because I was like, I coughed. At one point I went I gagged.
I went like this, look like.
That, and a bit flung out and hit Roberts Shoe and they couldn't air it. They couldn't air it hit robert Shoe and I was like, I'm so sorry.
I feel sick even thinking about it, and the thought that I have to watch that tonight at the same time as eating dinner, because.
It's like, well, that's a choice.
You don't have to eat your dinner at the same time.
What's like seven o'clock, it's like dinner time, Tucker, Tuesday's dinner time.
Wait half an hour.
Laws, you don't have to be getting into your ravioli while he's eaten his nipples.
Obviously, I'm a celebrity is taking over my household, and I have been watching it very religiously. However, there is another show which has just taken over everybody else's lives. And normally I am the one on this podcast who is an absolute devout watcher and consumer of Married at First Sight, But this year the tables have been old, turned around and switch a rude.
The turn has tabled, and now I watched Maths. I never thought I would say that did you hate it?
Or did you love it? I think both simultaneously.
Both can be true. I couldn't stop watching it like a train wreck. But nothing has made me so enraged like I was so angry. And that's why I remember that I didn't like to watch in the past because I don't need the anger in my life. There's one person in the show that I have not disliked so fast in my life. And it was one of the bride's sisters. So one of the brides, Lauren, were introduced to her. She seems lovely at the start. I shouldn't say at the start, but I don't align with what
she aligns with. She really wants to be like nineteen twenties bride. She wants to be at home and cook and clean and he goes to work, and she wants very stereotypical old school gender roles. Couldn't care less if that's what you want, Like, if that's what you want and you find a partner that that's what you want, that's amazing. But that's not what I aligned with obviously.
But it was her sister.
So it's Lauren's sister, Tamara, who was I guess, almost the star of the first episode in a way. She really stole the show, and she was just the most horrible person that I thought, this can't be real, Like, surely you can't be like that on national television at your sister's wedding.
I did flick over.
So as soon as Celebrity had finished, I flicked over to maths and I caught the end tail of this, and I don't believe for one second that that wasn't heavily produced. Like I don't actually think that there is anyone in this world who has that little self awareness that would behave the way that she behaved at the wedding. I saw that there was like drama around her getting the wrong meal and the way she spoke to the weight stuff, and then like she was heckling her own
sister in the first dance. This is my only grite with Maths because I love Maths. I think it is too overproduced now because I think they know that they need these really extreme characters for people to have the outrage that you've obviously felt, brit But I think if you've watched enough seasons of it, you start to see the patterns and you start to see that actually those people are playing a specific character, and I think she's absolutely been egged up to be that person.
There's no way that if their relationship, the sister's relationship was really like that and she really was that horrible twenty four seven, There's no way you sho'd be at the wedding. There is zero way you would have you would ever speak to her again, and you do see at the end tomorrow the sister walks out. She's had enough because she didn't get her prescatarian meal, she said, and she said, I'm the bride's sister. You were not
treating me like I'm important enough kind of thing. And at the end she goes, I'm not giving you any more. And you hear her say that as she walks off, And I feel like that is a nod to the production aspect where they're like, just give us something else, give us something else. But something I did want to talk about that happened on There was a new couple, Carina and Paul. Now this apparently has never happened in Math's history. But they get to the wedding. They are
at the end of the aisle. They're like frothying each other to the audience. They're like, you're very handsome, you're very beautiful.
Blah blah blah.
It looks amazing and you're like, wow, these people look really suited to each other. And he's really like she is.
Standing, Oh my god, I'm stoked.
Like then she walks off camera and she says to a producer basically, find me someone else, get me a new husband. I know him, and the producer looks really shocked.
They're like, what you know him?
Like, oh my god, I'm like, as if you don't know that from a production aspect. But apparently, long story short, they had dated before. Briefly, they'd matched online, They're dated in Perth. They'd gone on a hike, had a really amazing date. They kept texting each other, and then he ghosted her. So he just literally never messaged her again. The first contact that they have had from that original date was on national television getting married.
So stupid, but also like they have to both be in on it for them to have known that they've been ghosted, do you know? I mean, like, how do they Otherwise this is like the most serendipitous, incredible production that's ever existed, or it's very very manufactured, and they've found two people who have been on a date and
then ghosted each other. The thing is, though, is that that would be a particularly hard thing to find because how would you know unless someone's spoken publicly about going on a date with this person and being ghosted, how would you know that those two people have ever been together previously. So I just think that this has to be orchestrated as well for it to have actually been in a discovery.
I don't know.
I don't know because one thing that I did notice about this season, and I don't know if it's just the first ones that have gotten married, is that they seem to be matching them more with location, which I think is a really wise thing, because if you get someone who's from Perth and someone who's from Sydney, one person, if it works out, is going to have to move to the other side of the country. Like Perth is
not that big of a city. I've got a lot of friends from there, and I think that the dating pool from what I've heard, it's pretty like you've kind of been through everybody.
Like you think it was totally serendipitous that they have been matched together.
I don't know.
I think it could have been, but I was kind of picturing what I would do in that situation if I was walking down the island. This whole production had happened because I was on Maths and I recognized him, Like, it's surprising to me how long it took for them.
To be like, guys, what the fuck?
Like to the producers, I'm surprised they didn't say anything in the actual ceremony.
I wonder if the ghosting was a bonus. So this is what I think has happened, because I, you know, Laura and I have obviously done a lot of reality TV and we've done a dating reality TV show. You know, the due diligence that they do on each person. What I think has probably happened is they've found the contestants that they think could be an option, and then they
go through their social medias. I just wonder if maybe they were following each other on social media and the production team of at least seeing that there's some form of connection without knowing what, and then maybe when the ghosting came out, they've been like bingo, Like we couldn't have asked for that.
Yeah, because remember last year, wasn't there a couple that they were like intruders or something like that, and they went to the same gym or they knew each other's name. Remember they one of them got down the aisle and he was like, oh, hey, I can't remember whose name it was. But they had that moment where they realized that they actually knew each other from They hadn't dated though, they just knew each other. I think it was through
like a gym connection or something. But the funniest thing about that situation with Paul and with Carina is that up until the point where she was like I know this guy and we've been dating before, I realized that I still have so much work to do. I think I've learnt so much from like producing this podcast and hearing so many of the experts talk about dating and relationships.
But up until that point, I was like, he's the catch.
He's the one where they've just got this amazing guy to like have on the whole season that everyone falls in love with. He's the guy, you know. He's talking French to her. He's handsome, he's tall, he's like hard working, like he's got all of it right.
She was like, he's absolutely my kind of guy. This is in the car this morning, and I.
Was like, oh uh. I was like, oh, so he must be a fuck boy there.
Well, funnily enough, yeah, it turns out he's actually been on that show, The Love Boat.
He seems like the guy who just tells you exactly what you want to hear.
And I laughed to myself because I was like, I still to this day would have full looked at that like she's.
Like, I am not as progressive as as I thought I was.
But here's the question, what do you reckon you would do?
Or have you ever gone back?
Because like someone you've been dating completely like fucking cut you off, like hardcore ghosting. Then they've come back, so they've zombie you, and then you're like, yeah, cool, I'll tap that again.
To be honest, I can't like nothing comes to mind as like an immediate example.
However, I just know that yes.
I absolutely would have, like I think about like you guys know, there's no secrets here. My dating in my twenties was an absolute fucking shit show. The amount of things that I tolerated or was just like yeah, second time hurt me again, that sounds good.
People can change. Yeah, people can change. He'll change for me.
I'm the exception, Like I would have done that easily. I also was. I was also the ghost who resurrected myself many times because I was And now I think about it, and I'm like, I only did that because I was bored and lazy and not lazy, sorry, bored and lonely. I was lonely and I wanted company, and I went through my phone. I was like, fuck, guess, I guess we got to go back to that guy.
Don't you guys remember I think I told you on the podcast. But I had been on this dating app and I'd matched with this guy and we were talking and then I ghosted him. He kept wanting to meet up and I was just like, fucking I could not interested call me bonded, ghosted him.
Three years later. People changed.
Three years, I went on the app and the conversation was still there and I was like, got nothing else gone on? I was like, ready for that drink? He was like yeah, okay, that was it three years. I ghosted him for three years and he said yes without skipping a beat. We went to the date and it was the most boring night in my life. And I was like, that's why I.
Go to you?
Did you fucking still absolutely? Yeah?
I didn't.
I didn't. We didn't even kiss.
I was like within ten minutes, I was like, this is why you go with your guys?
Were you like I can't wait to ghost you again?
I was like I got to go in three I got to go to the toilet and.
Never came back.
I think though your message ready for that drink? Well played, because I think most people would have been how have you been, and it's like, there's too much that's happened in three years, I can't catch you up.
I'm pretty sure what I wrote to him was the answer to what he asked me three years ago. I just continue, Yeah, it was a continued conversation three years later. I just pretended that three years didn't go far. I literally just was like house seven pm.
To be fair, though, good on him for not being angry because the amount of people and maybe I don't know if this is still a case on Tinder and online dating, but you'll be talking for a little while and you'll go cold because you're just kind of not into the chat, and like if you're not committed to the person, you've not been on a date or anything. I think it's okay to go cold on someone when it comes to chatting to them.
It's just kind of part and pass of online dating.
Of men who take it as a personal insult and then get angry at you because you haven't replied to their messages. To me, I think that that is like such a determining factor of someone's red flags, right, Like if their response to you not replying is I thought you were looking for someone, but clearly you don't have time. No am I the only one who received those type of messages.
Because I'm so desperate.
I was on the receiving end, Like there are seven I'm outside in the bushes, come out.
Kisha never never didn't reply.
Kisha triple texted for these couple though they'd actually been on a date. Also, I don't know if they'd hooked up. It kind of gave a little bit of a I was like, there's a bit more to this. I feel as though you guys hooked up and then he ghosted you, and that's why you're a bit like No, like I was a bit shit.
Also, Yeah, I mean if you've been ghosted in the past by someone, and I mean like true ghosting, like really poor form. Three years, you've slept with a guy and then they've just absolutely fucking blocked you.
What would that feel like? I have no idea, but I.
Think in this by the way that was suck as it might absolutely know what that feels.
I don't know.
It calls into question the kind of ethics around the show, which it does every year, but it's like, sometimes there are people who are undeserving of another chance or undeserving of you trying to work out whether or not you
would be a good match. And it's like, I kind of feel sorry that this woman is now in a position where, in order to be in the experiment, she has to give a guy who's already treated her really badly, already compromised her boundaries, a chance at being and showing himself to be a good guy.
It's a shit situation for her.
Yeah, and I did find this the next part that happened or that evening, I found it really interesting. So they were at the wedding ceremony and he said to her, are you happy if I go and speak to your family and tell them about what happened and our history and stuff like that, And she was like yeah, great. And then so he goes up to her parents and says,
I just want to be really honest and forward. And he explained it, and he basically said, like, I didn't treat her right, I go to whatever, I didn't message her, but then put it down to like I wasn't in the right headspace.
No, but wait it worked. Then they do an.
Interview with the parents that are like the dad said, it's just so admirable. I think he's really admirable that he told the truth, and he's obviously very respectable. And then she was like, not many people would be able to go and speak to my parents like that, and I was like, wow, he just must have manipulated the entire situation.
He's also just someone who's absolutely very good at and is literate in TV, like reality TV literate, so he knows that this is a situation he can't get out of.
He knows he's going to be painted badly for being the Ghoster, and the only way to repaint that picture and to be seen as someone who is actually a stand up guy is to face it that way, which just means that he has either like a understanding of reality TV or he has enough self awareness of how he comes across, probably from lessons he's learned from his last experience of reality TV as to how he's going to navigate this, or he.
Might have changed.
Oh my god. I also know I don't want to judge the too quick, because at the end of the day I do.
I haven't watched it, and I am at the.
End of the day, there is something that's like cool. You don't have a choice but to own the situation. So I'm glad you did own it. I just think it's fascinating to watch, like from a fly on the wall, that you can use that honesty as like a bit of a manipulation technique, and whether that wasn't intentional or not, it very much worked. Like we just said, we've all ghosted people. Everyone does it if you go on one
date or whatever and you're not interested. So I don't want to hold that against him, but I just feel like, like what Keisha said, I think there was more there. I think he was probably was a bit more of a turd burger than he's letting on. So maybe they did hook up or there was more of a connection and then he just completely blanked us.
So that's yeah.
I want to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, because it's very early days.
You don't need to it's maths sound exactly like I did when I was a dated.
I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they've changed, maybe they've evolved.
The guys who were manipulators, though they have evolved guys. We've spoken about this with some guys who use therapy talk as a weapon.
Keep your wits about you, keep your eyes open.
I don't know if I'll watch it anymore.
It's see I feel jipped because, like I really want to be watching it, and now I kind of feel as though I have to support my husband.
It's a real damn shame. Oh what are you going to do?
Well?
Support my husband? I think I have to.
That's the highlight.
Everyone vote ten times, Matty Jay. Something that the three of us have been talking about for the last couple of weeks and it has been in the media again this week. So we were going to talk about on last week's podcasts, but unfortunately BRIT's infestation of Huntsman's brain Supreme shock. However, there's been updates and we thought if we're still talking about it two weeks later, it might be something that you guys are interested in as well. You may know the Today's show host. His name is
Alex Cullen. He was recently stood down from the show for breaching the laws around cash for comment. However, him being suspended from his job and taken off the show has been quite controversial. You might be familiar with the billionaire his name's Adrian Portelli. He's the billionaire block guy who rocks up at all the block auctions and buys
much all the houses. Well, they call him Lambo Guy because from like the first season he rocked up in his like Fluoro bright Lamborghini, and that's been his nickname since.
And he's decided he doesn't like that nickname anymore.
Yeah, so he wants to rename himself basically, and the Lambeau guy kind of monica that's followed him around.
I mean, there's worse things you could be called, Yeah.
But McLaren Man's not that much better.
What is a McLaren isn't a type of car?
Luxury car's a bit like.
Lambo's are hot and sporty. McLaren's are like the same but kind of considered.
A little bit more classy. This whole thing is so stupid.
So basically, Lambou Guy no longer wanted to be called Lambeau Guy. So Adrian Pottelli got onto his social media and he said, I will give fifty thousand dollars to any journalist or presenter who talks about me and uses a different name first. And that different name that he wanted to go by was McLaren man. Now, this was all done as a bit of jest. However, the reason why this has become so controversial because Alex Cullen was
the reporter who took him up on the bed. There was a cross during the Australian Open that involves Sarah Abdo and Carl Stefanovick have listened to this a little.
Bit of celebrity spotting today. Don't believe Vanessa's been here. Danny Minogue as well. Adrian Portelli aka the McLaren guy, likely to make an appearance here today as well.
But look for different luxury car.
Yeah yeah, yeah, pretty sure it's McLaren.
Oh no, it's definitely McLaren That's why we can split the fifty grand.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The reason this is escalated to the point that it has is because Adrian Ptelly McLaren man, Jack and you'll give it to me.
Actually, lambo guy, McLaren Man, McLaren man, whatever you want, we could split that actually.
So the reason yeah, it escalated is because I'm desperate.
Yes, Adrian paid up.
Adrian was like, this was not a joke.
I'm going to give you fifty k. Well done.
Transferred in fifty K took screenshot of it, posted it, Alex shared it. It was all a bit of a pr funny jest. There was nothing that was secret about it. No one was trying to hide it like they really lent in. I saw it happening and thought funny. So colloquially in our industry it's called cash for comment. You're basically not allowed to be paid for any brand or personal advertising without making it very clear that it is a sponsored advertised post. That is what is in all media.
But it looks different in different capacities for TV or for radio or for podcasting.
Like everyone has their set of rules. Yes, McClaren man, it looks different for podcasting.
Just to be clear, McLaren man. Yeah, the rules do not stand to you for.
These standards are also set by AKMA, which is the governing body who puts rules and regulations in place to ensure that you know, free to air TV and radio and everybody else are abiding by an ethical code of standards and not misleading the public to buy into products or to buy into businesses that they otherwise wouldn't because of refer from a friend type situations.
And you do actually see it a lot. Now, I don't think maybe the everyday consumer would see it, but when you're in media, I think you've got an eye for it, and sometimes I think you see things that are questionable lord that you would wonder, but they just slip under the radar. This couldn't slip under the radar because they lent him to make it a joke and a pr stunt. Nine reprimanded Alex and stood him down. Initially it was temporarily, and.
I even thought that was like, oh, that was a big call.
I understand that you need to punish him in some capacity, and he made to look like you were doing something, but I at the start was like, come on, guys, it was very obviously a joke. Alex made a statement saying I was always going to give it to charity. Channel nine made Alex give the money back to Adrian Pottelly, and Adrian Pottelly then split the money and donated it
to two of Alex's chosen charity. So to be clear, now, Alex did not take a dollar and said he was always going to donate it to charity, which a big part of me believes because he's in media, he's been there with the network for five years.
You do know the law.
He was so open and public about it. It's hard for me to believe that he would have been that silly. I think the intention was always to gain some form of publicity for the show, for himself for the segment. That's why Karl Stefanovic doubled down and also made his jovial comments as well. Now he's been completely let go from the network. He will not work there again because of this cross and I personally feel like that has gone far too far.
It's an interesting one because I think a lot of people feel as though there needs to be some sort of he needs to be reprimanded in some way, because I think it's tricky when you start to bend the rules and say, well, this type of kash for comment situations okay, but then this type of kash for comment is in the gray. The issue is is that it's something that does happen pretty often across media, and obviously there are watchdogs and people are called out for it
all the time. But it seems like this is the most severe reprimanding that we've seen, especially since he didn't keep the fifty thousand dollars, didn't profit from this in any way, and now he's lost his job. Alex came out and said that this has been a very difficult time and I just want to say thank you to all the wonderful people who reached out. It means the world to me and to my young family. I missed my colleagues at the Today Show and wish them the best.
Thank you again, and I look forward to whatever comes. So this is a presenter who's worked in that role for the last five years and worked alongside his co hosts. I can only imagine that this has been a massive blow to the show and to the teams in general. But I guess I sit on two camps because on one side, I think maybe the repercussions for this were too severe and don't seem to be in line with how Channel nine has handled cash for comment situations in
the past, which we'll get into in a moment. But also on the flip side of that, I'm like, it was so brazenly obvious that this went against the code of conduct, and people as in the public, some people did have such an adverse reaction to it that I think that Channel nine's hands were sort of tied and they had to take action, but maybe it was too severe.
I would be shocked.
There is no one that would have been upset by the fact that a billionaire gave a charity fifty thousand dollars if that was the.
Way it was going to go.
And all we have is Alex's statement of saying, of course, that's what I was going to do. And this is why I find it hard to not believe him, because it was so obviously a joke and a stunt. He knows the rules, he shared the screenshots. There's no way he would have thought he was allowed to keep that. No one in media would have thought that that was going to be okay.
Well, I have a question for you.
Do you think we feel differently about it when it's kind of pose as an on air gag and one person seems to be benefiting from that on air gag, or is it more of an issue when it's a business that's profiting and it's done in a more sinister or manipulative way where someone's getting money back from a business in order to speak about them positively.
My problem is when people are really subtly trying to promote a business and then take the money. But for this no one was genuinely being promoted a list of people's names. No one would have bad an Nyilid, no one would have thought twice about it. The money would
have ended up going to charity. Which is why I have an issue with the fact that he's been stood down, because we know that there have been people that have done far worse and taken money and benefit profited from supporting businesses on the sly that haven't had the same repercussions. So I think for me, that's where my issue comes from.
I think it's important to establish why these laws were brought in the first place, because they are rules that have been put in place to protect the public. So back in nineteen ninety nine, this was also the heyday of radio where talkback radio had such a stranglehold across Australia. There was an inquiry that was done from Alan Jones and also John Laws who were receiving cash from businesses and some of these businesses were quantas optors, Foxtel banking associations,
rams home loans. There were so many businesses that were paying them in order for them to not speak negatively about their company on air, and this might not seem as significant now because I don't think talkback radio has the same hold on Australian public as it did then. But at the time these people were so incredibly influential that they had the power to really sway people's opinions around brands and around companies.
Well, it was almost looked at as hush money as opposed to cash for comment, because it was like, we're going to pay you to not slag us and not sling mud at us. But they were found to have committed ninety breaches of industry codes of conduct, were estimated about eighteen million dollars, Like this was a huge amount of money.
I think the interesting thing about it as well, and obviously we have a bit of more insight into the radio world, but at the time those two men were seen as such like brute forces in broadcasting. Really people trusted them. People had this like deep connection to the fact that they were the holders of information and the way that they got that information about what was going on around them was from these two men in radio.
So there was also kind of this like betrayal aspect to it, where they found out the public found out you have been profiting off of deliberately misleading me.
And that's why the Kasher comment rules came in.
And for anyone who hasn't worked in media before, we have to do codes of conduct. When you work at a radio station, you have to do them every single year. You have to do compliance training, and I think it's the same for TV. From what I've heard from friends, like it's a really big deal.
They want to make sure.
That you're not doing things that are misleading to the public and you're financially benefiting from them because it reflects that trust, you know, it reflects the fact that the public can't trust what you're saying anymore.
The only thing is, though, that I think is questionable, is that that to me, that is such an obvious example of Kasha comment. When you're receiving cash from a business to then promote that business in a positive light, very very clear cut. I don't think anyone would argue that that's misleading. We had those laws in place for influencers. Influencers can't work with brands without disclosing that they are
getting paid by the brand to speak positively. In this instance of Alex Cullen talking about Lambeou Guy and calling him McLaren man, I just don't see who benefits from this.
I don't see.
I actually think it's such a great area because yes he received cash, and yes it was a comment, but that comment wasn't about a business. It doesn't sway public's perception. It really was this like very jovial pr able, almost like silliness to it. I get that a journalist shouldn't necessarily be paid fifty thousand dollars to say someone's name, but it doesn't have the same ramifications or impact on
anybody as what these sort of examples do. And another example which I think is really important, and the reason why I want to bring this up is because it's comparative. So this happened under Channel nine. Last year there was an inquiry on Ben Fordham, who works on twogb which is part of Channel nine. For anyone who doesn't know how that structured, the inquiry found that he had broken the laws around cash for comment and that he had spoken about Uber, of which he is an affiliate for.
So what happened on the show was that Ben Fordham, who has paid an incredible sum for his radio show. It's estimated that he's paid around one point five million a year, he was speaking about Uber saying that he has a secondary job. He'd taken his very first Uber passenger, and he spoke about how convenient Uber is and what a great secondary employment it is and the flexibility of it.
Why was he on a secondary employment on one point five?
Well, that's that's exactly the question that was raised, right, And the question is maybe he never was doing Uber as a secondary job, not because he needed to by any means, but actually because he was being paid to speak positively about the company. But none of this was disclosed.
So the reason why I think we wanted to unpack this and kind of be like, well, why is this not apples for apples is that the reprimanding for that situation of Ben Fordham was simply that he was expected to do more training and the team around him, the production team, had to do more compliance training. So they would have had like a half day of compliance training. And it never really made media. It never really became
a big song and dance. But in this instance with Alex Cullen, it has becomes such a huge thing, and I think it's to do with the media spotlight that was put on it. This couldn't just be swept under the carpet because of the publicity that it gained. And I think it's kind of unfair when you have two different media personalities who have done similar things. One arguably is far worse and he has received absolutely no punishment for it, and the other person has lost his job.
I don't think it's fair at all, and I try to put myself in that position when I'm talking about these subjects, So I think it's important to be like, what would I actually have done.
It's like I would have gone for the fifty thousand dollar cash. I would have I name this episode McLaren man.
We will this episode is called McLaren man and owned to McLaren man.
I do wonder if it's a bit of a bendy area that Alex would have said, do you know what, I think I'll be fine, Like, surely there will be no repercussions of this. If we can get fifty thousand dollars from a billionaire that doesn't need it and give it to a charity that needs it.
Tell me a.
Person that wouldn't say yes, it was so open and obvious. I don't think that he would have thought that this would have happened.
Yeah, I think only the thing that has been raised though, is that maybe the charity aspect came as a response to the punishment. So I mean, for anyone who's not familiar with the timeline, Alex himself hadn't come out prior to the investigation is saying that it publicly that it was going to go to charity. So people are kind of calling a little bit bullshit and being like, Oh, you're only saying that now because you're in trouble for it.
I also don't know how he would have got the bank transfer to begin with without giving his bank details to exact clarencemen, so you know what I mean, Like, you can't just transfer fifty thousand dollars.
I don't know if you can pay ID that.
And I think that that's the issue, is like, if you did have every intention to give it to a charity, why wouldn't you have just said, Hey, I don't need that fifty thousand dollars. Can you donate it to this charity and send me the transfer so that I can see that you've transferred it to a charity. Why does it need to go into your bank account to then
go into a charity bank account? So yeah, I understand that it probably raised some alarm bells for a few people, and I don't want to necessarily like question his intent with it, because there could be a very good chance that he did in tend to donate it to a charity. But at the end of the day, he doesn't have the money, and there's been twenty five thousand dollars donated to Salvation Army, and there's been twenty five thousand dollars
donated to RSPCA. My big thing from this is that I think it is disappointing that a journalist has completely lost his job when other people have received a slap on the wrist for it. And I think that that is kind of the part where where I go, these rules need to be in place, but it's how we enforce them, and shouldn't there be a standardized way that we approach these situations.
The only other thing that makes sense to me is that when he's sat down to do the training online, you know when you just click done, but you don't read it. He just didn't read the codes OFCONDA like you know, you're like, y, I've done it. I've done it fast forward. Because no one else would make such a blatantly obvious decision if you had read the rules.
I don't know.
He would have had to have been aware of them because he's been a journalist for so long. The thing that I find really interesting is that I think regardless of whether he would have donated it to charity to begin with or not, I think the same rules still apply. And I very much I can't believe I'm actually completely defending Channel Mine here. I really do think it is important that these rules are in place and are enforced.
And even though this situation seems as though.
It's very victimless, I think that if you, like you said before, Laura, if you start to bend the rules for certain situations, well then you've got to bend them for all of them. And the reason that I think they had to crack down on this was because it was.
So obvious they bent them for everyone else.
Yes, and that's my issue, I understand, and I absolutely agree with you. I do think that those rules need to be in place, and I think, if anything, they need to be enforced in a way that's far more consistent. And I just don't think that it's fair when Akma says, okay, well, on one side, we're going to do an inquiry, and on the other side, someone's going to lose their job, and the determining factor for that.
Is purely publicity.
Public scrutiny shouldn't be the determining factor as to how bad someone's punishment is, because if that was the case, it's like, well, on one hand, ben Fordham just got away with it because no one really cared about the whole uber situation. Yeah, that's kind of why I sit in the in the gray with this one. I don't think the Channel nine are the perpetrator in this situation. I know that they had to do something, but I don't think that you can have a varied response in these situations.
Do you think the other networks do you think all of the radio presenters, do you think all of the radio networks are going to be more transparent or do you think they're going to be more careful about making it more subtle so that people don't pick up on the fact that this is happening.
I think Look, I mean, we've come a long way in terms of people having decent media literacy and being able to sniff at ads as opposed to say, like ten years ago. I think the general public didn't have a good grasp, say ten years ago, especially, and I'm talking about in general, talk about social media as well, when someone was being paid to influence a product or
to influence a business. But I would say that this happens, and I know you mentioned earlier, it happens so frequently, especially on like morning shows, on some radio shows, where people will subtly talk about a product or subtly talk about a business that they love, but also they are in some ways getting a kickback from them, whether obvious or not. And I just think that maybe partly, yes, I do think that networks will be a little bit more subtle about it for a period, But I also
think these things are flash in the pants. I think that as soon as the media cycle of this has died down, they will go back to doing the same things. And I just think that they've made a scapegoat out of Alex Cullen.
I do think it's funny.
Adrian Potelli did come out and say, like, you know, if Alex Losees's job, I'll hire him. I'll give you a job. I've got jobs going anyway. The jobs came out, they're like videographer jobs, it's like social media, like recording jobs. I was like, what do I think that's Alex cullins Ally you.
Never know a hypod up scale.
All right, it is time for accidentally unfiltered it your most embarrassing stories and if you had them on for us.
Please send it on through.
Two years ago, I went on a Kentiki trip to the UK solo and I had the time of my life.
Yes, Queen.
Since I was traveling solo, I had organized with my travel agent that I wanted transfers from my hotel to the airport. Anyway, I had a male friend from Kantiki who I teed up to have a shower at his hotel before my international flight. That evening, we went to dinner and I had the best Rahman of my life.
This information is not imperative to the story, but you.
Know I love that.
Though we love a rama, it adds color.
I went back to his house with him, had a shower, and shoved all my dirty clothes from the day of sight seeing into my backpack. Anyways, I then ran back to my hotel that I checked out of and hopped into my private transfer to get to the airport. I decided to rearrange my backpack whilst I was in the car and pulled out all my dirty clothes and refolded them and put them into the bag. The driver offered to turn the light on for me, as it was
completely dark, but I was like, no, no, no, it's okay. Anyway, we arrived, I got my luggage, my backpack, and I headed into the airport and as soon as I'd walked through the security, I got a WhatsApp message from my driver. It was just a picture of my worn g string from the day, dirty side up, sitting in the backseat of his car. It gets worse. He called and then said that he was out the front and when I went back out he had it hanging from his finger out the window.
Mortified. If you don't laugh, your cry, why why is he touching it? Just throw it in the bin? Hey, hang on.
I have a similar story last year when I was in the Maldives on holiday with Ben. We were on a little island because everything in the Maldives isn't an island, and it was time to go. So to leave the hotel, you pack up and you get a speedboat or some kind of a boat back to the main island. To fly out, and so we got on the boat did the trip, and it wasn't a speedy boat. It was a mediocre medium speedboat.
Just Ben and I.
We medium sped back from our island to the mainland. And when I got off the boat, there was a member of the hotel staff waiting for us to greet us, and I was like, how did you get here? And in his hand he had a gift bag and in the gift like the gift bag was beautiful blue, had the hotel's name on it, and I said, oh my god, Ben, they've brought us a gift to say like thanks for coming and staying at the resort, and so it gives
for the gift and I was like, thank you so much. Anyway, I was so excited and I opened the bag and there is nothing in the bag except a dirty, old rank g string. So I had obviously left one pair of undies.
They've seen it.
As soon as we've checked out, they have packaged my dirty undies up speed boted it to the island to get there before me and handed me back my dirty undies.
I was mortified. That is amazing service. That's impeccable service. Speaking of dirty undies.
Do you remember when I went to the beach and I picked up underwear that I thought was mine that I dropped and I got home only to find that I'd picked up someone else's dirty undies from the beach and brought them home.
Why are we also right? I don't know. We've got some issues. Anyway, let's do suck and sweet. My suck for the week, I'm gonna keep it snappy.
My suck for the week is that this last couple of days, the three days, I think, is the first three days that I've really felt the pinch of parenting solo, and also not just parenting solo, but like not having someone to share the weekend with it makes everything a little bit harder.
So I feel that, yes, yeah, I don't share any of my life with anyone I.
Know, but doing it like with kids in tow, Yeah, it just kind of felt a bit relentless. And there were quite a few battles this weekend, yeah, which I don't normally have to do solo. Usually when you're having a battle with the kids, Matt will step in and he will take over for a bit and then, like you know, you can tap out because you're overstimulated, you're tired, You're also feeling frustrated, and there is no one to tap out too, So that has been a little bit challenging.
We're two weeks in to him being away and the girls are also not coping with it very well.
They miss him so even Lola so much.
They miss him so much, which is probably what he needed.
They really do.
And my sweet for the week was that yesterday morning I took the girls. I mean, we went to another water park. Would you believe it or not, But we went to this place called wild Play. It's Incentennial. If you're a mom and you've got kids, like fucking highly recommend, not getting paid to recommend that, just f why notash for comments, no cash for comments on the water No
Centennial Park is not giving me kickbacks. But we just had a really really good morning together and like amongst the chaos of me saying that I felt like parenting was relentless, that was one particular part of our long weekend that I was like, my kids are cool, and they're at an age now where I'm like, you guys are cool, Like I like you as people, not just as kids, you know, not just because you're my kids. I like you because you've got a backbone, Lola.
Okay, well my sack.
This week was the last couple of days. I've had really bad vertigo, which makes me sound like I'm one hundred years old.
You might remember I had it last year. I spoke about it.
I had it one night last year. But I've had it for two days now. So it's like I get it in my sleep. So when I roll over in bed, it's so weird. It's so weird. When I roll over in bed, I'm so dizzy that it wakes me up, like you're nauseous. You can't like you stand up and you get dizzy. And so I had it both nights for two nights, and then this morning I thought were refine.
And then I got to work and I was getting a coffee and I was with another quirk Collie and just like fell down on the lounge like out of nowhere. Everything is fine, and then I get this hectic moment of vertigo and I need to sit down, and then it passes again.
Did you do a pregnancy test.
I've done three pregnancy tests now today. Yes, yes, I'm not pregnant. Okay, I don't know how to double down on this. There's been a period and three pregnancy tests. I am not pregnant because I have had so many people message me saying you're pregnant.
Well, it's only because yesterday when we talked, you had said you hadn't done one since Dubai, and then like tracking back on your cycle, you still hadn't gotten your period, and I was like, maybe just do one, just do it to be sure.
No, I forgot that I had had my period on Oh yeah, I thought that's a different conversation.
Then from yesterday things have changed. How today I have.
One hundred percent not pregnant. It's just a really random that sucks. So I hope it passes because it's like, yeah, it's pretty hectic, and my sweet this week I'm going against the rules. We're not allowed to say the same thing twice.
I don't care.
My sweet has been moving to Italy and getting like not just that it's Italy, but getting the job of a lifetime. I'm just so proud of him. I'm the proud of fiance. I could cry out thinking about it.
He sent me like photos of humanis manage it taking the like usually family mem I'm really sad usually like partners and family are there and it's a really big nice moment that you sign and you're there together and they always get photos and I'll just never get to do that with Ben, and so he just sent me photos of him alone and just with his agent and like I should have been there, And it was really upsetting because I was like, I should be there with you,
not just like saying well done from the other side of the world.
So that was really that was also another suck. But I'm really proud of him.
So that's my sweet and.
My sweetest is that we all get to go to Italy. Now roll around in some garlic.
That is it from us, guys. We hope you love the episode. If you did go and leave a review, call it like the.
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