Hello, and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm Sophie Torba and coming up on today's show, Anna Poule finally responds to those explosive claims. Sarah's Day is unveiled as a secret investor in a new powdered drink company and our Friday Debrief. But first TikToker Sammy Guggenheimer has hit backer claim she gate keeps products from her followers. The Melbourne lifestyle influencer made no fans when she defended herself,
exclaiming you should try being an influencer for a day. Well. It all started when a TikToker called flour Sky uploaded a video asking if anyone else had noticed that certain Australian influencers don't respond to comments.
Here's what she said.
Has anyone else noticed that there are some influences on this art that would rather die than respond to their followers in the comments.
Black.
I see it so often, especially with.
Some specific influencer. I'm not gonna take.
Names, but their followers and fans or whatever their community will be like, oh my god, where's your top from where are your shoes from? Their comment section is so dead, like I've never seen anything so quiet in my life, dead.
Silent, And I'm like, Firstly, how have you been a community?
Secondly, isn't that like your.
Job to sell stuff and influence people and like tell them where's from so then they go buy it. I don't know, maybe I've misread the whole influencer.
Things, but.
I really agree with Flur.
There's been so many occasions where I'm desperate to know where an influencers outfits from, and there'll be so many comments in the comment section begging them to drop us some crumbs and some clues as to where it's from. So isn't that their whole job, like actually to engage with their audience as well.
Sarah's Day does it a lot well.
It often seems like if the influencer has purchased the item themselves, then they're actually not willing to give the details. It's always awkward when an influencer does a try on hold with a particular brand. It's a fast fashioned brand, but everyone wants to know where the original outfit was that isn't sponsored, and you can tell that they just don't want to say anything because they don't want to
detract from the brand. Yeah. I think it's so silly though, because if they actually provide genuine recommendations to people, when they do try and spook something that's paid, it actually seems more genuine. The worst gatekeeping is when people do it around weddings. There were so many times I'd be on web talk and I just desperately want to know where a pair of pajamas was, and no one would reply. Well, it's clear that flirst sentiments really resonated with a lot of people.
Because the video went viral.
She only has nine hundred and fifty eight followers, but the video wrapped up over six hundred and fifty three thousand views and more than seven hundred comments, and one influencer's name kept popping up in the comments, Sammy Guggenheimer. So for those not familiar with Sammy, she is a
twenty two year old Melbourne influencer. She has over two hundred and ninety six thousand followers on TikTok and one hundred and forty six thousand on Instagram and she offer goes by the name Sammy Googs or a TikTok handle short Girl Tall Dreams, and she shares a lot of lifestyle and fashion content, as well as relationship advice on her podcast Just for Girls. This time last year, she announced her split from her AFL boyfriend Kayleb Polter, which gained a lot of.
Traction for her.
Well, Sammy might not respond to her followers in her comments section, but she clearly checks her tags because she shared a response to the viral video. So in the video, she denied she was gatekeeping products from her followers and explained that rather than responding to questions, she instead tags her products on her Instagram story. She then said this.
There's no point gatekeeping products because we all got to share things around here. But if I am not, it's because I'm not reading my comments. Is because as people that are rude and mean and commenting mean things on my videos. So a lot of the time I just don't read my comments because I have to protect my peace. You should try being an influencer and getting hate every day and getting slandered every day.
That's it.
Yeah, I always taggening some my Instagram story. There's no point gaykeeping. If something's good, I'm gonna share it, and I do do that. But yeah, I know my truth, I know my peace. Yeah, I'm protecting some of it if I don't readbuild the comments because I'm literally getting slandered online.
Yeah.
So yeah, this pimple here, it's from chocolate, bought it at will is. Yeah, it's just frustrating, like you can never do anything right.
I was really taken aback by Sammy's tone on this video. How do these people have followers and why are they so condescending to the followers that make them money. It's very unlikable. I don't know out of her followers, who's sitting there being like, yeah.
One hundred percent. I agree with her.
A job of an influencer is so difficult. We have spoken in length about influencers being trolled on tattle Life, and I think it's shit that she does get mean comments directed at her on her videos. And I do think that it is a good thing that she is trying to avoid reading that commentary. But when you're big on TikTok, I don't think you can because it's all about engagement and it's all about building a community, and if you're not responding to simple comments about oh where'd
you get that from? Then it just looks a bit sloppy and lazy. I feel like this excuse is a bit of a cop out. I think that the reason she's not letting her TikTok followers know where she gets her outfits from isn't because she doesn't want to look at the comments. It's because she wants people to go over to her Instagram, where she can link her LTK and make money off the items that she tas well.
I'm sure this will.
Change with a lot of influencers when Australia brings in the TikTok shop and we're suddenly linking everything. I did love that one of the commenters suggested that she just adds the outfit or product details in the caption so that she didn't actually have to read the negative commentary.
I made a video addressing every time anyone say anything bad about me. I would be posting all day long, every single day, as would every other content creator.
That's what the whole four you page will be filled with.
But I think we can all agree that this has gotten a little bit big and a little bit much so now here I am and I'm never doing this again.
I don't address stuff like this, but it has gotten very big.
Anna Paul has finally responded to the allegations leveled against her by former friend Mikayla Test. It took the Only Fans creator almost a week to reply to the explosive claims, which caused the Internet to call for her cancelation. Now, it was pretty kind of Anna to upload her response just three hours after we had finalized Tuesday's episode about the scandal. Now, for those who missed the episode, Kate,
can you give us a refresher? Yeah, I can't say it was pleased when Sovie sent that link through to me at eight o'clock at night. Now, Mikayla was not only friends with Anna, but she was a big part of the Paul family.
She dated Anna's brother Adis for a couple of.
Years before they broke up in twenty twenty two, and on Wednesday last week, Mickayla released an eight minute expose on Anna and Attis. Now, the allegations leveled against Adis are of a serious nature and for legal reasons, we can't go into them.
As for the claims against Anna.
Michayla called her calculated, manipulative, and evil. She also accused Anna of incentivizing her underage fan base to sign up to her only fans account with the lure of a cash giveaway. Michayla also alleged Anna doesn't care about her fans and that the way she presents herself publicly is very different to Anna behind closed doors. She also said that the messaging Anna pushes about body positivity is just
for clout, and claims she called a fan fat and sweaty. Lastly, she alleged that Anna had lied about growing up poor and actually grew up upper middle class.
Now.
Anna uploaded her own eight minute video to TikTok on Monday night, and she started out by prefacing that she doesn't normally address negative commentary, but the situation was too big now to ignore. Here's more of That's what Anna said.
The reason why I've taken so long is because this all took me by surprise, and it was a very big shock to me because somebody that I thought was my friend and that I was close with really hurt me. And two months ago she was asking me to go to Fiji with her on a girl's trip, and last year when my dad was apparently homeless and that was going everywhere crazy on TikTok, She was the one helping me through it, sending me voice message, just telling me, don't listen to the people online.
They're dumb. Everyone is stupid. Tell Papa it's going to be okay. I hope Papa's okay. Don't tell them not to listen. She was helping me.
So now this has all come as a very very big shock and surprise, because I thought we were friends.
Anna saying that she was too shocked to respond isn't an adequate excuse for this delay. It was this delay in responding to the allegations that let this situation get out of control. Yeah, because it gave people time to pick aside and this just spread like wildfire across TikTok and then also into the mainstream media. I disagree, as I said on Tuesday's episode, I think that Anna needed
some time and space to respond adequately. That is why I am so surprised that this response in particular took a week. I thought she was going to come out with something that would absolutely shoot down Mikayla's claim. Yeah, because what she should have said after this delay was that she was taking the allegation seriously and wanted to
address it appropriately. She also could have said that she know she was trying to get a feel for how her community had reacted and was feeling after it and was discussing it with her team, but nothing.
Like that was said.
Well, she came out and said that she had no PR team working on this response. She even panned her camera around during this TikTok to show that she was by herself and reiterated there was no script. She was just talking to the capistry.
Bloody needed a script.
And I actually think that she said this in response to what Veruka had put on her story. So Veruka Soult came out in response and said, look, I managed to pan this statement in five minutes, Anna Paul. If she's telling the truth, she'd be able to pick up her phone and just pump out a video after watching the shambles of a response. I don't think that she needed to pan the camera around to prove that there
was no autocue because it was just terrible. I just confused why she didn't have the assistance of a PR team or do we believe that a PR team assisted her and she was claiming that no one did. She did slip up during the statement and referenced her team. I would be shocked though, if a professional PR team approved this message.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It didn't have any indication that a PR manager had looked over this. It seems to me like maybe Anna sat down with Addis and her mum and came up with this respect I think she thought that she'd seem more relatable and genuine if she pointed out that she didn't have help from a PR team and she was
just speaking from the heart. Yeah. Well, Anna went on to say that she wanted to address the allegations regarding her her being the operative word, so it was clear from the get go that she wasn't going to speak on her brother.
Addis's behalf.
Now. I understand it's not her place to talk for Addas, and if she had tried to defend him, I don't think it would have looked good. But to not even acknowledge that Mikayla had made very serious allegations against her brother from a top level perspective really trivialized this whole situation. At the end of the day, she's not responsible for her brother's actions, but I think that it was misleading.
Not to touch on it.
I think she was really playing into TikTok's algorithm in the sense that people would watch the video not be fully across the story, so it kind of ended up looking like this really petty disagreement between two friends.
I was also really disappointed.
That Anna completely ignored the most serious allegation leveled at her, so that was in regards to her giveaway and allegedly incentivizing her underage audience to subscribe to her OnlyFans account. Instead, she chose to focus on the not so serious claim. So she denied calling a fan she met fat and that she lied about growing up poor. This is what she had to say about the fan encounter.
A fan came up to me and we hugged, and after she'd walked away, I said, oh my god, she was so fat and sweaty. Now I do not call my fans fat. That's not who I am, though's not what I stand for. That's not what I've ever stood for.
There's no sure that's not what I simple sweaty.
However, I may have called her sweaty because when somebody is wet and they touch you and then they leave, and when you're with your best friend and you are now wet because of them, you may say I am now wet again.
This was four years ago, but that may have happened.
And I also know that people would have hugged me, walked away and said Anna Paul was sweaty.
That does not make them a bad person.
That's just them pointing out that after two people touched, they are now sweaty or wet.
And I think I wanted to say that she hugs thousands of people at her meat and greets and in the process her shoulder ends up touching people's sweaty underarms, and she explained after events that she has to clean her shoulder with a wet wipe to.
Get rid of the bo smell.
I don't think that Anna could have made it more obvious that this fan encounter did happen, and it did play out in the way that Mikayla alleged. She literally admitted to calling the fans sweaty and then followed up by saying that basically she has to get a brother to fucking wet wipe her down and hugging other fans appearance. But if it didn't happen as well, how would you remember that incident? Yeah, and calling someone sweaty, that doesn't
have a great connotation attached to it. Overall, even if she didn't use the word fat, it doesn't sound like she was very nice about this fan giving her a heart. I love all the subsequent tiktoks that have come out after this. There's videos of people pretending to be Anna running straight to the shower after meeting Fat. It sounds like it makes her sound like she's repulsed by her fans going forward. I'd be really nervous to meet Anna Paul particularly.
I mean, she lives on.
The Gold Coast that is a very hot, sweaty and human environment.
But you know when you.
Are lying about something and you go over the top about it and it comes across like it's such a lie. That's how it played out, because she was so help bent on no no, I said, sweaty, yeah.
Fat, Yeah.
Well, if you think things couldn't get any worse, they did. Let's hear what Anna had to say about the allegation she lied about growing up being poor.
The second one is that I lie about growing up broke. Now, I do not lie about the fact that I.
Grew up broke.
When I say I grew up broke, that is my experience that is how I felt. When I can hear my parents talking in the kitchen that the budget for the groceries that week is thirty dollars. It makes me feel broke where we kind of affords greuniforms.
It makes me feel broke when I'm eleven.
When I'm ten and all my friends can afford something and my parents can't.
It makes me feel.
Broke when they say, oh, I don't know how we're gonna afford rent next week. That makes me scared. It makes me feel broke. That does not mean that I was the most broke person on earth. There are definitely people in way worse situations than me.
But that does not mean that I'm.
Lying about the fact that I felt broke during those times.
How did Anna not realize that her line I felt broke was gonna go viral? I mean, she has been on TikTok for a long time.
It was at this.
Point where I thought, hmm, I think she probably should have made a written statement because a lot of what she said can easily be stitched up, and people are now responding to it.
It's gotten even bigger.
It really had jamaking vibes to it, and as you said, Amy, This has created a real viral moment on TikTok. This has become a trending sound and people are making jokes about what made them feel poor as kids, whether their parents wouldn't allow them to have a Dolly magazine, or if they couldn't go through the McDonald's drive. My favorite is someone filling up an ASoP soap bottle with cheap soap and saying, this is.
What happens when I feel broke.
I mean jokes aside to essentially say that being poor is a mindset. Truly did upset a lot of people. What I don't get is it's the easiest accusation to provide receipts.
For which she did not provide.
It just backed up Michayla's claims that it seems like she has been cosplaying being poor to relate to her Audi. This is the whole issue with her response. She focused on these petty allegations. She should have been clear and concisely. She shouldn't have released an eight minute video. It should have been a lot shorter. She almost just was tripping herself up with her responses.
Well.
She also decided to use the video to address the receipts that have been popping up on TikTok regarding her apparent wealth as a child. So she denied the photo doing the rounds were of her childhood home or car. Her defense was that the Internet didn't exist when she was a child, nor did she have social media, therefore the photos wouldn't be on the Internet. I couldn't believe this because Anna is only twenty five. She was born
in nineteen ninety nine. For the record, we did have the Internet back then, and Facebook was launched in two thousand and four and MySpace in two thousand and three when we were all at high school. So there definitely could have been a digital footprint of her growing up in the early two thousand or so. Maybe she didn't put it up when she was seven, but people post a lot of childhood photos once they're older now. Anna then addressed the old photos being dug up on her
Instagram account. So for those who haven't seen them, there's a whole bunch of photos that have gone viral showing her traveling in first class, and there's also another one of her wearing a Gucci watch. And this is what she said about those photos.
Social media is fake it is not real Instagram.
It's all fake and it can be faked.
So this is just a perfect example of that.
There's a photo of me sitting in first class when I was like thirteen years old. Please don't quote me. Maybe I was twelve, Maybe I was eleven, maybe I was fourteen.
I don't know. Back I'm gonna say thirteen.
And I posted on Instagram and people are saying, look, this is her first class when she's thirteen.
She's a liar.
She was always rich. Now, what you don't know about that photo is that that was a flight that my uncle paid for, and it was an economy flight because my whole family lives in Germany and we were in Australia. So my uncle wanted my brother and I to go see our grandparents, so he bought us two economy tickets. And during the flight, my brother threw up all over me. Everywhere.
Everything was wet and hot, everything was dirty.
So the flight attendants take care of unaccompanied minus and they said to us, guys, come to the front of the plane by I cleans up. It's the last twenty minutes anyway, So for the last twenty minutes of the flight we were sitting in first class, and of course they posted on Instagram and twelve and that's cool, and now people are using that like liar. No, social media is fake and it could all be explained and I have before or another one is I'm wearing like a
Gucci watch. Listen, my dad's job growing up was buying some antiques. He would constantly go to Garrottales and markers and stuff like that and then sell them on eBay afterwards. So there's a photo of a watch that he bought out a Garrottel for two dollars and it's a Gucci watch and I posted that, pupa can I post on Instagram? Of course I'm posting that. That's cool and that's a flex, but that is not real. You cannot determine things from photos.
It is crazy, and that is just Those are just a couple of examples.
I could not believe that Anna's defense was that social media is fake, especially when she's talking about images that she's uploaded herself. Does that mean that this statement is fake? Does that mean that Mikayla Tests allegations are true and the persona that you've been putting on is fake and that you weren't poor. I just think I don't know why she's gone into the weeds and the immense detail in this. I think she's missed the mark of what
people are upset about. And that's why Mikayla's video was so powerful, because she was strong in what she said. She didn't ramble, she got to the point. Well, I think this line took the cake for a lot of people.
Another one that I what is it, I'm a manipulative layer because I called past the noodles or something like that like insanity. I think we can all agree it's gotten very, very insane where it's just insane.
Because this pissed a lot of people off.
Because Mikayla never called an manipulative over saying noodles for a Turkish past a recipe. She called her manipulative in regards to incentivizing her underpage fans to sign up to her only fans account, an allegation that she never addressed. I saw Abby Chatfield put out of TikTok and it just had her simply saying something along the lines of
it was never about the noodle's babe. It's quite okay that Anna has sat on TikTok watching every single video about her, and she feels like she has to respond to all of those trivial videos instead of actually just addressing Mikayla's KeyPoint, yeah, and trivializing the allegations and making these jokes about it.
It just added to.
The mixed messaging of the statement. The tone and delivery were just so off because there was literally no understanding of how her can community felt and what she needed to address.
It just kind of across as really dismissive, a bit tone deaf. Really yeah.
And on the underage fan thing, Anna did say in the comment section of the video that her following is ninety three point eight percent eighteen plus, but if you look at her following, that means that over one hundred and fifty thousand people are underage. Well, that was in defense to saying that she was incentivizing her young audience. I mean, as you said, Kate, I would still say, encouraging one hundred and fifty thousand underaged children to sign
up to her OnlyFans account is quite unethical. And also why bury that in the comments? Why was that not included in the response? Now? Anna did finish the video by telling her followers that bullying is not okay and can have serious consequences.
Here's what she said, Yeah.
Me aside in this whole situation, okay, me aside the bullying that has bested and grown from this because it's a trend is dangerous and not okay.
And bullying like this hell people, It kills people. You might think it's funny to set up your phone and think, oh, what's trending right now?
I know I'll say I met Anna Paul once and say something bad that'll get views. Your views aren't worth someone's life, I'm telling you. Or setting up the camera and laughing with all your friends about what my body looks like and then posting it, that is not worth the views. Someone's life are not worth those views, I'm telling you.
Anna went on to say that she was fortunate to have a support system around her and she couldn't imagine going through something like this alone.
She then said this.
There are children that go through this kind of stuff, this kind of bullying alone, and for that I cannot even imagine how they even survived that.
To be honest, then because of that, I'm going to leave a number down.
Belue, if you're alone and you ever need someone to talk to you or need something, please call that numb and do not hesitate because it can happen to anyone. So I'm just sending my love out there to anyone that has gone through this, or people that.
Will go through this or Anna then urged her followers to be respectful to all parties involved and not to send anyone hate on her behalf. I think this was actually the best part of her response because it did make you think, look, these are two young girls. There's a lot of hate flying around on the internet. People
need to be mindful of what they're saying online. I understand why she included that messaging around online bulling, but you can't release the statement where you ignore very serious allegations leveled at you and your brother and then try and shift the narrative to make you the victim. Because if she had been accountable and address the allegations, then I think that this part of the video would have
made sense. I think some people felt like she was trying to use bulling and maybe mental health as an excuse for her behavior. People also didn't find it very genuine because she said that she was going to provide links for those who were in trouble and needed help from Lifeline, and she didn't include them in the caption.
I think it was also because the start of her.
Video was all jokey and making out like these allegations went serious, and then suddenly it ticked over into her crying and saying how serious online bullying was?
Yeh?
And it did you feel like we were getting this lecture about bullying at the end of the video, after she had just trivialized all these serious allegations.
I think, as I said earlier, a.
Written statement would have been a lot better if she couldn't actually deliver a proper response. On a side note, did anyone else notice what she was wearing? Yeah, she was wearing a by Bambi branded top, so she had a jacket it said Bambi across it.
Bit a peripheral messaging there. Yeah, well by Bamburi.
We spoke about them last year. They've been involved in a number of controversies involving not paying influences correctly. I do wonder, kay, if she was trying to come across as Bambi as in the well. She also was wearing it looked like pajama pants and she wasn't all dold up. I think it was a strategic move to make herself look relatable. I think she needed a bit more strategy involved in this because it was not working for her. Yeah. I do understand though, why she tried to speak off
the cuff, because it is part of her brand. But what I don't understand is you can speak off the cuff and memorize stuff like you can actually come across as a bit more.
Serious in your delivery. And when she was just spewing vomit.
Out like it was just all over the place, how many times do you think she recorded it like that? Could that have been the first record and she's gone, yeah, this is one I've done. Maybe it seemed like I wouldn't like to see the other recordings if that was the best one. The general consensus was people felt gas lip from the video it's pr one oh one. She needed to respond to the allegations properly. That would have stopped the narrative. What she has done is provided TikTok
with even more to run with. She then needed to provide a remedy of how she was going to solve the situation, so an action list. I'm going to do this moving forward. I'm taking this very seriously.
There was none of that now.
Mikayla Testa was quick to respond to Anna's video in the comments section, writing Anna, please do not try and paint me as a liar. I will come with receipts. Do not make me come on here with it all. You said what you said, and you said it in entirety. I thought we were friends too, until your friends have come to me with everything you've been saying about me the entire time.
I reached out because I thought we were friends. We weren't.
You were fake and this doesn't cut it. I care about children and you're extorting them now. Mickchayla went on to screenshot her comment and post it to an Instagram story with the caption, of course, Anna will block my comments. I guess I'm forced into explaining myself in full. I think the fact that Mikayla was able to reply so quickly back to Anna in a succinct manner she raised some really good points highlights even further how poor Anna's eight.
Minute video was.
Yeah, I suppose if you're trying to determine who is guilty in this situation, Anna took a week to respond.
Michayla then instantly.
Responded to the video and said she's got receipts for it now. Twenty four hours later, Mikayla updated her followers on those receipts, saying, Hi, guys, I did promise receipts. While going through and actually collecting them and reviewing them, I realized something very very sinister was happening to meet for many years. This is something the police should be seeing,
not the Internet. Although at some stage I will be able to share my story in full, as I have shared every piece of my life with you all so far, I will have to delay for now. I will be moving forward legally the way it should be. I was very relieved when Mikayla posted this because I think that this issue really needs to move offline now. I can't see anything good coming from more of a slinging match
between the two of them. It's clear that if this matter is as serious as Mikayla alleges it to be, the police and legal teams need to get involved. I still can't believe this. Sarah's Day has officially invested in Hiro.
Let me tell you how all went.
Down after parting ways with long standing partner Trepeka, it's been officially announced as Sarah's Day, is an investor in a new drink company called Hiro. The finness influencer has been spooking the benefits of the drink across her social media channels since July last year, but hasn't let her followers in on the secret that she in fact part
owns the company. So for last week, we discussed that since dropping her daily Body Bloom, Sarah has suddenly been incorporating a new drink into her day routine.
Yeah.
At first I thought this was some sort of pre workout drink, but it is actually an electrolyte drink. So it comes in a red sashet which she's been mixing into water and has a range of different flavors. The idea is that you take it at the start of the day and during or after your workouts to supposedly replenish the electrolytes that you lost in sweat. It is similar to body Bloom in the sense that the drink claims to provide better physical performance, muscle function, improved digestion,
mental clarity, give you better skin, and also support detoxification. Now, the original owners of Hydro are a husband and wife team called Stephen Chapman and Taylor Bird. On the website, the founders make a big point of telling their customers to trust the science and say that the drink has
been fine tuned by elite dietitians. Now, the original owners of Hydro are a husband and wife team called Stephen Chapman and Taylor Bird, and on their website they make a big point telling their customers to trust the science of the drink, and they say that the drink has been fine tuned by elite dietitians. It also says that the drink is crafted by the finest ingredients the Earth can offer, and above all, it only contains five calories
and no sugar. It really does seem to be up Sarah's day street, as it also says it has no artificial additives, is vegan and quito free, so you can see the alignment there with her now. Sarah first shared about Hiro in July last year, claiming it was helping her get through pregnancy.
Let's throw it to what she said.
Pers this is how I've been surviving this pregnancy.
This is Hiro again. It's the Hiro lemonon lime. That's the one I like tastes like you found a fresh lemonon lime ice block, like a quarter of an ice block. Because they water it down and it's melted in your water. It just gives it that little bit of like zest, fresh sourness that I'm going to down this whole thing now.
Sarah did tag Hiro in the post, but didn't disclose whether the was a paid or gifted partnership. As someone who follows her quite closely, I feel like she does this with a lot of partners well. The owners were quick to cut up Sarah's glowing reviews for their social media. They wrote, when you check your DMS and Sarah's day gives you a shout out on her Instagram stories, you
know it's going to be a good day. It continued, we couldn't be prouder to be hydrating an icon of Australian online influencing and someone who absolutely needs to stay hydrated getting through all that she does on the day to day plus pregnancy.
Now.
The owners, Stephen and Taylor, were really giving the impression that Sarah randomly came across this relatively unknown brand and was so blown away that she just had to post about it to her over a million followers. Here's what they said. We just had some in coming messages in from Sarah's day, tagging.
Us in a few Medias's days. I feel like she's just one of the OG influences.
Wake up.
This one of the Sarah's days. Pretty epic twenty four hours watches. That's so exciting. Orders are starting to flow through already statuned.
This just felt very twenty seventeen because in this video the owners are acting as though Sarah has organically come across this product, when in reality we know that they would have spent months trying to get noticed by her. This would have been some sort of paid partnership. As we know, she isn't just posting about.
Anyone for free.
And the reason the water is so muddy in this situation is because Sarah quite often doesn't disclose paid partnerships as you touched on, which leads people to think, oh, well, maybe this time around, this is a genuine product that she really likes, and this is just a recommendation she's letting us know about now. The owners continued saying that they have been inundated with orders and people following their
accounts since Sarah endorsed their product. Now, the endorsement hasn't stopped there, so Sarah has continued to share about this drink for months on end, with no hashtag, ad or partnership disclosure. At the end of last year, she shared a YouTube video just casually using Hiro in a smoothie recipe, and Hydro has also been casually shared as part of
her workout routine across her Instagram story. I picked up on this straight away and I was like, I bet you she's being paid, because, as you said, Sophie, she's not the sort of influencer who's going to just share something and tag it out of the goodness of her heart. Now, Sophie, what has actually been.
Going on behind the scenes.
Well, to put all of this into context, Sarah's first post about Hiro was made in July of twenty twenty four, and that's also when the owners made the gushing posts about how excited they were that Sarah was trying their product. Now, if we fast forward to January twenty twenty five, we are now privy to what has really been going on behind the scenes. So on the twentieth of January, Sarah and Hiro announced that Sarah was a part owner and an investor in the company. As predicted, this wasn't just
some chance discovery from Sarah. The owner said that they contacted Sarah in early twenty twenty four and sent her drink hoping that she would like it. In April twenty twenty four, so three months before her first post about Hiro, she replied to the owners saying, Hey, Steve, I'm assuming your bubba has arrived, so congratulations we got the product
and love it to me. Sarah commenting about the founder's kids indicates that there's some sort of prior relationship there, so clearly there's been more back and forth about her trying the product. The owners then said they arranged a meeting with Sarah and Kurt in June, so a month before this first post. Let's throw to a snippet of what they said. The timing was perfect. Sarah was pregnant, feeling dehydrated and fatigued, and Hiro became her go to.
Kurt got hooked too, using it daily to fill his training and busy dad lack. In June, we met out with Sarah and Kurt to taste his new flavors and chat about how we could work together as a small startup. We didn't want just another paid partnership. We wanted something real, something long term. After months of conversations, we made it happen. Sarah didn't just join as an ambassador.
She's now an invest a.
Part owner in hiro. This means so much to us because Sarah's built an incredible community of people that care about health, family, and balance just like we do. So to put this all into perspective, Sarah and Kurt agreed to become investors and partners in this business in June.
So for seven months, Sarah has been sharing about a product that she has a financial stake in, as though she doesn't have a stake in it, and as though it is just an organic product that she's been using because of the benefits.
This is so incredibly deceptive.
It just shows that this type of marketing works, though, because, as the owner said, Sarah simply posting about the drinks makes them sell out of their warehouse several times.
Well, I don't understand why has she just not been.
Upfront Because she's had other business ventures where her name's been slapped on stuff, So she's always talking about her White Fox boutique line. When she brought out sunglasses when she brought out Bathers. I think has been a strategy because if you look back at her success with Tripeka, as we touched on last week, people genuine only bought into the hype around it because back then there wasn't so much ad disclosure and people thought, wow, this drink
is just part of her regular routine. So if her consumers think, wow, Sarah's just using this drink because it must be really helpful for her workouts, they buy into it more than if it was introduced to them as, oh, this is this new brand that I'm investing in. Does it mean that the brand of Sarah's Day isn't as powerful as it once was, because for me, it seems strange that an influencer who has such a large following wants to almost remove herself from the product even though
she is an investor in it. Well, she has subsequently announced that she is going to be bringing out her own Hiro flavor, and this was after she finally came clean with her audience about the drink on January twentieth, So in a daily vlog she said this.
Anyway, good morning, I am mixing up my Hiro. This is my electrolytes. They are ooh delicious. I'm having the lemon and lime flavor. It kind of tastes like a splice with ice cold water chef's kIPS, especially after hot pilates. A handful of you guys actually guessed it, but you would have seen in a vlog last year. I think it was around June July twenty twenty four, I had a meeting with the founders of Hiro, and long story shot, I ended up investing in the company. I love the founders,
I love the business model, I love the product. So you'll be seeing a lot more with me and Hiro, and potentially a new flavor that I've come up with.
I went back to look at her vlogs over this period of time to see if this meeting was included, and she did go to a secret project meeting in a June vlog, but that was with who is Elijah, which is the perfume brand that she's collaborating with. I did not see any reference to a secret meeting with Hiro.
I do wonder if she's trying to appear as if she's been really upfront with her audience about this partnership from the get go, when realistically it doesn't appear that she has been Do you feel like she is somewhat seeking revenge on Tripeka, because, as we discussed in last week's episode, during an old episode of her podcast, The Health Code, she said that she likes to get revenge on sponsors that she's parted ways with by dominating the
same interest as that brand. And this does seem like quite good revenge to be a part owner and investor in a very similar product. I wonder if she wanted to get shares in Tripeka and they refused, or perhaps she actually did have shares at one point, because she literally was the face of Tripeka for so many years. And I can see why Hiro have jumped on board to get her involved as well, because, as they said, the drink has been selling a lot. I just don't
like the way she's marketing it. I do feel like it is quite deceptive to have a stake in this drink brand for, as you said, over nearly eight to nine months and only just now be telling everyone where was your ad disclosure. I'm confused that she doesn't face any ramifications for this type of behavior with the A Triple C. I wonder if it's because people are so unaware that this isn't AD they don't even bother reporting it.
It's that deceptive in saying that.
As someone who is pretty sad obviously in the influencers space having this podcast, I knew straightaway that it was a partnership. Most influencers don't tag a brand if there's not some sort of kickback for them, So I think if you're a savvy consumer of influencer content, you knew that there was a partnership there. I get the impression that influencers know that they can get away with it,
and that's why they do it. There is great area though, now that she actually has a financial stake in the brand, because it's not like, for example, Steph Kleas Smith and Laura Henshaw always put AD paid partnership when they're talking about their own business and promoting it. Yeah, but they're upfront with the fact that they have a financial stake in it. You know that it's their business. For seven months now, we haven't known that Sarah had anything.
To do with it.
I am fascinated that she has decided to invest in this product and not just be an ambassador. I think that's a really big step, and I wonder if it's because she got sick of brands dropping her once they got enough exposure for her. We've seen her name be removed from so many brands and they just continue on without her. Well, it's a very good business move that
a lot of successful people use. The business comes to you, says that we want to use you to expose our brand to your audience, and you say, well, I'd like
a ten percent stake in it. I wonder how her followers feel about this type of advertising and if they feel a bit deceived, because I would feel a bit silly if I saw her what I thought organically talking about how fantastic this product is, and then later revealing that she actually had a financial stake in it, I would think, oh, okay, I'm probably not going to trust
her recommendation and reviews going forward. I think that's a bit of a naive look at the influencer space, though, because it's not like we're in twenty eleven where we're like, oh, the influencer must really like this product. Like everyone knows that what people are spooking on their social media channel needs to be taken with a grain of salt. But I do think that there are genuine micro influencers who share really helpful reviews, and with TikTok, we're seeing everyday
people share about products in a very genuine way. But that's not Sarah's day, and that's never been a mo because a lot of people used to get sucked in. Originally, when she was talking about her Loving Earth Chocolate and her Trapeqe Care, they didn't know that she had a brand deal with them. But we're now savvy enough to know she's not just helping her followers, she's helping her payback.
And that's why I think people are moving away from taking recommendations and advice from social media influences and moving towards genuine TikTok reviews.
From everyday people.
Now, when I was taking a deeper look into Hiro, I found a marketing campaign they ran in August which was quite disturbing. So the basis of the campaign is that the owner, Steven, declared that he was fasting until they reached their first one thousand sales. Oh god, now, at the time they were sitting on nine hundred and sixty one sales. Let's throw it to what he said.
Starting a water only a hirofast until we a thousand gus started a couple days ago. I've it's been having water and hiro. Okay, this is a good idea.
Well, I'm glad you're having the hiro. We're at least replacing the electrolytes which are critical, and you've also got some vitamin C in there as well. My preference is that this only goes on for a week, but take nally, we can get you up to twenty one day now.
In the caption, they did point out that Highro is actually perfectly suited for fasting, as it contains all the electrolytes you need and no sugar, so your body apparently does stay in katosis throughout. This was followed up by Steven interviewing the company's dietitian about his fasting stunt.
What else am I going to experience this?
So obviously headaches, fatigue, really low energy.
Okay, So what you're saying is should I do this or not?
I think the reality is you're doing it. Focus on your hydration, drink plenty of Highro, and let's get those thousand.
Customers over to you guys, please save me. Head to the website now and order so I can start drinking more than just this.
I was shocked when I watched this video. I can't believe he was able to get a nutritionist to say that it was okay for him to be consuming just water and hiro for twenty one days. This makes me lose any truck in the so called scientific claims made by this product. This just seems insane to me. I mean, he's clearly using shock value to sell products. I do question, though, what type of effects There's Day has had on this company if they thought it would take twenty one days
for him to get thirty nine orders through. Now it's that time of the week where we have our Friday debrief and I'm gonna kick us off. I have a hire to share with you guys. So Jack, he is nearly eight months old, and he just started crawling this week. And I have heard this is where things get serious. So you're having to move everything, you're having to babyproof the house, you're running around. But it was such a joy to see him crawl. And it's so funny because
it's not his toys that he's crawling towards. It's everything that he's not meant to have, So it's my phone or it's the dog toy. He actually first crawled to my frank green water bottle and he tried to grab it.
I'm like, this is nearly as big as you.
He's pretty fast as well, because he's only been doing it for a couple of days. I couldn't leave the speed he was taking on the carpet. I love that this is your high. Will it suddenly turn into your low causing draper?
Well?
Probably.
I also have a question for our listeners who are momths. So Jack is at an age where his wake windows aren't as dominated by his feeds anymore. So I've got a lot of time to play with him, and we go and play with the toys that he got for Christmas, but I'm personally getting bored of them, and I'm thinking he probably is too. I have seen a few TikTok videos where it shows activities for you to do with your kids. So I filled up this big saucepan and put blocks in it, and it was all well and
good until he tried to pour it over. Does anyone have any activities that take up a lot of time that are enjoyable for not only Jack, but for me. Because it's getting to a point where I'm like, I don't know what to do. It's funny you asked that because I'm on kitten Took because I've got a new kitten, Winnie, and I've seen all these people that been doing all these enrichment activities with their cats, which make me feel
so guilty, Like I didn't even know that was the thing. Yeah, it does make you feel guilty because you're like, hang on, while I've been focusing on him trying to crawl, have I been doing enough language activities with him?
Like it's just never ending.
My Friday share is a bit of a different one to yours. Okay, not so wholesome. I had a very scary experience at a Hungry Jack's drive through on Saturday nights. Did someone drop a whopper? Had a joke that went through front of me?
Yeah?
Well, basically I was. It was around eleven o'clock at night, right before Hungry Jack's closed. I was actually picking my partner something up. This wasn't a pregnancy craving and I was in the car by myself, and I made my order and I sat in the drive through for ten minutes whilst I was waiting for the car in front of me. Now, the car in front of me had a husband and wife, I think in their forties in there, and I thought that they knew the girl at the
front desk at at the front window. They seemed to be engaged in some sort of conversation. I thought that they were smiling. It turns out they were actually yelling at this poor girl. Now, when it got to about fifteen minutes that I was still in this line, I was like, what the hell is going going on? Am I going to get my food? Am I going to get out of here? Because that was the only exit anyway, Whilst I was waiting, this teenage girl from Hungry Jack's,
one of the workers. She came out and delivered me my meal on foot and explained that the car in front of me was abusing them over wanting to get a refund. So did she bring out the credit card thing too? Not already paid by this dage. I was just waiting for my food, and she said, oh, look, they're not going to move, so you might just want to reverse out. And I had just recently got my car fixed and there was no way I was going to be reversing out of the drive through, So I
said do you reckon? I could just toot them and it might encourage them to leave. Sophie hasn't added that she had me on the other end of the phone, and I'm like, just be careful.
You never know how people are going to react.
I just wanted to get home by then, so I tried to do a friendly too, you know, when it's not a full It was not friendly. It did not sound friendly for me at my end. They didn't react. So then I called out the window, sorry, do you mind moving?
I can't get out anyway.
The woman tries to open her door. She couldn't she was so close to the drive through window. Then the husband throws his door back before coming over to my car. He then runs over to the front window, starts abusing the girl some more, storms over to my car window, and my heart was pounding out of my chest. I thought he was going to punch the bonnet of my car. And he goes, what do you want?
And I said, oh, I'm so sorry. I am she's just trying to get out of the drive through. You guys are blocking me.
And he's like, these people are assholes and starts complaining about his meal and that they didn't give him a refund. Think, sir, you were the asshole. I did not say anything at this point. If I were you, I would have been like, I'm just a pregnant lady trying to get Hungry Jack. Well.
I actually thought I was gonna get punched in the face. Thankfully, he then says to me, Okay, we'll move, but just want to know that we've called the police over the Hungry Jacks and then other police having to deal with incidents like this, like they do not own enough. These other poor teenage worker from Hungry Jacks literally ran out to see if I was okay because she thought that the man might have physically anyway. This was all for a meal that wasn't even for me. It was very traumatizing.
I left completely sweaty and shaking. And so do you no longer have cravings for Hungry Jacks now as part of your pregnancies that put you on I've never had Hungry Jack's cravings. I'm a McDonald's girl through and through. So I was very annoyed. I rang up my husband and was like, God, I've been through shit to get this meal for you. Well, I've got a recommendation for you, guys. It is a TV show and it's for anyone else who loves crime drama. So it is an old one.
It's a twenty thirteen series called The Fall, but it is a lot like the show broad Church, which I got you guys onto. So it stars actress Gillian Anderson. You'll know her from Sex Edge. She also played Margaret Thatcher in The Crown and she was in The X Files. She is amazing anything she's in I watch. It's also got Christian Gray from Fifty Shades of Gray, the guy who.
Played him in it highly recommend.
Okay, well, it's not really selling it to me. That was from twenty thirteen, but broad Church was from the same era and I got into that, so maybe may listeners will have to give it a go. It's got everything, it's got hot people, it's got crime. Well, I'm for seasons into suits and I'm obsessed with it, so maybe I'll give it a go. After that, Well, I think that is all we have time for today. Thank you
so much for joining us for this episode. If you have enjoyed it, could you please make sure you are subscribed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review. This episode was recorded on the traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes. We pay respect to elders past and present
