Before we get into the episode, we want to issue a trigger warning. We will be discussing themes around miscarriage and also eating disorders. Episode four, The Rebrand. Fresh off the back of a horror twenty twenty full of controversy, Sarah's Day was in desperate need of a rebrand. Her army of followers were turning into haters, and restrictive eating and ab selfies was so last decade. So what do you do when the brand you have built has been battered?
You pivot.
Sarah dropped holistic Health Princess from her bio and in doing so found God. The transition from wellness warrior to mummy blogger hasn't been a smooth one, though, With lucrative brand deals to compete for and a hungry community of new mums yearning for connection. Mummy blogging is a high stakes business venture. But what happens when your kids start becoming content and a heartbreaking diagnosis.
Makes you evaluate at all.
We are journalists Amy Kay and Sophie Torber and this is Outspoken Plus. Welcome back to our final installment of our deep dive series on Sarah's Day and what a wild ride it has been.
Last time we were in your ears.
We were discussing Sarah's three biggest controversies of twenty twenty. But we're now in twenty twenty one, and it was a big year for Sarah professionally and personally. So in January twenty twenty one, she finally launched her cooking app Sonny, which signaled a move to a subscription based revenue model.
Now, the move.
Appeared to be very lucrative, with Sarah flashing her cash on expensive gifts for her family. So she actually gifted her dad and Aston Martin for his birthday, and Kurt a speedboat for Christmas. Can you believe the collective gifts would have set.
Sarah back around half a million dollars? At least she's been generous with her family.
I know, it is pretty remarkable. Twenty twenty one was also the year Sarah got married and fell pregnant. Both story arcs provided the perfect opportunity for redemption. Yes, but brewing in the background was an influx of anonymous hate pages directed solely at Sarah Day. The worst of the offenders was an Instagram account called Salty's Day, which attracted eight thousand followers and was allegedly run by a school
teacher who used to be a fan of the YouTuber. Now, the account was a byproduct of gossip forum Tattle Life, as the user used to go under the name Salty's Day. So the account took on a gossip girl persona with its bio reading your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Cronulla's elite xoxo. I remember you had to request to follow this page that was set on private, and I did enjoy seeing all of the big influencer names who were following Salty's Day. Yeah, it was intriguing
to see who actually wanted to follow along. Now, in terms of the content that Salty's Day would share, there was a really large discrepancy between information that held Sarah to account and then content that was just playing bulling. So whilst the account did shine a light on followers who wrote in saying that they allegedly suffered eating disorders after following Sarah's diet plans, the account would also comment on the alleged procedures that Sarah had had done to
her face. They accused her of having botox and lip fillers. It also called out her use of plastics the way that she posed her leg It was very critical of a recipe, saying that they looked like vomit. It also went as far as accusing her of being a cult leader, and the account owner had a real obsession with proving that Sarah allowed her son Fox.
To watch TV. So it got very, very petty.
It's a perfect example of a site that went too far, as in, you may have legitimate claims, but then to start picking on her child watching TV, that's when it gets a bit ridiculous and people start not listening. Yeah, the account owner really took it too far, and this was evident in the months leading up to Sarah's Day's wedding. So the page released private details about the wedding, including the time, date, and location. So you might be wondering
how did they actually come across these details. Only all Salty's Day did was search Sarah's name on Google, which then led them to find an electronic wedding invite where guests could RSVP and also put in their dietary requirements. And on the page it had all of these details about the date and location, and the account urged followers to wreak havoc on the wedding by entering fake guest
names to cause confusion. Now, for me, them exposing these private wedding details really did cross the line in my eyes, because it was so dangerous to put this information out there to a community of people who actively dislike her, because it not only put her at risk, but also her family, friends and young kids. Because who knows what
these people were going to do. They could potentially rock up to the wedding egg her heckle her make her day really unpleasant, And it seemed like members of this page were sort of egging Salty's.
Day on to share worse and worse information.
Well, I just can't believe that this page was run by a school teacher. It was a rumor that her boyfriend found out that she was running it, and then she stopped because she was so embarrassed. And I feel like forums like tatle life, it's sort of like extremistbehavior. People go on there to have a bit of a rant about an influencer, and then they find these like minded people that agree with them, and then it just keeps going too far and more and more details about
this person's life are picked on that really aren't that bad. Yeah, and at this time, Sarah did speak out about her concerns over her safety.
Here's what she said.
I've filmed this story section like five times. Yeah, come on me, because I have such anxiety of getting taken out of context.
It's just like I don't.
Know social media these days.
It's like people forget you're a real person with like a real family, real friends, you know what I mean. And I just like, I'm really kind of sick of myself or like being twisted, you know. In saying all of this, I needed to take a little mental health break. I guess one thing I really struggle with is like I want to be open and honest when people say, why aren't you yourself on stories or why an't you on stories? I want to tell you. I want to
tell you everything. But I don't want to condone the type of behavior that that five percent.
I don't want to promote the.
Things they do or promote the things they say.
I don't want to highlight that.
Because why would I big note that when there's so many other nice comments. It's just when it starts involving my family and like personal events and personal things and like where we live, like it's not funny anymore. And it's not just like cyberbullying, it's like dangerous, you know. So when it reaches that point, I'm like, it's beyond me. But yeah, just some things have happened this week, and I'm.
Like, what is wrong world?
I kind of like call out anyone or shout out anyone. I don't want it to be someone who's being mean and being nasty.
I'd rather it be.
Someone who's doing good in the world, or being supportive or even making me happy. I don't want to call out someone who's an online bully.
It was quite rare at the time for her to acknowledge this hate page, because she had stayed pretty quiet on the amount of hate that she was receiving. It seemed like it was a breaking point for her. Yeah, it really was. Sarah's page is quite real and raw in the sense that she is not just a highlights reel for her. She does talk about negative things that happen in her day to day life, but it's usually things that piss her off, like her neighbors playing loud
music or having renovations. She doesn't really touch on negative feedback that she gets from trolls. I think originally she didn't want to give any oxygen to the page, but it got to the point where she had to address it because so many people were talking about it. And something that is becoming quite synonymous in influencer and celebrity culture is that there's a tendency for super fans to
turn into haters. And I read this really interesting article that took a look at when idolizing someone turns negative. So this article explained that there are two.
Different theories about how this happens. And the first.
Theory is that when you idolize someone, you're actually more attached to what they represent to you. So you're attached to this image that you have of that person in your mind and it somehow fulfills something inside of you.
And that's actually called the Santa Claus complex. So, for example, people may have idealized Sarah's day for the way that she seems like a kind person, the way that she eats clean her perfect home, But the second that their image or the image that you have in your head of that person deviates, you decide that they're not what
you thought they were. And I think that this happened a lot during a number of her scandals, So people were very disappointed in her for the cultural appropriation, the confusion over the bush fire money that was raised, so that turned into them being very distressed their image of her wasn't what she actually.
Represents or is.
I read a similar article where they were talking about when you have a crush on somebody but you don't even know them that well. So it might be someone at work that you don't talk to, or maybe it's a celebrity, and then when that person starts a new relationship, you actually mourn that person. It's more so the person that you invented in your mind. And I think the reason why so many people turned on Sarah's day was
because they felt like her friends. So when these issues happened to her big scandals with the bushfires, people messaged her and were like, oh, Sarah, you should do this. And instead of her actually responding and saying like taking the criticism on board and saying I'm going to.
Do better, she just went and blocked a lot of these people.
And I think they felt like their friendship with her had ended, And that's why so many of the people went to Tattle to talk to like minded people. Yeah, And I think a lot of people bonded over the fact that they had all been blocked by Sarah's day. Well, there's also another theory, and it's about human ego. So it's this need to compare. So when we idolize someone very quickly, we compare ourselves to the person that we idolize, so then we begin to feel inferior to that person.
So the human ego can't handle this, and we then subconsciously try to gain an equal standing by tearing this person down so we feel better than them. So basically tool Poppy syndrome. Yeah, pretty much. That's so true because I feel like Sarah was most loved when she was an up and coming YouTuber, when she and Kurt had just got that small apartment.
People love them.
But I think when she started to get more and more successful off the back of the success of her ebooks, that's when people began to.
Turn on her.
And it's this parasocial relationship that we all have with influences. And for those who don't know, parasocial relationship is a one sided relationship where one person extends emotional energy, interest, and time and the other party is completely unaware of the other's existence. So for Sarah, she gives all access to her life, particularly when she first broke out onto the scene. As you were talking about Amy uploading videos every three days, so people genuinely felt like they knew
her and knew what was best for her. Do you think also because she started to make a lot of money off the ebooks, people felt like she owed them because people had bought the e books and funded this lifestyle of hers, and people thought, well, you know, I should have a say in what you're doing. Yeah, I think so, particularly if you are investing your own personal money into this person and then you're seeing them benefit from it, and then maybe people thought she changed a
little bit with money. Now, we did briefly mention tattle Life, and I do think that this forum plays a large role in cancel culture, and I'd say that Sarah's Day has one of the largest threads out of any Aussie influencer on there. Actually, I think Sophie Gweedland has her beaten. At the moment that thread is going so quickly there's always a new one, and I'm like, hang, and I haven't read.
These forty other pages.
Well, something that's so fascinating about tattle Life is that so many people come together on this page and they form friendships due to their mutual dislike of a celebrity, in this case, Sarah's Day. And it's so weird because it's all of these people, as we said, who are super fans, but then they have this inherent dislike of her now and they go as far as contact doing Sarah's sponsors and demanding that they don't work with her anymore. But is that an issue because some of the scandals
that happen with Sarah. I think that warranted that kind of response. And some of those people on there are super intelligent. When you read their posts, they're so articulate, and they probably think they're coming together to do the right thing, and in some instances, I think a lot of them have really good points. I think it's more so when it gets really petty that thing.
Where I don't like it.
I think it's the mob mentality on there, and that they all have to go one up again. It's sort of like they're trying to impress each other of how much they can ruin this person's life. And I think that's what I feel uncomfortable with, that the attempt to ruin someone's livelihood, Like you can be upset about what someone does, but I think when you start contacting people behind their back, it felt.
It be uncomfortable.
But I can see sometimes that being a positive thing. But I know where you're coming from when maybe someone hasn't really done the wrong thing. I think in the instance of Sarah's day in some of those scandals, she deserves to have people emailing brands. I think it comes down to the objective though. Is the objective because they really care about the issue, or are they just trying
to ruin her because they personally don't like her. It reminds me a lot of the l Darby scandal, and there is a huge hate threat on her on tatle life, and a lot of people came together to reach out to every single brand that she'd ever worked with. I just think there's some people who like to kick people whilst they're down. I mean, those brands presumably probably don't want to work with the influencer anyway.
They probably don't need your extra attention in trying to contact them.
I think it's just when it feels like an orchestrated hate campaign, that's when you've got a problem with it.
But if you are genuinely.
A consumer that you've noticed something that an influencer does and message a brand. I think that's fine. But when, as I said, it's very orchestrated and backing up, I think that's when there's an issue.
Now.
Despite Salty's Day's attempt to ruin Sarah and Kurt's wedding, they did get married in Byron Bay without a hitch, and the wedding seem like the perfect opportunity for Sarah
and Kurt to publicly discuss their Christian beliefs. So in their wedding video, which has a massed over one point five million views, Kurt spoke about how he and Sarah had both been brought up in Christian families, and Kurt explained that when Fox was born, they wanted to give him the same upbringing as they had, and it was a beautiful moment to bring them back into the church. God was mentioned a lot in their wedding vows, and
the couple's personal pastor delivered the service. Let's throw to what Kurt said in his vows.
During a really dark period of my life, I became reconnected with Gordon. I would pray for direction and purpose in my life. I prayed for a beautiful, skinny wife with some little surfy groms and just to live close to the coast. You Sarah really positively impacted my life and had such a massive influence on me and turned me into a better man.
Who could forget the skinny wife comment where was his best man? Saying, maybe don't put that, Well, he's a celebrant who looks over the bows. They had their personal pastor there, so maybe it's different when it's a pastor compared to a celebrant. I remember it kind of came out of nowhere. All this mentioned to God because Sarah had mentioned a few times that they were going to church on Christmas Day. But when I saw that video, I was like, wow, I didn't realize they were so religious.
Yeah, it was a bit of a shock.
I mean. Sarah's sisters also spoke about Sarah finding religion again. So they said that she'd always been the black sheep of the family and never wanted to go to church. Apparently she used to be embarrassed to talk about God, but her sisters were really happy to see that she was finally speaking about God publicly, and also that Kurt was doing the same thing. Do you guys think that this sudden mention of God in Sarah's wedding video was a bit of a strategic way for her to try
and break into the US market. Well, it was very interesting timing off the back of all of those controversies, and yeah, I do. I think that there was a lot of strategy involved. She's trying to make herself look like a good person. I think it's quite clear that her family were particularly religious, so they're clearly happy. I'm not saying it's something that's just been pulled out of nowhere. And it was a big shift for her to suddenly
be so religious in her videos. And we've also seen this used by other influencers a bit of a tactic when facing scandal. So US fitness influencer Britney Dawn Davis, she suddenly became a Christian slash faith influencer after she was accused of misleading people with her ebook, so she's
currently facing trial over the matter. Yeah, and upon reflection, I would say that Sarah's Day's core follower base is from the US because I feel like they've been somewhat removed from all of the drama that's been happening in Australia. After the promotion of this Sarah's Day special deep dive series, our US listeners have gone up, and it's because they
is so interesting that Sarah. Well, a lot of the people leaving us hate and defending her were from America and they seem quite unaware of these scandals.
Well.
A couple of months after her wedding, pregnancy rumors started swirling when Sarah shed an Instagram story where a Facebook messenger conversation was visible, so part of the conversation read sick the past two as well as eight weeks today. Now, this accidental disclosure caused quite the reaction on social media. Sarah's stands were over the moon, while her detractors accused Sarah of leaking the pregnancy details in an attempt to divert attention away from a radio segment on Hack that
criticized her. People might think it's absurd that she planted this information because you really did have to zoom in to see.
These conversations taking place.
But this was out of time when these anonymous influencer pages were on the rise and people were wanting to create news out of anything, and.
People were so tapped in because so many people were in lockdown, they were at home.
And you get a lot of attention if you were an influencer, if you appeared on one of these pages, particularly with a pregnancy announcement like that is just big news.
Well, we know it's huge business for her.
I don't actually think that she purposely did it, because remember there was that other scandal where she left open and a few photo files and it's a like Selly light pick, and that made it all over. Anyone that knows Sarah knows that she's always leaving typos in her story, So I don't think she's got a huge attention to detail. Now, if you fast forward to late August, Sarah shocked her followers by announcing she was taking a break from social media.
She wrote, be right back, just having a little social media break for the past two days and maybe tomorrow, Love you. Unsurprisingly, Sarah couldn't stay away. She shared a photo of her reading the Bible with the caption where I go when no one can answer my questions or make sense about circumstances. Sarah then shared a post where she wrote, to be as open as my heart will let me write. Now, I have chosen to openly admit that I am not okay and I'm going through some
personal things right now. Maybe someday I'll open up about it, maybe not. I'm not even thinking about that right now. I don't want you to feel sorry for me, but I would appreciate prayer, prayer for peace and clarity for our little family. This is not about Lockdown's COVID vaccinations or anything of that nature, she continued, saying, Honestly, I'm not coping very well, and I can't jump on my stories and be my normal self. I never want to
be fake, happy or bubbly. It's also not the kind of thing I want to talk about or want other's opinions on. I'm genuinely sorry for being somewhat secretive and confusing, but I am only comprehending my emotions right now and don't feel like sharing with the entire world when I'm emotionally exhausted and confused. New Despite saying that she wouldn't speak further on the very private matter, Sarah continued to
post about her day. She said it was important to give herself a few days to cry, spiral a little, and feel confused, angry, and sit on the couch or in bed for seventy two hours and not move. She said she wanted to forget the reality and try and act and feel normal. She continued to explain that for her, being online is normal. Sarah then went on to share
a video of her cradling fox and crying. She captured the video Okay, but honestly, I'm trying to fill our house with prayer and worship music this week, believing wholeheartedly in God's power. I was composed until Foxy came up to me and said, mummy sad. Sarah then shared a Bible verse that said, so do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am
your God. I will strength you and help you. I find it so utterly confusing that influencers have to announce that they'll be taking a break like that is just fueling speculation more. Why don't you just take the break and not say anything, because it just leads to more questions of people asking why are they taking a break?
What's going on?
It does, but Sarah posts so frequently that she kind of had to mention that she was going to be of social media. I know about that, but all of these posts, it got the rumor meal going, and the first rumor was that Sarah had miscarried, and a lot of people thought these posts were actually baiting the miscarriage, which upset a lot of people. The second rumor was that Kurt was cheating on her, which Sarah swiftly shot down, and the third rumor was that Sarah and Kurt had
found out that baby had an abnormality. So another month passed on social media and Sarah still hadn't updated her followers about the personal issue that she was going through. Instead, she announced on September twenty that she was starting an eight week challenge with her ebooks. So to make the deal a little bit sweeter, she disc e books by twenty percent and promised to do the fitness challenge with
her subscribers. So the fans who signed up to do the challenge with Sarah got a big shock when two days later, on the twenty second of September, she announced she was pregnant and therefore wouldn't be doing the challenge.
Now.
The announcement was.
Really confusing and complicated for Sarah's followers. For one thing, it was very low key compared to Sarah's first pregnancy, announcement with Fox. The video went for just over two minutes and was styled in an old VHS way, and the date on there said the twenty first of January nineteen ninety three, and in the video there were clips of pregnancy tests, celebrations, sonograms, bump shots, and then the date was updated to the tenth of May nineteen ninety two.
The video ended with an assortment of Bible verses, which included, for you created my inmost being, You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, and the last verse was for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you home and a future. There were very mixed
reactions to Sarah's pregnancy announcement. There was, of course, an outpouring of support from Sarah's fans, but there were also those who felt very triggered, as though Sarah had been baiting them over a miscarriage.
Others were quick to.
Defend Sarah, saying it's best not to judge the situation until they heard directly from Sarah and Kurt about what was going on now? Followers had to wait another three weeks for an update, so on the fourteenth of October, Sarah uploaded a video entitled Opening Up about What's been going on and Our Baby. In the YouTube video, Sarah and Kurt shared that their unborn son had been diagnosed with some unforeseen health issues. The health issue had been picked up at the ten week mark on a harmony
test during routine prenatal testing and screening. Sarah said the test came back with an abnormality that she had never heard of before. The couple did not disclose what the health issue is, as they don't want it to define their son. They did, however, share that they were advised by doctors to terminate the pregnant seat for their child's well being as well as their own.
Now.
In a recent interview with Grace Beverley, Sarah opened up about the experience, saying that she had never been in a black hole like that in her whole life, and she was a shell of a person. So Sarah explained the situation was particularly hard to navigate because of her Christian faith. Let's throw to what she said about deciding against terminating her pregnancy.
So I had to go in to numerous different genetic counselors and specialists in his genetic difference, and I couldn't go with my husband. So I went in and he said, do you know anything about your baby's condition? And by that time, it had been like three weeks, so I had like a month to sit on this. Oh my god, yeah, the anxiety. Yeah, and I'm not going to And so I'm a Christian, so that was even really hard for me to navigate because obviously Christian morals, life is life.
But then I started researching this condition and this difference, and then I was trying to justify in my head. I was like, this is this is unfair selfless exactly.
I'm like, am I.
Doing him a disservice by bringing him into the world? And this, this, this, And I called my pastor like I'm ministar, and I was searching the Bible for a verse that gave me an out that was like listen to your gut, and I basically couldn't find it.
It's really sad because ever since Malachi was born, there's been this online guessing game of what genetic abnormality he has, which is so disgusting, and I feel awkward even talking about it right now now. Sarah explained in a recent interview with Grace Beverley that people often message her demanding answers and criticize her for only telling half the details.
Let's have a listen to what she said. I can imagine you have back class. That's like ridiculous.
People say, oh, he doesn't look like he had Dann syndrome. I'm like, you never did, and then people were like, just confirm on to night does he have Dann syndrome. I'm like, I'm not going to play this game.
I'm not gonna say it's not that.
It's not kid getting hot hot, getting hotter, getting hotter.
We're not playing this game. I'm not playing this game.
There is no method or there is no strategy.
Now.
She went on to say it's not her place and she's not interested in being a spokesperson for the condition. However, if Malachi wants to one day talk about it, he can. Sarah also opened up about her decision to share that Malachi had a genetic abnormality. She said a part of the reason was that she was worried her midwives would spread the information as she had to disclose it on his medical records. I was really taken aback by this response.
As health professionals take patient privacy very seriously, it's hard to imagine that a midwife would risk losing their job just to spread gossip like this. I think all three of us have really found the Malachi situation a difficult topic to discuss and provide our opinion on, because for me, it doesn't sit right to morally judge Sarah and Kurt's
decision during a time of intense grief and pressure. I know there's a lot of people saying Sarah shouldn't have shared it to begin with, and it was very attention seeking, but because her job does fall into the category of sharing about her life.
It's a really tough one of where do you draw the line.
It does make me feel really uncomfortable that there are so many people out there trying to guess this poor little boy's health condition when it's something so deeply private.
For me, though, I.
Think that influencers could learn from this situation that they need to take a step back and actually go offline for an extended period of time rather than being rushed to give people an update. Because I feel like Sarah really fed into people's need for constant updates and information and maybe gave out information that she regrets, because it's impossible to take things back once you share them online. It's much easier to go quiet and provide clarity and updates later on.
Yeah, and I can see why.
People are arguing that Sarah and Kirk should have never shared these details about Malachi, because it is human nature for people to be curious and have the desire to learn more.
Yeah, exactly right.
And I think it's really difficult for Sarah because she is so used to sharing her children's lives online that it would have been this moment where she's like, I don't know what to do now. Eight days after giving birth to her son, Malachi, Sarah gave her followers a
postpartum body update. She said that she had been inundated with followers asking for the update, but she did put out a disclaimer saying that she's very sensitive to other women's postpartum journeys and doesn't want anyone to compare their bodies with hers. She then proceeded to share videos of herself posing in front of a mirror in a sports bra and highwated bike shorts. There was a lot of
flexing going on. She showed a lot of different angles, and she looked very lean and fit, with very clear ab definition and a thigh gap. It was very reminiscent of those body updates that she used to give during her project comebacks in twenty seventeen. And she also used this opportunity to announce that she and her physio Charlotte, had joined forces to create an ebook called The Pregnancy
Workout Guide. I found this body check situation very odd because she gave this sort of obligatory disclaim about being sensitive to other women's journeys, but in the next breath she was showing off her very tone stomach and flogging off a pregnancy Workout guide. And it's sort of clear that she's aware that she needs to give her disclaimers, but I think she believes that she gives a disclaimer, she can then continue and do whatever she wants. Everything's
just monetized, isn't it, though. Just every moment of Sarah's life there seems to be a new product or a new ebook brought out. Oh, this was clear strategy, because when Sarah is pregnant or when she gives birth, that's when the most eyeballs on her page.
So the fact that she.
Shows eight days after her son's birth to launch this collaboration, it was very clever and very strategic. She was also criticized for outlining her top tips for bouncing back after pregnancy during an episode of her Spotify exclusive podcast. So. The episode was entitled says He's top tips to bounce back after pregnancy, and the episode description read, before we get shunned for using the term bounce back, we don't mean getting shredded abs. We're talking about stretch marks, ab separation,
and weight management. Here are a few tips of what to do during pregnancy to make your bounce back journey post pregnancy a little easier. I did laugh for the use of the word weight management because it's quite clear that they mean weight loss. I also didn't like how she touched on stretch marks, because really, how do you bounce back from stretch marks that.
They're either there or they're not there.
Yeah.
Well, Sarah was forced to edit the episode an issue and apology. The apology said, we totally agree that bounce back culture is toxic and has no place in twenty twenty two. While the episode itself was focused around taking care of yourself during postpartum, and not at all about bouncing back. We know that the title the episode was given did not reflect this. In future, we will ensure that we personally cross check all titles and social media posts before they go live to ensure they reflect the
content of the episode itself. In light of all of the above, we have decided to remove the episode completely, as we don't want to contribute to messaging that doesn't reflect our own values or power women to always feel comfortable in their own skin. Why didn't they just edit the title if it didn't.
The episode talk about passing the buck as well? Which one is it?
Because they always talk about how you know, hands on they are with their content, but then anytime there's scrutiny around, it's someone else's fault. Yea, well, Amy. It's quite funny because in the actual podcast episode, Sarah says during the episode, now before you send me hate, this title is called how I Bounce Back? Now the word bounce back? Oh my goodness, I was racking my brains. What else can
I title this episode? She actually said that she titled the episode, and then Kurt's like, Nah, I don't care. Everyone's too sensitive, who cares about disclaimers. Let's just get into it, because honestly so I love the statement that they agree that bounce back culture is toxic and has no place. But Kurt literally mocked the people who found it offensive and labeled them as too sensitive. And ironically,
they didn't actually end up removing the episode. They only remove that excerpt of Kurt saying that people are way too sensitive.
It's just embarrassing.
I think it just shows that they need to hire people outside of their little cronulla bubble like this is a prime example that someone needed to listen to the episode, read the title and go, no, we can't have this. Wouldn't you think Spotify would be like nah? But they're aware of it themselves, like Sarah even said, oh, I didn't know what to call it.
So if you're aware that it's offensive, why is it?
I think with the Spotify thing, because they had to do a podcast every day that'd almost run out of content.
And we're just say, oh fuck it, we'll just do this one.
The thing is, though, surely if she had a media advisor or PR manager, they could have come up with a better apology than that. Now, circling back to the first of January twenty twenty two, and Sarah released her new ebook Sweat Limitless, which is the final progression in the series and touted as the most advanced so The eight week fitness plan was said to be designed to burn fat, sculpt and tone your muscles whilst making you fall in love.
With fitness now.
It was marketed by Sarah as the fitness guide she followed in the lead up to her wedding. She even commented that she should have called the book Sweat It to wed it Now. For decades, there has of course been immense pressure placed on women to launch grueling fitness regimes in the lead up to their wedding, and we've seen so many phrases like shredding for the wedding become mainstream in recent years.
Though, I really thought that there.
Had been a big pushback on this term web shread because so many body positive activists and also eating disorder experts have highlighted how toxic this term is because it robs so many brides of actually enjoying the lead up to their big day and not feeling like they're enough. Things became more troubling when Sarah released a reel to her Instagram feed marketing the program further. Let's throw to the audio from that reel.
To the girl who lays in bed every night and overthinks everything she ate that day, To the girl who forces herself to state the gym for over an hour, to the girl who dwells in guilt if she misses a workout.
I was you.
Getting myself to this point was far deeper than just the physical. It was about changing my mindset and creating a lifestyle, nourishing my body, listening to my body, moving because I love my body, not because I'm trying to fix it. So shout out to the girls who have come full circle and can rest in balance, consistency over burnout, balance over restriction, and finally listening to our bodies.
Now.
The backlash was swift, with followers accusing Sarah of promoting her program to people struggling with disordered eating. One follower wrote, so the way I see this, you're telling me to join your workout plan because I have anorexia. Do not see how specifically targeting eating disorders is immoral? Another wrote, this is targeting those with eating disorders, especially those with authorexia.
Please stop this now. One comment to actually caught Sarah's attention, which sparked a response, so they wrote, this is such a damaging message. What you are essentially saying is that instead of working on yourself and learning to forgive yourself, we can purchase your exercise program and feed the obsession to have a certain body type. This comment was liked over seven hundred and ninety times. Sarah responded saying yeah, no,
that's what I'm not essentially saying at all. Sorry, you've taken this in.
A negative light.
Now.
Leading Sydney based eating disorder recovery coach Mia Finlay slammed the program's marketing campaign and said it was targeted at vulnerable people. In a YouTube video entitled Dear Sarah's Day, this is wrong, Mia said she had never seen a diet or exercise program specifically geared and targeted towards people who either have or are at risk of an eating disorder.
She said, while there are many fitness influencers now co opting body positivity and intuitive eating, this is the first time she's seen someone co opt eating disorders and recovery.
The timing of this launch was also put under the spotlight because she did release the ebook on New Year's Day, and this is renowned as being the most lucrative time of the year for the diet industry because you're coming off the back of Christmas when people have usually overindulged, and then of course most people set fitness based New Year's resolution. So it was completely strategic to launch this
program when she did. And the legitimacy of this program has also been questioned because Sarah said that she created the full fitness plan, and that is despite the fact that she has no formal qualifications in fitness, and she also spoke openly in the lead up to her wedding about actually working with a personal trainer for at least six months to prepare. Now, despite this, her PT got no mention or wasn't credited in the ebook.
Now, moving on from.
The ebook drama, I really want to discuss Sarah using her kids's content because that came up in April twenty twenty two. So Sarah baited her then three year old son Fox's haircut for weeks. Now this was on your average kid's haircut. Fox's hair used to be very beautiful. It was long, blonde ringlets and it sat past his shoulders. So when Sarah finally shared the dramatic transformation. She disclaimed in the outro of the video that she doesn't use
her kids for content. Let's throw to what she said.
Yeah, like I said, I do feel a little bit weird of just like that was like the main part of the vlog because Malachi and Fox are the center of my life.
Also Kurt.
We love Kurt, but just being a mum, especially a mom of two now, my boys are just everything to me.
I'm not going to become a family vlog channel.
Like the boys are obviously a part of my vlogs, but I just don't ever want my videos to be.
Centered around my kids. So this is kind of like an anomaly, just something a little bit different. But yeah, like moving forward and what I'll continue to do.
This is the Sarah's Day channel, and I just want to make sure you know I'm protecting them and you know they can be featured and you guys see them all the time.
But yeah, I just don't want my kids to be content, you know.
So yeah, obviously they're in my vlogs because they're with me all the time, but just moving forward, the vlogs will kind of not go back to normal but like they'll be back to like Sarah's day stuff of like, you know, in two weeks, I potentially get to go back to training, so I'll be vlogging all of that.
This disclaimer was very much in response to the back line that Sarah had been receiving for clickbaiting Fox's hair, and it was quite uncomfortable to watch because it felt like she was almost trying to convince herself that she wasn't using her son for content, and a lot of people found it very hypocritical that Sarah said that this sort of video was an anomaly, considering her last three
videos had been about her son. Along with the haircut video, she had shared a video of Fox meeting his baby brother, Malachi for the first time, and before that it had been Sarah's labor vlog. I think that she should just own the fact that she is moving over to a family esque channel exactly. And then, just two months later, after saying she didn't want to use her kids as content, she revealed on her podcast that she was considering starting
a YouTube channel for Fox. So a then three year old Fox had asked his parents if he could start his own cooking channel, as he regularly cooks with Sarah on her channel now. Sarah said she was unsure whether she should let him and was concerned about trolling or Kurt said they should just do it. I think it's healthy for kids to do it. We live in a world of content now, you can't escape it.
I love that. It's like, oh, but he asked us to create it.
He's three kids want to be like a crocodile atag They don't understand the potential ramifications for having this channel, thetrolling that might go in the fact that you're also putting him out there to potential predators that they should know.
Because Sarah has been on YouTube for so many years.
Yeah, what I think the thing is Fox has been a main character on her channel for four years now, and you can see by watching Sarah's content that he loves being in front of a camera and he's very aware of when he is being filmed. He often says things like welcome back to my channel and talks to the camera as if it's a person, just.
Like Sarah does. Sad and scary, isn't it.
It kind of makes me feel sad watching it because he kind of comes across as his performing monkey when the camera comes out.
I think that's a lot of kids.
Though we used to love it when our dad got the camera out. But I suppose it adds this added level that he knows that he's speaking to fans.
And also he's spoken on.
Sarah's story about the fact that he's had fans come up to him, so he's very aware of what's going on. And I do wonder when he gets older. I mean, at the moment, he currently plays up to the camera, but will he begin to get self conscious and start to moderate his behavior as he starts considering how people perceive him online. I think it will all come to a head when he starts going to school and children
start saying stuff in the school yard. Also, there might be issues around his privacy if Sarah shares about the fact that he's going to school, or accidentally shares his school uniform. There's a lot of safety concerns around this type of exposure for someone who, Yes, influencers are famous, but then again they don't have the security that top celebrities have. I just can't imagine what it would be like to have your most private moments as a child
shared to millions of people. I mean Fox's birth log has over nine million views. And there's just such an interest in Sarah's kids' lives, and that's because she has always shared them as part of her content.
Imagine when Fox starts dating. Think about when you start.
Dating someone you do a full deep dive on their social media. His potential date will be able to go see when he's born, We'll be able to see him toilet training. Well, no one knows the long term impact that family vlogging is going to have on future children because it is such a new phenomenon, And can you imagine being a kid and that every outing you go on is turned into a content shoot. You would feel like you need to perform rather than actually just enjoy yourself.
To me, it's quite clear that Sarah is confused not only about the direction of her channel, but also how she feels about her kids being content on it. And ever since Sarah felt pregnant, her channel has taken a massive shift from health and fitness towards lifestyle and family content. And to me, the change makes complete sense seeing as
it now reflects her new season. As she would say, so, I don't think it's so much that people have an issue with Sarah's channel evolving into a family channel, it's a fact that she's not owning it. And that being said, while people expect Sarah to share about her children, I think there's a line, and there's a difference between having your kids appear in the background of a YouTube video to actually basing the whole video around the child.
Yeah.
At the start of the year, Sarah did speak about how this year was very pivotal for her on a YouTube channel. She expressed that she didn't want to be sharing vlogs about her life anymore because her kids were getting to an age where she wanted to look after their privacy. It's interesting because she has now reverted back to the vlogs. It didn't take her long to come back to that original content because it's clearly whateveryone wants to hear. No one's interested in seeing her workout routines.
They want to know what's going on in her day to day life. So what do you guys think the next couple of years will hold for Sarah's day? Do you think that she still will be a big presence on YouTube or do you think that perhaps she's trying to step away from the spotlight well, I think the fact that Sarah and Kurt launched a creative agency called House of Grom's in twenty twenty two is sort of shows the direction that they're moving in.
So Kurt previously did.
Own his own creative agency, which was called Cage Tills, but the new rebrand saw Kurt and Sarah come together and establish their own collective brand, and now Sarah's own brands and podcasts work under the umbrella of the House of grom So they've set up their own studio in Crinulla. They also have plans to establish a photography studio in
their new holiday home that they purchased in March. So it is clear that they are trying to establish alternative revenue streams in case their influence does come crashing down. And as we've seen during this four part series, there have been a lot of times when her influence has
been tested. I found it quite interesting to look at their social blade accounts because while Sarah has one point two million followers on Instagram, that number has stayed very stagnant for the past few years and I had a look, so this month she has lost two thousand, seven hundred followers, and Kurt also lost one thousand, five hundred and thirty So I don't know whether it's because no one's interested in the new direction that she's potentially moving in. Even
her Tattle Life threat has stopped, which she probably down. Yeah, it's slowed down, which she probably likes. But I think it's indicative of Sarah sharing less content, being less controversial. At some point people are going to be less interested because I think a lot of the haters are actually fueling her popularity at the moment on social media. See
I don't know if she's been less controversial. I feel like she is second guessing everything that she's saying, and perhaps that's why people are switching off, because I think what was one of Sarah's real highlights and positives of her channel was that she was so real and raw, and now you feel like she is pretending and kind of having to second guess everything that she's saying, and it's not as enjoyable to watch. I think it's also
the loss of frequency. You know, she was posting three times a week that really got people engaged in her life. Now we don't know when we're going to see a new vlog, and she seems to be putting up a few more barriers. It does leave many questioning if we will see her choose to step out of the limelight for a more quiet life. But something tells me that she is an habitual overshare and really does enjoy the attention. Well, I think that's where we will leave Sarah's story for now.
We have thoroughly enjoyed researching and putting together this four part series. Thank you so much for listening and it means the world to us that you are supporting Outspoken Plus. If you have enjoyed today's show, could you please make sure you share about the series on your Instagram and will be back in your ears next week for another episode of Outspoken Plus.
This episode was recorded.
On the traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes. We pay respect to elders past and present.