Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm Sophie Torbah and coming up on today's show, So for Dophah labels Australian Fashion Week a shit show and Sammy Guggenheimer is called out for mistreating a Stan. But first, Tammy Hembro declared over the weekend that she has baby fever. The mum of three went as far as asking her followers if she should have another baby, before adding kidding
but not kidding Kate, a rather surprising revelation. Yeah, it wasn't what I was expecting from Tammy, considering the marriage breakdown rumors that are swirling. So Matt and Tammy still appear to be living in separate states, and Tammy has made it very clear that Matt isn't at home, so she's constantly posting with her kids watching movies in bed together. She also appeared Australian Fashion Week by herself. Matt's been making it pretty obvious that he is back living in
Melbourne too. He's been going on a lot of solo movie trips. He also slept the MCG for charity and a couple of photos actually popped up of him chatting to some girls, which Tammy would not be happy about. And he's also been posting a lot of happy snaps with family. It almost gives the vibe that his family are rowling behind him.
At this time.
Yeah. Well, he shared a photo dump of pictures of him and his family standing next to this brick wall and wrote the caption brick by brick, So it seems like he's rebuilding himself.
That's very deep from him.
And he also shared a photo of him walking in a forest with his mum from twenty twenty one and then again in twenty twenty five.
It shows how close he is to his family in Melbourne.
I want to talk about these posts that Tammy uploaded on Sunday morning because they were very strange. So, she had been watching the Twilight series with her kids and she was saying how excited she was that they.
Were getting into it.
And in one of the movies, I mean, I'm not a Twilight stand so I'm not across this franchise, but there was a baby featured in it which looked like an AI baby.
It's not actually a real baby, and she's creepy, wasn't that? Yeah.
She took a photo of the television screen with the baby on it and wrote me baby feether with a shaking hands emoji and said, guy, should I have another one?
Low now?
That was quickly followed up with a picture of wolf on the bed and said kidding but not kidding now. This is all very strange because this comes off the back of her husband, Matt, speaking very openly about his struggles with fertility recently on the Inherited podcast. He doesn't like to call himself infertile, but he has said that there is a high likelihood that he will really struggle to have children yet because he can't naturally conceive because
he doesn't have any sperm. He did say that there is a procedure that he can have that would increase the likelihood of him being able to have children. That's why I was so surprised that Tammy would share something like this, because it did seem quite insensitive to Matt and what he's been going through. The timing of her post was also quite curious because it was the same day that her ex fiance, Matt Paul, announced the arrival
of his son with his fiance Anna Lee. So they called the baby Parker William Paul and he'll be the brother of Tammy Hembro's daughter, Posey. So they really like the double pea names Posey Paul and Parker Paul. That's quite a mouthful, and I'm going to be too critical of the names because I'll be putting my baby name
out there soon. But I am surprised that you'd go with a double pe Well, Amy went with a double H. I think because p makes such a specific noise, like it's difficult to pronounce two peas two peas in the pot two piece. The birth announcement was really beautiful because they had a professional photographer. They're taking photos and one thing that stood out to me is that Matt just
looked so thrilled and happy in the vision. And then I was comparing it to his appearance in Tammy's birth flog, and it was so clear that they must have broken up because his vibe was completely different.
Yeah.
It was really around the time of Posey's birth that followers started picking up on the fact that something wasn't quite right in their relationship. Matt Paul was beginning to be quite absent from Tammy's content similar to what we're
seeing now with Matt's kowski. It does seem like Tammy's surrounded by babies at the moment, because prior to posting that she had baby fever, she had been hanging out with her best friend Isabel Laws and her new baby daughter, and there'd been a couple of photos uploaded of Tammy holding the baby, so this would be adding to it. Interestingly, Isabel Laws also recently unfollowed Matt Zakowski on Instagram, which.
Created a few headlines.
Matt really is not helping this situation. So on his podcast this week with Anna macavoy, they spoke about the candle, firework, and mirror theory, which is this social media relationship theory describing different types of relationships. When Anna was getting into these relationship theories, I felt like she had to stifle a giggle a couple of times because it was so clear that the firework theory, which we will throw to
in a second, is literally Tammy and Matt. Oh, it was so awkward, Yet it was kind of like this laugh that she knew the audience would know that.
This was about them.
Yeah, it's kind of like that she knows she's not allowed to say anything, but for the sake of their podcast and getting ratings up there, they'll start in fairing stuff.
Yeah, let's throw it a little bit.
Of that segment.
So first, let's start with the firework, the most crazy one, as the name suggests, being a firework. So this love is the intoxicating love, the one that burns bright but fades quickly. So we've all had that relationship, I think, especially when I was younger, I think the firework theory happened a lot. Like you meet someone, it's explosions and then next minute like it's over.
It all happens so quick.
Super and literally. Is that what they called the burn bright eye on?
Yeah, So it's exciting, it's dramatic, it's explosive, basically like an actual firework, it fizzles out quickly and often leaves behind a smoky aftermath of drama and emotional wreckage. Matt, can I relate, Yeah.
I think in a couple of firework relationships, definitely. I feel like these ones, though everyone has to go through them. I mean, I say everyone, that's a bit of a broad statement, but I feel like you learn from them, and I feel like you better yourself from those relationships and understand a bit more about yourself and a bit more about dating. We've always said on this podcast dating is about learning, and to learn you need to get
out there and explore different scenarios in different relationships. I think it's a very not useful, but it's something that might seem tramatic at the time, but you learn from it.
Yeah, I think the firework love rarely works out.
The vibe I got from that is that Matt is saying, oh, he's learned so much from this firework relationship with Tammy and he's grown as a person and he's matured.
Now that it's over. Is that kind of what you picked up on.
I actually don't think it's definitely over. I think that they're on a break to improve themselves. So I think Matt is trying to say, like that brick by brick post that he did, that he's working on himself and he's going to return to Tammy a better man. How are you, I'm working on your relationship when you're not even in the same state well and not even liking each other's Instagram photos. I know that sounds petty, but I've noticed that they haven't liked any for weeks now.
And the awkward thing is he's on this relationship podcast and he didn't mention his wife's name once, whereas Anna macavoy kept referencing her husband throughout all it. Oh yeah, they were talking about how it's fun as a couple to do painting classes, and earlier in the year, I think it was around New Years, Matt and Tammy painted each other and he referenced that, but he didn't use her name at all or even reference who he did the painting class with. Yeah, Like, he didn't say my wife.
He just said, oh, yeah, I did this with a partner once, I know, And despite not talking about Tammy, Matt referenced a friends with benefit situation which turned into a relationship. I'm sure Tammy would have been absolutely thrilled with this. So it got brought up when Anna was saying that most relationships start with some type of firework, and Matt said this.
As with one when I was like cooking up with the girl for like a couple of years before I realized that she was cool shit can started dating her for over two years.
That's that must be a rare scenario. Yeah, so what you guys were like friends with benefits. Yeah, and then it moved into it just it just.
Got more and more, like you know, from every fortnight to like once a week, twice a week it like go home after going out with her or go like and then eventually just got more and more like you know, in the more you talk, and it was like dates more dates, and it just gradually became a relationship. Didn't work out obviously, Yeah, but you know you're young.
Well, to be fair, he's obviously been told by Tammy that he's not to mention her at all and anything.
To do with this situation.
So if he does have this Dating and Relationships podcast, he really can only refer to past relationships. Yeah, but hearing that story made him sound like such a player and made it seem even stranger that he raced into this relationship with Tammy. I didn't pick up on that at all. I just thought he was talking about a relationship he had when he was quite young. I actually thought it might have been with that Genevieve that keeps
calling him out. I mean, I love that he says it took him a couple of years of having sex with this woman to realize that she was a cool chick, I mean, how awful is that?
Let's talk about Australian Fashion Week. This is my third year attending Australian Fashion Week and I just wanted to do a little debrief on how this year has been. So it's definitely been an experienced.
TikTok girl Sophia Beg is at the center of an Australian Fashion Week scandal. The twenty one year old influencer, better known by her handle Sofa Dofa, labeled the event a shit show and called out media in attendance. Now, before we get into the drama, so can you get listeners up to speed with who Sofa Dofa is?
Well?
She is a big deal in the Australian fashion scene. She's a GenZ style icon with her own fashion label that often sells out now. When she was seventeen, her influencer career really took off off the back of her wearing a blue corset from Glassons.
On her TikTok.
That item immediately sold out everywhere and she attracted a mass audience which now sits at almost.
Three million followers.
She also made a name for aus when she called out fashion label White Fox Boutique and We spoke about Sofa on the podcast recently, as her name got dragged into the Anna Paul saga. So Mikayla Tester alleged that Anna Paul made derogatory comments about her appearance.
In her Close Set Eyes apparently, and since then.
A lot of people have had a soft spot for her, which is why when she uploaded a TikTok talking about her mistreatment at Australian Fashion Week, the people tuned in. The video went viral and has over a million views now. The video went for almost eight minutes and there are several parts that I want to discuss. The first is about the media in attendance. So Sofa called out the journalists doing vox pops outside the event. She labeled their
questions as diabolical and inappropriate. Now, for those unfamiliar with the term vox pop, it's a short interview with a member of the public, normally in a public place like on the street or at an event, and the purpose is to gather a range of opinions or reactions. However, in this new age of media, the motive of vox pops has really changed, so they're now being used at events like these to try and create a viral moment
that will gain a lot of engagement online. Things have really changed since the TikTok Awards because there are a couple of influencers who were caught off guard on the red carpet and fucked up and said stupid shit.
That went viral.
For instance, there was a general question which was being thrown at influences around whether they thought the job of an influence was hard, and most of them were smart enough to play it off and say, oh, you know, we're very lucky to have this position, whereas one influencer went into how difficult her role was and that the public would just be unaware of the amount of work that she put into it, which was not a popular response.
There was also that clip of Anna Paul that went viral where she was asked if she could be another content creator for twenty four hours, who.
Would it be?
And she said someone that was super super rich that traveled a lot. And everyone's like, but that's you, Like, how unaware are you?
Yeah?
And you can see that this is a tactic that they've been trying to implement an Australian Fashion Week, because you would expect that there'd be a lot of questions about fashion and what the influencers are wearing. But instead reporters have been asking invasive questions to try and catch influencers out. Yeah, and it's always at the influencer's expense,
isn't it now. Sofa was visibly taken aback when she was asked on camera how much she earns and to also divulge the biggest brand deal she's ever turned down. They also wanted her to name and shame that brand. This is what she said about it on a TikTok.
I feel like the interviewer's sole purpose this year especially is just to catch people out with tricky questions that they know they're going to get like juicy answers from. Like, I feel like a lot of the questions they're trying to get Tea, they're trying to get juicy answers, and a lot of the questions you can see are visibly making the creators feel uncomfortable.
I just think that this tactic is very unfair, particularly when you consider how young some of these influencers are and that they really haven't had any immedia training. That would be a very.
Difficult question to answer diplomatically.
Yeah, it kind of shocks me when you realize that Sofa Dofa is only twenty one years old, and it's not the first time that she's been rattled by an interview you before. So She was trolled after her exchange with Tony Armstrong at the twenty twenty three TikTok Awards, and during that interaction, Armstrong asked her how she was feeling, saying you look ecstatic and I'm pumped for you, and Sofa DPA replied, thank you, will stop flirting with me. It was really awkward. We did talk about it on
the podcast when it happened. Just Tony hit back and said that he had a girlfriend and everyone was like, oh, good on him for turning her down. It was clear that in that moment she thought that he was giving her some type of compliment, and she explained later on that other people had been complaining that interviewees weren't giving them anything and she wanted to be fun.
It was just really a joke.
Yeah, and that moment clearly lives rent free in Sofa's mind because she spoke about how she was freaking out during the Australian Fashion Week interviews and so as You touched on she's one of the influencers that hasn't had media training, and she said that she was stressing having to answer these questions alone without her manager or her mum.
I think because these viral videos disappear so quickly from our fore pages that you forget how difficult it would actually be for people to put up with the brutal commentary that's going on in the comments section, because those influencers get tagged all the time, and if you're someone that looks at your tags and reads the comments, I mean, it'd be very hard not to read what people were saying.
I know, people go, oh, well, just don't look at it, and it's like, well, her job and other influencers a job is to create content, and they have to use those apps in order to put their content out there and get paid, so of course they're going to look at their notification. And also, influencers get criticized if they don't respond to followers requests about where they got their outfere from, or if you look generally rude for not replying to a really lovely comment.
Now.
During this TikTok video, Sofa said that she's often asked how she's so confident.
Let's take a listen to what she said.
Other creators or like just people in general. My dms were asking me like, how are you so confident? I'm like, I'm the least confident person ever, Like I have raging body, the small fear and on antidepressants.
I found that really difficult to listen to. And it just shows what smoke and mirrors social media is because Sofa looks like such a confident person online.
It also shows how.
Detrimental the Anna Paul comments would have been for her mental health and also her confidence. Yeah, and unfortunately, it seems like the media ended up getting what they wanted, so a clip of an influencer calling out Sofa went viral. In in our deleted video, a journalist ask content creators attending the event to name a micro trend final boss.
What does that mean?
Yeah, I had no idea what this man. I had to do some digging. So it's a popular term on TikTok, and it's used in a derogatory way to describe someone who chases fashion trends and doesn't have personal style. So micro trends are really unpopular on TikTok at the moment. So to name someone who embodies.
That is a very low blow. What do you mean they're in popular?
I feel like for years now, all we've been seeing a micro trends. Is it sort of out of fashion to follow those? Is the way you're saying, Yeah, it's very unfashionable now to be seen to just be copying micro trends. You're seeing as someone that actually isn't very fashionable at all now. Most of the content creator's interview looked uncomfortable and avoided answering the question. However, controversial influencer
Jamie as a party named Sofa. They said, I love watching Sofa dofa, but I felt like sometimes she doesn't do fashion the way I do fashion. So, for those not familiar with Jamie, they are a celebrity stylist who is non binary, so uses they then pronouns, and Jamie isn't a stranger to drama. Last year at the festival, they made headlines when they made this grand entrance into a show, flanked by helpers holding their dress. Yeah, and
the backlash towards Jamie was pretty swift. They were instantly labeled a hypocrite online because they wore a sheene dress to the event. Which is a cardinal sin.
And when we're talking about micro trends, Sheen is one of the biggest contributors of these.
Yes, it was a very strange move, particularly after they wore Sheen. Now, on the topic of Sheen, I have to say the journalists ended up getting me because they're obviously trying to rage, bade everyone and create all this engagement because they were asking influencers what would you change about fashion in Australia, and a lot of influencers said fast Fashion. And I was just scoffing because I'm like, so many of you have promoted Fast Fashion, you're doing
collaborations with Fast Fashion. I understand that it's something that we want to end, but if you're so passionate about it, don't promote it. I am just shocked that anyone would want to be seen wearing Sheen to Australian Fashion Week. Well, I think Jamie likes being talked about, so it was probably something that they thought would get a lot of attention, I mean, for the wrong reasons. Now, Sofa addressed the controversy in her TikTok video, saying this.
I feel like the Australian influencer scene is already so toxic and we have such big like tall poppy syndrome, like we don't need other creators bringing people down. Also, I got named as one of them by someone that will shan to Australian Fashion Week.
Well she has a good point, Yes she does now.
Jamie responded in a lengthy statement on their Instagram story. In it they backtracked and claimed they didn't understand the question they were asked. They wanted to say that they had been unfairly edited, but was ultimately disappointed by how SOFA addressed it. They said, I think what you've said is questionable at best. It's a tough one because again Jamie has been set up by the journals. It's difficult in that situation when you put on the spot and
you feel like you have to give a name. There may have been a lot of pressure in going on for them to give some sort of response, particularly after a lot of the other influences gave them nothing. Yeah, but Jamie is known for creating controversies, so I think it works to some influencer's favor because Jamie is the type of influencer who likes controversy. They want to get that attention so you know, the journalists and influencers can
work together. We've seen it with Anna Paul and Mikayla Tester. I think that is spurring a lot of this on because I think a lot of mainstream media went wow, that went off. Let's pit other content creators against each other and try and enjoy some of those cliques and views. As a journalist, I can completely see why they're following this direction. It's very clever. It's a great way to
create engagement and also create brand news stories. Well, at the end of the day, traditional media is dying and media companies need to jump on these new forms of media. I mean everyone always complains about clickbait journalism. This is just the new form of it. It's keeping up with TikTok. They're trying to get eyeballs and interurn dollars. Yeah, but I think that this style of questioning actually adds a lot of excitement and extra interest around their red car.
But I think it'd be boring if it was just like, oh, what are.
You wearing today? And why?
Why do the journals have to play it safe with them? These people are earning a fluck ton of money. They all have managers maybe they should have a bit of media training in order to answer some of these questions. Yeah.
The thing that makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable though, is the media exploiting these content creators and sort of engagement farming, getting all these comments on their videos and that obviously increases their views, But then they're not moderating any of the comments because of course not going to because that, you know, decreases the engagement.
Well, that's obviously a separate issue in itself.
I definitely think that the media has to have more responsibility over moderating comments sections and turning comment sections off.
But in saying that, I.
Do feel like if you have a public profile, you should be in a position where you can answer questions tactfully, like that sort of just comes with the job. I mean, I think we're going to see more and more influencers getting media training and then these type of vox pops
will probably disappear because the journalists won't get what they want. Now, if things couldn't get any worse for Australian Fashion Week, Sofa Dofa had one last thing to say, so she labeled the event a shit show and said that the lack of diversity on the runway was fucking insane. Here's more of what she said.
Part of my French. But like, I went to a show yesterday and the like diverse wasn't even in their vocabulary, like they didn't even know what that word was, and it was just so shit. Like I was just sitting there like this is so shit, Like right, Australian Fashion Week, where is the diversity? Where is the inclusivity? I just thought in twenty twenty five we would have been a lot better at that by now.
Now not a glowing review by one of Australia's biggest influencers. I can just imagine the organizers seeing this all going down, particularly because this year the event was up in the air after sponsor IMG pulled out after running the event for twenty years. So the Australian Fashion Council saved the event, but they will not be liking this feedback. And I think that this is a big reason why people love SOFA, because she's not afraid to call injustices or things that
she doesn't think are right out. I wonder if she'll be on the invite list next year, Like.
Someone will be asking, oh, like so, what's happening with this, like when's this happening?
Or like what is this?
And that The influencers response is like, I don't understand why the fuck you would even comment this.
The way influencers treat their fans in the spotlight after podcaster Sammy Guggenheimer scolded a longtime listener for daring to ask when her show was returning, The Influences, a lead podcast just for girls, has been on a temporary hiatus with no communication from either host about the state of the show's future. Yeah, and since late last year, there's been rumors of a friendship breakdown between the hosts, Sammy Guggenheimer and also Easy Armitage and what that means for
their podcast going forward. So The Influencers launched their podcast back in March twenty twenty three, and the show follows the similar structure that we've seen a lot of influencer led podcasts follow. So basically, the women share updates about their lives and they and their audience figure out their early twenties together.
It's nothing new, Yeah, I feel like that is the blurb.
For so many influence podcasts now. Back in March, rumors of a rift between the hosts really ramped up when both Sammy and Izzy removed the just for Girls link from the Instagram bios, and there was this huge radio silence about what was actually going on, which often causes rumors to get out of hand and start taking a life of their own. So one rumor that gained a lot of traction was that the girls had a falling out over an ex. So many were convinced that Sammy
was upset at Easy for sleeping with her ex. So Sammy got even by sleeping with Izzy's X. Now, I think we have to point out that those are unsubstantiated allegations.
We have no idea whether that is true.
But that is just the rumor that is going around on TikTok, which it's a pretty terrible rumor. Yeah, and the girls ended up taking the piece out of that rumor sharing this satirical video. So she fucked both my ex boyfriends, and I went, oh, I'm gonna now fuck yours, and now we're going.
Oh, let's just be friends again.
So that's the situation.
Yeah, So we hated each other, so glad you were wife your mom now and like we you were beefing.
So the boy were all also fucked your first boyfriend that you dated when you were sixteen.
Yeah, you didn't tell you that more ideas?
Sorry?
Oops?
Where Yeah?
I mean it's one way to address a rumor. I do enjoy it when people just do it with a bit of humor.
Yeah.
Now, despite attempting to put the rumors to bed, listeners became suspicious again last month when the women stopped recording completely. So for the past four weeks they've just been uploading reruns with no explanation of what's going on or what their future plans are for the show. I hate when
podcasts do this. We actually had a thread in our Facebook community about this, how a lot of influencers will start up a podcast and they don't realize how much work it is to actually have a consistent podcast coming out every week, and then they just go a wall and never return to it. I am still waiting for the Sam and Billy show to come back. That has been gone for a year. They've never updated on their social media accounts to say what's going on with it.
It's like so unprofessional. I think a lot of influencers forget that if you start a podcast, you become part of people's weekly routines, and they build this parasocial relationship with you because I think I think on podcasts people speak in obviously conversation away, but they open up more like you feel like you really know someone when you listen to their podcast, and you feel like you're being shut out by a friend when suddenly the podcast just
stops and there's no explanation as to what's going on. Yeah, there's definitely a strong parasocial relationship I think with podcasters and their listeners. And this is where podcast listener Nikita Kathleen comes into the story. So, Nikita has been a long time fan of the Just for Girls podcast, revealing she traveled for hours to attend the girl's live show and she's been to all of their events lined up
to meet them. And she's also a paid subscriber to the podcast and spent over seven hundred dollars on Sammy's recent collection Drop.
So she is a.
Stand of Sammy Gugenheimer. Yeah, she's very dedicated to the girls. She's obviously invested a lot of time and money to support them. Yeah. Now, back in April, Nikita created a video asking whether YouTubers or podcasters owe their audience and explanation or an update when they take an unexpected hiatus or go mia. While the video was general in nature, Nikita did reference the Just for Girls podcast in passing,
which in hindsight, she says she shouldn't have done. Now, the video started gaining traction and led to Sammy and Izzy weighing in in the comment section. It is unclear what the girls commented, because Nikita has since deleted the video out of respect for them, but she said it was clear that they were frustrated by the video, and she actually ended up messaging them privately and apologizing.
She said.
Izzy didn't respond to her message, but sam ended up replying, saying that she felt personally attacked by Nikita's video, especially because Nikita had been a longtime fan. Sam also said to her that the public doesn't know everything that's going on behind the scenes, and it's not fair for them
to talk about it now. Fast forward a couple of weeks and Nakita, along with a number of other disappointed listeners, started asking the girls in their TikTok comment section about what was going on with the podcast, and Nikita explained that she was curious so she loves the show and wrote is the podcast coming back or is it just going to be reruns. Sammy ended up replying directly to Nakita, writing,
we have spoken about this. I don't know why you feel the need to speak publicly once you have messaged me apologizing now. Nakita responded saying we only spoke on my video that I deleted and not the podcast. I was just asking because it's not in either of your bios anymore and people miss it. I'm not attacking you, but asking a question. I'm just wondering. As a fan of the pod.
Nikita was really worried that people.
Would come for her in the comment section, seeing as Sammy waded in and seemed to be annoyed at her, But in reality, a lot of the listeners were disappointed by Sammy's tone to her, and many noticed that Sammy liked one of the few negative comments that was directed at Nakita. So the negative comment said hopefully we can have an end to your trolling and speculation.
We can only hope now.
Nakita ended up creating a five minute response video explaining how she felt about Sammy's response. Let's ever listen to some of what she said.
I just want to say. This was never supposed to be hate. This was never supposed to be me attacking them. I was really just curious as a fan as to what's going on, and a lot of other people were asking questions as well, And yeah, it kind of hurt. Her response kind of hurt because it's like it was only to me. She hasn't responded to anyone else. She
hasn't addressed to anyone else. Everyone that's been asking, she hasn't said anything, and she could have just said like update coming soon or something, but like, yeah, like and because I've met her, like, yeah, kind of hurt. So I've since I'm followed. Unfortunately, it did hurt a little bit as a fan. It was a bit disappointing because
I've put so much support and energy into them. I've traveled hours and hours to see them, Like you know, I've put in a lot of effort, I guess, and to not get the same public respect, I guess you could say back like I've always defended them and stuff.
I felt really sorry for Nikita hearing this. It is clear that she has invested a lot of time and money into supporting these two women, and it feels like they were more than aware of this. They know exactly who she is, and I feel like Nikita's biggest crime is literally being upset that her favorite podcast isn't returning. I mean, it'd be worse if Sammy and Izzy when on this hiatus and literally none of the listeners cared
or noticed. But you've literally got someone who's devoted to you being like, oh my god, I missed this show so much. Please let me know when it's coming back. And I don't know how difficult it would be to say, hey, Nikita, thank you so much. It was so excited that you love the show. We don't have any information right now, but we will update you as soon as we know.
This really isn't an isolated incident. I mean, we've actually got to thread in our Facebook community about people who have been blocked by influencers, And often these people are fans of the influencer and they're merely just suggesting something in the comments, they're not trying to be rude, and then they end up getting blocked. And a lot of the time when this happens, there's this parasocial relationship that's
going on, and you honestly feel so rejected. Like I've had heaps of influencers blocked me because of this podcast, and I feel a bit hurt because I'm like, I love watching your content and a lot of the time people then turn into not trolls, but they go on tatle life and they have a bit of a bitch about the influence. Yeah, it's kind of because you feel like the influence as a friend, and particularly if you've
been supporting them for a long time. A lot of influencers forget about this parasocial relationship that people have with them, and they don't realize that these people have been following them for such a long time, and because they really love them and respect what they do. If there's something that they feel like they could be doing better, or they have a question about when something's coming back, they'll ask it. But they're not doing it with malice. They're just wanting to know something.
It is hard.
Because on the other side of it, we obviously have this podcast and we have a lot of listeners message us, and sometimes you have to go, oh, hang on, they're not having a go they're just sharing an opinion.
But it's difficult to reatone over messages as well.
You can sometimes feel like you are being attacked and you're like, hang on, I've tried really hard putting this content out, so I can kind of see a little bit where Sammy's coming from. I don't think she's executed it very well, because you need to go hang on. This is someone who is paying for my podcast subscription, is a fan of the show. They just want the podcast back. I think a lot of podcasters and influencers need to remember that this is a business at the
end of the day. And if you were in any other sort of professional role and a client or a customer came to you with something they were dissatisfied about or just a general question, a lot of these times they're just questions.
You could never respond so rudely to them. Yeah, exactly.
I mean, think about how many times you were working in a retail job and you'd love to tell someone to go get fucked, but you don't.
Like you just got to be professional. And that's the thing.
Even though listeners, unless you've got a sub channel, don't necessarily pay for your content, they are still supporting you by downloading your episode. They're helping you grow, They're helping you go higher in the charts, which leads to sponsorships. So I think that you need to have a certain level of respect for your listeners. Yeah, well, as you said, podcasters and influencers are nothing without the audience they have,
so they need to treat them well. Now, Nikita's video has been doing the rounds on gossip sites, and most people are absolutely shocked by the way Sammy replied to her. One user wrote her reply was so unnecessarily rude to a simple question. Another said that all just popular, mean girls.
Who you'd be scared of in high school.
They don't care about the people that support them. They care about popularity and looking better than everyone else. Now, this isn't the first time that Sammy has been called out for being condescending to her fans. Back in February, she hit back at claims that she gate keeps her products.
From her followers.
Oh, I remember we spoke about it, because she speaks in this tone that is very condescending, and I think because she is such an attractive person that you do get a bit of a mean girl vibe from it. Or in this video, she was rolling her eyes and she pulled a lot of facial expressions where you got
the vibe that as you say, Cay. She felt like she was superior to those she was talking to, and in the video she told her followers that they should try being an influencer and that she doesn't read her comments section to protect her peace, so that's why she doesn't reply about where her products are from. She also finished the video by essentially mocking her followers requests, saying, yeah, this pimple here's from chocolate.
I bought it at Woolly's. And this video did not go down as.
You can imagine, she ended up having to delete it because there was so much backlash. Now, this incident with Sammy and the listener led to this reaction video from TikToker Eva Dixon.
Guys, I swear to fucking god, there's this niche of Australian influencers who literally act like their supporters are trying to kick their dogs. If I see another fucking instance where like someone will be asking, oh, like so what's happening with this, like when's this happening, or like what is this And the influencer's response is like, I don't understand why the fuck you would even comment this.
Oh my fucking god, they're trying to support you I'm so sorry. It shows like it really shows that you're entitled, but it literally just comes off as so fucking entitled, like oh my god, God forbid someone to fucking support you, and you have to comment back and be like, oh, like it's happening, then your life is so hard, good grace.
I mean, that's really spot on.
There are influencers who give off this vibe that their fans are just these annoying inconvenience that they have to deal with and can't they just go and get free clothes and go to nice events without having to deal with his crescence. It's like they're dirt on the sole of their shoe and they're like, fucking get away, don't talk to me. And that video did resonate with a lot of people. It has almost generated half a million views and thirty eight thousand likes.
What makes this story.
Even weirder is that following this altercation with Nakita, Sammy and Izzy announced that Just for Girls is actually coming back, so following the debacle, they shared a photo of themselves at Coachella to their podcast page and wrote, We're back. After our amazing time at Coachella, we are back behind the mics next week recording year Epps can't wait for.
You to hear it.
I'm sorry, but couldn't they just fucking said that to begin with, instead of denigrading and insulting one of their longtime fans. Yes, like, why wouldn't you write, oh, news coming soon or something like that, And I'm like, how fucking dare you ask me one more time? Tone was just so patronizing. I am interested to see if Nikita will be tuning in maybe some hate listening now.
Well, actually, she said that she has.
Unfollowed both of the girls on Instagram, but if it were me, I probably would tune in just to hear what has been going on and whether they would reference you.
She's definitely tuning in. Yeah, I think so.
Well. I think that is all we have time for today. Thank you so much for joining us for this episode.
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You are subscribed on Apple podcast and also Spotify. This podcast was recorded on the traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes. We pay respect to elders past and present.
I say