Hello, and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm Amy Torber and coming up on today's show. A micro influencer has called out podcasters Lucy Jackson and Nicky Westcott over a festival run in a TikTok couple is facing backlash for appearing to leave their kids unattended while they dined out on a cruise. And our highs and Lows of the Week, But first old wounds have been reopened as a messy three way feud has broken out between
the country's most controversial reality stars. Former Math's contestant Cyrel Paul is at war with Sky Wheatley and Jessica Power after they shared their thoughts on a viral clip of Cyrel's recent appearance on The Amazing Race. Now, So, if things have kicked off over the last few days, but I want you to rewind a bit to Cyrel and her partner Eden Dally's appearance on The Amazing Race. Amazing
Race producers have struck gold with this couple. They clearly knew what they were doing by casting Cyrel and Eden because both of them have appeared on reality shows before, and they have both brought fireworks to those shows, so Cyrel is no stranger to controversy. She appeared on Maths in twenty nineteen and she quickly earned herself the title of cyclone Cyrel. So she made headlines when she threw a glass of white wine in fellow Maths contestant Jessica
Power's face. She also found herself at the receiving end though, and I had forgotten this because Martha Calor for Titas she was on the same series. This was the most iconic series of Maths, and she poured a glass of red wine over Cyrel's head at one of the dinner parties. How did you forget that? I think that was the most iconic scene that has ever been in Maths. I just didn't realize that they were all on the same series. I mean this was five years ago. Well, her baby
daddy Eden. He also has a fiery temper because when he appeared on Love Island in twenty eighteen, he was involved in a scuff with Grant Crap. So Grant Crap was couped up with Taylor Demir. I can't even imagine the two of them talking now. They won the show
because he turned out to have a secret girlfriend. Yeah, and at the time it was touted as a punch up between Eden and Grant, but I went back and had a look at the clip and no punches were actually thrown, but they both grabbed one another by their shirts and there was a lot of swearing and yelling and they had to be pulled apart by the other contestants.
Yeah.
I remember that the UK was also screening Love Island Australia at the time, and everyone was so excited over there because they'd never seen such a big fight in the UK version. Yeah. I have never seen the UK guys fight with one another. If anything, it's a bit of a boy's club and they always back each other. Yeah, there's like one fight and then they're like sorry mate, Yeah, no worries, it's all good.
Well.
The Amazing Race kicked off last week on Channel ten and it is airing on Sunday and Monday nights. And it's safe to say that free to air TV has taken a huge battering, and it's clear that the networks are trying to draw in younger viewers, particularly by selecting contestants that strike a chord with gen Zetters because we've seen gold Co's influencer Lily Brown and Jack Kenny on the show, which I think is a fantastic move. Yeah.
I haven't tuned in yet, but seeing Lily Brown and there really sparked my interest and I think I may actually watch it.
Yeah.
We can see that The Amazing Race is working hard to get these younger viewers in because they are sharing a lot of snippets from the show in the form of reels in order to entice people to come and watch, because I mean, I always forget when the free to
air shows are on. And The Amazing Race Australia's Instagram account currently has thirty three thousand followers and they created their first viral moment by sharing an altercation between Cyrel Eden and Ian Thorpe and his longtime friend Christian Miranda. I never thought that I would speak about Ian Thorpe in the same topic as Cyrel and Eden, but here we are. Let's throw to the clip we.
Have to dig before Christian about us foulnia, about what about us following you to dig?
You were? What do we say that's something in the car?
Was we made the wrong term with the men about.
I'm talking about you being how smart, That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, and you ain't that. You ain't swimming right now either, to an import friend known as an imports friend.
Just so you know, it's not you, it's all him.
Thanks Mary.
Yeah, you're welcome, You're welcome.
You've got anything else smart to say?
Christian to keep.
Maybe when you don't know nothing, you keep your mouth shut.
That's what you should do. Your side, Kim, we could hear them carrying on.
I'm not even buying into it.
Like with such a threat.
Oh my god. They're following up a bit rich of Cyral who was on maths what five years ago, to be questioning the authenticity of one of the other contestants. Yeah,
that's the thing. It's quite an unusual move from a reality TV contestant to demean someone else over their celebrity status, because generally in TV land, it's reality contestants or influencers who are having to prove themselves because generally they're viewed as having no talent and that it's an easy ride because they've got these followers that have just popped up out of nowhere. And in this instance, Christian isn't the only amazing race contestant without a profile, because Peter Hellier
is on there with his wife. There's Billy Brownless who was on there competing with his son. So I just didn't understand why she was throwing around her weight like this and trying to big note herself. I mean, I love it. It's completely petty. It's great for reality TV. Don't like it though, because I just think it was a really disrespectful way to speak to Thorpi and also his friend Christian. Did you expect much more from her? She didn't, but she's well known for throwing a glass
of wine in someone's face. I didn't, but I think that a lot of listeners like me will have a reaction to this because this is a goal medalist, it's an Olympian, he has done a lot for our country. And this friend though well, but she was also directing it at Thorpy as well, saying, oh, you're not swimming. I just think it was really disrespectful. It was one hundred percent disrespectful. But as I said, I would not
expect more from these two. They've been brought in to cause drama like this, and they're going to continue throughout the whole series. Well, it did elicit a strong response in the comments section, and a majority of the viewers were appalled by their actions. One wrote embarrassing those two are back on TV, whilst another said she should take
her own advice. She is the one who needs to keep her mouth shut because her mouth runs more in this race than her feet so far, whilst others questioned who even is she and why is she taking a crack at Ian Thorpe, who is actually a celebrity and an Australian legend. Well, I'm getting the vibe that maybe Sky Wheatley is a Thorpy fan too, because this is
where she entered the chat. So she shared the clip of Cyrel's argument on the Amazing race on Instagram story and wrote, Cyrel is so scary guys, I'm having PTSD watching this from our little interaction we had with a crying face emoji. She then appeared on her Stories from her Turkey hotel room where she was recovering from her Fox I lift and said this.
If you guys don't know what I'm talking about, I'm going to put the link to the video from the interaction that we had, But I swear it was like set up because the girl next to Cyril was already filming anyway, I'm like, not problematic at Actually, yeah, you could say I'm problematic who has yellow? But I was actually just asking her questions and I didn't realize she would react like that.
But then after it.
Happened, I was like, am I in an episode of mass Like? It was crazy? But she ranked great TV. I'm actually really excited to watch the amazing race this year.
Now.
This that's the interaction that Sky is referring to, is a fight that broke out between the pair at an influencer event in twenty twenty two. And this event in question was ironically for well known mums to promote baby formulas, So it just seemed like a really innocent and wholesome event. But that is not how the event went down. So to set the scene, Cyrel was sitting in the middle of the table and there were three people between her
and Sky. So Sky was at the head of the table and she was chatting to all of the other girls and she was somewhat broadcasting the conversation across the table. Yeah, and things became heated pretty quickly when Sky asked Cyrel if her relationship with Eden was genuine. And this is because in twenty nineteen, Eden and Cyrel debuted their relationship through pap photos and at the time many people speculated that this was set up because it seemed like they
were trying to extend their fifteen minutes of fame. Well, it was a very random pairing because it's not like they were both on maths or something, and I think
everyone was confused about where they met each other. Yeah, and what made matters worse is that following these photos being published, Jessica Power came out and claimed that Eden had asked her to be with him for publicity, and she then claimed that Eden had been bagging out Cyrel to her and then suddenly, weeks later they were announcing that they were in love to the rest of the world. Well, even more shockingly, they announced five months into their relationship
that they were expecting a child together. So it was a very hot and cold relationship. They ended up breaking up during the pregnancy, and then they got back together just before the child was born. Now, getting back to this dinner party, there was a guest sitting next to Cyrel who began recording the exchange. This made Sky think that it was possibly set up. So Sky firstly asked Cyrel how she met Eden. She then said, I saw an article that said you guys had a fake relationship
for clout or something. Now Cyrel's response is muffled, but it sounds like she told Sky it was inappropriate to talk about what was in the newspaper.
Yeah, you know, you gotta limits otherwise someone I have to teach it.
Yeah, yeah, you.
Were getting really upset about it.
I'm gonna.
Who said that, lid real. No, there's been appropriate questions. I don't need to ask that. Maybe it's a dish.
Just know that it's I will.
Put you in your plate, and I will put you in your place.
I will put you in your plate, eat your food, or hug.
Your face in it.
So Sky clearly got an insight into what it's like being on maths. Well, luckily no wine was thrown in this incident, but this was almost worse. And I think it's quite clear from the video that Sky was a bit intoxicated, because there were points where she was laughing. However,
when Cyrel started making threats, Sky looked genuinely scared. Yeah, I remember talking about this on the podcast a few years ago, and really the consensus from listeners was that they felt sorry for Sky because Sky gets herself into trouble. But I don't actually think she has a malicious bone in her body. Now that we are all up to speed on the drama, Cyrel was not happy with Sky's comment about the amazing race, and she clapped back on her Instagram story, calling Sky a bully and accusing her
of being racist. She wrote, I'm so scary, guys, this is proving exactly what I mean. See, you need to understand. When I call myself crazy or someone I love, I know it's a joke. But when it's coming from someone I know who doesn't like me, I know it's a backhanded compliment. That is why, as a woman of color, this portrays me as aggressive and violent and it's not okay.
Of course, a light skinned woman is allowed to call another woman of color crazy, but if a dark skinned woman like me called you a crazy, shit stirring bitch who only commented to express a passive, aggressive comment, I would again be considered as the aggressive, crazy black bitch. She then shared a promotional graphic that Channel ten had sent out when Sky one, I'm a celeb and it explained how she was donating her winnings to the charity
Bully Zero. So Cyrel wrote across this amazing she picked Bully zero as her charity? Am I crazy? Or is that hypocritical? Well, it seems like old feuds are being ignited, left, right and center in this story, because if you'll believe it, Jessica Power also entered the chat, and as we mentioned at the start of the segment, they're not exactly best friends.
In an interesting move, jess came in to defend Sky and I was quite surprised to see this because Jess makes a living of OnlyFans and last year Sky made really offensive remarks about OnlyFans creators which seemed to ruffle some feathers. I mean, I think the only reason she came to her defense is more out of her hatred
for Cyrel. Yeah, because this all went down on so Dramatics Instagram posts, so the publication was reporting on the story and on their Instagram account, they included a screenshot of Cyrel's comments directed at Sky. Now, Jessica commented underneath the post, saying, oh mate, give it a rest already. I'm not surprised Sky has PTSD from her, She's as reactive as they come. She will find an argument out
of thin air. That woman, Well, this story feels a little dirty and it's very much in the weeds because Cyrel then took a screenshot of Jessica's comment and called her out on her story, saying, Oh, Jessica, the only person who should give it a rest is you and your lying ass. Go start another Go funny, Paige, bitch for someone who likes to run their mouth when the only thing you seem to have run out of is money. She continues, saying, couldn't even pay for your dad's funeral.
Wears your money from OnlyFans. I was going to suggest to sell one of your prior bags, but if there are anything like that, you're probably rocking a pra dough steal, a fake ass, irrelevant bitch trying to comment so you can make headlines again. I hope me giving you attention can rebuild your career. God knows you need the money. Wow,
what a low blow mentioning the dad's funeral. Oh, because that is in reference to Jessica's brother Reese posting a go Fundme page, and that was asking for assistance to pay for their dad's funeral fees. I just think Sorell's proving Jessica's comment in the first place a bit how reactive she is. Oh exactly. I mean going back to this funeral, because we didn't actually cover this story at
the time. It just seemed a bit off to be talking about it because a lot of followers came out and questioned why jess and her brother, who earned large amounts of money off OnlyFans, would have to ask for
assistance with a funeral built. Because jess reportedly makes one hundred and ten thousand dollars per month on the platform, so you think that she would be able to cover those costs now, Jessica told The Daily Mail that the whole family were pitching in along with the fundraising campaign and that their dad passed away so suddenly that the funeral did come as an unexpected cost, and she went on to explain that her sister's fiance created the GoFundMe
before she even knew about it, so it seems like the siblings were trying to raise money for what they owed for the funeral. Yeah, it just all got very messy now, As expected, Jessica clapped back at Cyrel's stories, She wrote, not that it should even be something I should need to address, but it was actually a family member who started that page, not knowing or asking who could contribute or how much a funeral could cost. I would honestly sell one of my handbags to get you
the anger management you need. Who brings up someone's grief as a way of retaliation? Still the same bitter, horrible girl that we all know. I don't care to stay relevant, but you've done one TV show after however many years, mate, calm down. Ha. It was getting very tipfer tat at this stage, and Cyrel responded saying, lo, your response is as stupid as you are. Girl. How can you pay for my anger management classes when you can't even pay for your dad's funeral? And if you were going to
sell your bags you would have. Yet you started a go fundme, Paige, Damn, I'll start you with GoFundMe now, Jessica needs money. How's that sound now? Jessica's response was the most classic out of all of them. So she responded with a photo of her relaxing with a glass of white wine and wrote, see how I drink my wine. Very aggressive, but not over anyone's face when I can't win an argument with a laughing face, and she continued, FYI I don't normally drink my wine like this, but
apparently I'm broke, so I wanted to savor it. I would love to see Cyrel explaining this whole petty back and forth with Eden. It kind of reminds you of like when we get into an argument and our partners get involved, and it just sounds so ridiculous. Judging from him on the Amazing Race, I think he'd just be
backing her. Whilst I do really love the drama, I just think that this all feels really gross and almost regressive to see these women slinging shit at each other, because it's not like there's a healthy debate going on. It's literally them thinking what can I say that will cause the most upset and be the biggest blow to that person and their reputation going forward. We have to remember all of these women were on reality TV for a reason. I really just think it could be an
attempt for all of them to stay relevant. I know they're all accusing one another of doing that, but they know what creates headlines, They know how reality TV works, and they know that producers are scouting for drama and whilst they all do look bad by association, it could help themselves land a role because I mean, we could see a Maths reunion where we get Martha, Jessica and also Cyrel together to recreate some of this drama. I
would definitely tune into that. Well, I don't know if it would be a Maths reunion, but can you imagine sticking them all in the Big Brother House because just being the ouse at Channel ten have won back the rights to Big Brother and they're hinting that they're going to bring it back to its heyday. I would watch that so Rabbit, Jess and Sky in a house. But if they're bringing it back to its heyday, we're probably just going to get every day Australians. No, but it's
the format they're bringing back. Well, I saw Sky comment under it please send me back in the house. One thing I do know is that the Amazing Race would be loving the attention around this and the extra publicity they're getting from the show, because I will be tuning in on Sunday night.
For this.
Good Petty Big I am put on my story saying the brand's name.
An Australian TikToker has taken aim at two popular influencers, labeling them as bullies. During a Storytime Get Ready with Me video, Ella Kemp accused the influencers of being rude to her at a VIP event and for bitching about her on their podcast. No, she hasn't fled out named them, but she may as well have because she has dropped so many clues that make the women easily identifiable. So the influencers at the center of the accusations appear to
be Lucy Jackson and Nikki Wescott. It's a big week for Lucy Jackson, isn't it. Yeah, it really is, because we spoke on Tuesday about how she's just gone through a terrible breakup. But I want to get into the accusations because they're pretty sensational. So on Tuesday, Ella told her TikTok followers that she had been invited to a festival back in twenty twenty when she was just nineteen. Don't even love it how this drama from twenty twenty,
so almost five years ago, as being brought up now. Yes, it just screams TikTok petitess, But I kind of love it, so she said she was incredibly new to the social media scene being a micro influencer, and was excited to attend the VIP event. Now for context, Ella now has ninety thousand followers on TikTok and over thirty thousand on Instagram, so she's not incredibly well known, but she's definitely an
up and comer. So she's still a micro influencer so pretty much, but her following has grown since twenty twenty. Now Ella said she was a huge fan of the influencers in question and would regularly buy from their clothing brand. She also said she loved listening to their podcast, so it was really excited to see that they were at this festival. This was really the first big clue that she was talking about Lucy and Nikki, because they of course have the Happy Hour podcast and they also have
a very popular clothing brand called Jagger and Stone. Now Ella also went on to drop that the event was full of Queensland influences and again Lucy and Nikki both live on the Gold Coast. Now, as the night progressed, Ella said she had one too many drinks and was attempting to socialize with the other influencers who were in attendance. She said at the end of the night, she was excited to see the two influencers in question and approach them. Let's have a listen to what Ella said went down.
Towards the end of the night. These two particular influencers were there. I was just super excited to meet them, slash like party with them andreschmember. There was this particular guy in their group that I thought was really cute. So I was kind of just like dancing on my own and like just minding my own business. Next thing I know, I turn around and I get approached by one of these influences, one of the two, and she comes up to me and he says, they do you
even know anyone here? And me, being a nineteen year old fresh on the block kind of never really been to an event like that in my life before, especially being like a fan of their stuff, I was like, like, I shit myself. I think from memory. I responded being like, yeah, like I'm here with my friends Da da da, and she kind of just like scoffed at me and walked away. I was literally traumatized from this, Like I I was so upset.
I'll never forget I went over to my friend and I.
Was like pretty much in tears, Like I was like, oh my god, Like this individual just came up to me and basically said, like, do I even know anyone here?
As if, like should I even be I kid you not.
The rest of the event, this girl sat up on the top level of the.
Like bar slash like.
Grandstand setup and like looked down on me and literally.
Dead stand the shit out of me. And I was so confused.
They say you should never meet your idols. I wonder if she was hanging around like a bit of a bad smell, Like you know when you're super excited to meet someone and you don't play it cool. Well, I mean, it sounds like quite a mortifying interaction. Like if I was a nineteen year old and I met my idols and one of them came up and said that to me, I'd be pretty crushed.
Yeah.
Well.
Following the incident, Ella tried to put it down to a drunken miscommunication, but her worst fears were realized when a friend messaged her telling her to check out the girl's podcast because they did one of those videos where they answered assumptions about themselves and someone wrote in with the assumption that they were rude to their fans, and Ella said she was shocked to discover that the influencers had referenced her in the episode. Here's what she said.
They start talking about.
Me, and they basically say that the only time that they can think about that they might have been rude to a fan was on the weekend when one of the.
Girls came up to me and said that.
Like, do I even know anyone here? Kind of like fuck off, not to mention. They also said that I made them uncomfortable and that I made their immediate like circle of friends feel uncomfortable and uneasy. Mind you, I am nineteen years old. These girls at the time were like twenty nine thirty years old, and they were trying to make out like I was making them go uncomfortable.
I was absolutely shattered.
Isn't that your worst fear? Like, can you imagine meeting someone that you really idolize, and then later on you hear on a podcast or in some sort of TV interview that they had such a mortifying experience with you, and you'd like royally humiliated yourself. Yeah, especially because Ella said she'd been drinking, so maybe she'd been able to convince herself, oh no, it wasn't that awkward, and then
it's literally just been confirmed. Well, I feel sorry for her because it seemed like she was coming from a place of just being in awe of the women. It didn't seem like she was trying to be overtly negative or rude to the morning. She was so upset by this podcast recording that she ended up selling all of her Jagger and Stone stuff. But she said when she moved to Sydney later that year, she discovered that she
still had one of the brand's bikinis. However, she noticed it was broken, so she claims she'd only warn the bikinis once and I quote being a petty bitch. She shared a photo of the broken bathers on her Instagram story and tagged the brand saying they were shit. We are in the weeds a lot of this episode. It's a lot of petty dramas. So this then prompted the same influencer, Lucy Jackson, to write back to her Instagram story saying, Babe, that bikini is two years old, to
which Ella replied, Babe, I've worn it twice again. The babes the passive aggressive base now let's have a listen to what else Ella said, Like.
Sorry, I didn't realize that swim where it was meant to break after like a few years when you have a business and you're selling like apperil swimwear or anything like that, Like especially at the price point that they had, Like it shouldn't only last a couple of years.
Like I've had so.
Many bikinis last meet a decade and they've never once broken. So that comment was unnecessary, and I feel like it was kind of targeted at this person who's like thirty years old, Like get agree to be fair.
Even if you've worn this bikini twice, if you've had a kicking around your house, it's moved places with you, I'm sure it can get damaged. Really, I think bathes seemed to last for a really long time. I mean, maybe I don't treat my stuff very well, just throw it around the house. It also depends if you wash off all of the chlorine. Anyway, we're getting into the weeds here, but since this video has gone viral on TikTok so, at the time of recording, it's had two
hundred thousand views. The comments section has been littered with people tagging Lucy and Nicki as well as followers sharing information about the Happy Hour podcast in question. So I have tracked down the episode from July twenty twenty. So let's hear exactly what Lucy and Nicky said about this incident.
You get annoyed when being approached by punters when you're out and about with your friends. Ah, okay this, I will say this absolutely not getting approached and say hello, I fucking live for it.
I love it, have a yarn. That's absolutely fine.
What I do not like is then and this has only happened maybe like three times, so this isn't like something that happens all the time.
And I think you know if you're doing it or not.
Yeah, I don't like it when people come over and then stay and like join us, kind of as if then you're welcome, because maybe they do come over initially and we are really friendly. Then to then stick around while we're there with our own friends, maybe out for dinner or at a festival, dancing with our group of our friends or whatever, and then to keep hanging around and sometimes even filming us or like filming yourself, to try and act like you're kind of like hanging out
with us. I guess it's like come and say hello, give me a hug, have a little boogie, get a photo. That's sweet as they come interrupt my night, So then I can't really be talking and spending time with my friends. When I'm like just genuinely on a night out with my friends, that's when I get annoyed. And I think, you know, if you're doing that, like and if you if someone sort of says, oh, yeah, you know, that'll do run along, like do you have any other friends here?
That's not being offensive. That's just us trying to get on with that night.
Well that's what happened that time, and that girl I got really a friend ed and was like, you know, blah blah blah. And then a girl blew up at me and was like you are so nasty blah blah blah.
And I'm like, I'm not nasty at all.
But if you come over and proceed to hang out with my group of friends for like longer than fifteen minutes and just kind of try and blend in and no one knows who you are, I don't care if I have two followers on Instagram, You're being annoying. Regardless of who I am, So piss off pretty much, Stram, don't over say you're welcome, that's all.
I kind of get this because in the influencer world, you're always hearing of micro influencers or people who want a following trying to leach on to bigger creators. And it would piss me off if I was in lucy and nicky situation and I'm out with my friends and you've given this person the time and then they're trying to sneak around and join your friendship group and potentially take videos of you in a compromising position when you're drunk. Think in this instance, this Ella, maybe she had the
best intentions and she just read the situation wrong. Because can you imagine if you met, you know, some podcasts or influences that you really respected and you thought you had hit it off, only to be told quite aggressively like scram fuck off. Basically, yeah, I can kind of see both sides to it, because, especially when alcohol is involved and lines are blurred, it seemed to be that Ella was picking up the wrong cues and maybe should
have just realized to leave. Well, I would have been offended hearing that if I was Ella though, Oh, I would be so intimidated by Lucy and Nikki. I think they sound fucking funny, but I feel like I don't like that sort of tone directed at me. Well, the only thing is I think that someone like Lucy, she takes no shit by the sounds of it, and it's oh,
she sounds classic. Yeah, And it's quite apparent that she felt like her personally personal boundaries were being and that's why I think she just said, look, babe, do you know anyone else here? Can you please leave? One of our friends has said that she wishes she would spot Lucy and Nikki out somewhere so that she could try and party with them, and that seems to be something that a lot of their listeners think. So they must get her all the time, and it must get really frustrated.
I think that's why this girl was so disappointed, because they do put across this image of hey, come party with us or have a boogie, we'll have a drink and everything like that. But a breach is probably a limit where it's like, hey, this is a socially acceptable
point to leave. I know Abby Chatfield has spoken about this in the past, and she said that She's more than happy to pose for photos and have a little chat, but you know, when she's out on a night out, she actually wants to spend it with her friends and not be interrupted the whole. These are good tips. If we ever spot Taylor Swift out and we meet her fifteen minutes, that's the cat and then I have to
fuck off. Yeah. I think the timing though of this TikTok is really interesting because, as we spoke about earlier in the episode, Lucy has recently broken up with her boyfriend after she discovered he was cheating on her, and she's been very open on TikTok sharing about her experience, and this has garnered a lot of public sympathy. So it's interesting that this video suddenly pops up just after this.
Oh Ella is obviously writing on the coattails of this drama and thinking, well, everyone's talking about the girls at the moment, let's drop this incident. It's going to get me a lot of views and engagement.
Well.
Interestingly, Ella actually said in this TikTok that she was inspired to make the video after randomly seeing another pop up where Lucy labeled another podcaster a fucking bully. So This was the final clue when I was like, this is clearly Lucy because earlier this year, Lucy's sparch controversy when she released a video perceivably calling out podcaster Megan Pisetto from So Dramatic. So the two podcasters have had a lot of beef over the last couple of years.
Lucy and Nicki accused of making racist remarks towards Megan, and interestingly, Megan has a connection to Ella. Side note, I really hate when people throw around the to bully at everyone to describe a journalist working or investigating stories. Yeah, it's not good. On the topic of Megan though, So Ella actually appeared on one of So Dramatic's podcasts back in twenty twenty two, and so she spoke about how she was in a relationship with former mass contestants Jackson
Loney and Jack Miller. And this was quite a controversial episode because Ella was the first person Jackson was connected to after his high profile split from fellow Maths contestant Olivia. And in this episode, Megan described Ella as the chaos queen and I think that's a good description after seeing this TikTok, because she's obviously not afraid just stir the pot,
which I love. It was a really good episode. Well it's an interesting connection, isn't it, Because Meghan is obviously not a huge fan of Lucy and Nicky either, And I saw a lot of people actually tagging Megan and so dramatic in this TikTok as well. And Ella responded, look, Megan is well aware of this incident. Is this going to be another three way few? There's been so many feuds popping up on TikTok at the moment, and I
am here for the entertainment. Well, I get it as well, because let's be real, this is the influencer world, and if you create drama, it equals views. The one thing I felt really uncomfortable about during Ella's call out, though, was the constant age bashing of Lucy and Nicki. And maybe this is because I'm in my thirties, but the continual reference to their age, I thought it was a bit unnecessary and it kind of came across as age shaming.
So you sent me the clip and I think one of the had the text and that said, thirty year old podcasters have bullied me, and I thought, holy fuck, is this about us? And then I was like, what the fuck that I have to mention our age? I mean, this is how Lucy and NICKI felt as well, because the age is irrelevant. It's kind of like saying, oh, well, they should know better because they're in their thirties. Yeah. Well,
I just can't wait to see if Lucy responds. I don't know if she will feel like she's got to be a bit more shit going on in her life. I think if she's to respond, she'll probably respond on her podcast in a similar fashion to the first time they spoke about the incident. But again, I don't think she wants to give Ella the attention.
Or clout everybody.
We usually would not be making a video like this, but there is information circuling about us that is completely untrue.
A us TikTok couple is facing backlash for appearing to leave their kids unattended in their cabin whilst they dined out at a restaurant during their family cruise. Another couple in question, Matt and Abby Howard, have been forced to issue a statement refuting the claims. Sophy. Before we get into it, can you bring us up to speed on who Matt and Abby are? Yeah, well, they're two TikTokers
who are very much selling the American dream. So they're Christian, their high school sweethearts, and they've got two kids called Griffin and August. That is so American. They are from Phoenix in Arizona, and they share very curated family moments as well as insights into their very traditional marriage, and they also recreate a lot of viral trends on TikTok. Now they have over seven million subscribers on YouTube and it's basically a family channel where they blog about their lives.
They also have five point three million followers on TikTok and a podcast called The Unplanned Podcast where they discussed their relationship as well as their family dynamic. And they're no strangers to controversy, so they have been slammed previously for their views on traditional gender roles. In the house, so Abby handles most of the cleaning and raising of the children, and in a now deleted video from twenty twenty two, Matt surprised Abby by taking care of the
house and their newborn child. So this video copped a lot of criticism because people said it was perpetuating the trope of the hopeless dad who can't raise his own kids or has the capacity to clean. It reminds me a little bit of all that controversy with Mattie Jay
last year. Now, another controversy involved matt making his own homemade baby formula, and at the time he added a disclaimer saying that you shouldn't actually give it to your baby, but critics argued that it was dangerous and could encourage
people to try it out at home. And this year he copped criticism for boycotting Father's Day, so on his podcast he spoke about how instead of celebrating on the official day in America, he planned to celebrate it on a separate weekend because Father's Day fell very close to his birthday and the year prior he'd done a joint Father's Day and Birthday celebration, but he didn't want to do it again this year. I think that controversy is
a bit weak. Oh yeah, because people were saying, oh, he's entitled, and it's a red flag because he's demanding two separate days that celebrate him. I think they were pretty unfair with that one. Yeah. Now, this is where the latest controversy has erupted, because in September, the family embarked on a seven night cruise with Abby's extended family, and they shed highlights of their holiday on their Instagram accounts. Now.
Abby revealed at the beginning of the trip that they were eating out as a family, but it wasn't really working, she wrote on her Instagram story, So we ended up taking them for five nights and it became apparent that they weren't enjoying it, and therefore we weren't either. This is obviously the children. Yeah, so then we switched our
dinner time to after their bedtime. Now in this Instagram story, she shared this caption over the top of a baby monitor and continued to write, we facetimed the monitors while we ate and that worked out much better for everyone. She then added that the baby monitors don't work on board unless you're only five feet away, explaining they needed to FaceTime the monitors to get it on their screens,
and this elicited a huge response from their followers. Many took to Facebook gossip forums and also read a post to share their concerns. One follower said, so clearly they have paid no attention to the Madeline McCann case, while another said this is incredibly upsetting, especially as they had family with them that probably could have watched them while
they were out and had something to eat together. Facetiming the baby monitor while several floors away, when anything can go wrong in that time span, is just incredibly distressing as a parent. Now, others went as far as calling it negligent and raised issues around what if a medical emergency happened, or an abduction or a child went wandering and fell overboard. Now, following the backlash, Abby swiftly removed
the story and provided no explanation. But the couple broke their silence about this incident on Tuesday by releasing a TikTok video, which at the time of recording has had nine million views. So Matt started by saying, they wouldn't usually create a video like this, but there is information circulating about them that isn't true, so they wanted to set the record straight. They said they're very protective of their kids and love them more than anything in the
entire world. They also thank their followers for being concerned about the safety and wellbeing of their kids. Watching this, it's clear that they have a PR team that they're working with. Because they were trying to sound very understanding to the critics. They also began by explaining that they went on the cruise with Abby's extended family and that the kids were never left alone at any time during the cruise. Here's what said.
And people started to speculate and believe that we had left her children alone in their staterooms, and that is completely untrue because we had someone with her children at all times on this boat period.
I do want to clarify that we have not, would not, will not ever leave our children unattended.
We would never ever want to put them in harm's way in any way.
Abby then explained that she could see how her story could have been misleading, which is why she deleted it straight away. Now, Abby and Matt clearly knew that many followers would question, well, if you had people babysitting for you, why then did you have to FaceTime the baby monitor, which I think is a fair enough question. Now, Abby went on to explain that her kids always sleep in a sort of blackout tent, and in the middle of the tent there's a spot for a sound machine and
also a spot for a baby monitor. So she said that even when they sleep in the same room with their kids, at home, they all always have their monitors on so that they can watch what's happening in the tent. So she said that even though they were tagged teaming with a family member at dinner, they wanted to have that extra caution of watching them on the baby monitor as well. This seems odd to me. Why are you having your kid in this blacked out tent that you
can't see them? Well, the whole thing sounds like a bit of bullshit. They probably sat around and were like, fuck, we look so irresponsible. I mean, as one of their followers pointed out, all I could think of was the Madeline mccannon situation. Have we not learned anything from that?
Well?
It was quite interesting because their comment section on the TikTok video was full of people praising them, so I don't know if it's been highly edited. So one follower wrote, great explanation. I also think it's lovely that you thank people for caring and being concerned rather than getting on the defense. Perfectly articulated, and that comment received five thousand likes. Wow. But it doesn't make sense why they'd share that Instagram story because it's kind of like they were having a
laugh about it. It really does seem like they're changing their story now because they weren't expecting such a big reaction from their followers. The bit where they lost me is when they didn't name which family member was looking after the kids. Because initially in the TikTok Matt said, oh, yeah, we were with Abby's extended family and we had everyone there from the great grandmother to the kids. They didn't
explain all the other people. And then when they said, oh, it was someone looking after a child, they didn't say which family member. And I think that's because they were probably concerned that during their trip they may have put up a photo of a dinner which showed all of the family there, or maybe they think that they're so famous that someone would have taken a photo of them on that night out for dinner and they might get
caught out in some way. Great pr by their team. Well, a lot of people said they also didn't buy the body language in the video. Someone said that the eye contact screamed guilty. I love how everyone becomes a body language expert as soon as he's influencer. Apologies come out. Yeah, let's get into our hires lows of the week, and I'm going to kick things off with a very embarrassing
low that I almost didn't want to bring to the podcast. Now, I'm all, is well, you persuaded me to bring this one up because we Well, I got my full wedding video back and I'd forgotten some of the funny things that you mentioned in your speech, and one of those things a lot of OG listeners will remember, and that is that a couple of Christmas Eves ago, I went to AUDI wearing a very thick green fake tan, like
the tan had gone off. I literally looked like the Grinch. Anyway, I quickly put on some shorts and unbeknown to me, the shorts were inside out. Well, you thought everyone was staring at you at AUDI because of your atrocious fake tan, but it was actually because of your shorts, and the shorts had inbuilt undies, so you literally looked like some kind of strange superhero.
Yeah.
So that was mortifying, and I thought that I'd moved past those sort of incidences, but apparently not, because five still still doing it. So I went shopping with my husband. We went to rush into woolworst pick up a couple of things. We got back I was unpacking the groceries, and I lifted my arms up in the cupboard and my husband said, what is that poking out of your pants? And somehow there was a sheet of toilet paper that had been hanging out of my pants. I didn't know
if he'd been to the shops. Yeah, so Brandon said. He initially thought that it was like a folded up tissue that maybe I'd put there because in caf I had a runny nose. But no, it was toilet paper. And then I went to bed that night and my partner lifted up the covers as he does always to check for spiders because we live in the hills, and he noticed that there was a piece of toilet paper attached to my foot. So I do not know what
is going on with me at the moment. Anyway, my high of the week, it will be a quick one. It has been spending time with my nephew Jack. He is so cute. He is officially three months old, and we went on a very sweet walk together. He's in that stage where he's smiling at you and laughing and he is just so cute. He's adorable. So my low of the week has been I have finished all of my favorite Netflix shows. I'm out, I have nothing to watch. So I was hoping that some outspoken listeners could slide
into our dms. Maybe we could start a thread in our Facebook community. I want a list of great shows that you and your partner will enjoy, because it's really a struggle to find shows that I like and that Dale likes. And my high of the week is I finally got around what is it now, like September nine or seven months after my wedding, I've finally gotten around two printing my wedding photos, and I've printed two quite
large pieces. I don't know how the listeners feel about having such large wedding photos in your house, but I've seen quite a few people do it where they select one really cool photo, which is what I've done. Well, well, you've selected two two, yeah, but just one of Dale and I am oh so yeah. The other one is of the bridal party. Look, i'm popular opinion here, and I apologize if you have one of these in your house. But when I think verges on taki is when people
get them printed on canvases. I don't know why, I think I'm just not a fan of the canvas. I think that's very early two thousands. So I've got them printed from this local printer in Adelaide. I've had photos in my house printed from him before. He's really really good. It's on this beautiful paper. But I'm trying to find the right frames. I got some from Freedom previously, but
they don't have the exact ones anymore. Do you know when I think it is too far with wedding photos is when they're the huge focus of your house and your wedding was like twenty years ago. Because you know, when you've just been married, it's like, yeah, it's nice to put up your photos, but you kind of think, well, what's next, Like have you achieved anything else in your life?
Is there anything else to come? So long I'm saying, like, you know, most of the time it's taken up by you know, well not that the holidays in achievement, but by other things you're doing in life. How do you have kids or weather days. I think it's nice. I think what happens, though, is when people get older, the photos become outdated and yeah, you've got the canvas, that's what ima. You can look a bit tacky, But maybe I'll have to share a photo on my Instagram story.
When I get them up, I think they're going to look really cool. Sophie's a bit gutted because I have this photo of all of the bridal party walking along this gravel path, and the only one you chose is literally half my face cut out of it. Yeah, it was, unfortunately, because Sophie kept pulling all these weird faces when she was having this very animated conversation, so the only one we could feature was one where she was trying to be true. There was one of me normal, yeah, but
the rest of the four other people were cut out. Well, anyway, you're in it, everybody. I don't mind being on it. I think it's quite funny. Anyway. I think that it's all we have time for today. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, it would really help us out if you could leave us a review, preferably a good one, preferably five stars. And I want to point out somebody left us a review recently saying that they were frustrated because the ads were being inserted into the
wrong story. To be honest, when I listened back, it was very annoying, and I fired off a message sheaving like, what is going on with it? I just want to flag that we're on a program called Omni and they've recently done an update, and I pride myself on perfectly placing the ads, and I don't know what's happened because on my end shows that the ads are placed in that spot, it seems to have thrown them out by a few seconds. So I do apologize to anyone who
that has affected and irritated. This episode was recorded on the traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes. We pay respect to Elder's past and present, and if you haven't already, we had a special episode drop on Monday where Kate returned to give us an update on the fourth trimester, and tomorrow's subscriber episode is one I think that a lot of you will want to tune into.
We answer some questions that we previously haven't been allowed to answer before because Kate has directed us not to. So we open up about some feuds, some miscommunications in the podcast industry, and yes, a lot of juicy stuff, So you've got to check that one out.
