June 22, 2026 • 35 mins
MAFS contestant Bec Zacharia has revealed she’s having her ribs ‘re-contoured’ in a procedure that’s illegal in Australia. The 35-year-old is joining a group of 9 Australian influencers, who are taking part in a brand trip to Bali to promote the controversial cosmetic procedure.
A month after giving birth, Olivia Rogers has revealed her unique push present. The former Miss Universe contestant unveiled the piece of jewellery on Instagram.
AND Steph Claire Smith has surprised her husband by revealing two new tattoos during their hotel stay in the city. The couple who have two young children, were craving a sleep in, so booked a kid-free weekend away.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello, and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
Kate Torba and I'm Sophie Torbah and coming up on
today's show, a popular podcaster is under fire for documenting
a controversial cosmetic surgery brand trip Steph clare Smith's Kid
Free Stay k and Olivia Rodgers's Unique Push Present. But first,
(00:26):
we are recording from arctic conditions. Today. We are in
our parents' spare room, which has sort of turned into
a bit of a nursery for the kids because we
don't have our regular studio to record in aka Amy's house.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Amy's on a shoot for your PR company at the moment.
That's why she's absent. But I'm surprised you can't hear
my teeth chattering. It is that cold. My hands are
like frozen. It's so funny. I said to Dad, are
you not cold? He's like, yeah, I am. I'm like,
why don't you? Is there any other people's parents that
just don't use the heater or the air conditions? Well, actually,
when I was sitting there, I didn't want to appear
(00:59):
cold because I don't want to be rude, But then
I noticed Dad putting on a third layer of his
jacket while I was talking to me. It's I mean,
I can understand why people don't want to use the
heating At the moment. The electricity bills are astronomical. We
have had ours blaring though all day at home, so
it is quite a bit of a change to come here. Yeah,
but speaking stereotypically, it's not like the boomers can't afford it.
(01:20):
Like Mom and Dad could definitely afford to have the
heater going. Yeah, but that's how they stay rich because
they don't indulge in heating. It's funny because our mum
also hates using a dryer, Like she's like, why would
I use a dryer when I can just hang it out.
It's like in winter, it takes like a week for
the clothes to dry outside. I am feeling a little
bit nostalgic being in Amy's old childhood bedroom. Some of
our old stuff's been put in here, and I can't
(01:42):
get over the twenty twelve jewelry trees. Oh, we need
to take a photo and put it on the Instagram story.
They are so hideous. I love the fact that we
had too so Kate and I had to share a room,
and we've got these two fucking jewelry trees. Oh so ugly.
I mean, the idea is that you're hanging your jewelry
off there so you can sort of display it. Fucking hideous.
What are we thinking? The fact that there would have
(02:03):
been those really heavy, chunky necklaces on it makes it
even worse. I'm sitting next to a blobby lamp, so
lava lamp as you call it. I mean, some of
this stuff definitely needs to go, but I don't have
the heart. Yeah, they can just keep it. While I
was pregnant, Hugo was in talks with Class A Jewelers
(02:23):
and organized the most beautiful push present for me A
month after giving birth. Olivia Rodgers has revealed her unique
push present. The former Miss Universe contestant created a real
unveiling the piece of jewelry now. She was very quick
to point out that this ring was not an engagement ring,
(02:43):
but rather a pinky ring containing her son Albert's birthstone,
which is an emerald. For those who haven't seen the ring,
it's this large green emerald surrounded by diamonds on a
gold band. What did you think of it. I mean,
I think you can tell by that pause that I'm
trying to think of a polite way to say this,
But pinky rings in general give me the ick, particularly
(03:04):
on men hate them. I think they're actually in fashion
for women, but can't stand it. Like if I got
given a pinky ring, I'd be really upset. Yeah, they're
a bit of an inck for me too. In saying that,
I love Megan Markel's style, and she is one to
wear a pinky ring, so maybe I can get around it.
I think the difference is women usually wear the pinky
(03:25):
ring alongside other rings, so there's like stacked options and
it's kind of, you know, a bunch of different jewelry,
whereas men often rock the pinky ring without other rings
on their hand. Very specific well, I mean, I don't know.
Maybe it's just something about a man. I don't particularly
like when men wear a lot of jewelry except a
wedding band. Yeah that makes a man look that's hot. Yeah,
I mean, it's not really the most practical gift for
(03:46):
a mum, is it? A pinky ring? I can imagine
that getting just caught on everything. Imagine changing a baby
with a pinky ring on. I mean, you're probably not
wearing it all the time, probably for special occasions. Yeah,
I think a traditional push present is usually an eternity ring.
But he can't really give her an eternity ring because
often you get her after your engagement and wedding band.
So I can see why he went with the pinky ring,
(04:07):
and also maybe he wanted to be very clear that
it wasn't an engagement ring. Well, that's the thing. So
usually a push present is presented to the mother in
hospital after they've given birth or the day before, like
my husband did. Well, that's not really stereotypical, but he
usually does that. He's all for an early present, isn't he.
It seems like he gets too excited. Yeah, anyway, so yes,
(04:28):
they are usually presented to the mother once they've given birth,
but this present arrived a month after because it was
a collaboration with Class A Jewelers. And I am kind
of glad that Hugo didn't give it to Olivia in
the hospital because can you imagine the optics She's just
given birth, like the hormones are running while he hands
her a ring box, you would assume it was an
(04:51):
engagement ring. And what a punch in the face if
you open it up and it's this fucking pinky ring there,
pinky ring that you're not expecting to be fair though,
I don't think i'd want to be proposed to after
giving us like, I think you've got to keep that
moment as it is and enjoy that, and then I think, yeah,
it's better coming later on when you're feeling more yourself. Yeah. Now,
(05:12):
as I said, this does appear to be some sort
of gifted or sponsored moment from Class A Jewelers, which
is an Adelaide jeweler. Well, actually my engagement ring and
my push present both came from Class A Jeweler. Unfortunately
they weren't gifted. My husband paid for top dollar for them. Well,
Olivia did tag Class A Jewelers in this post, and
she said that while she was pregnant, Hugo was in
(05:32):
talks with Class A Jewelers and organized the most beautiful
push present for her. So that really made it sound
like it was a brand deal. I wonder if the
brand reached out to Hugo directly or if Olivia put
them onto him. Well, she does have a long standing
relationship with Class A Jewelers. So they sponsored her marathon
and she's done some other work with them, which is
(05:54):
kind of ironic because she also had a deal with
another jeweler in Melbourne was it Diamond Jeweler and they
created her engagement ring. But ironically, she spoke on the
Inherited podcast last year I think it was, and she
mentioned that she wasn't actually that big of a fan
of the ring. So on the morning of her wedding,
(06:14):
her mum gifted her a family ring I think it
was her grandmother's engagement ring, and she said that it
was this moment where she realized that she loved that
ring way more than her engagement ring, and it sort
of pointed out that Justin didn't know her very well,
which was so awkward because that ring was called the
Olivia Ring. I remember thinking it was amazing. Now do
(06:36):
we think Hugo gets credit for this push present? If
he didn't pay for it? Look, I think behind the
scenes he would have given her another present at the hospital.
And this is sort of all show business, you know,
it's all for the sponsored post. I mean, he did
appear to design this ring as well, so he gets
a little bit of credit there. It's quite funny because
one follower wrote, under the reel, I love it. Also
(06:56):
very impressed that he knows your taste so well because
it's a pretty niche stuff, while and Olivia said it's pretty,
isn't it? He does know me? Well. Now I can't
decipher in that comment whether she does like it or not,
you know what I mean? Even someone saying it's unique,
and she's saying, yeah, he does know me. It's pretty.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Like.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
I wonder if she was a bit thrown like, oh,
this is a bit out there. It would be tough.
Also considering she's put out there on the record that
her ex husband Justin mckeean didn't know her and got
her the wrong ring, Like there's a bit of pressure
on Hugo to design the right one. Just say she
isn't the biggest fan of the ring. I wonder if
she's like, oh my god, I need to point him
in the right direction of what engagement when I want now,
like I don't want a colored stone, Yeah, I just
(07:34):
want something elegant, I believe. Now I'm just like going
to check into hotel. Steph glare Smith has surprised her
husband by revealing two new tattoos during their hotel stay
in the city. The couple, who have two young children,
were craving asleep in so booked a kid free weekend away.
So if this sounds like a great idea, it does,
I want to do it after hearing about this. So
(07:56):
I heard about this weeks ago on the Kickpod, and
basically they decided that they really wanted some time as
a couple, but they also wanted alone time and the
opportunity to have a sleep in and do whatever they wanted.
But they didn't want to be away from their kids
and also rely too heavily on their parents to babysit.
(08:16):
So what they ended up doing was booking a three
nights stay where Steph would stay by herself for the
first night, do whatever she wanted to do, have a
sleep in, then Josh would meet her. The next day
they'd go on a date. I think they actually planned
to go about dancing, which didn't end up happening they
were too tired, and then Steph would go home and
Josh would then have the day to himself and the
(08:37):
night to himself. It's actually genius. It's a great way
to extend that sort of me time and also guilt
free because I find that if it's your partner looking
after your children, you don't feel as bad. But when
you have a babysitter, Like if you had a babysitter
there for three nights, you'd feel terrible. Also, you know
that your kids would be missing you. And I think
alone time is so important when you are a parent.
(08:59):
I mean last week I had the week from how
my son was sick and I was reflecting. I'm like,
I'm so tired, but I keep staying up really late
because I need like an hour to myself just to decompress. Yeah,
you definitely do. Now. This trip was sponsored, so it
was in partnership with Luxury Escapes and they stayed at
the High Melbourne Place and she showed off her massive
(09:21):
suite on an Instagram story. It looked absolutely incredible. She
also uploaded a photo dump of their weekend away, telling
her followers about the dream reset that she had just experienced. Now.
She also uploaded a real today and I loved watching
her day in the life of what she got up to.
So she when I got her hair done. I think
that's a yes for any mum. She then brought her
(09:43):
laptop from ten years ago into the hotel so that
she could try and play her old SIMS game. Now,
to me, that is someone who is wanting to or
maybe mourning their old life a little bit. I'm wanting
to go on experience, will have that feeling again of
what it felt like to be in your early twenties
when you had no responsibilities, and I can completely relate
to that, Like it's almost this cose playing your old life.
(10:06):
So that's all she did. She got her hair done
and played SIMS. After that, she went to the restaurant
at the hotel and she brought her kindle down. She
thought she'd only be there for a little while. She
ended up staying for three hours. Chatting to the hotel staff,
she said that she was literally almost crying because she'd
been laughing so much, and that she'd had a couple
of wines and was that close to giving one hundred
and fifty dollars tip to someone. That's how much fun
(10:29):
she was.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Happy.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Good on her. I mean, can you imagine being out
at this bar and just seeing Steph Klesmith living it
up being the waiter having a chat. Yeah. She then
popped to the seven eleven, got some chocolate and some
popcorn and watched TV for the rest of the night.
It sounded absolutely perfect. I need to ask, so, what
would you do if you had that time to yourself,
because I'm going to put it out there I don't
(10:50):
really I mean I said that I find that alone
time is really important, but I think I'd prefer to
spend that twenty four hours with you and Amy as well.
That's what I was going to say. Our loone time
is sort of spending it with each other. We have
a trip locked in for October when we're seeing Hillary Duff.
So that's I think my first night that I'm ever
going to be away from Luca, and I feel like
we won't know what to do with ourselves. I just
(11:11):
think you need a nice long dinner, some shopping shots, no,
like just bad food, like just just to be alone
and just scroll on your phone as well. And I'm
just desperate for a sleep in. The unfortunate thing about
staying in a hotel is I feel like I never
sleep well, Like you don't sleep the same as you
would at home. Well, the thing that's genius about Steph's
(11:34):
plan was that they said that they wanted to be
able to sleep in, and usually you get kicked out
of the hotel at like nine am or ten am.
That's why they did it that way, so they could
do it in shifts. So then Josh met her in
the afternoon to start his day. You know, Josh not
get his because he was on day three of a
loan time, so he doesn't really get a sleep in
or to spend the whole day at the hotel by himself.
He got screwed there. Well, no, because he joined her
(11:56):
for the couple day, so he had that half of
the day as well. Yeah, but that's not as good
as Steph. Like, Steph set that up really well. Well,
she had the kid, so I think she deserves it.
That true. Well, and he's the I do want to
say he's a primary care giver at home. Does that
change your mind? Oh? Yeah, true. Well it's quite funny
because I think that, you know, Josh and Steph thought
they were going to have this like crazy night out
where they were dancing the night away. She did that
(12:18):
the night before at the bar. They ended up getting tied,
so she said they had a bath and watched Charlie
and the Chocolate. Another influencer I follow who has I
think a nine month old her name is Sarah Jane Stevens.
She's actually an Adelaide influencer. She was sharing that she
had a night at a hotel as well with her
partner kid free, and she was set. She's like, it's
nine pm and we're in bed watching a movie. Like
(12:40):
she was so excited. She's like, there's no way we
want to go out. We just want to eat snacks
in bed and have a good sleep. Yeah. Now, one
thing I have held off from mentioning is that during
Steph's solo day, she also got some new tattoos, but
she didn't tell her husband because she wanted to reveal
it as a surprise. I mean she mentioned that Josh
knew she was thinking about it, but didn't know she
was actually pulling the trigger on it. And it actually
he reminded me of a situation with some of my friends.
(13:02):
One of my friends went and got some tattoos, but
she didn't actually tell her partner about it. And we
were saying, well, from a relationship perspective, like what are
there rules, like do you have to let your partner
know that you're getting a tattoo? Is it your body,
your choice? Yeah, it is a hard one because I
think if Brandon rocked up and he just had, you know,
such as life tattoo across his stomach, I might be like, well,
(13:24):
what's going on. That's very out of character. I'm not
really a fan of that. Yeah, I suppose it depends
on how you feel about tattoos. Like, if you're someone
that's open to tattoos and likes them, I think maybe
the surprise would work well. But if your partner's anti tattoos,
and it's kind of like when women say, oh, my
husband doesn't want me to get filler in my face,
so I just want to God and hope that he
didn't realize. Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day,
(13:45):
I think it is your body, your choice. But I
think any huge life decision, you normally would speak about
it with your partner. I mean, in Steph cle Smith's case,
these are two fine line tattoos. Still that's a permanent
thing on your body. Yeah, but it's not like it's
some massive, like life change. It's like a small tattoo. Like.
One was of a little love heart, wasn't it. Yeah,
it was an outline of a love heart her son
(14:05):
had drawn. The other one was actually a from a
photograph of her and Josh when she was sixteen and
he was eighteen. They actually weren't together at the time.
They were on the back of a motorbike. He was
doing a WHEELI wasn't there. Yeah, and she said that.
I think it was kind of to recreate the feeling
she had because she said at the time she had
such a big crush on him, and that kind of
commemorated it. That's actually very sweet. I liked his reaction.
(14:28):
Will actually throw to it.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
I love that. See what that is.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
I think that's what you want when you surprise your
husband with the tattoo, them to say, oh, I want
to get that one too. Yeah, it was very sweet.
I mean they have such a cute story of how
they got together because really, all the odds are against
them when she moved to New York. I mean, she's
moving to New York to be this huge model like
guy back in Melbourne. Yeah, but I think the fact
that she had a crush on him ever since she
was sixteen, he was always on a pedestal. Yeah. True. True.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
So beck Is just landed in Bali a head of
her surgery on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I'm starting to go a nervous Josha, what am I doing?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Over the next twenty four hours, ten of the Australian
influencers are coming to undergo the same procedure.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Math's contestant Beck Zachariyah has revealed she's having her ribs
recontoured in a procedure that's illegal in Australia. The thirty
five year old is joining a group of nine Australian
influencers who are taking part in a brand trip to
Bali to promote the controversial cosmetic procedure. Beck is not
only sharing her experience to her own eighty eight thousand followers,
(15:46):
but journalist Joshua Fox is also documenting her journey on
his popular podcast Math's Funny. Okay, before we get into
the backlash, can you get listeners up to speed with
what rib recontouring actually is. I have never heard of this.
It's a bit of a mouthful, isn't it now. It
is the fastest growing cosmetic procedure in the world, but
it's not yet available in Australia. Hence my influencers are
(16:09):
traveling to Balley to get it done now. The reason
why it's not available here is because we have a
lot stricter cosmetic surgery regulations. So with rib recontouring being
a relatively new procedure, there's limited long term evidence on it.
So that's why Australian surgeons and hospitals deem the risk
to outweigh the benefit and that's why they're not doing
(16:30):
it at this stage. It's a procedure we may see
introduced later down the track. Now online, the procedure is
being touted as a safer alternative to rib removal, as
it reshapes the ribs rather than removes them. It's apparently
less invasive as well. There are no scars or wounds. Instead,
two tiny punctures are made into the patient's back and
(16:54):
then this powerful vibrating device is used to essentially weaken
the bones out of life. Once that's done, the bones
are soft enough that they are bent inwards. Oh my god,
what the fuck is wrong with people? Oh? Like, that
just sounds like the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
I can't believe we're at a stage where people are
(17:16):
having to have their bones bent to fit a certain
body ideal. Like, what is wrong with the world. I mean,
surely that's not good for you, for your bones to
be bent. I mean the fact that it's talking about
using a powerful vibrating device to weaken the bones out
of layer. I mean there's a reason this isn't illegal
in Australia. This sounds fun. I mean you have rips
for a reason, to protect your internal organs. I listened
(17:38):
to one of the interviews on the Mass Funny podcast
and the woman was like, Oh, it's not like you're
having any vital organs removed or anything. Well, let hope
not just your bones restruct What the hell? This sounds
more fun than that, cat. I think that Sky Wheatley
hadn't well, as you mentioned at the start. So if
Beck Zachariah is one of the ten influencers that's on
this brand trip, and for those not familiar with her,
(17:59):
she is one of the most controversial contestants from the
later series of Married at First Sight. Prior to the show,
she actually lost twenty five kilos and was pretty open
about her insecurities around her body. Despite being so vulnerable
on the show, though, she was mercilessly trolled online about
her appearance, and while she's been in Balley, she's been
(18:20):
sharing some of the messages that she's been receiving and
they are truly appalling. People have been telling her to
take her own life horrible, and she explained that those
messages are part of the reason why she's actually having
the procedure done now. In an interview with Josh Fox,
she spoke about how she has a lot of loose
skin that she is desperate to get rid of. Here's
(18:41):
more of what she said.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Your body, your choice, what you feel confident with, in
what you feel comfortable with, fucking do it.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
So why are all these tarens coming at me? Let
me get my ribs done? No almost look like me.
Obviously sit the sloth over.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Here, but like, put yourself done without shut up, get
your teeth done, get your done, get your jaw done,
get your skin done, get you this done, get your
nose done.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Like, trust me, if I could, I would. I mean
those comments absolutely appalling, And I think a lot of
people are shocked when they hear that. Influencers or celebrities
who are very attractive at going and getting this work done.
That from the outside it looks like, you know, oh,
that's ridiculous, what you don't need that done. But when
you're receiving comments like that on a daily basis. Obviously,
it does ground down your self confidence and make you think, oh,
(19:27):
I need to I need to improve myself. That being sad,
it's weird because she's talking about removing loose skin. This
isn't a procedure to remove louse skin. This is a
procedure to alter your ribs. Yeah, but she wants to
get other procedures done as well, Like she's just not
happy with how she looks at the moment. Now, as
I mentioned, Beck is on this trip with ten other influencers.
Some of the names you might know Mass contestant Athena Rutani,
(19:52):
Bachelor two thousand and nine alumni, Monique Morley, and Carly Ellen. Wow,
so contestants from two thousand and nine. Yeah, you would
actually recognize her if you saw I can't think of
who that is. But I mean, is that because more
mainstream influencers would say, nah, fuck that, I'm not getting
that done. That sous horrendous. That's the vibe I'm getting
(20:12):
And I'm sort of scraping the bottom of the barrelers
to what influences would agree to go on this brand
trip and undergo this surgery. Now, Josh Fox's decision to
join this brandchip to Bali and document. It has divided opinions.
I want to point out he isn't actually getting the
surgery himself. He is just there as a journalist to
report on it. Yeah, he has made that very clear. Now,
(20:33):
since this first episode dropped of the mini series, he's
received a lot of personal backlash. People have accused him
of promoting cosmetic surgery to impressional people and being a
part of the problem. Now he has called it an
investigation series and has jokingly referred to himself as Louis Throux.
It's actually not his first investigation for his podcast. So
(20:54):
in March twenty twenty five, he launched a mini investigation
series into the downfall of married at first site. And
if you look into his background, this series is very
on brand for him. So before launching the podcast, he
actually worked as a producer on The Kyle and Jackie
Oh Show, and before that, he worked as a journalist
in the UK, where he made a name for himself
(21:14):
in the celebrity gossip space. He became very known for
getting the scoop on Charlotte Crosby and Katie Price's latest
cosmetic surgery. So he said He's had a history of
documenting cosmetic surgeries. I mean, to me, this series does
seem quite on brand for him. He was a little
surprised by the criticism though, because his podcast Mass Funny
(21:35):
it has rave reviews. Just recently he won the Best
Independent Host and Best New Independent Podcast at the Australian
Audio Awards, So I think he was expecting people to
get behind him and really enjoy this series. Yeah. I
did get the vibe though in the first episode that
he was really trying to get on the front foot
to prevent any backlash. It came across as a little
(21:55):
bit defensive. He went on this speel about how he
didn't know better when he was working as a gossip
journalists and he since realized that these media companies were
working to exploit celebrities over their insecurities to make a profit,
all while promoting unrealistic standards to the public. I mean, obviously,
tick tick tick, that's great to say, but then it
doesn't really contrast across to them giving this trip air time.
(22:18):
As such, I actually can relate to what he's saying,
because obviously I've worked as a journalist before, and sometimes
when you're outside of the industry, and you reflect on
the stories that you covered or things that were discussed
in the newsroom, you realize that that now doesn't match
up with your own personal ethics and how fucked it
actually is. Yeah. Obviously people are allowed to grow and
change their minds. I mean, he put it out there
(22:39):
that his personal preference is against surgery and he finds
a lot of the procedures really unnecessary. He did say,
your body, your choice, but where is the line between
self love and just an endless search for validation? So
he was really trying to set it up that he
doesn't endorse it, but he wants to show what actually
goes on behind the scenes. Some transparency. Yeah, I thought
it was a really clever way to introduced the series
(23:01):
and to make his listeners very aware of his standing point.
It was very transparent. Yeah, I mean, he also spoke
a lot about why he decided to cover the story.
So it turns out he actually received a tip off
about the brand trip from former Bachelor contestant Monique Morley,
the one that was on the two thousand and nine
edition that you've forgotten now. Initially he told her he
didn't want to discuss it on his podcast because he
(23:22):
didn't want to be seen to be endorsing it because
he doesn't really agree with it. However, he did a
bit more research and he got curious about it, particularly
when he found out that Beck from Maths was on
the trip. Now, reading between the lines, I read it
as okay, Monique, you're not really in the zeitguys relevant.
But the fact that Beck, who's the most controversial contestant
(23:43):
from Maths, is going on it, I think I need
to be there. He then said this.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Then started to think like, Hey, regardless who these girls are,
I think it's fads to say that between them, they'll have,
say a minimum of what two million followers, And that's
two million Australian women and potential young girls who will
soon be having this procedure and the results from this
trip in BALI forced into their news feeds. And that's
(24:11):
two million people. I thought, Hey, they're only going to
see these strong before and after pictures from these influencers,
presumably with no wider context or balanced, unbiased perspective of
this new craze. And that's when I started to entertain
this idea of coming here to document it, and I thought, well,
I want to find out more about this. So I
(24:33):
reached out to the company behind this trip and I
set up a call, and initially that was just to
find out that, Yo, what the hell is actually going
on here?
Speaker 1 (24:41):
From a journalistic perspective, I totally get what he's saying.
There are two key areas, though, where his defense falls
down a little bit for me. The first is the
fact that content creators no longer show just before and
after that was the sort of twenty ten thing. They
tell the full story, They explain what they're doing. They
show the hospital bag that they've packed, the recovery, the scars,
(25:04):
the bruises, everything, because that is content that gets a
lot of views on social media. And that's been happening
for a long time. I mean, you know, even seven
or eight years ago, YouTubers were flogging their boob jobs.
I have to somewhat disagree with you, though, okay, because
I think that this is a particular type of influencer
who's sharing all of the gory details. Sometimes they are
lesser known influencers who are desperate to build a following
(25:27):
and they want that sort of shock value. Whereas I
think a lot of top celebrities and top influencers are
going and getting these procedures done behind the scenes and
not talking about it and wanting people to just assume
that they've eaten healthy or they've used this special skin cream. Yeah.
But yeah, but that's not the case with this brand trip.
Like all of these influencers are being taken over to
(25:48):
document their process. They're not just showing it before and after.
So for him to use an excuse says, oh, but
I've got to be there to be transparent. Yeah. But
at the same time, are these influencers really going to
cover this experience in a transparent way If they've been
gifted flights, accommodation, presumably the procedure. No, they're going to
talk about how great it is. They're not really going
to be saying, oh, that was really painful, or that
(26:11):
was scary, or I didn't like that. They're not really
going to give an honest review. I mean, can you
give an honest review if you're being paid? Yeah, I
definitely agree. I think the water is muddied when influencers
share behind the scenes of a procedure and then you
find out it's actually been gifted or paid for or
it's an ad and as you said, that's what's happening
in this case. And that is where the second part
(26:32):
of Josh's defense falls down again for me, because during
his explanation of why he's covering the story, he said
he reached out to the company to find out more. Now,
the company who is running the trip is called Snatched Waste.
That name just says it older, yeah, and they have
an interesting business model. So they basically sell luxury package
holidays that happen to include a reconjuring procedure. So they organize,
(26:55):
as you predicted, all the flights, accommodation, transfers, hospital stays, recovery.
And Josh made this big point in the first episode
that he told the company he had two big conditions
of him being involved in the trip, and the first
was he didn't want to be paid, and the second
was he didn't want to be censored. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Firstly, I said, yo, I do not want paying at all,
because if you do pay me, sure like I do
sponsorships on this podcast, but if we did that, it's
going to then feel like a paid endorsement. And endorsing
something and just documenting it are two very different things.
And I don't want to be paid because I don't
(27:34):
want to endorse it. And I said, sure, you can
pay for my flights and accommodation on the agreement that
I will provide some coverage on this podcast and through
my socials. But you're going to have no control or
input in any of that. You don't get to dictate
or no what I'm going to say. I'm not going
to say it's great if I don't think it's great.
(27:55):
I said, my promise is I will come and I
will be on it about everything how I find it,
and with the girls coming on this trip, I will
just discuss their journey from start to finish landing in
Bali to leaving in Bali rather than just posting what
a before and after picture that I atually most media
are going to do once they are post about doing
(28:18):
this now.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
As much as Josh wants to say this isn't a
paid trip, the fact that the brand paid for his
flights and luxury accommodation definitely mutters the water. I mean,
they might not be purchasing a set amount of ad
inventory on his podcast, but it's a contra trip and
you know he's getting the brand name out there he's
getting information about the procedure out there. It's a win
for this brand. Yeah, But at the same time, he
(28:41):
has told the brand that they don't have any control
or input of what he's going to report. He's basically
specified he's going to be honest in his reporting. Yeah,
but do you think it's all above board? But do
you think it's possible to provide an unbiased review? If
you're on a trip that the brand has paid for,
you might go, oh, I'm going into this completely eyes
wide open. But when you put up in a luxury
(29:03):
hotel and this company's treating you nicely, and you're talking
to their spokespeople, and hey, you're getting a little bit
of a break in the pool to go swimming, you
unconsciously will be swayed to be positive about this company. Look,
I think he definitely should have paid for his own
airfares and accommodation, because, as you said, it does muddy
the water a little bit. But at the same time,
he's a ruthless entertainment journalist from knowing these sorts of
(29:26):
people and working alongside them. They don't give a fuck
if this brand is given them something. They want to
get to the heart of the story. He would care
more about his podcast being a success than blowing smoke
up these people's asses. He just wants the story to
be good, and in order for the story to be good,
he has to be critical of it. I mean, I've
listened to the four part series now and there definitely
(29:48):
are parts where he is critical of it. But he
also does give a lot of airtime for people pumping
up the procedures. So he interviewed Athena and she went
on and on about how, oh, this procege is so
much less extreme than getting your boobs done or a
Brazilian butt lift, and it's so safe, and you know,
she was really pumping it up talking about it. The
(30:09):
interesting twist is that just this morning, the fourth episode
of the podcast dropped and Beck has actually backed out
of getting the surgery. Well, Josh actually drove back to
the hospital and he said, originally his plan was to
actually go in with her when she was getting all
marked up and kind of document that all for his podcast,
But it seems like he's taken a bit of a
step back after this backlash. He then made a comment though, like, oh,
(30:32):
but I was going to go back and enjoy a
bing tang at the pool and try and have a
bit of a holiday whilst I'm here, which kind of
I just wouldn't have said that. I would have edited
that out. But then he went on this spiel about
how he hasn't actually been able to enjoy his time
in Bali because he gets so invested on what he's
doing and he can't you enjoy having a break away
from it. Now, in the meantime, Beck has decided that
(30:55):
she doesn't actually want to get the surgery done, so
he spoke to her once she was back at the
hotel and she made this big point how top notch
the hospital was, and he also agreed. He said, oh,
the hospitals are better in Bali than they are, you know,
in Sydney, and he was going on, you know, praising
how the doctor seemed to take it all really seriously.
It's like, well, i'd hope so when they're doing cosmetic surgery.
(31:18):
And she said it had nothing to do with the hospital.
The brand hasn't put pressure on her. She said it
was a personal thing. She just felt like she wasn't
ready to do it. So now she's staying a week
longer in Bali and potentially going to change her mind.
I actually think this is good for his podcast, though,
because I don't think that this glamorizes it so much.
It's saying that even though she's desperate to change how
(31:39):
she looks, she's backed out of it because it seems
like a really full on procedure. Yeah, it was definitely
a twist I didn't see coming, and I think it
was perfect timing for him because it allowed him to
then wrap the podcast up by saying, Hey, you need
to be like Beck and think about whether this procedure
is right for you. It was kind of like the
(31:59):
perfect bowl at the end. I think ultimately, we've got
to remember that just because a journalist is covering a
story or interviewing someone, it doesn't mean they actually back
up the views of that person, because I think people
get really confused when I've seen some journalists interviewing controversial figures.
People jump to the conclusion, Oh, they must be the
same political leaning as them, or they must agree with
(32:20):
what they're saying, and it's like, no, they're actually just
intering this person because they're an interesting subject to interview,
and also as a journalist you can then challenge them
on those ideals. Yeah, but I think that's where it
comes down to do you ask the right questions and
do you challenge them? And that's why I think around
the election, a lot of podcasters were under fire because
(32:40):
they kind of were getting swept up in it and
they weren't asking the tough questions. And I mean, it
is such a fine line between promoting and amplifying something, because,
to be completely honest, I didn't know about rib recontouring
before this podcast and before Beck decided to do it.
And I do wonder I've got as much attention if
(33:01):
these ten influencers were going, because, as you said, they
weren't very well known, and Beck usually gets a lot
of backlash. So I'm kind of leaning more towards the
fact that I think a bit of damage has been
done in the sense that he's actually promoted this surgery
to a lot more people than would have heard about
it in the first place. Yeah. But for instance, when
Louis Thureau interviewed all of those dickhead guys in the Manisphere,
(33:24):
is that him promoting the Manisphere or is that him
showing the ridiculousness of it? And people at home are
sitting there thinking this is fuck like For me, I'm
listening to his podcast and thinking this sounds horrendous. This
is something I would never want to do. For me, though,
the timing is different because everyone was aware of the manisphere,
whereas this is like a new procedure that he's almost
(33:46):
shone light on height. Oh hey, did you know that
everyone has an issue with their waists and you can
actually go to balley and get it done in these
dangerous places. This is not even legal in Australia. Like
it's kind of putting ideas into people's heads, but that
means you can't report on anything new happening. Like at
the end of the day, the consumer has to have
their own autonomy and their own brain and say, Okay,
(34:08):
this is something I don't want to do. No. I
definitely agree with that, but I think that the level
of investigation wasn't there for me, the level of questioning things,
and the fact that his trip was actually covered by
the brand. I think that if he had gone independently
paid for his stuff, it would have been a completely
different story. But the fact that the hotel was putting
him up there and it just seemed like a bit
(34:28):
of a junket really, with all these other Australian influencers. Well,
on that note, I think that is all we have
time for today. Thank you so much for joining us
for this episode. If you have enjoyed it, could you
please make sure you are subscribed on Apple podcast and
also Spotify. On Wednesday, we're dropping a new episode of
the Mom's Group where we go into more detail about
Molly May's infamous white dress and the marketing tactics around that,
(34:52):
because that was from her new line. Maybe I can't
wait to talk about that. Well, that is where we're
going to leave things today, But if you want to
hear more from us, we drop a subscriber only episode
every Thursday for Outspoken Plus subscribers. All the details to
sign up in our show notes. This podcast was recorded
on the traditional land of the Ghana people of the
Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to elders past and present.
Hello, and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
Kate Torba and I'm Sophie Torbah and coming up on
today's show, a popular podcaster is under fire for documenting
a controversial cosmetic surgery brand trip Steph clare Smith's Kid
Free Stay k and Olivia Rodgers's Unique Push Present. But first,
(00:26):
we are recording from arctic conditions. Today. We are in
our parents' spare room, which has sort of turned into
a bit of a nursery for the kids because we
don't have our regular studio to record in aka Amy's house.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Amy's on a shoot for your PR company at the moment.
That's why she's absent. But I'm surprised you can't hear
my teeth chattering. It is that cold. My hands are
like frozen. It's so funny. I said to Dad, are
you not cold? He's like, yeah, I am. I'm like,
why don't you? Is there any other people's parents that
just don't use the heater or the air conditions? Well, actually,
when I was sitting there, I didn't want to appear
(00:59):
cold because I don't want to be rude, But then
I noticed Dad putting on a third layer of his
jacket while I was talking to me. It's I mean,
I can understand why people don't want to use the
heating At the moment. The electricity bills are astronomical. We
have had ours blaring though all day at home, so
it is quite a bit of a change to come here. Yeah,
but speaking stereotypically, it's not like the boomers can't afford it.
(01:20):
Like Mom and Dad could definitely afford to have the
heater going. Yeah, but that's how they stay rich because
they don't indulge in heating. It's funny because our mum
also hates using a dryer, Like she's like, why would
I use a dryer when I can just hang it out.
It's like in winter, it takes like a week for
the clothes to dry outside. I am feeling a little
bit nostalgic being in Amy's old childhood bedroom. Some of
our old stuff's been put in here, and I can't
(01:42):
get over the twenty twelve jewelry trees. Oh, we need
to take a photo and put it on the Instagram story.
They are so hideous. I love the fact that we
had too so Kate and I had to share a room,
and we've got these two fucking jewelry trees. Oh so ugly.
I mean, the idea is that you're hanging your jewelry
off there so you can sort of display it. Fucking hideous.
What are we thinking? The fact that there would have
(02:03):
been those really heavy, chunky necklaces on it makes it
even worse. I'm sitting next to a blobby lamp, so
lava lamp as you call it. I mean, some of
this stuff definitely needs to go, but I don't have
the heart. Yeah, they can just keep it. While I
was pregnant, Hugo was in talks with Class A Jewelers
(02:23):
and organized the most beautiful push present for me A
month after giving birth. Olivia Rodgers has revealed her unique
push present. The former Miss Universe contestant created a real
unveiling the piece of jewelry now. She was very quick
to point out that this ring was not an engagement ring,
(02:43):
but rather a pinky ring containing her son Albert's birthstone,
which is an emerald. For those who haven't seen the ring,
it's this large green emerald surrounded by diamonds on a
gold band. What did you think of it. I mean,
I think you can tell by that pause that I'm
trying to think of a polite way to say this,
But pinky rings in general give me the ick, particularly
(03:04):
on men hate them. I think they're actually in fashion
for women, but can't stand it. Like if I got
given a pinky ring, I'd be really upset. Yeah, they're
a bit of an inck for me too. In saying that,
I love Megan Markel's style, and she is one to
wear a pinky ring, so maybe I can get around it.
I think the difference is women usually wear the pinky
(03:25):
ring alongside other rings, so there's like stacked options and
it's kind of, you know, a bunch of different jewelry,
whereas men often rock the pinky ring without other rings
on their hand. Very specific well, I mean, I don't know.
Maybe it's just something about a man. I don't particularly
like when men wear a lot of jewelry except a
wedding band. Yeah that makes a man look that's hot. Yeah,
I mean, it's not really the most practical gift for
(03:46):
a mum, is it? A pinky ring? I can imagine
that getting just caught on everything. Imagine changing a baby
with a pinky ring on. I mean, you're probably not
wearing it all the time, probably for special occasions. Yeah,
I think a traditional push present is usually an eternity ring.
But he can't really give her an eternity ring because
often you get her after your engagement and wedding band.
So I can see why he went with the pinky ring,
(04:07):
and also maybe he wanted to be very clear that
it wasn't an engagement ring. Well, that's the thing. So
usually a push present is presented to the mother in
hospital after they've given birth or the day before, like
my husband did. Well, that's not really stereotypical, but he
usually does that. He's all for an early present, isn't he.
It seems like he gets too excited. Yeah, anyway, so yes,
(04:28):
they are usually presented to the mother once they've given birth,
but this present arrived a month after because it was
a collaboration with Class A Jewelers. And I am kind
of glad that Hugo didn't give it to Olivia in
the hospital because can you imagine the optics She's just
given birth, like the hormones are running while he hands
her a ring box, you would assume it was an
(04:51):
engagement ring. And what a punch in the face if
you open it up and it's this fucking pinky ring there,
pinky ring that you're not expecting to be fair though,
I don't think i'd want to be proposed to after
giving us like, I think you've got to keep that
moment as it is and enjoy that, and then I think, yeah,
it's better coming later on when you're feeling more yourself. Yeah. Now,
(05:12):
as I said, this does appear to be some sort
of gifted or sponsored moment from Class A Jewelers, which
is an Adelaide jeweler. Well, actually my engagement ring and
my push present both came from Class A Jeweler. Unfortunately
they weren't gifted. My husband paid for top dollar for them. Well,
Olivia did tag Class A Jewelers in this post, and
she said that while she was pregnant, Hugo was in
(05:32):
talks with Class A Jewelers and organized the most beautiful
push present for her. So that really made it sound
like it was a brand deal. I wonder if the
brand reached out to Hugo directly or if Olivia put
them onto him. Well, she does have a long standing
relationship with Class A Jewelers. So they sponsored her marathon
and she's done some other work with them, which is
(05:54):
kind of ironic because she also had a deal with
another jeweler in Melbourne was it Diamond Jeweler and they
created her engagement ring. But ironically, she spoke on the
Inherited podcast last year I think it was, and she
mentioned that she wasn't actually that big of a fan
of the ring. So on the morning of her wedding,
(06:14):
her mum gifted her a family ring I think it
was her grandmother's engagement ring, and she said that it
was this moment where she realized that she loved that
ring way more than her engagement ring, and it sort
of pointed out that Justin didn't know her very well,
which was so awkward because that ring was called the
Olivia Ring. I remember thinking it was amazing. Now do
(06:36):
we think Hugo gets credit for this push present? If
he didn't pay for it? Look, I think behind the
scenes he would have given her another present at the hospital.
And this is sort of all show business, you know,
it's all for the sponsored post. I mean, he did
appear to design this ring as well, so he gets
a little bit of credit there. It's quite funny because
one follower wrote, under the reel, I love it. Also
(06:56):
very impressed that he knows your taste so well because
it's a pretty niche stuff, while and Olivia said it's pretty,
isn't it? He does know me? Well. Now I can't
decipher in that comment whether she does like it or not,
you know what I mean? Even someone saying it's unique,
and she's saying, yeah, he does know me. It's pretty.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Like.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
I wonder if she was a bit thrown like, oh,
this is a bit out there. It would be tough.
Also considering she's put out there on the record that
her ex husband Justin mckeean didn't know her and got
her the wrong ring, Like there's a bit of pressure
on Hugo to design the right one. Just say she
isn't the biggest fan of the ring. I wonder if
she's like, oh my god, I need to point him
in the right direction of what engagement when I want now,
like I don't want a colored stone, Yeah, I just
(07:34):
want something elegant, I believe. Now I'm just like going
to check into hotel. Steph glare Smith has surprised her
husband by revealing two new tattoos during their hotel stay
in the city. The couple, who have two young children,
were craving asleep in so booked a kid free weekend away.
So if this sounds like a great idea, it does,
I want to do it after hearing about this. So
(07:56):
I heard about this weeks ago on the Kickpod, and
basically they decided that they really wanted some time as
a couple, but they also wanted alone time and the
opportunity to have a sleep in and do whatever they wanted.
But they didn't want to be away from their kids
and also rely too heavily on their parents to babysit.
(08:16):
So what they ended up doing was booking a three
nights stay where Steph would stay by herself for the
first night, do whatever she wanted to do, have a
sleep in, then Josh would meet her. The next day
they'd go on a date. I think they actually planned
to go about dancing, which didn't end up happening they
were too tired, and then Steph would go home and
Josh would then have the day to himself and the
(08:37):
night to himself. It's actually genius. It's a great way
to extend that sort of me time and also guilt
free because I find that if it's your partner looking
after your children, you don't feel as bad. But when
you have a babysitter, Like if you had a babysitter
there for three nights, you'd feel terrible. Also, you know
that your kids would be missing you. And I think
alone time is so important when you are a parent.
(08:59):
I mean last week I had the week from how
my son was sick and I was reflecting. I'm like,
I'm so tired, but I keep staying up really late
because I need like an hour to myself just to decompress. Yeah,
you definitely do. Now. This trip was sponsored, so it
was in partnership with Luxury Escapes and they stayed at
the High Melbourne Place and she showed off her massive
(09:21):
suite on an Instagram story. It looked absolutely incredible. She
also uploaded a photo dump of their weekend away, telling
her followers about the dream reset that she had just experienced. Now.
She also uploaded a real today and I loved watching
her day in the life of what she got up to.
So she when I got her hair done. I think
that's a yes for any mum. She then brought her
(09:43):
laptop from ten years ago into the hotel so that
she could try and play her old SIMS game. Now,
to me, that is someone who is wanting to or
maybe mourning their old life a little bit. I'm wanting
to go on experience, will have that feeling again of
what it felt like to be in your early twenties
when you had no responsibilities, and I can completely relate
to that, Like it's almost this cose playing your old life.
(10:06):
So that's all she did. She got her hair done
and played SIMS. After that, she went to the restaurant
at the hotel and she brought her kindle down. She
thought she'd only be there for a little while. She
ended up staying for three hours. Chatting to the hotel staff,
she said that she was literally almost crying because she'd
been laughing so much, and that she'd had a couple
of wines and was that close to giving one hundred
and fifty dollars tip to someone. That's how much fun
(10:29):
she was.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Happy.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Good on her. I mean, can you imagine being out
at this bar and just seeing Steph Klesmith living it
up being the waiter having a chat. Yeah. She then
popped to the seven eleven, got some chocolate and some
popcorn and watched TV for the rest of the night.
It sounded absolutely perfect. I need to ask, so, what
would you do if you had that time to yourself,
because I'm going to put it out there I don't
(10:50):
really I mean I said that I find that alone
time is really important, but I think I'd prefer to
spend that twenty four hours with you and Amy as well.
That's what I was going to say. Our loone time
is sort of spending it with each other. We have
a trip locked in for October when we're seeing Hillary Duff.
So that's I think my first night that I'm ever
going to be away from Luca, and I feel like
we won't know what to do with ourselves. I just
(11:11):
think you need a nice long dinner, some shopping shots, no,
like just bad food, like just just to be alone
and just scroll on your phone as well. And I'm
just desperate for a sleep in. The unfortunate thing about
staying in a hotel is I feel like I never
sleep well, Like you don't sleep the same as you
would at home. Well, the thing that's genius about Steph's
(11:34):
plan was that they said that they wanted to be
able to sleep in, and usually you get kicked out
of the hotel at like nine am or ten am.
That's why they did it that way, so they could
do it in shifts. So then Josh met her in
the afternoon to start his day. You know, Josh not
get his because he was on day three of a
loan time, so he doesn't really get a sleep in
or to spend the whole day at the hotel by himself.
He got screwed there. Well, no, because he joined her
(11:56):
for the couple day, so he had that half of
the day as well. Yeah, but that's not as good
as Steph. Like, Steph set that up really well. Well,
she had the kid, so I think she deserves it.
That true. Well, and he's the I do want to
say he's a primary care giver at home. Does that
change your mind? Oh? Yeah, true. Well it's quite funny
because I think that, you know, Josh and Steph thought
they were going to have this like crazy night out
where they were dancing the night away. She did that
(12:18):
the night before at the bar. They ended up getting tied,
so she said they had a bath and watched Charlie
and the Chocolate. Another influencer I follow who has I
think a nine month old her name is Sarah Jane Stevens.
She's actually an Adelaide influencer. She was sharing that she
had a night at a hotel as well with her
partner kid free, and she was set. She's like, it's
nine pm and we're in bed watching a movie. Like
(12:40):
she was so excited. She's like, there's no way we
want to go out. We just want to eat snacks
in bed and have a good sleep. Yeah. Now, one
thing I have held off from mentioning is that during
Steph's solo day, she also got some new tattoos, but
she didn't tell her husband because she wanted to reveal
it as a surprise. I mean she mentioned that Josh
knew she was thinking about it, but didn't know she
was actually pulling the trigger on it. And it actually
he reminded me of a situation with some of my friends.
(13:02):
One of my friends went and got some tattoos, but
she didn't actually tell her partner about it. And we
were saying, well, from a relationship perspective, like what are
there rules, like do you have to let your partner
know that you're getting a tattoo? Is it your body,
your choice? Yeah, it is a hard one because I
think if Brandon rocked up and he just had, you know,
such as life tattoo across his stomach, I might be like, well,
(13:24):
what's going on. That's very out of character. I'm not
really a fan of that. Yeah, I suppose it depends
on how you feel about tattoos. Like, if you're someone
that's open to tattoos and likes them, I think maybe
the surprise would work well. But if your partner's anti tattoos,
and it's kind of like when women say, oh, my
husband doesn't want me to get filler in my face,
so I just want to God and hope that he
didn't realize. Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day,
(13:45):
I think it is your body, your choice. But I
think any huge life decision, you normally would speak about
it with your partner. I mean, in Steph cle Smith's case,
these are two fine line tattoos. Still that's a permanent
thing on your body. Yeah, but it's not like it's
some massive, like life change. It's like a small tattoo. Like.
One was of a little love heart, wasn't it. Yeah,
it was an outline of a love heart her son
(14:05):
had drawn. The other one was actually a from a
photograph of her and Josh when she was sixteen and
he was eighteen. They actually weren't together at the time.
They were on the back of a motorbike. He was
doing a WHEELI wasn't there. Yeah, and she said that.
I think it was kind of to recreate the feeling
she had because she said at the time she had
such a big crush on him, and that kind of
commemorated it. That's actually very sweet. I liked his reaction.
(14:28):
Will actually throw to it.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
I love that. See what that is.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
I think that's what you want when you surprise your
husband with the tattoo, them to say, oh, I want
to get that one too. Yeah, it was very sweet.
I mean they have such a cute story of how
they got together because really, all the odds are against
them when she moved to New York. I mean, she's
moving to New York to be this huge model like
guy back in Melbourne. Yeah, but I think the fact
that she had a crush on him ever since she
was sixteen, he was always on a pedestal. Yeah. True. True.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
So beck Is just landed in Bali a head of
her surgery on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I'm starting to go a nervous Josha, what am I doing?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Over the next twenty four hours, ten of the Australian
influencers are coming to undergo the same procedure.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Math's contestant Beck Zachariyah has revealed she's having her ribs
recontoured in a procedure that's illegal in Australia. The thirty
five year old is joining a group of nine Australian
influencers who are taking part in a brand trip to
Bali to promote the controversial cosmetic procedure. Beck is not
only sharing her experience to her own eighty eight thousand followers,
(15:46):
but journalist Joshua Fox is also documenting her journey on
his popular podcast Math's Funny. Okay, before we get into
the backlash, can you get listeners up to speed with
what rib recontouring actually is. I have never heard of this.
It's a bit of a mouthful, isn't it now. It
is the fastest growing cosmetic procedure in the world, but
it's not yet available in Australia. Hence my influencers are
(16:09):
traveling to Balley to get it done now. The reason
why it's not available here is because we have a
lot stricter cosmetic surgery regulations. So with rib recontouring being
a relatively new procedure, there's limited long term evidence on it.
So that's why Australian surgeons and hospitals deem the risk
to outweigh the benefit and that's why they're not doing
(16:30):
it at this stage. It's a procedure we may see
introduced later down the track. Now online, the procedure is
being touted as a safer alternative to rib removal, as
it reshapes the ribs rather than removes them. It's apparently
less invasive as well. There are no scars or wounds. Instead,
two tiny punctures are made into the patient's back and
(16:54):
then this powerful vibrating device is used to essentially weaken
the bones out of life. Once that's done, the bones
are soft enough that they are bent inwards. Oh my god,
what the fuck is wrong with people? Oh? Like, that
just sounds like the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
I can't believe we're at a stage where people are
(17:16):
having to have their bones bent to fit a certain
body ideal. Like, what is wrong with the world. I mean,
surely that's not good for you, for your bones to
be bent. I mean the fact that it's talking about
using a powerful vibrating device to weaken the bones out
of layer. I mean there's a reason this isn't illegal
in Australia. This sounds fun. I mean you have rips
for a reason, to protect your internal organs. I listened
(17:38):
to one of the interviews on the Mass Funny podcast
and the woman was like, Oh, it's not like you're
having any vital organs removed or anything. Well, let hope
not just your bones restruct What the hell? This sounds
more fun than that, cat. I think that Sky Wheatley
hadn't well, as you mentioned at the start. So if
Beck Zachariah is one of the ten influencers that's on
this brand trip, and for those not familiar with her,
(17:59):
she is one of the most controversial contestants from the
later series of Married at First Sight. Prior to the show,
she actually lost twenty five kilos and was pretty open
about her insecurities around her body. Despite being so vulnerable
on the show, though, she was mercilessly trolled online about
her appearance, and while she's been in Balley, she's been
(18:20):
sharing some of the messages that she's been receiving and
they are truly appalling. People have been telling her to
take her own life horrible, and she explained that those
messages are part of the reason why she's actually having
the procedure done now. In an interview with Josh Fox,
she spoke about how she has a lot of loose
skin that she is desperate to get rid of. Here's
(18:41):
more of what she said.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Your body, your choice, what you feel confident with, in
what you feel comfortable with, fucking do it.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
So why are all these tarens coming at me? Let
me get my ribs done? No almost look like me.
Obviously sit the sloth over.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Here, but like, put yourself done without shut up, get
your teeth done, get your done, get your jaw done,
get your skin done, get you this done, get your
nose done.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Like, trust me, if I could, I would. I mean
those comments absolutely appalling, And I think a lot of
people are shocked when they hear that. Influencers or celebrities
who are very attractive at going and getting this work done.
That from the outside it looks like, you know, oh,
that's ridiculous, what you don't need that done. But when
you're receiving comments like that on a daily basis. Obviously,
it does ground down your self confidence and make you think, oh,
(19:27):
I need to I need to improve myself. That being sad,
it's weird because she's talking about removing loose skin. This
isn't a procedure to remove louse skin. This is a
procedure to alter your ribs. Yeah, but she wants to
get other procedures done as well, Like she's just not
happy with how she looks at the moment. Now, as
I mentioned, Beck is on this trip with ten other influencers.
Some of the names you might know Mass contestant Athena Rutani,
(19:52):
Bachelor two thousand and nine alumni, Monique Morley, and Carly Ellen. Wow,
so contestants from two thousand and nine. Yeah, you would
actually recognize her if you saw I can't think of
who that is. But I mean, is that because more
mainstream influencers would say, nah, fuck that, I'm not getting
that done. That sous horrendous. That's the vibe I'm getting
(20:12):
And I'm sort of scraping the bottom of the barrelers
to what influences would agree to go on this brand
trip and undergo this surgery. Now, Josh Fox's decision to
join this brandchip to Bali and document. It has divided opinions.
I want to point out he isn't actually getting the
surgery himself. He is just there as a journalist to
report on it. Yeah, he has made that very clear. Now,
(20:33):
since this first episode dropped of the mini series, he's
received a lot of personal backlash. People have accused him
of promoting cosmetic surgery to impressional people and being a
part of the problem. Now he has called it an
investigation series and has jokingly referred to himself as Louis Throux.
It's actually not his first investigation for his podcast. So
(20:54):
in March twenty twenty five, he launched a mini investigation
series into the downfall of married at first site. And
if you look into his background, this series is very
on brand for him. So before launching the podcast, he
actually worked as a producer on The Kyle and Jackie
Oh Show, and before that, he worked as a journalist
in the UK, where he made a name for himself
(21:14):
in the celebrity gossip space. He became very known for
getting the scoop on Charlotte Crosby and Katie Price's latest
cosmetic surgery. So he said He's had a history of
documenting cosmetic surgeries. I mean, to me, this series does
seem quite on brand for him. He was a little
surprised by the criticism though, because his podcast Mass Funny
(21:35):
it has rave reviews. Just recently he won the Best
Independent Host and Best New Independent Podcast at the Australian
Audio Awards, So I think he was expecting people to
get behind him and really enjoy this series. Yeah. I
did get the vibe though in the first episode that
he was really trying to get on the front foot
to prevent any backlash. It came across as a little
(21:55):
bit defensive. He went on this speel about how he
didn't know better when he was working as a gossip
journalists and he since realized that these media companies were
working to exploit celebrities over their insecurities to make a profit,
all while promoting unrealistic standards to the public. I mean, obviously,
tick tick tick, that's great to say, but then it
doesn't really contrast across to them giving this trip air time.
(22:18):
As such, I actually can relate to what he's saying,
because obviously I've worked as a journalist before, and sometimes
when you're outside of the industry, and you reflect on
the stories that you covered or things that were discussed
in the newsroom, you realize that that now doesn't match
up with your own personal ethics and how fucked it
actually is. Yeah. Obviously people are allowed to grow and
change their minds. I mean, he put it out there
(22:39):
that his personal preference is against surgery and he finds
a lot of the procedures really unnecessary. He did say,
your body, your choice, but where is the line between
self love and just an endless search for validation? So
he was really trying to set it up that he
doesn't endorse it, but he wants to show what actually
goes on behind the scenes. Some transparency. Yeah, I thought
it was a really clever way to introduced the series
(23:01):
and to make his listeners very aware of his standing point.
It was very transparent. Yeah, I mean, he also spoke
a lot about why he decided to cover the story.
So it turns out he actually received a tip off
about the brand trip from former Bachelor contestant Monique Morley,
the one that was on the two thousand and nine
edition that you've forgotten now. Initially he told her he
didn't want to discuss it on his podcast because he
(23:22):
didn't want to be seen to be endorsing it because
he doesn't really agree with it. However, he did a
bit more research and he got curious about it, particularly
when he found out that Beck from Maths was on
the trip. Now, reading between the lines, I read it
as okay, Monique, you're not really in the zeitguys relevant.
But the fact that Beck, who's the most controversial contestant
(23:43):
from Maths, is going on it, I think I need
to be there. He then said this.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Then started to think like, Hey, regardless who these girls are,
I think it's fads to say that between them, they'll have,
say a minimum of what two million followers, And that's
two million Australian women and potential young girls who will
soon be having this procedure and the results from this
trip in BALI forced into their news feeds. And that's
(24:11):
two million people. I thought, Hey, they're only going to
see these strong before and after pictures from these influencers,
presumably with no wider context or balanced, unbiased perspective of
this new craze. And that's when I started to entertain
this idea of coming here to document it, and I thought, well,
I want to find out more about this. So I
(24:33):
reached out to the company behind this trip and I
set up a call, and initially that was just to
find out that, Yo, what the hell is actually going
on here?
Speaker 1 (24:41):
From a journalistic perspective, I totally get what he's saying.
There are two key areas, though, where his defense falls
down a little bit for me. The first is the
fact that content creators no longer show just before and
after that was the sort of twenty ten thing. They
tell the full story, They explain what they're doing. They
show the hospital bag that they've packed, the recovery, the scars,
(25:04):
the bruises, everything, because that is content that gets a
lot of views on social media. And that's been happening
for a long time. I mean, you know, even seven
or eight years ago, YouTubers were flogging their boob jobs.
I have to somewhat disagree with you, though, okay, because
I think that this is a particular type of influencer
who's sharing all of the gory details. Sometimes they are
lesser known influencers who are desperate to build a following
(25:27):
and they want that sort of shock value. Whereas I
think a lot of top celebrities and top influencers are
going and getting these procedures done behind the scenes and
not talking about it and wanting people to just assume
that they've eaten healthy or they've used this special skin cream. Yeah.
But yeah, but that's not the case with this brand trip.
Like all of these influencers are being taken over to
(25:48):
document their process. They're not just showing it before and after.
So for him to use an excuse says, oh, but
I've got to be there to be transparent. Yeah. But
at the same time, are these influencers really going to
cover this experience in a transparent way If they've been
gifted flights, accommodation, presumably the procedure. No, they're going to
talk about how great it is. They're not really going
to be saying, oh, that was really painful, or that
(26:11):
was scary, or I didn't like that. They're not really
going to give an honest review. I mean, can you
give an honest review if you're being paid? Yeah, I
definitely agree. I think the water is muddied when influencers
share behind the scenes of a procedure and then you
find out it's actually been gifted or paid for or
it's an ad and as you said, that's what's happening
in this case. And that is where the second part
(26:32):
of Josh's defense falls down again for me, because during
his explanation of why he's covering the story, he said
he reached out to the company to find out more. Now,
the company who is running the trip is called Snatched Waste.
That name just says it older, yeah, and they have
an interesting business model. So they basically sell luxury package
holidays that happen to include a reconjuring procedure. So they organize,
(26:55):
as you predicted, all the flights, accommodation, transfers, hospital stays, recovery.
And Josh made this big point in the first episode
that he told the company he had two big conditions
of him being involved in the trip, and the first
was he didn't want to be paid, and the second
was he didn't want to be censored. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Firstly, I said, yo, I do not want paying at all,
because if you do pay me, sure like I do
sponsorships on this podcast, but if we did that, it's
going to then feel like a paid endorsement. And endorsing
something and just documenting it are two very different things.
And I don't want to be paid because I don't
(27:34):
want to endorse it. And I said, sure, you can
pay for my flights and accommodation on the agreement that
I will provide some coverage on this podcast and through
my socials. But you're going to have no control or
input in any of that. You don't get to dictate
or no what I'm going to say. I'm not going
to say it's great if I don't think it's great.
(27:55):
I said, my promise is I will come and I
will be on it about everything how I find it,
and with the girls coming on this trip, I will
just discuss their journey from start to finish landing in
Bali to leaving in Bali rather than just posting what
a before and after picture that I atually most media
are going to do once they are post about doing
(28:18):
this now.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
As much as Josh wants to say this isn't a
paid trip, the fact that the brand paid for his
flights and luxury accommodation definitely mutters the water. I mean,
they might not be purchasing a set amount of ad
inventory on his podcast, but it's a contra trip and
you know he's getting the brand name out there he's
getting information about the procedure out there. It's a win
for this brand. Yeah, But at the same time, he
(28:41):
has told the brand that they don't have any control
or input of what he's going to report. He's basically
specified he's going to be honest in his reporting. Yeah,
but do you think it's all above board? But do
you think it's possible to provide an unbiased review? If
you're on a trip that the brand has paid for,
you might go, oh, I'm going into this completely eyes
wide open. But when you put up in a luxury
(29:03):
hotel and this company's treating you nicely, and you're talking
to their spokespeople, and hey, you're getting a little bit
of a break in the pool to go swimming, you
unconsciously will be swayed to be positive about this company. Look,
I think he definitely should have paid for his own
airfares and accommodation, because, as you said, it does muddy
the water a little bit. But at the same time,
he's a ruthless entertainment journalist from knowing these sorts of
(29:26):
people and working alongside them. They don't give a fuck
if this brand is given them something. They want to
get to the heart of the story. He would care
more about his podcast being a success than blowing smoke
up these people's asses. He just wants the story to
be good, and in order for the story to be good,
he has to be critical of it. I mean, I've
listened to the four part series now and there definitely
(29:48):
are parts where he is critical of it. But he
also does give a lot of airtime for people pumping
up the procedures. So he interviewed Athena and she went
on and on about how, oh, this procege is so
much less extreme than getting your boobs done or a
Brazilian butt lift, and it's so safe, and you know,
she was really pumping it up talking about it. The
(30:09):
interesting twist is that just this morning, the fourth episode
of the podcast dropped and Beck has actually backed out
of getting the surgery. Well, Josh actually drove back to
the hospital and he said, originally his plan was to
actually go in with her when she was getting all
marked up and kind of document that all for his podcast,
But it seems like he's taken a bit of a
step back after this backlash. He then made a comment though, like, oh,
(30:32):
but I was going to go back and enjoy a
bing tang at the pool and try and have a
bit of a holiday whilst I'm here, which kind of
I just wouldn't have said that. I would have edited
that out. But then he went on this spiel about
how he hasn't actually been able to enjoy his time
in Bali because he gets so invested on what he's
doing and he can't you enjoy having a break away
from it. Now, in the meantime, Beck has decided that
(30:55):
she doesn't actually want to get the surgery done, so
he spoke to her once she was back at the
hotel and she made this big point how top notch
the hospital was, and he also agreed. He said, oh,
the hospitals are better in Bali than they are, you know,
in Sydney, and he was going on, you know, praising
how the doctor seemed to take it all really seriously.
It's like, well, i'd hope so when they're doing cosmetic surgery.
(31:18):
And she said it had nothing to do with the hospital.
The brand hasn't put pressure on her. She said it
was a personal thing. She just felt like she wasn't
ready to do it. So now she's staying a week
longer in Bali and potentially going to change her mind.
I actually think this is good for his podcast, though,
because I don't think that this glamorizes it so much.
It's saying that even though she's desperate to change how
(31:39):
she looks, she's backed out of it because it seems
like a really full on procedure. Yeah, it was definitely
a twist I didn't see coming, and I think it
was perfect timing for him because it allowed him to
then wrap the podcast up by saying, Hey, you need
to be like Beck and think about whether this procedure
is right for you. It was kind of like the
(31:59):
perfect bowl at the end. I think ultimately, we've got
to remember that just because a journalist is covering a
story or interviewing someone, it doesn't mean they actually back
up the views of that person, because I think people
get really confused when I've seen some journalists interviewing controversial figures.
People jump to the conclusion, Oh, they must be the
same political leaning as them, or they must agree with
(32:20):
what they're saying, and it's like, no, they're actually just
intering this person because they're an interesting subject to interview,
and also as a journalist you can then challenge them
on those ideals. Yeah, but I think that's where it
comes down to do you ask the right questions and
do you challenge them? And that's why I think around
the election, a lot of podcasters were under fire because
(32:40):
they kind of were getting swept up in it and
they weren't asking the tough questions. And I mean, it
is such a fine line between promoting and amplifying something, because,
to be completely honest, I didn't know about rib recontouring
before this podcast and before Beck decided to do it.
And I do wonder I've got as much attention if
(33:01):
these ten influencers were going, because, as you said, they
weren't very well known, and Beck usually gets a lot
of backlash. So I'm kind of leaning more towards the
fact that I think a bit of damage has been
done in the sense that he's actually promoted this surgery
to a lot more people than would have heard about
it in the first place. Yeah. But for instance, when
Louis Thureau interviewed all of those dickhead guys in the Manisphere,
(33:24):
is that him promoting the Manisphere or is that him
showing the ridiculousness of it? And people at home are
sitting there thinking this is fuck like For me, I'm
listening to his podcast and thinking this sounds horrendous. This
is something I would never want to do. For me, though,
the timing is different because everyone was aware of the manisphere,
whereas this is like a new procedure that he's almost
(33:46):
shone light on height. Oh hey, did you know that
everyone has an issue with their waists and you can
actually go to balley and get it done in these
dangerous places. This is not even legal in Australia. Like
it's kind of putting ideas into people's heads, but that
means you can't report on anything new happening. Like at
the end of the day, the consumer has to have
their own autonomy and their own brain and say, Okay,
(34:08):
this is something I don't want to do. No. I
definitely agree with that, but I think that the level
of investigation wasn't there for me, the level of questioning things,
and the fact that his trip was actually covered by
the brand. I think that if he had gone independently
paid for his stuff, it would have been a completely
different story. But the fact that the hotel was putting
him up there and it just seemed like a bit
(34:28):
of a junket really, with all these other Australian influencers. Well,
on that note, I think that is all we have
time for today. Thank you so much for joining us
for this episode. If you have enjoyed it, could you
please make sure you are subscribed on Apple podcast and
also Spotify. On Wednesday, we're dropping a new episode of
the Mom's Group where we go into more detail about
Molly May's infamous white dress and the marketing tactics around that,
(34:52):
because that was from her new line. Maybe I can't
wait to talk about that. Well, that is where we're
going to leave things today, But if you want to
hear more from us, we drop a subscriber only episode
every Thursday for Outspoken Plus subscribers. All the details to
sign up in our show notes. This podcast was recorded
on the traditional land of the Ghana people of the
Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to elders past and present.
Popular Podcasts
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com