October 20, 2025 • 36 mins
The influencer witch-hunt over a stolen necklace. Tammy Hembrow calls our clout chasing exes. Skye Wheatley jets off to Fiji without her family amid break up rumours … AND Matt Zukowski’s on-air blunder.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello, and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
Kate Torbert and coming up on today's show, The Influencer
witch Hunt over a stolen necklace, Tammy Hembro calls out
clout chasing x'es and Matt Sakowski's on air blunder for first.
Sky Wheatley has jetted off to Fiji without her baby
(00:27):
daddy Locki wore and their two kids are mid break
up rumors. So if the former Bi Brother contestant recently
said she was in relationship limbo, Yeah, things have been
really up and down for Sky and Locke. About two
weeks ago, in an Instagram live, she confirmed that the
couple had broken up, and that's after they have been
together for seven years. But she's since renegged on her
own podcast and said that they're actually on a break
(00:48):
and are eventually going to try and work things out.
It seems like maybe they need a bit of space
and time to think about things, and maybe that's why
Sky has put an ocean between herself and her problem.
I was surprised when I saw she was in Fiji, though,
because it was only this time last year that she
and Lockie went on this big family trip there.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Well, as soon as she started posting that she was
setting off for Fiji, a lot of her followers were
desperate to know if Lockie was there because it wasn't
quite clear initially, and she ended up sharing a Q
and a box and one follower asked, is LOCKI with
you in Fiji and she responded saying nope, I'm here
with my mum and my sister. Another follower wrote in
saying tell us about Locke Babe, and Ski ended up responding,
(01:29):
all in good time. My love's got some healing to do.
Don't worry. I will be open and honest with everything
or will be revealed. Just navigating everything the best I
can now. Another person asked will you sell the house
now once it's done, and Ski ended up saying she's
not sure yet and is taking every day as it comes.
So they are some pretty interesting questions to answer whilst
(01:52):
you are away. Well, when you're in the midst of
a public breakup and you put up a question and
answer box, you're basically inviting people to ask you about
your ex. Yeah, well, she knows is good for engagement.
And I also think that she is quite aware that
she doesn't want to look like she's holding back from
her audience because she's always been an influencer who's known
for being really transparent and having that connection with them.
(02:14):
I mean, it's quite clear that both her and Lockie
don't know what's going on at the moment, and they're
just navigating it in real time with everyone else as
best they can.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
So we just had.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
An influencer steal from us.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
A Sydney jewelry brand has ignited a witch hunt after
the owner claimed and influencer stole one of their necklaces.
It didn't take long for some of Australia's biggest Internet
stars to be dragged into the drama. Cake can you
tell us more? Well, it all started when Amy Bradley,
the co founder of Luna Ray, took to TikTok to
accuse an unnamed influencer of stealing a necklace. Now, the
(02:49):
necklace in question was described as being uniquely designed and
retailed for three hundred and sixty dollars. Interestingly, the alleged
theft didn't actually take place at their Northern Beaches boutique,
but instead online, so Amy claims The influencer purchased the
netlace via lunar Ray's Shopify online storefront, but several weeks
(03:11):
later requested a refund after claiming they never received the order. Now,
the owner says that she gave Shopify all of the
relevant details that they needed to prove that the influencer
got the delivery. However, the e commerce platform ended up
deliberating in the influencers favor and the influencer got her
money automatically refunded through Shopify. Therefore, the brand ended up
(03:33):
losing the netclace and the money. So Amy was very
unhappy with this outcome, and she ended up doing some
digging on TikTok and came across the influencer's account, and
it's there where she made a startling discovery. Let's take
a listen.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
We kept looking into it and we found the customer
on TikTok and guess what she's got all over her
neck Our three hundred and sixty uniquely designed necklace. We
know it's our necklace, and she's wearing it in all
of her tiktoks. She is an influencer, she has been
(04:10):
on a reality show.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
Who does that?
Speaker 1 (04:14):
How brazen can you get to wear said necklace and
all of your TikTok videos like, how do you not
think that you're going to get caught out?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And I think that's what Amy the owner was really
playing on, because she ended up showing an image of
the unique necklace and asked TikTok what they would do
in this situation, basically saying, let's see who can go
find the influencer wearing the necklace, and it didn't take
long for the comment section to be flooded with people
accusing influences of being the alleged thief. This of course
(04:43):
fed into TikTok's algorithm, and the video went viral. At
the time of recording, it's notched up two point eight
million views now. At midnight the following day, Amy provided
an update saying things had gotten out of control. Let's
take a listen to what she said.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
People are getting really crap about it, and people are
like they want blood. It's really full on and I
very much appreciate the support of small brand, I really do,
but we can't tag influences that have nothing to do
with this, like none of these people are this person.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Amy went on to say that they won't be naming
and shaming the influencer, and the purpose of the video
was to get advice about what to do. She also
confirmed that they now have recorded all of the content
the influencer posted and have reported her to the police.
I don't necessarily believe this. I don't think that they
were simply asking for advice. I think that they wanted
customers to go on a bit of a witch hunt
(05:38):
and track this person down. They're obviously very upset, and
rightly so, particularly because this is a small business. I
think things just got out of hand, though.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Well.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Amy did admit that she was feeling quite ragy when
she shared the TikTok, so I think it was all
driven on emotion. She wasn't really intending for this to
go viral, and I suppose it's almost backfired a bit
because there's a lot of influencers who are now in
the firing line and won't potentially want to work with
this brand going forward.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Well, a day later, Amy posted another update on TikTok,
and this time she said that the brand was moderating
the comments on the original video and removing the name
of accused influencers, and she also shared that a business
had been implicated in the theft, as the necklace was
purchased on a company credit card. In terms of the
influencers who were dragged into the mess, the names included
(06:23):
Abby Chatfield, Ashley Day, Jessica Power, all Right Hay, and
Vanessa A. Morotti. And it was interesting to see this
unfold on other content creators tiktoks because originally Abby had
no idea what was going on, and she asked her
followers why she was being asked if she liked her
quote free necklace. When she realized what was happening, she
(06:44):
said she was shocked that people would accuse her of
criminal activity. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
It's while the people will assume that I stole a necklace,
I committed a crime because they see an outspoken woman
like we see women not adhering to societal standards, and
people then go, it must be Abby Chatfield that committed
a crime, that stole from a small business, when if
(07:11):
you actually look at my politics, I'm all about supporting
small businesses.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
I was surprised to see Abby's name being thrown into
the mix. This doesn't sound like anything she would be
involved in. Yeah, well, these false allegations have really capped
off a bad week for Abbi Chatfield because last week
she was ordered to pay seventy nine thousand dollars in
damages to her former best friend, Heath Kelly after a
court found she had to fame him. And I think
that's why Abby was so emotional about being accused of stealing,
(07:40):
because she said that she's never committed a crime in
her life. However, I'm assuming she's been receiving a lot
of messages about the defamation case and people seem to
not realize that was a civil matter, not a criminal one.
Let's take a listen to what Abby said.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
The accusations every single day about me make me genuinely
get to the verge of a nervous breakdown, Like I'm
so sick of being accused of things I did not do.
Every day I see a lie about myself on the internet,
and now these people who don't like me are now
(08:16):
was saying it must have been Abby Chatfield that committed
a crime.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
When have I ever committed a crime?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
When the news broke about Abby losing this deformation case,
the comment section on some of the news websites was
absolutely outrageous. I felt so sorry for her. You can
tell she's been really going through it. The absolute vitriol
throne at her is very alarming. Now, Matt Hay was
next to enter the chat about the necklace, so he
took the absolute piss out of the situation. He shared
(08:45):
this hilarious video where he said he was trying to
clear his name while he wore a dupe of the necklace.
Let's take a listen.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Hello everyone, I'm here to clear my name after the
recent allegations by the TikTok search bar said that I
was the influencer who stole from this small business. This
is the necklace that was allegedly sold. I have never
seen this necklace before. I actually have never seen a
necklace at all. I don't wear necklaces.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
I love how he says. The allegations on the search
bar of tikta Classic. While most people got the joke, unfortunately,
there were some who missed it completely and they were like,
but you're wearing a necklace, so it's like, oh my god,
which led him to post another satirical video where he
put on the dupe necklace with the caption unfortunately, I
do love chargebacks. Now off the back of these videos,
(09:38):
Amy Bradley ended up sharing a final TikTok update on
the matter, and after days of speculation, she finally cleared
the names of the influencers dragged into the drama. Now okay.
She was close to tears in this video, and she
spoke about how mean people can be on TikTok and
that everyone wants to assume the worst in people. Let's
have a listen to what she said.
Speaker 5 (09:58):
Abby Chatfield, Jessica Power, al right, hey, Vanessa Romito, everyone else,
everybody has named No, definitely not they haven't done it.
I mean, Abby's received so much hate. What is actually
what is wrong with people?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Like the fact that you.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Think it's okay to tag someone and say it's then
we never asked of this. I'm just a brand owner
giving an opinion on something shitty, and everyone has taken
it so far.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I found this whole debacle really interesting to look at
from a PR perspective, because there are so many brands
out there that want to go viral and get their
name out there. But this has been a very costly
move by Luna Ray and as the Internet does, it's
now turned on the brand and they've now been accused
of faking the story as a publicity stunt for their
(10:50):
sixth birthday sale, an allegation that the owners of Luna
Ray vehemently deny. The owner really didn't help herself though,
because during these TikTok updates she said, oh, you know,
we've been accused of that as a publicity stunt. That
is not the case. We didn't think that this video
would go viral, and we didn't have time for it
to go viral because we've been getting ready for our
sixth birthday sale. Now, I'm not saying that it was
(11:12):
a publicity stunt, but the fact that this whole viral
video has aligned with the sale doesn't look good. No.
I think a lot of consumers now are really aware
of these pr stunts, particularly since TBH has been pulling
them off so perfectly, and also with boof hair and
people want to spot a rat. They're like, yeah, so
(11:33):
doesn't add up about this, particularly when the brand seems
to be benefiting off the backlash of something. I mean,
this is a very different matter, though, because the brand
has been labeled negligent for leaving the comments open and
essentially creating a witch hunt. Because while they didn't name
the alleged theft. They basically invited people to speculate who
it was in the comments and they literally said this
(11:54):
influencer can be found on TikTok wearing this necklace and
showed a picture of the necklace actually like a red
flag to a bull. I think Amy maybe felt like
she was in a position where it would benefit her
business to phrase the video in this way, because generally
people do side with the small business owner. They see
it as a bit of a David verse to Goliath battle. Well,
that's originally what happened until this went absolutely viral, and
(12:18):
the approach that the brand uses a very common engagement
farming technique used by a lot of content creators. Unfortunately, though,
it appears that they didn't really think the strategy through
and they didn't have a PR crisis plan in place
if it was to go viral, and we're seeing the
repercussions of that because unfortunately, innocent people were wrongly accused
of committing a crime and the way TikTok works, there's
(12:39):
no context there and mud sticks and it has caused
reputational damage to a number of content creators and this
brand has now opened themselves up to legal issues with defamation.
I would be very careful if I was a small
business owner in the future going forth with any of
these influencer driven stories, because it kind of reminds me
of back in February twenty twenty four when Shelby Shapes
(13:00):
it was dubbed a mug gate. So basically, Sofa Dopher
posted about her strawberry mug. It was this two handed
sippy cup. Well, she slammed it for being ultra expensive.
It was one hundred and twenty five dollars for a cup,
and she said it wasn't actually marked properly and she
only knew once she got to the register how much
it was and she felt embarrassed to say anything. Yeah,
and she also poked fun at the fact that it
had two handles, but it ended up being part of
this disability range. But anyway, Sofa dofa came out swinging
(13:23):
and people started siding again with her, and it did
some damage to Shelby's brand. So you've got to really
be careful as a small business owner when you're going
to accuse people of certain things. I almost think if
you're not going to name and shame, then there's no
point of coming out and doing the video because they
would have been in their right to name and shame
over the necklace because they had proof. They have the
(13:46):
truth defense in terms of defamation, but leaving it open
and giving identifiable details away, eg it's an Australian influencer,
they've been on reality TV. That opens it up to
a relatively small portion of the population then can be defame.
So there's quite a number of people that could sue
this brand over it. I wonder what it's meant for
sales though, because if you're online and you want to
(14:09):
support this business, or you're like, oh wow, that necklace
is really nice, I'm going to check out that other stuff.
I wonder whether financially it's been a good decision for them. Yes,
maybe there's a lot of influencers who no longer want
to work with them now. But well, there were a
lot of comments people saying that I would never purchase
from this brand. I didn't know about it, and now
I definitely won't purchase because I don't like the tactics used.
I mean, a lot of people have been hurt over
(14:30):
a three hundred and sixty dollars.
Speaker 7 (14:31):
Necklace, Like I feel like I can get easily fooled
by being loved unfortunately in the past.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
I'm just like, yeah, of course. Tammy Hembro is back
in the headlines following her first podcast appearance since announcing
her divorce from Matt Zakowski. The OG fitness influencer appeared
on the Mat About You podcasts, hosted by fellow influencers
Jardi Tunci and Locky Bricky. This time last week, Tammy
told her TikTok followers she was second guessing what she'd
(15:02):
divulged on air, Kay, do you think her concerns were
valid now after having a listen, I personally didn't think
the interview was at groundbreaking. I mean, there were definitely
a few interesting tidbits the mainstream media have run with.
I was kind of disappointed that she chose jar Day
and Lockie's podcast to go on, because it just felt
a little bit like an echo chamber where influencers were like, oh,
I feel so bad for you, and then they're like, yes,
(15:24):
I feel bad for you, and it's not really real
people problems. I feel like Lockie was trying to be
bad cop though I feel like obviously jar Day assumed
the position of good cop, where she was feeling very
sad and sorry for Tammy, but Lockie was sort of
asking the questions that we all wanted asked. I appreciated
Lockie pushing the agenda, and I do think that that
was a strategic move from both of them. When they
were interviewing Tammy, you got the feeling though that they
(15:46):
had been asked not to touch on specific things, but
we're trying to work out a way around it. Yeah,
it felt like Lockie was pushing the boundaries as far
as he could possibly go. Now in terms of the
one of the big stories that the mainstream media have
picked up on to do with Bailey Smith. Of course,
now I'm interested sofe to hear your thoughts on this
story that the media have picked up and run with.
(16:07):
Off the back of the interview, so Tammy spoke about
how she's never really dated but recently went on a
date with a guy who was quote just so boring,
and the traditional media have now run with headlines that
this was a very thinly veiled swipe at Bailey Smith,
who Tammy recently dated. For context, this is what she
said on the podcast.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
I haven't been on many dates until recently, really, so
I never really dated. I just like, yeah, I sort
of just like met someone and like, you know that
was that was so, But I did I did go
on a date with a guy.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Oh no, he's probably not because it's literally.
Speaker 7 (16:48):
Like the only guy I went on a date with, well,
he was just so boring, like and I think.
Speaker 8 (16:56):
Good banter online like if you and then you met
him personally, we didn't.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Really.
Speaker 7 (17:01):
I'm very much in like if someone if I speak
to someone online or meet them online, I want to
like meet them face to face.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, I'm like I'm.
Speaker 7 (17:08):
Not really like a text or like anything like that,
Like if you're trying to talk to me, I'm like
we need to like I need to meet you face
to face. So we went on a date and it
was just like I was just so bored.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
I never, for one second even considered that she was
talking about Bailey Smith. I just thought she was talking
about a past date that she's been on, maybe with
an older guy, because Bailey Smith everything we see about
him in the media, this guy isn't boring. He's out there. Also,
because it said date like singular, like she went on
multiple dates with Bailey Smith, I actually got the vibe
that she and Bailey Smith are still a thing because
(17:45):
at the start of the interview, jar Day was like,
you know, we want to set the record straight. Are
you single, and she's like she kind of looked at
it flushed and was like, oh, you know, I'm dating well.
During the interview, Lockie also touched on the recent publicity
around Tammy's recent dating advent, and they were clearly referring
to Bailey Smith, and she did make it sound as
though it was still something that was continuing on in
(18:05):
the background, maybe just something that wasn't serious though. Yeah,
I think that considering Tammy has now partnered with Tinder,
she's trying to put it out there that she's dating
multiple people and having a lot of fun because that's
the feature on the app talking about crushes and Tinder
being this fun place for casual dating. So she's got
to be careful with what she says from a branding
perspective as well. I found it interesting that Matt Zakowski's
(18:28):
name was never used or uttered during this interview. I
mean they did say your divorce. It's funny though, because
we are going to be touching on a podcast interview
that Matt Szakowski also did recently. It's like they're just
not allowed to mention each other's names. But that's sort
of a typical thing people do with high profile breakups
because everyone knows who they're talking about anyway, and you
don't want to be that ex that always is mentioning
(18:50):
that person's name and dropping it. Yeah, I get it.
It's just kind of funny though, the way it's sort
of like, oh, he must not be named well as suspected.
Tammy did divulge a bit more about the reasons behind
her marriage breakdown. When asked if she was ever worried
people dated her for clout or access to her platform
of twenty million followers, she said this, I'm.
Speaker 8 (19:12):
More asking like, are you ever fearful that perhaps someone
is like dating you for clout or like access to
your platform? And because I'm sure there's horrible people that would.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Do that, I feel like people have done that.
Speaker 8 (19:24):
How do you guard against that?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Though?
Speaker 8 (19:25):
Like moving to you you know, like, how do you
vet someone for that sort of thing?
Speaker 7 (19:28):
I feel like going forward, I'm just gonna ask, like
my sisters, because I guy, yeah, because I feel like.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
They're usually pretty spot on, So I'm just gonna, you.
Speaker 8 (19:40):
Know, how would they vet them?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, like, how do they know? How have they said
things to you in the past about people who turned
out to be Yeah, they have.
Speaker 7 (19:49):
So I just feel like maybe they just see things
that I don't when I'm like, you know, got my
heart eyes on, So I feel like I just get
a bit like loopy and start falling from someone, and
then they see things that I maybe don't see.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
It cracked me up because jar Day went on to say, Oh,
that would be really uncomfortable for a sister to say,
and Tammy was like, Nah, they're brutal. It just reminded
me of our relationship. Yeah, I was like, oh no,
this is exactly how sisters would carry on. Jardey does
have a sister, though maybe they're a lot kinder to
each other. There's some boundaries up there.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Well.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yeah, as you touched on. So Tammy didn't outright name Matt,
but it seems fairly obvious that she was talking about
him because it was public knowledge that her sisters had
a problem with him. I mean, he aired their grievances
on his own podcast, and during that same conversation with
Lockie and jar Day, Tammy also made a dig about
fooling easily to love bombing, it was pretty clear who
she was talking about. It also seems like money was
(20:43):
a big divider between not only her and Matt, but
her and her other past relationships, because she was asked
if men were intimidated by her success, and she said
that it's actually been one of the biggest issues in
her past relationships. I was fascinated when she spoke about
this because it's something I've never heard her speak about. Again,
it's kind of like how you said, influencers and public
(21:04):
figures don't want to mention their ex's by name. A
lot of influencers also don't want to talk about how
much money they make. It's a bit taboo to say, oh, yeah,
I'm actually a multimillionaire. I mean, Tammy is worth fifty
million dollars or She did admit that it created this
power imbalance and as a result, she would try and
make herself smaller, but it just didn't work. Lockie ended
(21:25):
up asking Tammy flat out if it was down to money,
and she said this, Yeah, it's definitely a money thing.
Speaker 7 (21:32):
And like people say, like, oh, no, it doesn't matter,
but then it shows up in so many ways and
so many things, and yeah, it's definitely. It's definitely been
a difficult thing to navigate in all of my relationships.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Sure, I mean it would be incredibly difficult for all involved.
I mean when you consider that Tammy is reportedly worth
fifty million dollars while Matt Szakowski works a nine to
five and was living with his mum when he first
met her, Like that is a huge difference in your lifestyles.
Matt also admitted in a recent podcast, which should be
going to touch on in a second, that he wasn't
(22:05):
actually working when he was living with Tammy. I suppose
that's because the job that he does is for his
dad's pool business, which was based in Melbourne, So he
essentially left that job to shack up with Tammy. Well,
you say not working, but he had his podcast and influencing,
so I suppose he was doing that on the side. Well,
he described it as not working and he found that
really difficult. He found himself getting more depressed because he
(22:26):
didn't have much meaning in his life. I did love
when they asked Tammy if she pays on a first date,
and despite being a multimillionaire, she says definitely not. And
that's something that she really stands by. Yeah, I kind
of respect that it looks like we might be seeing
Tammy on our TV screens soon, because The Herald's son
has reported that Tammy's name was floating around the Channel
(22:47):
nine upfronts on Wednesday. I was thinking, oh, Channel nine,
maybe Love Island, Like how epic that would be, And
it would be a bit of a fuck you to
Matsakowski because he originally found fame on that show. She's
too Big for Love Island. Yeah, but it's not. It
is a weird celebrity show called Shark and the show
was filmed in the Bahamas and they basically get a
(23:08):
bunch of celebrities and make them do these tests with
close encounters with sharks. Like it's so Ramdom. I remember
when she was still with Matt and they went to
Port Lincoln to do cage diving with sharks. She's already
had some experience with it. Why can't they just do
the original idea of doing a reality show about the
Hembrose life, similar to the Kardashians. Remember they were filming
(23:29):
a promo for it, but we never ended up seeing. Yeah,
that was years ago, but recently they reignited rumors that
they could get their own reality TV show up and running.
During some interviews for their supplement brand, maybe they're testing
the waters with Channel and nine on this reality show
and see how the public like Tammy and then go
for the full family. What about her and the Bachelor? Oh,
(23:50):
I mean the Golden Bachelor airs tonight. I think getting
Tammy on as the Bachelorette would be the way to
reignite that program again. That would be so good. It's
interesting though, because it was only a couple of weeks
ago that Tammy was talking about doing her diver medical
ahead of enrolling in a scuba diving course, So that
all makes sense, doesn't it. She also hinted at her
reality TV debut on her TikTok last week, so during
(24:12):
a get Ready with Me video before White Fox Boutique's
birthday party, she told her followers she had something coming
up that was wildly out of her comfort zone, and
she said it was going to be really fun and
she was all about adding to her life experiences. So
it seems like it's definitely happening.
Speaker 9 (24:28):
You guys are probably thinking, how can this guy be
so good looking and funny? And where you're about to find.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Out Matt Tzakowski made a hilarious blendor whilst appearing on
the On It, Off It podcast now. This show is
hosted by fitness influencer Louis Phillips and stand up comedian
Fergus Neil and the boys were chatting to Matt about
his Love Island days and he said that he thinks
some of the viewers took him the wrong way because
(24:54):
he has a very dry sense of humor, and he
actually revealed that he'd love to get into stand up
comedy now. Matt then attempted to deliver a joke that
he planned to kick off his future shows with, but
it was this unintentional slip up that garnered more laughs.
Let's have a listen.
Speaker 9 (25:12):
I heard that at start you need to defecate yourself
to connect with the audience. Something opening.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
You don't mean.
Speaker 9 (25:19):
Defecate, you.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Would be hilarious.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
That's the rule of stand comedy. You looked at me.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I said that.
Speaker 9 (25:33):
I was like, Nah, you're not being told that by comediate.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
I know that's really I've actually got to deficate yourself.
Speaker 9 (25:37):
What's the world the defamation?
Speaker 7 (25:40):
That's the word.
Speaker 9 (25:40):
It's the listeners screaming us the word no no, you
put yourself down.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yes, you put yourself down.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (25:48):
So I was going to have an opening line of like,
you guys are probably thinking, how can this guy be
so good looking and funny? Where you're about to find
it and then ship yourself.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Like, what's the word?
Speaker 7 (26:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Oh man, he just has golden retriever energy, doesn't. He
comes across as a bit of a himbo, but there's
something endearing about it.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
I thought that this was part of the bit he
was doing, but then I quickly realized that he genuinely
thought that he was using the right word. It was
so funny because the other guys were just pissing themselves laughing,
and I think that they thought that it was part
of the joke as well, and then they were like, oh, no,
he's serious here. I mean, I could tell this was
genuine because I listened to his podcast regularly and there
(26:35):
are quite a number of times where he and Anna
will confuse a word or are saying. I remember he said, oh,
bob's your auntie, It's Bob. Were you one of the
listeners who was literally sitting there screaming it's self deprecate. Oh,
Because they were like all of them couldn't get the word.
They're like, what is that word? I actually think though,
that matt could be a really great comedian without even trying.
(26:56):
But I just like laugh when I hear him speak.
As you said, he does have that goal and retrieve
it energy. I wonder if Matt ends up going down
the stand up comedy route, if he'll use his wrestling
alias Charlie Matthews as a bit of a character, because
they did speak in this interview about his wrestling days,
and for those who don't remember, he plays the role
of the man who won the genetic lottery. So I
(27:17):
feel like, even with him saying that, his initial joke
would be him joking about how good looking he is,
I feel like he's kind of playing that sort of character,
playing into that alter ego. See. I think instead of
going down the comedy route, he could get a job
on say Home and Away, like playing into these characters,
like you don't have to be very good acting to
be on that show. No shade at the actors that
are on, but you know when they get reminded Robbie
(27:40):
was on Neighbors. Oh there's some great people on there,
but often when there's a reality star of someone with
the public profile that gets a role on that show.
They're not that great. Some people just have to be hot,
don't they. Now it's quite interesting because the podcast hosts
and Matt are actually under the same management, and I
think that that's how he ended up appearing on this show.
And you can tell that the boys have been instructed
(28:01):
not to directly ask about Tammy. Instead, they seem to
really tiptoe around it, and they posed a lot of
questions about how Matt is enjoying life now and how
he's managed to pull himself out of this dark place.
And Matt was very keen to reiterate just how good
life is now that he's no longer with Tammy. Let's
have a listen to what he said.
Speaker 9 (28:23):
Life's so good and I'm realizing that every day. You know,
it's so fucking good, and just like living it and
loving it so much?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
What are the parts of it to make it good?
Speaker 9 (28:31):
Everything? Honestly waking up And I know this sounds so cliche,
but like, seriously, like I'm so happy with life at
the moment. Come from where I was and how down
and in the dumps and hating life I was. I'm
just so grateful for it now, man, And I'm excited.
I'm really excited for what's coming. I was in fight
or flight literally every single day, and I wake up
(28:52):
now and I'm just at peace, and I'm fucking loving it, man,
like I'm loving it so much. Like I guess to
make decisions to myself, I actually worry about Matt sekowskiin here,
about him and what he's doing with his day, and
how I make myself happy and how I not people
around me sort of thing, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (29:12):
I love the way he referred to himself in third person.
I've got to worry about what Matt Zakowski wants, you know,
when someone oversells something like, I genuinely hope he is
feeling as happy as he explained, but it was almost
a bit too much that you're trying to prove something.
I actually think he is genuinely feeling that way and
that there's a big weight that's been lifted off his shoulders.
(29:35):
He also spoke about when he was at his lowest point,
and he said he wasn't training hard at the gym,
he was letting himself go by eating shit, and he
wasn't working as we touched on earlier, which made him
feel like he wasn't achieving much, and he said that
now he's back in a good place. He's journaling, he's
hitting the gym. He also joked that people would pay
big money for his journal, and his friends actually warned
(29:57):
him not to leave it in his car because they
thought maybe someone would break into it and steal it
and potentially sell it to the tabloids for a lot
of money. So I would have a read of this journal.
I mean, we've spoken on the podcast about how Matt
has tried to get back into reading, and it was
quite sweet. He's been reading Goosebump novels. I wonder if
he'd ever work with a ghost writer to put his
(30:17):
story out there. Are we thinking that potentially, once all
the papers are signed and the divorce is settled, that
more might come out, Like would he release a book?
Because the facult he is journaling makes me think that
there's something he wants to do with it in the end,
and he's trying to document what's happened. I mean, I
think he is journaling for his own mental health, But
(30:38):
I mean I would love to read a tell all,
or at least listen to an audiobook of a tell
all by him, It would be very fascinating. Matt also
admitted during this interview that in recent months he's been
receiving a lot of apologies. Let's have a listen.
Speaker 9 (30:53):
I've had a lot of apologies in the last months. Yeah,
lots of apologies. People message me saying sorry that like
I said this and commented this, I got a lot
of that. But I what you're saying about your friends
and family going through tough times, knowing that they knew
truth and they knew stuff really got me through it
as well. Because the end of the day, that's all
(31:14):
that matters. So you need that's all you need. If
you people know the truth and like that you care
about and that's what matters.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Oh so these are random people on the internet that
are messaging him saying sorry, I got the completely wrong
impression of you. Well yeah, and I think that since
that there's been a bit more bad publicity out about Tammy.
They're also saying, oh, I can see where you were
coming from. It is interesting that he also referenced that
his friends and family know the truth about what happened,
because he's kind of putting out there that there's a
(31:42):
lot more that has gone on behind the scenes, and
people shouldn't be following maybe the line that Tammy seems
to be tolling at the moment. I mean, it makes
sense because at the moment, they're both pushing these agendas
that they're the victims in the situation and it's the
other person that caused all of the problems. He was
really trying to act like he's been the bigger person
because he told this story about how when two people
(32:02):
are going at it, the only people who win other
media and people consuming the content, and he said that
he had the mentality from the start, and presumably told
Tammy this that they shouldn't throw sit at each other
because no one is going to win out of it.
I mean, yes, that is definitely true. We also need
to remember that they're still going through all of the
legalities involved in a divorce, and I suppose no one
(32:25):
really wants to go slam the other one publicly and
ruin their chances of ending this marriage amicably. Well, last
week we reported that Matt was spotted with a new girl,
and it was a normy Adelaide girl by the name
of Emily Lawson. I just a feel offended for anyone
called it. Normy. Well, I'm saying she's not famous, is she?
I mean, she has maybe like six thousand followers on Instagram. Again,
(32:46):
I'm sort of uncomfortable with the term famous. But you
mean she's not a public figure. She's not a public figure. No,
and yeah, and he appeared to travel to Adelaide to
go on a date with her. However, during this podcast interview,
he said he wasn't looking for anything serious anytime soon.
He admitted, though, that he has been chatting to girls.
He said that the dating world seems new now and
(33:06):
he had no idea that people sent voice notes all
of the time. I think what he's more finding is
that that's what happens when you date younger jen Zed girls.
That like a fucking nightmare. I mean, it was bad
enough back in the day when you have to construct
a text message back, at least you could get everyone
to help you. But imagine having to, you know, plan
this voice message and you're having to think about the
tone of your voice, how long it is, what you
(33:28):
say re recording. It is kind of reminds me on Seinfeld,
when George Costanzo would gear himself up to leave the
voice message on the answering machine, do you reckon? People
are writing full blown scripts to read off and try
and go down a bit casual. I find that a
lot of my younger friends will send voice messages and
I always respond just with a written message. It's just
(33:49):
weird to think that gen Zed is a so against
talking on the phone, but they then want to have
this like pre recorded conversation. It's like, Okay, I'm gonna
say my bit and then send it off, and then
you say you'll be like, wouldn't it just be easy
to pick up the phone and have a chat if
that's what you're doing. Yeah, but then you can listen
to it at a time that suits you. I actually
love listening to them from friends. I feel like it's
(34:10):
a really great way to bring a conversation or a
situation to life. I just don't feel like I'm good
at them, which people might find ironic considering we do
sit on a podcast and we got ourselves. I just
find it self indulgent because it's like I've then got
to go through and almost take notes on what you've
said to remember to respond to those. It does get tough,
but I suppose it's easier than writing a full slab.
(34:33):
I think people do it for the ease anyway. That aside,
their podcast host also ended up asking Matt if he
was nervous about going on dates now that he's well
known and that some women might be after him for clout,
which is quite funny off the back of what Tammy said,
and Matt said he realized that he's never going to
change anyone's perception of him, and he also thinks he'd
(34:54):
be able to pick up on whether someone was dating
him for the wrong reasons, which is quite interesting when
you consider the fact that Emily Laws and the Adelaide
Girl straight away shared a selfie with him. Well, we
don't know at what stage of their relationship they're at.
Surely she would have had to ask his permission to
do that. But I do think he's found himself in
a situation where people are now more interested in who
(35:18):
he's dating off the back of dating Tammy, and there
will be people using him and it's sort of funny
that he's been accused of doing that himself. So maybe
he does know the signs to look out for might
echo his own behavior. Yeah, well, I think that is
all we have time for today. Thank you so much
for joining us for this episode. If you have enjoyed it,
could you please make sure you are subscribed to on
(35:38):
Apple podcast and also Spotify and if you want to
hear more content from us, we drop a subscriber only
episode every Thursday, which is basically an extension of this show.
All the details on how to sign up in our
show notes. This podcast was recorded on the traditional land
of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes. We pay
respect to elders past and present.
Speaker 5 (36:01):
Two
Hello, and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
Kate Torbert and coming up on today's show, The Influencer
witch Hunt over a stolen necklace, Tammy Hembro calls out
clout chasing x'es and Matt Sakowski's on air blunder for first.
Sky Wheatley has jetted off to Fiji without her baby
(00:27):
daddy Locki wore and their two kids are mid break
up rumors. So if the former Bi Brother contestant recently
said she was in relationship limbo, Yeah, things have been
really up and down for Sky and Locke. About two
weeks ago, in an Instagram live, she confirmed that the
couple had broken up, and that's after they have been
together for seven years. But she's since renegged on her
own podcast and said that they're actually on a break
(00:48):
and are eventually going to try and work things out.
It seems like maybe they need a bit of space
and time to think about things, and maybe that's why
Sky has put an ocean between herself and her problem.
I was surprised when I saw she was in Fiji, though,
because it was only this time last year that she
and Lockie went on this big family trip there.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Well, as soon as she started posting that she was
setting off for Fiji, a lot of her followers were
desperate to know if Lockie was there because it wasn't
quite clear initially, and she ended up sharing a Q
and a box and one follower asked, is LOCKI with
you in Fiji and she responded saying nope, I'm here
with my mum and my sister. Another follower wrote in
saying tell us about Locke Babe, and Ski ended up responding,
(01:29):
all in good time. My love's got some healing to do.
Don't worry. I will be open and honest with everything
or will be revealed. Just navigating everything the best I
can now. Another person asked will you sell the house
now once it's done, and Ski ended up saying she's
not sure yet and is taking every day as it comes.
So they are some pretty interesting questions to answer whilst
(01:52):
you are away. Well, when you're in the midst of
a public breakup and you put up a question and
answer box, you're basically inviting people to ask you about
your ex. Yeah, well, she knows is good for engagement.
And I also think that she is quite aware that
she doesn't want to look like she's holding back from
her audience because she's always been an influencer who's known
for being really transparent and having that connection with them.
(02:14):
I mean, it's quite clear that both her and Lockie
don't know what's going on at the moment, and they're
just navigating it in real time with everyone else as
best they can.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
So we just had.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
An influencer steal from us.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
A Sydney jewelry brand has ignited a witch hunt after
the owner claimed and influencer stole one of their necklaces.
It didn't take long for some of Australia's biggest Internet
stars to be dragged into the drama. Cake can you
tell us more? Well, it all started when Amy Bradley,
the co founder of Luna Ray, took to TikTok to
accuse an unnamed influencer of stealing a necklace. Now, the
(02:49):
necklace in question was described as being uniquely designed and
retailed for three hundred and sixty dollars. Interestingly, the alleged
theft didn't actually take place at their Northern Beaches boutique,
but instead online, so Amy claims The influencer purchased the
netlace via lunar Ray's Shopify online storefront, but several weeks
(03:11):
later requested a refund after claiming they never received the order. Now,
the owner says that she gave Shopify all of the
relevant details that they needed to prove that the influencer
got the delivery. However, the e commerce platform ended up
deliberating in the influencers favor and the influencer got her
money automatically refunded through Shopify. Therefore, the brand ended up
(03:33):
losing the netclace and the money. So Amy was very
unhappy with this outcome, and she ended up doing some
digging on TikTok and came across the influencer's account, and
it's there where she made a startling discovery. Let's take
a listen.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
We kept looking into it and we found the customer
on TikTok and guess what she's got all over her
neck Our three hundred and sixty uniquely designed necklace. We
know it's our necklace, and she's wearing it in all
of her tiktoks. She is an influencer, she has been
(04:10):
on a reality show.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
Who does that?
Speaker 1 (04:14):
How brazen can you get to wear said necklace and
all of your TikTok videos like, how do you not
think that you're going to get caught out?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And I think that's what Amy the owner was really
playing on, because she ended up showing an image of
the unique necklace and asked TikTok what they would do
in this situation, basically saying, let's see who can go
find the influencer wearing the necklace, and it didn't take
long for the comment section to be flooded with people
accusing influences of being the alleged thief. This of course
(04:43):
fed into TikTok's algorithm, and the video went viral. At
the time of recording, it's notched up two point eight
million views now. At midnight the following day, Amy provided
an update saying things had gotten out of control. Let's
take a listen to what she said.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
People are getting really crap about it, and people are
like they want blood. It's really full on and I
very much appreciate the support of small brand, I really do,
but we can't tag influences that have nothing to do
with this, like none of these people are this person.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Amy went on to say that they won't be naming
and shaming the influencer, and the purpose of the video
was to get advice about what to do. She also
confirmed that they now have recorded all of the content
the influencer posted and have reported her to the police.
I don't necessarily believe this. I don't think that they
were simply asking for advice. I think that they wanted
customers to go on a bit of a witch hunt
(05:38):
and track this person down. They're obviously very upset, and
rightly so, particularly because this is a small business. I
think things just got out of hand, though.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Well.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Amy did admit that she was feeling quite ragy when
she shared the TikTok, so I think it was all
driven on emotion. She wasn't really intending for this to
go viral, and I suppose it's almost backfired a bit
because there's a lot of influencers who are now in
the firing line and won't potentially want to work with
this brand going forward.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Well, a day later, Amy posted another update on TikTok,
and this time she said that the brand was moderating
the comments on the original video and removing the name
of accused influencers, and she also shared that a business
had been implicated in the theft, as the necklace was
purchased on a company credit card. In terms of the
influencers who were dragged into the mess, the names included
(06:23):
Abby Chatfield, Ashley Day, Jessica Power, all Right Hay, and
Vanessa A. Morotti. And it was interesting to see this
unfold on other content creators tiktoks because originally Abby had
no idea what was going on, and she asked her
followers why she was being asked if she liked her
quote free necklace. When she realized what was happening, she
(06:44):
said she was shocked that people would accuse her of
criminal activity. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
It's while the people will assume that I stole a necklace,
I committed a crime because they see an outspoken woman
like we see women not adhering to societal standards, and
people then go, it must be Abby Chatfield that committed
a crime, that stole from a small business, when if
(07:11):
you actually look at my politics, I'm all about supporting
small businesses.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
I was surprised to see Abby's name being thrown into
the mix. This doesn't sound like anything she would be
involved in. Yeah, well, these false allegations have really capped
off a bad week for Abbi Chatfield because last week
she was ordered to pay seventy nine thousand dollars in
damages to her former best friend, Heath Kelly after a
court found she had to fame him. And I think
that's why Abby was so emotional about being accused of stealing,
(07:40):
because she said that she's never committed a crime in
her life. However, I'm assuming she's been receiving a lot
of messages about the defamation case and people seem to
not realize that was a civil matter, not a criminal one.
Let's take a listen to what Abby said.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
The accusations every single day about me make me genuinely
get to the verge of a nervous breakdown, Like I'm
so sick of being accused of things I did not do.
Every day I see a lie about myself on the internet,
and now these people who don't like me are now
(08:16):
was saying it must have been Abby Chatfield that committed
a crime.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
When have I ever committed a crime?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
When the news broke about Abby losing this deformation case,
the comment section on some of the news websites was
absolutely outrageous. I felt so sorry for her. You can
tell she's been really going through it. The absolute vitriol
throne at her is very alarming. Now, Matt Hay was
next to enter the chat about the necklace, so he
took the absolute piss out of the situation. He shared
(08:45):
this hilarious video where he said he was trying to
clear his name while he wore a dupe of the necklace.
Let's take a listen.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Hello everyone, I'm here to clear my name after the
recent allegations by the TikTok search bar said that I
was the influencer who stole from this small business. This
is the necklace that was allegedly sold. I have never
seen this necklace before. I actually have never seen a
necklace at all. I don't wear necklaces.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
I love how he says. The allegations on the search
bar of tikta Classic. While most people got the joke, unfortunately,
there were some who missed it completely and they were like,
but you're wearing a necklace, so it's like, oh my god,
which led him to post another satirical video where he
put on the dupe necklace with the caption unfortunately, I
do love chargebacks. Now off the back of these videos,
(09:38):
Amy Bradley ended up sharing a final TikTok update on
the matter, and after days of speculation, she finally cleared
the names of the influencers dragged into the drama. Now okay.
She was close to tears in this video, and she
spoke about how mean people can be on TikTok and
that everyone wants to assume the worst in people. Let's
have a listen to what she said.
Speaker 5 (09:58):
Abby Chatfield, Jessica Power, al right, hey, Vanessa Romito, everyone else,
everybody has named No, definitely not they haven't done it.
I mean, Abby's received so much hate. What is actually
what is wrong with people?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Like the fact that you.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Think it's okay to tag someone and say it's then
we never asked of this. I'm just a brand owner
giving an opinion on something shitty, and everyone has taken
it so far.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I found this whole debacle really interesting to look at
from a PR perspective, because there are so many brands
out there that want to go viral and get their
name out there. But this has been a very costly
move by Luna Ray and as the Internet does, it's
now turned on the brand and they've now been accused
of faking the story as a publicity stunt for their
(10:50):
sixth birthday sale, an allegation that the owners of Luna
Ray vehemently deny. The owner really didn't help herself though,
because during these TikTok updates she said, oh, you know,
we've been accused of that as a publicity stunt. That
is not the case. We didn't think that this video
would go viral, and we didn't have time for it
to go viral because we've been getting ready for our
sixth birthday sale. Now, I'm not saying that it was
(11:12):
a publicity stunt, but the fact that this whole viral
video has aligned with the sale doesn't look good. No.
I think a lot of consumers now are really aware
of these pr stunts, particularly since TBH has been pulling
them off so perfectly, and also with boof hair and
people want to spot a rat. They're like, yeah, so
(11:33):
doesn't add up about this, particularly when the brand seems
to be benefiting off the backlash of something. I mean,
this is a very different matter, though, because the brand
has been labeled negligent for leaving the comments open and
essentially creating a witch hunt. Because while they didn't name
the alleged theft. They basically invited people to speculate who
it was in the comments and they literally said this
(11:54):
influencer can be found on TikTok wearing this necklace and
showed a picture of the necklace actually like a red
flag to a bull. I think Amy maybe felt like
she was in a position where it would benefit her
business to phrase the video in this way, because generally
people do side with the small business owner. They see
it as a bit of a David verse to Goliath battle. Well,
that's originally what happened until this went absolutely viral, and
(12:18):
the approach that the brand uses a very common engagement
farming technique used by a lot of content creators. Unfortunately, though,
it appears that they didn't really think the strategy through
and they didn't have a PR crisis plan in place
if it was to go viral, and we're seeing the
repercussions of that because unfortunately, innocent people were wrongly accused
of committing a crime and the way TikTok works, there's
(12:39):
no context there and mud sticks and it has caused
reputational damage to a number of content creators and this
brand has now opened themselves up to legal issues with defamation.
I would be very careful if I was a small
business owner in the future going forth with any of
these influencer driven stories, because it kind of reminds me
of back in February twenty twenty four when Shelby Shapes
(13:00):
it was dubbed a mug gate. So basically, Sofa Dopher
posted about her strawberry mug. It was this two handed
sippy cup. Well, she slammed it for being ultra expensive.
It was one hundred and twenty five dollars for a cup,
and she said it wasn't actually marked properly and she
only knew once she got to the register how much
it was and she felt embarrassed to say anything. Yeah,
and she also poked fun at the fact that it
had two handles, but it ended up being part of
this disability range. But anyway, Sofa dofa came out swinging
(13:23):
and people started siding again with her, and it did
some damage to Shelby's brand. So you've got to really
be careful as a small business owner when you're going
to accuse people of certain things. I almost think if
you're not going to name and shame, then there's no
point of coming out and doing the video because they
would have been in their right to name and shame
over the necklace because they had proof. They have the
(13:46):
truth defense in terms of defamation, but leaving it open
and giving identifiable details away, eg it's an Australian influencer,
they've been on reality TV. That opens it up to
a relatively small portion of the population then can be defame.
So there's quite a number of people that could sue
this brand over it. I wonder what it's meant for
sales though, because if you're online and you want to
(14:09):
support this business, or you're like, oh wow, that necklace
is really nice, I'm going to check out that other stuff.
I wonder whether financially it's been a good decision for them. Yes,
maybe there's a lot of influencers who no longer want
to work with them now. But well, there were a
lot of comments people saying that I would never purchase
from this brand. I didn't know about it, and now
I definitely won't purchase because I don't like the tactics used.
I mean, a lot of people have been hurt over
(14:30):
a three hundred and sixty dollars.
Speaker 7 (14:31):
Necklace, Like I feel like I can get easily fooled
by being loved unfortunately in the past.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
I'm just like, yeah, of course. Tammy Hembro is back
in the headlines following her first podcast appearance since announcing
her divorce from Matt Zakowski. The OG fitness influencer appeared
on the Mat About You podcasts, hosted by fellow influencers
Jardi Tunci and Locky Bricky. This time last week, Tammy
told her TikTok followers she was second guessing what she'd
(15:02):
divulged on air, Kay, do you think her concerns were
valid now after having a listen, I personally didn't think
the interview was at groundbreaking. I mean, there were definitely
a few interesting tidbits the mainstream media have run with.
I was kind of disappointed that she chose jar Day
and Lockie's podcast to go on, because it just felt
a little bit like an echo chamber where influencers were like, oh,
I feel so bad for you, and then they're like, yes,
(15:24):
I feel bad for you, and it's not really real
people problems. I feel like Lockie was trying to be
bad cop though I feel like obviously jar Day assumed
the position of good cop, where she was feeling very
sad and sorry for Tammy, but Lockie was sort of
asking the questions that we all wanted asked. I appreciated
Lockie pushing the agenda, and I do think that that
was a strategic move from both of them. When they
were interviewing Tammy, you got the feeling though that they
(15:46):
had been asked not to touch on specific things, but
we're trying to work out a way around it. Yeah,
it felt like Lockie was pushing the boundaries as far
as he could possibly go. Now in terms of the
one of the big stories that the mainstream media have
picked up on to do with Bailey Smith. Of course,
now I'm interested sofe to hear your thoughts on this
story that the media have picked up and run with.
(16:07):
Off the back of the interview, so Tammy spoke about
how she's never really dated but recently went on a
date with a guy who was quote just so boring,
and the traditional media have now run with headlines that
this was a very thinly veiled swipe at Bailey Smith,
who Tammy recently dated. For context, this is what she
said on the podcast.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
I haven't been on many dates until recently, really, so
I never really dated. I just like, yeah, I sort
of just like met someone and like, you know that
was that was so, But I did I did go
on a date with a guy.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Oh no, he's probably not because it's literally.
Speaker 7 (16:48):
Like the only guy I went on a date with, well,
he was just so boring, like and I think.
Speaker 8 (16:56):
Good banter online like if you and then you met
him personally, we didn't.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Really.
Speaker 7 (17:01):
I'm very much in like if someone if I speak
to someone online or meet them online, I want to
like meet them face to face.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, I'm like I'm.
Speaker 7 (17:08):
Not really like a text or like anything like that,
Like if you're trying to talk to me, I'm like
we need to like I need to meet you face
to face. So we went on a date and it
was just like I was just so bored.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
I never, for one second even considered that she was
talking about Bailey Smith. I just thought she was talking
about a past date that she's been on, maybe with
an older guy, because Bailey Smith everything we see about
him in the media, this guy isn't boring. He's out there. Also,
because it said date like singular, like she went on
multiple dates with Bailey Smith, I actually got the vibe
that she and Bailey Smith are still a thing because
(17:45):
at the start of the interview, jar Day was like,
you know, we want to set the record straight. Are
you single, and she's like she kind of looked at
it flushed and was like, oh, you know, I'm dating well.
During the interview, Lockie also touched on the recent publicity
around Tammy's recent dating advent, and they were clearly referring
to Bailey Smith, and she did make it sound as
though it was still something that was continuing on in
(18:05):
the background, maybe just something that wasn't serious though. Yeah,
I think that considering Tammy has now partnered with Tinder,
she's trying to put it out there that she's dating
multiple people and having a lot of fun because that's
the feature on the app talking about crushes and Tinder
being this fun place for casual dating. So she's got
to be careful with what she says from a branding
perspective as well. I found it interesting that Matt Zakowski's
(18:28):
name was never used or uttered during this interview. I
mean they did say your divorce. It's funny though, because
we are going to be touching on a podcast interview
that Matt Szakowski also did recently. It's like they're just
not allowed to mention each other's names. But that's sort
of a typical thing people do with high profile breakups
because everyone knows who they're talking about anyway, and you
don't want to be that ex that always is mentioning
(18:50):
that person's name and dropping it. Yeah, I get it.
It's just kind of funny though, the way it's sort
of like, oh, he must not be named well as suspected.
Tammy did divulge a bit more about the reasons behind
her marriage breakdown. When asked if she was ever worried
people dated her for clout or access to her platform
of twenty million followers, she said this, I'm.
Speaker 8 (19:12):
More asking like, are you ever fearful that perhaps someone
is like dating you for clout or like access to
your platform? And because I'm sure there's horrible people that would.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Do that, I feel like people have done that.
Speaker 8 (19:24):
How do you guard against that?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Though?
Speaker 8 (19:25):
Like moving to you you know, like, how do you
vet someone for that sort of thing?
Speaker 7 (19:28):
I feel like going forward, I'm just gonna ask, like
my sisters, because I guy, yeah, because I feel like.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
They're usually pretty spot on, So I'm just gonna, you.
Speaker 8 (19:40):
Know, how would they vet them?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, like, how do they know? How have they said
things to you in the past about people who turned
out to be Yeah, they have.
Speaker 7 (19:49):
So I just feel like maybe they just see things
that I don't when I'm like, you know, got my
heart eyes on, So I feel like I just get
a bit like loopy and start falling from someone, and
then they see things that I maybe don't see.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
It cracked me up because jar Day went on to say, Oh,
that would be really uncomfortable for a sister to say,
and Tammy was like, Nah, they're brutal. It just reminded
me of our relationship. Yeah, I was like, oh no,
this is exactly how sisters would carry on. Jardey does
have a sister, though maybe they're a lot kinder to
each other. There's some boundaries up there.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Well.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yeah, as you touched on. So Tammy didn't outright name Matt,
but it seems fairly obvious that she was talking about
him because it was public knowledge that her sisters had
a problem with him. I mean, he aired their grievances
on his own podcast, and during that same conversation with
Lockie and jar Day, Tammy also made a dig about
fooling easily to love bombing, it was pretty clear who
she was talking about. It also seems like money was
(20:43):
a big divider between not only her and Matt, but
her and her other past relationships, because she was asked
if men were intimidated by her success, and she said
that it's actually been one of the biggest issues in
her past relationships. I was fascinated when she spoke about
this because it's something I've never heard her speak about. Again,
it's kind of like how you said, influencers and public
(21:04):
figures don't want to mention their ex's by name. A
lot of influencers also don't want to talk about how
much money they make. It's a bit taboo to say, oh, yeah,
I'm actually a multimillionaire. I mean, Tammy is worth fifty
million dollars or She did admit that it created this
power imbalance and as a result, she would try and
make herself smaller, but it just didn't work. Lockie ended
(21:25):
up asking Tammy flat out if it was down to money,
and she said this, Yeah, it's definitely a money thing.
Speaker 7 (21:32):
And like people say, like, oh, no, it doesn't matter,
but then it shows up in so many ways and
so many things, and yeah, it's definitely. It's definitely been
a difficult thing to navigate in all of my relationships.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Sure, I mean it would be incredibly difficult for all involved.
I mean when you consider that Tammy is reportedly worth
fifty million dollars while Matt Szakowski works a nine to
five and was living with his mum when he first
met her, Like that is a huge difference in your lifestyles.
Matt also admitted in a recent podcast, which should be
going to touch on in a second, that he wasn't
(22:05):
actually working when he was living with Tammy. I suppose
that's because the job that he does is for his
dad's pool business, which was based in Melbourne, So he
essentially left that job to shack up with Tammy. Well,
you say not working, but he had his podcast and influencing,
so I suppose he was doing that on the side. Well,
he described it as not working and he found that
really difficult. He found himself getting more depressed because he
(22:26):
didn't have much meaning in his life. I did love
when they asked Tammy if she pays on a first date,
and despite being a multimillionaire, she says definitely not. And
that's something that she really stands by. Yeah, I kind
of respect that it looks like we might be seeing
Tammy on our TV screens soon, because The Herald's son
has reported that Tammy's name was floating around the Channel
(22:47):
nine upfronts on Wednesday. I was thinking, oh, Channel nine,
maybe Love Island, Like how epic that would be, And
it would be a bit of a fuck you to
Matsakowski because he originally found fame on that show. She's
too Big for Love Island. Yeah, but it's not. It
is a weird celebrity show called Shark and the show
was filmed in the Bahamas and they basically get a
(23:08):
bunch of celebrities and make them do these tests with
close encounters with sharks. Like it's so Ramdom. I remember
when she was still with Matt and they went to
Port Lincoln to do cage diving with sharks. She's already
had some experience with it. Why can't they just do
the original idea of doing a reality show about the
Hembrose life, similar to the Kardashians. Remember they were filming
(23:29):
a promo for it, but we never ended up seeing. Yeah,
that was years ago, but recently they reignited rumors that
they could get their own reality TV show up and running.
During some interviews for their supplement brand, maybe they're testing
the waters with Channel and nine on this reality show
and see how the public like Tammy and then go
for the full family. What about her and the Bachelor? Oh,
(23:50):
I mean the Golden Bachelor airs tonight. I think getting
Tammy on as the Bachelorette would be the way to
reignite that program again. That would be so good. It's
interesting though, because it was only a couple of weeks
ago that Tammy was talking about doing her diver medical
ahead of enrolling in a scuba diving course, So that
all makes sense, doesn't it. She also hinted at her
reality TV debut on her TikTok last week, so during
(24:12):
a get Ready with Me video before White Fox Boutique's
birthday party, she told her followers she had something coming
up that was wildly out of her comfort zone, and
she said it was going to be really fun and
she was all about adding to her life experiences. So
it seems like it's definitely happening.
Speaker 9 (24:28):
You guys are probably thinking, how can this guy be
so good looking and funny? And where you're about to find.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Out Matt Tzakowski made a hilarious blendor whilst appearing on
the On It, Off It podcast now. This show is
hosted by fitness influencer Louis Phillips and stand up comedian
Fergus Neil and the boys were chatting to Matt about
his Love Island days and he said that he thinks
some of the viewers took him the wrong way because
(24:54):
he has a very dry sense of humor, and he
actually revealed that he'd love to get into stand up
comedy now. Matt then attempted to deliver a joke that
he planned to kick off his future shows with, but
it was this unintentional slip up that garnered more laughs.
Let's have a listen.
Speaker 9 (25:12):
I heard that at start you need to defecate yourself
to connect with the audience. Something opening.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
You don't mean.
Speaker 9 (25:19):
Defecate, you.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Would be hilarious.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
That's the rule of stand comedy. You looked at me.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I said that.
Speaker 9 (25:33):
I was like, Nah, you're not being told that by comediate.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
I know that's really I've actually got to deficate yourself.
Speaker 9 (25:37):
What's the world the defamation?
Speaker 7 (25:40):
That's the word.
Speaker 9 (25:40):
It's the listeners screaming us the word no no, you
put yourself down.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yes, you put yourself down.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (25:48):
So I was going to have an opening line of like,
you guys are probably thinking, how can this guy be
so good looking and funny? Where you're about to find
it and then ship yourself.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Like, what's the word?
Speaker 7 (26:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Oh man, he just has golden retriever energy, doesn't. He
comes across as a bit of a himbo, but there's
something endearing about it.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
I thought that this was part of the bit he
was doing, but then I quickly realized that he genuinely
thought that he was using the right word. It was
so funny because the other guys were just pissing themselves laughing,
and I think that they thought that it was part
of the joke as well, and then they were like, oh, no,
he's serious here. I mean, I could tell this was
genuine because I listened to his podcast regularly and there
(26:35):
are quite a number of times where he and Anna
will confuse a word or are saying. I remember he said, oh,
bob's your auntie, It's Bob. Were you one of the
listeners who was literally sitting there screaming it's self deprecate. Oh,
Because they were like all of them couldn't get the word.
They're like, what is that word? I actually think though,
that matt could be a really great comedian without even trying.
(26:56):
But I just like laugh when I hear him speak.
As you said, he does have that goal and retrieve
it energy. I wonder if Matt ends up going down
the stand up comedy route, if he'll use his wrestling
alias Charlie Matthews as a bit of a character, because
they did speak in this interview about his wrestling days,
and for those who don't remember, he plays the role
of the man who won the genetic lottery. So I
(27:17):
feel like, even with him saying that, his initial joke
would be him joking about how good looking he is,
I feel like he's kind of playing that sort of character,
playing into that alter ego. See. I think instead of
going down the comedy route, he could get a job
on say Home and Away, like playing into these characters,
like you don't have to be very good acting to
be on that show. No shade at the actors that
are on, but you know when they get reminded Robbie
(27:40):
was on Neighbors. Oh there's some great people on there,
but often when there's a reality star of someone with
the public profile that gets a role on that show.
They're not that great. Some people just have to be hot,
don't they. Now it's quite interesting because the podcast hosts
and Matt are actually under the same management, and I
think that that's how he ended up appearing on this show.
And you can tell that the boys have been instructed
(28:01):
not to directly ask about Tammy. Instead, they seem to
really tiptoe around it, and they posed a lot of
questions about how Matt is enjoying life now and how
he's managed to pull himself out of this dark place.
And Matt was very keen to reiterate just how good
life is now that he's no longer with Tammy. Let's
have a listen to what he said.
Speaker 9 (28:23):
Life's so good and I'm realizing that every day. You know,
it's so fucking good, and just like living it and
loving it so much?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
What are the parts of it to make it good?
Speaker 9 (28:31):
Everything? Honestly waking up And I know this sounds so cliche,
but like, seriously, like I'm so happy with life at
the moment. Come from where I was and how down
and in the dumps and hating life I was. I'm
just so grateful for it now, man, And I'm excited.
I'm really excited for what's coming. I was in fight
or flight literally every single day, and I wake up
(28:52):
now and I'm just at peace, and I'm fucking loving it, man,
like I'm loving it so much. Like I guess to
make decisions to myself, I actually worry about Matt sekowskiin here,
about him and what he's doing with his day, and
how I make myself happy and how I not people
around me sort of thing, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (29:12):
I love the way he referred to himself in third person.
I've got to worry about what Matt Zakowski wants, you know,
when someone oversells something like, I genuinely hope he is
feeling as happy as he explained, but it was almost
a bit too much that you're trying to prove something.
I actually think he is genuinely feeling that way and
that there's a big weight that's been lifted off his shoulders.
(29:35):
He also spoke about when he was at his lowest point,
and he said he wasn't training hard at the gym,
he was letting himself go by eating shit, and he
wasn't working as we touched on earlier, which made him
feel like he wasn't achieving much, and he said that
now he's back in a good place. He's journaling, he's
hitting the gym. He also joked that people would pay
big money for his journal, and his friends actually warned
(29:57):
him not to leave it in his car because they
thought maybe someone would break into it and steal it
and potentially sell it to the tabloids for a lot
of money. So I would have a read of this journal.
I mean, we've spoken on the podcast about how Matt
has tried to get back into reading, and it was
quite sweet. He's been reading Goosebump novels. I wonder if
he'd ever work with a ghost writer to put his
(30:17):
story out there. Are we thinking that potentially, once all
the papers are signed and the divorce is settled, that
more might come out, Like would he release a book?
Because the facult he is journaling makes me think that
there's something he wants to do with it in the end,
and he's trying to document what's happened. I mean, I
think he is journaling for his own mental health, But
(30:38):
I mean I would love to read a tell all,
or at least listen to an audiobook of a tell
all by him, It would be very fascinating. Matt also
admitted during this interview that in recent months he's been
receiving a lot of apologies. Let's have a listen.
Speaker 9 (30:53):
I've had a lot of apologies in the last months. Yeah,
lots of apologies. People message me saying sorry that like
I said this and commented this, I got a lot
of that. But I what you're saying about your friends
and family going through tough times, knowing that they knew
truth and they knew stuff really got me through it
as well. Because the end of the day, that's all
(31:14):
that matters. So you need that's all you need. If
you people know the truth and like that you care
about and that's what matters.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Oh so these are random people on the internet that
are messaging him saying sorry, I got the completely wrong
impression of you. Well yeah, and I think that since
that there's been a bit more bad publicity out about Tammy.
They're also saying, oh, I can see where you were
coming from. It is interesting that he also referenced that
his friends and family know the truth about what happened,
because he's kind of putting out there that there's a
(31:42):
lot more that has gone on behind the scenes, and
people shouldn't be following maybe the line that Tammy seems
to be tolling at the moment. I mean, it makes
sense because at the moment, they're both pushing these agendas
that they're the victims in the situation and it's the
other person that caused all of the problems. He was
really trying to act like he's been the bigger person
because he told this story about how when two people
(32:02):
are going at it, the only people who win other
media and people consuming the content, and he said that
he had the mentality from the start, and presumably told
Tammy this that they shouldn't throw sit at each other
because no one is going to win out of it.
I mean, yes, that is definitely true. We also need
to remember that they're still going through all of the
legalities involved in a divorce, and I suppose no one
(32:25):
really wants to go slam the other one publicly and
ruin their chances of ending this marriage amicably. Well, last
week we reported that Matt was spotted with a new girl,
and it was a normy Adelaide girl by the name
of Emily Lawson. I just a feel offended for anyone
called it. Normy. Well, I'm saying she's not famous, is she?
I mean, she has maybe like six thousand followers on Instagram. Again,
(32:46):
I'm sort of uncomfortable with the term famous. But you
mean she's not a public figure. She's not a public figure. No,
and yeah, and he appeared to travel to Adelaide to
go on a date with her. However, during this podcast interview,
he said he wasn't looking for anything serious anytime soon.
He admitted, though, that he has been chatting to girls.
He said that the dating world seems new now and
(33:06):
he had no idea that people sent voice notes all
of the time. I think what he's more finding is
that that's what happens when you date younger jen Zed girls.
That like a fucking nightmare. I mean, it was bad
enough back in the day when you have to construct
a text message back, at least you could get everyone
to help you. But imagine having to, you know, plan
this voice message and you're having to think about the
tone of your voice, how long it is, what you
(33:28):
say re recording. It is kind of reminds me on Seinfeld,
when George Costanzo would gear himself up to leave the
voice message on the answering machine, do you reckon? People
are writing full blown scripts to read off and try
and go down a bit casual. I find that a
lot of my younger friends will send voice messages and
I always respond just with a written message. It's just
(33:49):
weird to think that gen Zed is a so against
talking on the phone, but they then want to have
this like pre recorded conversation. It's like, Okay, I'm gonna
say my bit and then send it off, and then
you say you'll be like, wouldn't it just be easy
to pick up the phone and have a chat if
that's what you're doing. Yeah, but then you can listen
to it at a time that suits you. I actually
love listening to them from friends. I feel like it's
(34:10):
a really great way to bring a conversation or a
situation to life. I just don't feel like I'm good
at them, which people might find ironic considering we do
sit on a podcast and we got ourselves. I just
find it self indulgent because it's like I've then got
to go through and almost take notes on what you've
said to remember to respond to those. It does get tough,
but I suppose it's easier than writing a full slab.
(34:33):
I think people do it for the ease anyway. That aside,
their podcast host also ended up asking Matt if he
was nervous about going on dates now that he's well
known and that some women might be after him for clout,
which is quite funny off the back of what Tammy said,
and Matt said he realized that he's never going to
change anyone's perception of him, and he also thinks he'd
(34:54):
be able to pick up on whether someone was dating
him for the wrong reasons, which is quite interesting when
you consider the fact that Emily Laws and the Adelaide
Girl straight away shared a selfie with him. Well, we
don't know at what stage of their relationship they're at.
Surely she would have had to ask his permission to
do that. But I do think he's found himself in
a situation where people are now more interested in who
(35:18):
he's dating off the back of dating Tammy, and there
will be people using him and it's sort of funny
that he's been accused of doing that himself. So maybe
he does know the signs to look out for might
echo his own behavior. Yeah, well, I think that is
all we have time for today. Thank you so much
for joining us for this episode. If you have enjoyed it,
could you please make sure you are subscribed to on
(35:38):
Apple podcast and also Spotify and if you want to
hear more content from us, we drop a subscriber only
episode every Thursday, which is basically an extension of this show.
All the details on how to sign up in our
show notes. This podcast was recorded on the traditional land
of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes. We pay
respect to elders past and present.
Speaker 5 (36:01):
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