October 1, 2023 • 29 mins
Today, we’re giving you a taste of what our lovely subscribers have been listening to on Outspoken Plus. As yesterday was a public holiday, we didn’t record our usual Tuesday show, but we hope you love part one of our deep dive on OG beauty influencer, Michael Finch.
It didn’t take long for Michael Finch to make it big on YouTube. The 18-year-old instantly captivated audiences with his larger than life persona and unfiltered opinions.
Michael’s star began burning bright when he joined forces with Australia’s ‘it girl’ Shani Grimmond. The unlikely duo were an internet sensation. Their catchphrases became a part of the zeitgeist.
YouTube was in its hey-day and Michael and his influencer girl-gang were the biggest stars in Australia. But… What happens when those friendships break down and you start losing your relevance?
In this series, we explore Michael Finch’s meteoric rise to internet fame and his impressive transformation from make up guru to TikTok chef.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Episode one, The Making of Michael Finch. It didn't take
long for Michael Finch to make it big on YouTube.
The eighteen year old instantly captivated audiences with his larger
than life persona and unfiltered opinions.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I literally had no idea how offended people can get
by me saying cue, or just anyone saying cue, Like,
if that means that I ain't ship, then you can
eat my ass.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Michael star began burning bright when he joined forces with
Australia's Girl Shani Grimmond. The unlikely duo were an Internet sensation.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah it was your head. I will look at you.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You look like someone from fucking Whovil Cindi leu is
that you?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Their catchphrases became a part of the zeitgeist.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Fucking serious, get in there, Bindi king king. That's a
problem that.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
YouTube was in its heyday and Michael and his influencer
girl gang were the biggest stars in Australia. A fucking
fat mouth and.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Chi gives to me.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Behind the scenes, no one sees it.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
But what happens when those friendships break down and you
start losing your relevance. In this series, we explore Michael
Finch's meteoric rise to internet fame and his impressive transformation
from makeup guru to TikTok chev. We are journalist Sophie
Kate and Amy Torbert, and this is outspoken. Plus, I'm
(01:26):
so excited for this deep dive because Michael Finch has
got to be one of my favorite influences. He has
been for such a long time.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
For me, it was really Shiny Grimmond and Michael Finch
that got me into YouTube and engaged in the world
of influencers. And I think that's a similar case for
a lot of our listeners. I remember there's was always
such excitement when his vlogs came out. There were ones
you instantly had to consume. Yeah, I think they were
really a part of the golden days of YouTube. And
it is crazy to look back at the wild ride
(01:54):
that has been Michael Finch's influencing career for almost a
decade now. I can't believe he's turning twenty seven. This,
Oh my, that makes me feel so old, I know.
Will He first launched his YouTube channel back in twenty fourteen,
sharing makeup tutorials and product reviews, and I went back
and had to look and He's deleted a lot of
his old content, so the earliest videos I could find
(02:14):
were him with his iconic pout and bleach blonde hair
back in twenty sixteen. I don't really blame him for
deleting these videos. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would
be to have your high school self on YouTube, particularly
because at the time there were so many trending videos
around makeup, And it's wild to think about how our
makeup has evolved. I mean, because I was having so
(02:34):
much fun looking at these videos too, and I forgot
how big of a thing under ie baking was. Yes,
and also highlighter, because I didn't even wear highlighter anymore,
but I remember champagne pop was literally the most popular
makeup item. Yeah, it made me realize how old some
of my makeup is that I still have, because I've
got some of those iconic palettes that they would always use,
(02:55):
and I'm like, geez, this is probably so out of date.
I should not be using this. I think you need
to throw that. Okays that since twenty fourteen, Yeah, well,
I do think you forget how revolutionary Michael Finch was
on YouTube because you think about it. Yes, they had
Jeffrey Star in the US, but in Australia we didn't
have any males on YouTube doing makeup tutorials. And you've
(03:16):
got Michael Finch, this teenager from a rural town in Victoria,
sharing these amazing makeup tutorials and becoming a household name.
And it wasn't just his makeup that was a winner
for people, it was his personality because he really did
speak to an audience of young women and men who
were perhaps struggling at school because he did talk about
being bullied. And I know a lot of people have
(03:38):
contacted him since he became famous, saying that he helped
them so much through bullying and also depression and anxiety. Yeah,
it's easy to see how he cultivated such a dedicated
following because he was not only loud and hilarious, but
as you said, vulnerable and really real at the same time.
I think, like most people, I came across Michael Finch
through Sharny Grimman's channel, and Shaney was the Aussie it
(04:00):
girl on YouTube at the time, and they were such
an unbeatable duo together. Yeah, I mean, I would compare
her popularity to that of Anna Paul at the moment,
because I think a lot of people forget just how
big Shanny was because she has sort of trailed into
obscurity at the moment. I mean, she does still put
out TikTok videos, but she was the it girl. She
was the person that everyone watched. Like when her videos dropped,
(04:23):
you'd be racing to go and watch them. Yeah, And
like most YouTubers, Michael and Shannie met online, so they
actually used to watch each other's YouTube videos and started
messaging each other. So at the time, Michael was living
in regional Victoria and Shanni was visiting Melbourne one weekend,
so they met up and Michael did her makeup and
then they went clubbing, and I think the rest is history.
Really a bit of a fun fact there whilst I
(04:44):
was trolling through old videos, apparently that's when he also
met Lily Brown. So Lily Brown was a friend that
happened to be in Melbourne. It's a bit odd because
Lily Brown also lives in Brisbane, so I wonder if
it was a bit orchestrated by her, because she really
did be a permanent fixture on Michael Finch's Instagram stories.
I don't think he was that big when he met Shanny,
(05:05):
like Shanny was the one I think she. I think
Lily was more hanging around with Shanny. Well that's what
I mean. I mean, it's Luke critive to be hanging
around any of them when you don't have a following yourself.
Talking about looking at old videos, I saw the first
video on Michael's channel that Sharanny was in and it
was actually the second time they had met, and they
were filming at her house in Brisbane because he'd come
and stayed over for a sleepover at her house. And
(05:26):
it was so funny because they did not seem like
it was the second time they'd met. They were like
razzing each other up, being so rude to each other,
and they had such good chemistry and banter on camera. Oh,
Michael Finch literally burped in her face and they said, Oh,
all you do is fart around me, Shanny. That was
so funny because Sharanny was answering a question about what
her biggest pet peeves were and she goes people burping
(05:48):
in my face and Michael had just done it to her.
I feel like Michael's content started changing though when he
met Shanny, because he used to do all of the
makeup tutorials. But when he finally was hanging out with Sharny,
that's when he started vlogging, and I feel like more
of his personality came out and more people started loving him.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I feel like that was sort of the evolution of
YouTube though, because in the early days of YouTube, so
many people gained traction by copying other people's videos, whether
it was twenty four hour challenge videos or trending makeup topics.
So yeah, it's really interesting to look at his growth
in that respect. I also find it fascinating because clearly
a lot of YouTubers make a bigger following by teaming
(06:27):
up with other YouTubers. We've seen it with Saffron Barker
and Anastasia kings North they met online as well. It's
clearly a lucrative thing. It's like they kind of created
their own Australian high powers in the US when they've
got all the creators that come together. Yeah, and we've
got to remember this was a time when a beauty
influencer could really make or break a makeup brand. Yes,
we've got TikTok now and products can go off, but
(06:50):
the influencer space wasn't as saturated.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
It was also at a time though, when gifting and
collaborations weren't publicized as being so I was very much
in the infantry.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
It was the wild West then, so a lot of
influencers could just cleverly integrate. Oh this is my new
favorite foundation. Oh this is my new favorite makeup palette.
And they'd just been gifted it by brands. But they
were also making a lot of money off some of
these deals. And the biggest brands at the time were Anastasia,
Beverly Hills. I mean, I haven't really heard of them
for a while. I don't buy any of their products anymore.
(07:22):
We had the tart shaped tape, which Michael Finch seemed
to swear by. Oh. They were always going on about
Morphy as well, and I did see a loog. Shanni
mentioned the Becker highlighter. Yeah, it was a Conic highlighter.
I loved it. I also couldn't get past Shanny's really
thick eyebrows. They were quite iconic at the time. I
remember Michael Finch always used to say they looked like slugs.
(07:42):
It was quite mean. It's interesting because I was listening
to this interview with Britney Saunders, and she was saying
that when she first got on YouTube, she started posting
about makeup, but she wasn't even interested in it. Because
everyone else was sharing about it. It was really the
only way to get big on YouTube and then from
their if you've got a following for being good at makeup,
you could then start doing vlogs. That's so true, and
(08:04):
I think that's why Michael has done so well because
he was actually working as a makeup artist. He was
doing people's makeup. He was actually was talented. Just yeah
in it now. In addition to making beauty products sell out,
Michael and Shannie also had the ability to make catch
phrases and words go off. They even had their own
language at one point, and their catchphrases was so iconic
(08:25):
that Michael and Shanni launched a collaboration with Beginning boutique.
Do you guys remember these clothes? Yes? I do. I
actually think I've one of you. Bought me the hat
that has thank you on it?
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Really, I bought the socks I reckon that. I feel
like Michael Finch might have packed them himself though, Okay, Oh,
I think Beginning boutique's quite big. I don't know if
Amy you're thinking of. They had their own brand, so
Shanny did have SG the label for a while. I
think they were watches, and then they launched their own
brand and started selling their catch phrases on that as well.
These clothes were hideous because you hear about brand collaborations
(08:57):
now with influencers, and the influencers will pick, you know,
design outfits and stuff. But these were literally just merch
So some of the tops had sea or thank you
on there or not a problem like I just I
mean very much relating to a teenage audience. It's pretty
clever though. I'm sure this stuff just sold out instantly. Oh,
I mean their catch phrases were everywhere. This wasn't just
(09:17):
a small corner of the Internet that was saying them.
Let's throw it to some of these iconic phrases because
I think people enjoy hearing them.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Again, Get in there, Bindy, way back on the butler.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
You know what I'm saying, Ell you fucking serious, that's
a problem that like, I kind of fucker dark BINDI.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Listening to all those grabs, it just reminded me of
an iconic YouTube video that came out someone made. It
was like a mock version of an Alexa bring Brought
Home to a family, except it had the voice of
Michael Finch and of his friend Chris Fox, and it
was their iconic catchphrases like it was just this Alexa
just yelling at the household. It was friggin' hilarious.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Can you hear me? Nope, it only hears you when
you use the week word. We chose Alexa.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
We want to Alexa, what time is it?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I think you need to relax.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
What time is it?
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Sit down, take a step back, take three steps to
the left, four steps to the right. Get fucked.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And that's the thing. Though not everyone got on board
with these catch phrases, particularly the language that they developed,
which really seemed to get on people's nerves during one
of their trips to the US. So basically I think
it was Rannie Sky, Wheatley, Shannye, Michael Finch, a couple
of mothers, Lily Brown, they were all on this trip
and they kept speaking in that voice and Candlestick and
(10:44):
everything the whole time. Oh, the Kendle thing was so confusing.
I actually watched their recent shot at video. Lily and
Michaels and I didn't even know what they were talking
about half the time because they kept saying Kendall Jenna
all the time. Yeah, I think they took it a
bit farther, But how hilarious for them knowing that they're
were all of these kids in school yards just copying
everything they said. Michael definitely didn't understand the hate that
(11:06):
was being thrown towards his catch phrases. Here's what he said.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I literally had no idea how offended people can get
by me saying cue or just anyone saying cute. Like
it's just one of those fucking stupid things that me
and Shiny kind of just made up. And you know,
it's just said a lot now.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I'll just drop my brash.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
It's just said by a lot of people now, and
you know, just different scenarios like one time when me
and Shiny were in Bali and I was really drunk
and we're going back to the hotel and I was
walking past every single door going The amount of people
that have done that and sent it to me on
Twitter is amazing. When you guys like copy scenarios like that,
it fucking kills us, like we die, We love it
(11:51):
so much, and just like when you get your parents
to say, like, BINDI come in now, hilarious, fucking hilarious.
You guys are great, but yeah, so many people get
so offended. Like I did not know it was such
an offensive thing. I said something on Twitter this morning,
and it's literally a status that someone's made saying can
people stop thank you or thank you? Michael Finch ain't shit? Well,
I mean, obviously, if it's getting to the point where
(12:13):
you need to make a status, it must be a
lot of people and getting really annoying. So if that
means that I ain't shit, then you can eat my ass.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I do think it has a lot to do with
this group coming together, because, as we mentioned earlier, this
friendship group was very influential and Shannie and Michael literally
launched the social media careers of Lily Brown and Rannie
Bransby and to an extent, Sky Wheatley because I remember
Sky had been on Big Brother, but she wasn't really
that popular on YouTube, and both Lily and her were
(12:43):
just hanging around this group like a bad smell. When
I was doing research for this episode, it was the
first video I'd seen Lily and Michael in together and
she was just like staring at the vlogging camera, like
trying to be so over the top. And it's pretty
interesting because they recently came out and said that they
used to take shots of Oxy Shrow to be so
hyped up here for the videos. Yeah, that makes more
(13:04):
and more sense, doesn't it. Yeah, do you remember Lily
also used to come up to the camera and just
be like trying to smash the camera lens with her fingernail. Well,
she did catch the attention of a lot of followers
when she met Michael Finch and Charny for the first
time at that Melbourne meetup, and basically she kept just
yelling the whole time, and she kept being in the
background of Michael Finch's snapchat. It was just like a
(13:24):
competition who could be more stupid And I think that's
why the group didn't work. We will go into that
in next week's episode. Yeah, it was really who could
be the most obnoxious. Yeah, but it was such huge
stakes for them because, for example, look at Lily how
much her career has exploded from just being friendly with
them and launching a channel. They must have had so
many people trying to befriend them just to get that
(13:46):
internet fame. Now, one of my all time favorite YouTube
videos has to be a balley trip that Michael and
Channey went on together and it was Michael's first time overseas,
and Shiny revealed that Mychael didn't actually know how to swing.
He didn't really know much because like she kept quizzing
him about Barley belly and he could see the sea
(14:08):
in the horizon and He's like, can I get Bari
belly from the sea or it's got salt in it?
Like he was just so confused. Well, we forget how
young he was now. Shani also shared Michael's lack of
understanding when it came to geography. Let's throw to what
he said.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
So I was just waiting for our taxi and Michael
literally just asked the best question, you know how He's
like really good with geography and all of that good stuff.
He's like, don't film this, but can I ask your
own question? He said, are we like still in the
world like that little blue ball? Are we like there?
And I'm like, well, yeah, Bally is in earth.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
This is gonna be my favorite clip from YouTube. It's ironic,
it's absolutely hilarious. I do love that he let it
go to air as well. Now we have been speaking
a bit about this trip to the US, and I
do think it's spelt the beginning of the end for
this group and the popularity that they were experiencing at
the time, because when they were all filming together, it
(15:07):
felt like they were all trying to compete and outdo
each other and who was the loudest, who was the silliest.
That's because they were all just on oxy shredded. Maybe
that's way it seems so chaotic. Yeah. The thing is,
even though there was his undercurrent of competition within that
friendship group, it was a really important group of friends
for Michael and he actually made the move across to
Brisbane from Regional Victoria to be closer to his friends. Yeah,
(15:30):
and this was at a time when his YouTube career
was really booming, and I think that he needed his
friends and that vibrancy to be in the video. I mean,
it would be hard to go back to your hometown
in Regional Victoria and be filming these elaborate videos. I mean,
I know his mum was in some of them, but
it seemed like all his friends were in Brisbane. That's
the thing. He would often travel to Brisbane to see
(15:52):
Shani and his other YouTube friends, and it's so funny
because he would film videos where he'd be third wheeling
with Jonathan and shann and this took me back. I
love that time of YouTube. I love like Jonathan was
the ideal boyfriend. I actually recently watched a vlog where
Michael was visiting and they went for a high this
(16:12):
mountain together and Jonathan had been relegated to the backseat
and he could tell you wasn't happy about it, and
it was just so funny. How tall is Jonathan because
he and Shannie looked the same high but now he's
pretty tall. Yeah, because I'm going to say, now he's
with Madison Woolley, who looks quite sure. I'm like, is
Jonathan tull? Guy? What I recall seeing Michael and Shane's
trip to Barley, and then I remember Shanne and Jonathan
(16:34):
went to Barley and it was so evident she had
such a better time with Michael. Yeah, who wouldn't. He's hilarious,
I know, and I think not that long after that's
when Shannee and Jonathan called a quit well for the
first time. That we will actually be looking into that
in another subscriber episode. Now. It was the first time
that Michael lived out of home, and he decided that
he wanted to live by himself because he said he
(16:56):
liked his own personal space and he didn't want anyone
at home whilst he was filming during the day and
amy these moving vlogs. They were iconic, they really were.
I think they're one of my all time favorite YouTube
videos because they were just so much fun because Michael
moved over with his mum and his dad came to help.
And I think anytime you watch all those, you know
that they're shopping at Kmart getting all the furniture, and
(17:19):
he was just so boogie. But you feel really nostalgic,
I suppose, thinking back when you moved out of home.
I do love how clueless he was because we'll go
into it more next week. But he has really become
this chef on TikTok, whereas when he moved out of
his home, he didn't know anything about cookie. You remember,
he was just making all these big like jugs of
juice of fresh like green juice, so cute, and his
(17:41):
apartment had very twenty seventeen vibes, so he had a
really large black leather reclined couch. He also had those
huge display jars, very similar to what Chloe Kardashian had,
and they were filled with cookies and lollies and chocolate,
and I remember he was saying in the vlog to
his mum stop eating all of them. But he also
said that he didn't want have any junk food in
the house apart from the jars. I do remember his
(18:04):
iconic Christmas tree, like I recall, he put it up
really really early and it was like the most bougie
I think it was. It was black silver Christmas tree
was amazing well, as all YouTubers do. He also had
a designated YouTube room, which of course had two very
large Ikea draws. To remember those drawers, every YouTuber had them,
and they had all of their makeup perfectly sectioned off
(18:26):
in their ogi's will. Also remember that in the background
he had a very large portrait of himself holding Shani
Grimman's dog Bindi. He was obsessed with Bindy. He actually
moved across the road from Shanny so he could get
to Bindy and take Bindy for walks and visit Bindi.
I didn't know that they lived so close. I realized
that either do you think he was obsessed with the
dog or it just became a thing because it was
(18:47):
his catchphrase. No, I think he was. I think he
loved the dogs animals. I mean, he's got a couple
of dogs himself. Now, shortly after the move, fans started
trying to guess where he lived, and he addressed this
on YouTube, saying he was aware of numerous Facebook threads
where people were trying to guess his address. He then
warned his followers if anyone rocked up to his house,
(19:08):
they shouldn't expect him to be nice, and that he
deserves privacy just as much as everyone else. I think
this just shows how big he was at the time,
the fact that people were putting energy into working out
where he lived because they wanted to meet him so much.
So from Barker on a recent podcast interview, and she
was saying, at one stage they had so many people
rocking up to their front door because people had pieced
(19:29):
it all together, and that's one of the big reasons
why her family ended up moving. But you can see
how easily people can guess, Actually, there's a guy on TikTok,
and basically people send him a video of where they are,
Like it could just be out the back in your backyard,
and he can guess where you are just by piecing
a few details together. It's actually so much so people
(19:49):
send that in just to see if he can work
it out. It's to show how people have to be
extra careful when they're online. But think how much Michael
was sharing at the time, Like he was going to
the local shopping centers. You could work out what cafes
he was at well, it was pretty easy. He was
also showing his view a lot of the time, and
also he was often sharing about pre drinks that he'd
(20:10):
have at his house and they would say, oh, yeah,
we're going out to so Hopes. And it seemed like
when he did move he was also just going out
drinking a lot more. He did say that he would
run into a lot of fans when he was out
at a club, and he got a bit embarrassed about
it because he said sometimes when he was blackout drunk,
he would without knowing, be rude to fans. So fans
would like say, oh I like your makeup or ask
(20:32):
for a photo, and he would just say nothing. But
then on the other hand, sometimes he said he just
spent too much money on fans because if one came
up to him at the bar, he would shout the
whole friendship group drinks and he just wanted to he
felt like he was indebted to them. So this probably
was probably all these like varying reports about him. Like
next bit, it was really rude. Yeah. Well, at the
(20:53):
time he moved to Brisbane, he had surpassed one hundred
thousand followers on YouTube, so he was rapid growing in popularity.
And it's not clear how, but this is when Michael
crosspath with serial entrepreneur and now controversial owner of Slickstick,
Mia Plasic. So Mia quickly became Michael's manager and started
strategizing how to make serious bank Yeah, and she started
(21:17):
testing the water with meat and greets. And I did
have a big laugh at this video because it was
a professional video shot in twenty eighteen. And in the
video we see Mia and Michael making their way to
the first meet and greet, and it literally looked like
designer brands had vomited on them. So they were both
wearing black designer shirts and they were strutting towards the camera.
(21:40):
It was at that time when obnoxious designer gear with
all the logos was all the rage. And to top
this off, the pair arrived to the meet and greet
in eight rolls and literally we see fans mobbing the
car and screaming and Michael puts down the window and
waves to everyone. It just wore wasn't the vibe that
(22:01):
any influencer would want to give out? Now, It's not
really that raw, relatable vibe that people are trying to
push on Instagram at the moment, don't you think when
you look back, it's actually a real US influencer vibe
to give out. And maybe that was me as do it.
I think they were considered more of a celebrity though,
because it wasn't a saturated market. We didn't have all
these people wanting to be influencers and all these influencers.
(22:23):
It was only a couple of people that were very
well known. Yeah. Now this meet and greet, it was
held at Sephora, and they had some very strong brand
collaborations and the whole of Sephora was filled with fans
who had apparently lined up since eleven the night before,
and the line was literally so large that it stretched
around the block. It was very reminiscent of the crowds
(22:44):
we saw who rocked up for Anna Paul and from
looking at the girls in line, it took me back
so much because I forgot at the time what a
uniform we used to wear. And the uniform was black
skinny jeans and a danim jacket. All of them were
wearing it. Yeah, but then with all extreme makeup like
that Shanni and Michael would do. I recall at the
time of this meet and greet, remember Kendall and Kylie
(23:06):
were doing all those meet and greets around the US,
and then they came to Australia. That's probably where the
Kundall Jenna thing came. Maybe now. Shortly after the success
of this meet and greet, Michael announced that he would
be touring around Australia and New Zealand holding makeup master classes.
And this was a stroke of marketing genius because he
would use models to do makeup on and all of
(23:28):
the models were his famous YouTube friends. So Lily Brown
attended quite a number of these master classes, and Shannee's
dog Bindy even made he put makeup ONDI no, he
didn't put makeup dog. Yeah, they brought Bindi in and
he was very protective over Bindi. He's like, everyone be quiet,
she gets really scared. And I was actually quite astounded
(23:49):
by how expensive these tickets were. Do you remember, well,
I remember at the time he did come to Adelaide
and I kind of wanted to go, but then they
were way too expensive. What were they?
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I couldn't believe it. So general admission was four hundred
and ninety nine dollars and VIP was six hundred and fifty.
This is making me feel better about what we spent
on Taylor Swift. It's no offence to Michael Fish. And
this was like six years ago, and the master classes
were described as being limited, so there were spots for
two hundred people at each session. Now I did the
quick sums on this. So if we say half of
(24:21):
the crowd of general admission and half for VIPs, that
means that Michael was making approximately one hundred and fourteen
one thousand of each show. So he did a total
of six shows. That's six hundred and eighty four thousand dollars.
And I feel like the overheads aren't huge. I mean, yes,
he has to travel to the cities. But he's just
using makeup that he probably got for free, no wonder
(24:43):
he was rocking up in the gold Rolls Royce. What
did you get for being a VIP, Well, you basically
got a goodie bag. So this as a VIP, well yeah,
but as journal sound like Taylor Swissing concert. Yeah, so
general admission and VIP they both got goodie bags. But
obviously if you're in VIP were slightly different. Now, a
lot of the items were samples, so there were samples
(25:05):
from benefits. They also had a tansy eyemask. There was
a beginning boutique drink bottle, inglot samples, a bottle of
BONDII sand, some lashes. It sounds like an influencers starter kit.
Well they were lighter gummy Yeah, lighter gummies. They were
so twenty seventeen. He also sold exclusive merch at these masterclasses,
so then another stream of revenue. Surely the VIP's got
(25:28):
to meet him. Well yeah, So basically the whole premise
was that they would hire out a function space, generally
an area where businesses would hold conferences. So they had
a stage up the front where Michael would do his
makeup tutorial. There was also a camera and a big
screen so you could see the zoomed in effect of
the makeup. There was also time for questions, a meet
(25:49):
and greet, and of course some selfies, but yet not
really getting that much for all of that money. I
want to know how much of a Cutmea got from this. Well.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is the straw that
broke the cup animals back in terms of their working
relationship together, because rumors floating around the place are that
they didn't end things very nicely. It's not surprising because
Michael seems like a sweetheart, whereas there's differing opinions on Mea. Yeah,
(26:14):
it's so funny because she just came across as such
a dick. It is interesting how much Michael has changed
since having Mea as his manager, because when she was
managing him, it really was when he was wearing all
the expensive brands and being a little bit unrelatable. Do
you also find it interesting that she set up all
of these master classes and meet and greets at Sephora,
(26:35):
and now she's gone on to create her own makeup
brand of sorts like the hair Tool. I think she's
one of those people that had probably been sniffing around
Michael a bit like you. Maybe she was maybe a
literally Brown in Melbourne, but yeah, she seemed to be
just waiting for a big opportunity like that to attach
herself to someone so well known like Michael Vinn. The
(26:55):
opportunity to appear in his blogs and be associated with
him was a big deal at the time. Even the
fact that she would be the MC and announce Michael
Finch and Lily Brown like it was just so cringe.
It's quite clear that Michael's openness with his following though,
did really strike a chord with followers, and at the
master classes they would bring him lots of presents and
(27:18):
fan mail. I used to love seeing him open. Here's
Michael reading out a few.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
I feel like when you read letters from like subscribers
and stuff, like, some of them are like they really
hit home for you, Like you just don't know what
they're going to say or like have a help dure
or anything like that, so you have to like mentally prepare.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Yourself to read them.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I'm just going to read another one. Dear Michael, thank
you for absolutely everything. Not only are you an icon,
thank you for the makeup industry, but you have made
an influence on who I am today, and I'm sure
many others agree. After struggling with depression and anxiety or videos,
your videos were always there to calm me, and for that,
I'm forever grateful. Thank you once again for everything being
(28:00):
an amazing person.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
I feel like if Michael Finch is wearing all these
big brands now and showing off about the expensive things
that he had, people wouldn't like it. But back then,
because he was so relatable, I think people thought, oh,
it's possible to be like him. If I emulate his behavior,
I could be him. Yeah. I recall watching his stuff
at the time and I wasn't like, oh my god,
that's outrageous that he spent that much. That was kind
(28:22):
of his personality at the time was Oh, he's a
little bit bougie and he's fabulous and look what he's got.
It's kind of like the Kardashians when you watch that
and you watch more in Awe and Entertainer. But I
think it's more that he was one of us, so
we won't see him do well as well. With the Kardashians,
it's like they've never been one of us. I think
it was also very much of the time, though in
twenty seventeen, a lot of audiences weren't questioning as much
(28:47):
what influences were doing. We were just sort of going
along for the ride. Yeah, well, that's where we're going
to leave things today. Next week we will be getting
to the bottom of Michael's friendship breakdowns with Shanni Grimman
and Lily Brown, as well as how Michael Finch went
from baiting under his eyes to becoming a TikTok cooking sensation.
This podcast was recorded on the traditional land of the
Ghana people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to
(29:09):
elders past and present
Episode one, The Making of Michael Finch. It didn't take
long for Michael Finch to make it big on YouTube.
The eighteen year old instantly captivated audiences with his larger
than life persona and unfiltered opinions.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I literally had no idea how offended people can get
by me saying cue, or just anyone saying cue, Like,
if that means that I ain't ship, then you can
eat my ass.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Michael star began burning bright when he joined forces with
Australia's Girl Shani Grimmond. The unlikely duo were an Internet sensation.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah it was your head. I will look at you.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You look like someone from fucking Whovil Cindi leu is
that you?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Their catchphrases became a part of the zeitgeist.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Fucking serious, get in there, Bindi king king. That's a
problem that.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
YouTube was in its heyday and Michael and his influencer
girl gang were the biggest stars in Australia. A fucking
fat mouth and.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Chi gives to me.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Behind the scenes, no one sees it.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
But what happens when those friendships break down and you
start losing your relevance. In this series, we explore Michael
Finch's meteoric rise to internet fame and his impressive transformation
from makeup guru to TikTok chev. We are journalist Sophie
Kate and Amy Torbert, and this is outspoken. Plus, I'm
(01:26):
so excited for this deep dive because Michael Finch has
got to be one of my favorite influences. He has
been for such a long time.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
For me, it was really Shiny Grimmond and Michael Finch
that got me into YouTube and engaged in the world
of influencers. And I think that's a similar case for
a lot of our listeners. I remember there's was always
such excitement when his vlogs came out. There were ones
you instantly had to consume. Yeah, I think they were
really a part of the golden days of YouTube. And
it is crazy to look back at the wild ride
(01:54):
that has been Michael Finch's influencing career for almost a
decade now. I can't believe he's turning twenty seven. This,
Oh my, that makes me feel so old, I know.
Will He first launched his YouTube channel back in twenty fourteen,
sharing makeup tutorials and product reviews, and I went back
and had to look and He's deleted a lot of
his old content, so the earliest videos I could find
(02:14):
were him with his iconic pout and bleach blonde hair
back in twenty sixteen. I don't really blame him for
deleting these videos. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would
be to have your high school self on YouTube, particularly
because at the time there were so many trending videos
around makeup, And it's wild to think about how our
makeup has evolved. I mean, because I was having so
(02:34):
much fun looking at these videos too, and I forgot
how big of a thing under ie baking was. Yes,
and also highlighter, because I didn't even wear highlighter anymore,
but I remember champagne pop was literally the most popular
makeup item. Yeah, it made me realize how old some
of my makeup is that I still have, because I've
got some of those iconic palettes that they would always use,
(02:55):
and I'm like, geez, this is probably so out of date.
I should not be using this. I think you need
to throw that. Okays that since twenty fourteen, Yeah, well,
I do think you forget how revolutionary Michael Finch was
on YouTube because you think about it. Yes, they had
Jeffrey Star in the US, but in Australia we didn't
have any males on YouTube doing makeup tutorials. And you've
(03:16):
got Michael Finch, this teenager from a rural town in Victoria,
sharing these amazing makeup tutorials and becoming a household name.
And it wasn't just his makeup that was a winner
for people, it was his personality because he really did
speak to an audience of young women and men who
were perhaps struggling at school because he did talk about
being bullied. And I know a lot of people have
(03:38):
contacted him since he became famous, saying that he helped
them so much through bullying and also depression and anxiety. Yeah,
it's easy to see how he cultivated such a dedicated
following because he was not only loud and hilarious, but
as you said, vulnerable and really real at the same time.
I think, like most people, I came across Michael Finch
through Sharny Grimman's channel, and Shaney was the Aussie it
(04:00):
girl on YouTube at the time, and they were such
an unbeatable duo together. Yeah, I mean, I would compare
her popularity to that of Anna Paul at the moment,
because I think a lot of people forget just how
big Shanny was because she has sort of trailed into
obscurity at the moment. I mean, she does still put
out TikTok videos, but she was the it girl. She
was the person that everyone watched. Like when her videos dropped,
(04:23):
you'd be racing to go and watch them. Yeah, And
like most YouTubers, Michael and Shannie met online, so they
actually used to watch each other's YouTube videos and started
messaging each other. So at the time, Michael was living
in regional Victoria and Shanni was visiting Melbourne one weekend,
so they met up and Michael did her makeup and
then they went clubbing, and I think the rest is history.
Really a bit of a fun fact there whilst I
(04:44):
was trolling through old videos, apparently that's when he also
met Lily Brown. So Lily Brown was a friend that
happened to be in Melbourne. It's a bit odd because
Lily Brown also lives in Brisbane, so I wonder if
it was a bit orchestrated by her, because she really
did be a permanent fixture on Michael Finch's Instagram stories.
I don't think he was that big when he met Shanny,
(05:05):
like Shanny was the one I think she. I think
Lily was more hanging around with Shanny. Well that's what
I mean. I mean, it's Luke critive to be hanging
around any of them when you don't have a following yourself.
Talking about looking at old videos, I saw the first
video on Michael's channel that Sharanny was in and it
was actually the second time they had met, and they
were filming at her house in Brisbane because he'd come
and stayed over for a sleepover at her house. And
(05:26):
it was so funny because they did not seem like
it was the second time they'd met. They were like
razzing each other up, being so rude to each other,
and they had such good chemistry and banter on camera. Oh,
Michael Finch literally burped in her face and they said, Oh,
all you do is fart around me, Shanny. That was
so funny because Sharanny was answering a question about what
her biggest pet peeves were and she goes people burping
(05:48):
in my face and Michael had just done it to her.
I feel like Michael's content started changing though when he
met Shanny, because he used to do all of the
makeup tutorials. But when he finally was hanging out with Sharny,
that's when he started vlogging, and I feel like more
of his personality came out and more people started loving him.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I feel like that was sort of the evolution of
YouTube though, because in the early days of YouTube, so
many people gained traction by copying other people's videos, whether
it was twenty four hour challenge videos or trending makeup topics.
So yeah, it's really interesting to look at his growth
in that respect. I also find it fascinating because clearly
a lot of YouTubers make a bigger following by teaming
(06:27):
up with other YouTubers. We've seen it with Saffron Barker
and Anastasia kings North they met online as well. It's
clearly a lucrative thing. It's like they kind of created
their own Australian high powers in the US when they've
got all the creators that come together. Yeah, and we've
got to remember this was a time when a beauty
influencer could really make or break a makeup brand. Yes,
we've got TikTok now and products can go off, but
(06:50):
the influencer space wasn't as saturated.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
It was also at a time though, when gifting and
collaborations weren't publicized as being so I was very much
in the infantry.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
It was the wild West then, so a lot of
influencers could just cleverly integrate. Oh this is my new
favorite foundation. Oh this is my new favorite makeup palette.
And they'd just been gifted it by brands. But they
were also making a lot of money off some of
these deals. And the biggest brands at the time were Anastasia,
Beverly Hills. I mean, I haven't really heard of them
for a while. I don't buy any of their products anymore.
(07:22):
We had the tart shaped tape, which Michael Finch seemed
to swear by. Oh. They were always going on about
Morphy as well, and I did see a loog. Shanni
mentioned the Becker highlighter. Yeah, it was a Conic highlighter.
I loved it. I also couldn't get past Shanny's really
thick eyebrows. They were quite iconic at the time. I
remember Michael Finch always used to say they looked like slugs.
(07:42):
It was quite mean. It's interesting because I was listening
to this interview with Britney Saunders, and she was saying
that when she first got on YouTube, she started posting
about makeup, but she wasn't even interested in it. Because
everyone else was sharing about it. It was really the
only way to get big on YouTube and then from
their if you've got a following for being good at makeup,
you could then start doing vlogs. That's so true, and
(08:04):
I think that's why Michael has done so well because
he was actually working as a makeup artist. He was
doing people's makeup. He was actually was talented. Just yeah
in it now. In addition to making beauty products sell out,
Michael and Shannie also had the ability to make catch
phrases and words go off. They even had their own
language at one point, and their catchphrases was so iconic
(08:25):
that Michael and Shanni launched a collaboration with Beginning boutique.
Do you guys remember these clothes? Yes? I do. I
actually think I've one of you. Bought me the hat
that has thank you on it?
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Really, I bought the socks I reckon that. I feel
like Michael Finch might have packed them himself though, Okay, Oh,
I think Beginning boutique's quite big. I don't know if
Amy you're thinking of. They had their own brand, so
Shanny did have SG the label for a while. I
think they were watches, and then they launched their own
brand and started selling their catch phrases on that as well.
These clothes were hideous because you hear about brand collaborations
(08:57):
now with influencers, and the influencers will pick, you know,
design outfits and stuff. But these were literally just merch
So some of the tops had sea or thank you
on there or not a problem like I just I
mean very much relating to a teenage audience. It's pretty
clever though. I'm sure this stuff just sold out instantly. Oh,
I mean their catch phrases were everywhere. This wasn't just
(09:17):
a small corner of the Internet that was saying them.
Let's throw it to some of these iconic phrases because
I think people enjoy hearing them.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Again, Get in there, Bindy, way back on the butler.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
You know what I'm saying, Ell you fucking serious, that's
a problem that like, I kind of fucker dark BINDI.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Listening to all those grabs, it just reminded me of
an iconic YouTube video that came out someone made. It
was like a mock version of an Alexa bring Brought
Home to a family, except it had the voice of
Michael Finch and of his friend Chris Fox, and it
was their iconic catchphrases like it was just this Alexa
just yelling at the household. It was friggin' hilarious.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Can you hear me? Nope, it only hears you when
you use the week word. We chose Alexa.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
We want to Alexa, what time is it?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I think you need to relax.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
What time is it?
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Sit down, take a step back, take three steps to
the left, four steps to the right. Get fucked.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And that's the thing. Though not everyone got on board
with these catch phrases, particularly the language that they developed,
which really seemed to get on people's nerves during one
of their trips to the US. So basically I think
it was Rannie Sky, Wheatley, Shannye, Michael Finch, a couple
of mothers, Lily Brown, they were all on this trip
and they kept speaking in that voice and Candlestick and
(10:44):
everything the whole time. Oh, the Kendle thing was so confusing.
I actually watched their recent shot at video. Lily and
Michaels and I didn't even know what they were talking
about half the time because they kept saying Kendall Jenna
all the time. Yeah, I think they took it a
bit farther, But how hilarious for them knowing that they're
were all of these kids in school yards just copying
everything they said. Michael definitely didn't understand the hate that
(11:06):
was being thrown towards his catch phrases. Here's what he said.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I literally had no idea how offended people can get
by me saying cue or just anyone saying cute. Like
it's just one of those fucking stupid things that me
and Shiny kind of just made up. And you know,
it's just said a lot now.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I'll just drop my brash.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
It's just said by a lot of people now, and
you know, just different scenarios like one time when me
and Shiny were in Bali and I was really drunk
and we're going back to the hotel and I was
walking past every single door going The amount of people
that have done that and sent it to me on
Twitter is amazing. When you guys like copy scenarios like that,
it fucking kills us, like we die, We love it
(11:51):
so much, and just like when you get your parents
to say, like, BINDI come in now, hilarious, fucking hilarious.
You guys are great, but yeah, so many people get
so offended. Like I did not know it was such
an offensive thing. I said something on Twitter this morning,
and it's literally a status that someone's made saying can
people stop thank you or thank you? Michael Finch ain't shit? Well,
I mean, obviously, if it's getting to the point where
(12:13):
you need to make a status, it must be a
lot of people and getting really annoying. So if that
means that I ain't shit, then you can eat my ass.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I do think it has a lot to do with
this group coming together, because, as we mentioned earlier, this
friendship group was very influential and Shannie and Michael literally
launched the social media careers of Lily Brown and Rannie
Bransby and to an extent, Sky Wheatley because I remember
Sky had been on Big Brother, but she wasn't really
that popular on YouTube, and both Lily and her were
(12:43):
just hanging around this group like a bad smell. When
I was doing research for this episode, it was the
first video I'd seen Lily and Michael in together and
she was just like staring at the vlogging camera, like
trying to be so over the top. And it's pretty
interesting because they recently came out and said that they
used to take shots of Oxy Shrow to be so
hyped up here for the videos. Yeah, that makes more
(13:04):
and more sense, doesn't it. Yeah, do you remember Lily
also used to come up to the camera and just
be like trying to smash the camera lens with her fingernail. Well,
she did catch the attention of a lot of followers
when she met Michael Finch and Charny for the first
time at that Melbourne meetup, and basically she kept just
yelling the whole time, and she kept being in the
background of Michael Finch's snapchat. It was just like a
(13:24):
competition who could be more stupid And I think that's
why the group didn't work. We will go into that
in next week's episode. Yeah, it was really who could
be the most obnoxious. Yeah, but it was such huge
stakes for them because, for example, look at Lily how
much her career has exploded from just being friendly with
them and launching a channel. They must have had so
many people trying to befriend them just to get that
(13:46):
internet fame. Now, one of my all time favorite YouTube
videos has to be a balley trip that Michael and
Channey went on together and it was Michael's first time overseas,
and Shiny revealed that Mychael didn't actually know how to swing.
He didn't really know much because like she kept quizzing
him about Barley belly and he could see the sea
(14:08):
in the horizon and He's like, can I get Bari
belly from the sea or it's got salt in it?
Like he was just so confused. Well, we forget how
young he was now. Shani also shared Michael's lack of
understanding when it came to geography. Let's throw to what
he said.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
So I was just waiting for our taxi and Michael
literally just asked the best question, you know how He's
like really good with geography and all of that good stuff.
He's like, don't film this, but can I ask your
own question? He said, are we like still in the
world like that little blue ball? Are we like there?
And I'm like, well, yeah, Bally is in earth.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
This is gonna be my favorite clip from YouTube. It's ironic,
it's absolutely hilarious. I do love that he let it
go to air as well. Now we have been speaking
a bit about this trip to the US, and I
do think it's spelt the beginning of the end for
this group and the popularity that they were experiencing at
the time, because when they were all filming together, it
(15:07):
felt like they were all trying to compete and outdo
each other and who was the loudest, who was the silliest.
That's because they were all just on oxy shredded. Maybe
that's way it seems so chaotic. Yeah. The thing is,
even though there was his undercurrent of competition within that
friendship group, it was a really important group of friends
for Michael and he actually made the move across to
Brisbane from Regional Victoria to be closer to his friends. Yeah,
(15:30):
and this was at a time when his YouTube career
was really booming, and I think that he needed his
friends and that vibrancy to be in the video. I mean,
it would be hard to go back to your hometown
in Regional Victoria and be filming these elaborate videos. I mean,
I know his mum was in some of them, but
it seemed like all his friends were in Brisbane. That's
the thing. He would often travel to Brisbane to see
(15:52):
Shani and his other YouTube friends, and it's so funny
because he would film videos where he'd be third wheeling
with Jonathan and shann and this took me back. I
love that time of YouTube. I love like Jonathan was
the ideal boyfriend. I actually recently watched a vlog where
Michael was visiting and they went for a high this
(16:12):
mountain together and Jonathan had been relegated to the backseat
and he could tell you wasn't happy about it, and
it was just so funny. How tall is Jonathan because
he and Shannie looked the same high but now he's
pretty tall. Yeah, because I'm going to say, now he's
with Madison Woolley, who looks quite sure. I'm like, is
Jonathan tull? Guy? What I recall seeing Michael and Shane's
trip to Barley, and then I remember Shanne and Jonathan
(16:34):
went to Barley and it was so evident she had
such a better time with Michael. Yeah, who wouldn't. He's hilarious,
I know, and I think not that long after that's
when Shannee and Jonathan called a quit well for the
first time. That we will actually be looking into that
in another subscriber episode. Now. It was the first time
that Michael lived out of home, and he decided that
he wanted to live by himself because he said he
(16:56):
liked his own personal space and he didn't want anyone
at home whilst he was filming during the day and
amy these moving vlogs. They were iconic, they really were.
I think they're one of my all time favorite YouTube
videos because they were just so much fun because Michael
moved over with his mum and his dad came to help.
And I think anytime you watch all those, you know
that they're shopping at Kmart getting all the furniture, and
(17:19):
he was just so boogie. But you feel really nostalgic,
I suppose, thinking back when you moved out of home.
I do love how clueless he was because we'll go
into it more next week. But he has really become
this chef on TikTok, whereas when he moved out of
his home, he didn't know anything about cookie. You remember,
he was just making all these big like jugs of
juice of fresh like green juice, so cute, and his
(17:41):
apartment had very twenty seventeen vibes, so he had a
really large black leather reclined couch. He also had those
huge display jars, very similar to what Chloe Kardashian had,
and they were filled with cookies and lollies and chocolate,
and I remember he was saying in the vlog to
his mum stop eating all of them. But he also
said that he didn't want have any junk food in
the house apart from the jars. I do remember his
(18:04):
iconic Christmas tree, like I recall, he put it up
really really early and it was like the most bougie
I think it was. It was black silver Christmas tree
was amazing well, as all YouTubers do. He also had
a designated YouTube room, which of course had two very
large Ikea draws. To remember those drawers, every YouTuber had them,
and they had all of their makeup perfectly sectioned off
(18:26):
in their ogi's will. Also remember that in the background
he had a very large portrait of himself holding Shani
Grimman's dog Bindi. He was obsessed with Bindy. He actually
moved across the road from Shanny so he could get
to Bindy and take Bindy for walks and visit Bindi.
I didn't know that they lived so close. I realized
that either do you think he was obsessed with the
dog or it just became a thing because it was
(18:47):
his catchphrase. No, I think he was. I think he
loved the dogs animals. I mean, he's got a couple
of dogs himself. Now, shortly after the move, fans started
trying to guess where he lived, and he addressed this
on YouTube, saying he was aware of numerous Facebook threads
where people were trying to guess his address. He then
warned his followers if anyone rocked up to his house,
(19:08):
they shouldn't expect him to be nice, and that he
deserves privacy just as much as everyone else. I think
this just shows how big he was at the time,
the fact that people were putting energy into working out
where he lived because they wanted to meet him so much.
So from Barker on a recent podcast interview, and she
was saying, at one stage they had so many people
rocking up to their front door because people had pieced
(19:29):
it all together, and that's one of the big reasons
why her family ended up moving. But you can see
how easily people can guess, Actually, there's a guy on TikTok,
and basically people send him a video of where they are,
Like it could just be out the back in your backyard,
and he can guess where you are just by piecing
a few details together. It's actually so much so people
(19:49):
send that in just to see if he can work
it out. It's to show how people have to be
extra careful when they're online. But think how much Michael
was sharing at the time, Like he was going to
the local shopping centers. You could work out what cafes
he was at well, it was pretty easy. He was
also showing his view a lot of the time, and
also he was often sharing about pre drinks that he'd
(20:10):
have at his house and they would say, oh, yeah,
we're going out to so Hopes. And it seemed like
when he did move he was also just going out
drinking a lot more. He did say that he would
run into a lot of fans when he was out
at a club, and he got a bit embarrassed about
it because he said sometimes when he was blackout drunk,
he would without knowing, be rude to fans. So fans
would like say, oh I like your makeup or ask
(20:32):
for a photo, and he would just say nothing. But
then on the other hand, sometimes he said he just
spent too much money on fans because if one came
up to him at the bar, he would shout the
whole friendship group drinks and he just wanted to he
felt like he was indebted to them. So this probably
was probably all these like varying reports about him. Like
next bit, it was really rude. Yeah. Well, at the
(20:53):
time he moved to Brisbane, he had surpassed one hundred
thousand followers on YouTube, so he was rapid growing in popularity.
And it's not clear how, but this is when Michael
crosspath with serial entrepreneur and now controversial owner of Slickstick,
Mia Plasic. So Mia quickly became Michael's manager and started
strategizing how to make serious bank Yeah, and she started
(21:17):
testing the water with meat and greets. And I did
have a big laugh at this video because it was
a professional video shot in twenty eighteen. And in the
video we see Mia and Michael making their way to
the first meet and greet, and it literally looked like
designer brands had vomited on them. So they were both
wearing black designer shirts and they were strutting towards the camera.
(21:40):
It was at that time when obnoxious designer gear with
all the logos was all the rage. And to top
this off, the pair arrived to the meet and greet
in eight rolls and literally we see fans mobbing the
car and screaming and Michael puts down the window and
waves to everyone. It just wore wasn't the vibe that
(22:01):
any influencer would want to give out? Now, It's not
really that raw, relatable vibe that people are trying to
push on Instagram at the moment, don't you think when
you look back, it's actually a real US influencer vibe
to give out. And maybe that was me as do it.
I think they were considered more of a celebrity though,
because it wasn't a saturated market. We didn't have all
these people wanting to be influencers and all these influencers.
(22:23):
It was only a couple of people that were very
well known. Yeah. Now this meet and greet, it was
held at Sephora, and they had some very strong brand
collaborations and the whole of Sephora was filled with fans
who had apparently lined up since eleven the night before,
and the line was literally so large that it stretched
around the block. It was very reminiscent of the crowds
(22:44):
we saw who rocked up for Anna Paul and from
looking at the girls in line, it took me back
so much because I forgot at the time what a
uniform we used to wear. And the uniform was black
skinny jeans and a danim jacket. All of them were
wearing it. Yeah, but then with all extreme makeup like
that Shanni and Michael would do. I recall at the
time of this meet and greet, remember Kendall and Kylie
(23:06):
were doing all those meet and greets around the US,
and then they came to Australia. That's probably where the
Kundall Jenna thing came. Maybe now. Shortly after the success
of this meet and greet, Michael announced that he would
be touring around Australia and New Zealand holding makeup master classes.
And this was a stroke of marketing genius because he
would use models to do makeup on and all of
(23:28):
the models were his famous YouTube friends. So Lily Brown
attended quite a number of these master classes, and Shannee's
dog Bindy even made he put makeup ONDI no, he
didn't put makeup dog. Yeah, they brought Bindi in and
he was very protective over Bindi. He's like, everyone be quiet,
she gets really scared. And I was actually quite astounded
(23:49):
by how expensive these tickets were. Do you remember, well,
I remember at the time he did come to Adelaide
and I kind of wanted to go, but then they
were way too expensive. What were they?
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I couldn't believe it. So general admission was four hundred
and ninety nine dollars and VIP was six hundred and fifty.
This is making me feel better about what we spent
on Taylor Swift. It's no offence to Michael Fish. And
this was like six years ago, and the master classes
were described as being limited, so there were spots for
two hundred people at each session. Now I did the
quick sums on this. So if we say half of
(24:21):
the crowd of general admission and half for VIPs, that
means that Michael was making approximately one hundred and fourteen
one thousand of each show. So he did a total
of six shows. That's six hundred and eighty four thousand dollars.
And I feel like the overheads aren't huge. I mean, yes,
he has to travel to the cities. But he's just
using makeup that he probably got for free, no wonder
(24:43):
he was rocking up in the gold Rolls Royce. What
did you get for being a VIP, Well, you basically
got a goodie bag. So this as a VIP, well yeah,
but as journal sound like Taylor Swissing concert. Yeah, so
general admission and VIP they both got goodie bags. But
obviously if you're in VIP were slightly different. Now, a
lot of the items were samples, so there were samples
(25:05):
from benefits. They also had a tansy eyemask. There was
a beginning boutique drink bottle, inglot samples, a bottle of
BONDII sand, some lashes. It sounds like an influencers starter kit.
Well they were lighter gummy Yeah, lighter gummies. They were
so twenty seventeen. He also sold exclusive merch at these masterclasses,
so then another stream of revenue. Surely the VIP's got
(25:28):
to meet him. Well yeah, So basically the whole premise
was that they would hire out a function space, generally
an area where businesses would hold conferences. So they had
a stage up the front where Michael would do his
makeup tutorial. There was also a camera and a big
screen so you could see the zoomed in effect of
the makeup. There was also time for questions, a meet
(25:49):
and greet, and of course some selfies, but yet not
really getting that much for all of that money. I
want to know how much of a Cutmea got from this. Well.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is the straw that
broke the cup animals back in terms of their working
relationship together, because rumors floating around the place are that
they didn't end things very nicely. It's not surprising because
Michael seems like a sweetheart, whereas there's differing opinions on Mea. Yeah,
(26:14):
it's so funny because she just came across as such
a dick. It is interesting how much Michael has changed
since having Mea as his manager, because when she was
managing him, it really was when he was wearing all
the expensive brands and being a little bit unrelatable. Do
you also find it interesting that she set up all
of these master classes and meet and greets at Sephora,
(26:35):
and now she's gone on to create her own makeup
brand of sorts like the hair Tool. I think she's
one of those people that had probably been sniffing around
Michael a bit like you. Maybe she was maybe a
literally Brown in Melbourne, but yeah, she seemed to be
just waiting for a big opportunity like that to attach
herself to someone so well known like Michael Vinn. The
(26:55):
opportunity to appear in his blogs and be associated with
him was a big deal at the time. Even the
fact that she would be the MC and announce Michael
Finch and Lily Brown like it was just so cringe.
It's quite clear that Michael's openness with his following though,
did really strike a chord with followers, and at the
master classes they would bring him lots of presents and
(27:18):
fan mail. I used to love seeing him open. Here's
Michael reading out a few.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
I feel like when you read letters from like subscribers
and stuff, like, some of them are like they really
hit home for you, Like you just don't know what
they're going to say or like have a help dure
or anything like that, so you have to like mentally prepare.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Yourself to read them.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I'm just going to read another one. Dear Michael, thank
you for absolutely everything. Not only are you an icon,
thank you for the makeup industry, but you have made
an influence on who I am today, and I'm sure
many others agree. After struggling with depression and anxiety or videos,
your videos were always there to calm me, and for that,
I'm forever grateful. Thank you once again for everything being
(28:00):
an amazing person.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
I feel like if Michael Finch is wearing all these
big brands now and showing off about the expensive things
that he had, people wouldn't like it. But back then,
because he was so relatable, I think people thought, oh,
it's possible to be like him. If I emulate his behavior,
I could be him. Yeah. I recall watching his stuff
at the time and I wasn't like, oh my god,
that's outrageous that he spent that much. That was kind
(28:22):
of his personality at the time was Oh, he's a
little bit bougie and he's fabulous and look what he's got.
It's kind of like the Kardashians when you watch that
and you watch more in Awe and Entertainer. But I
think it's more that he was one of us, so
we won't see him do well as well. With the Kardashians,
it's like they've never been one of us. I think
it was also very much of the time, though in
twenty seventeen, a lot of audiences weren't questioning as much
(28:47):
what influences were doing. We were just sort of going
along for the ride. Yeah, well, that's where we're going
to leave things today. Next week we will be getting
to the bottom of Michael's friendship breakdowns with Shanni Grimman
and Lily Brown, as well as how Michael Finch went
from baiting under his eyes to becoming a TikTok cooking sensation.
This podcast was recorded on the traditional land of the
Ghana people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to
(29:09):
elders past and present
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