00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. You're dose of the hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm Kate Torbert and I'm joined by my sisters and journalists Amy and Sophie. On today's show, Madison Wooly drops eight thousand dollars on her extravagant birthday accommodation Mere Plasic rids her wardrobe of designer gear she's never worn, and Sophie Monk ties the knot in a secret wedding. But first, Abby Chatfield and her boyfriend Conrad bn Stevens are currently jet setting around.
00:00:27
Speaker 2: Europe in style. The loved uck couple, who admit to having no cloud.
00:00:31
Speaker 1: Overseas, say they were shocked to discover they'd been upgraded to a fifteen thousand dollars a night hotel room in Venice, which overlooks the Grand Canal.
00:00:40
Speaker 2: Sophie, can you tell us about this first leg of the trip?
00:00:44
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, Abby and Conrad jetted off to Europe to attend a friend's wedding in Scotland, and for me, the worst part about traveling is definitely the plane ride. I get so irrationally scared about the plane crashing and also the facts that I'm five foot four and I still find the seats incredibly uncomfortable. And I feel like Abby and Conrad were living the dream because they were flying in business class, and it was pretty funny because they checked into the business class lounge but quickly left as they say, they didn't really fit in, and the vibe was way better at the airport bar. It actually reminds me of when I went business class to Malaysia. So my boyfriend at the time had this his brother had a connection at Quantas, and my ex boyfriend was so nervous that he made the lead up to the trip so horrible because he kept stressing whether we were going to get the upgrade or whether we weren't. Anyway, we ended up getting it, and we were that couple that everyone was like, why the hell are they here? Like we got asked so many times on the plane, are you guys on your honeymoon? Like? People just couldn't work out how we had managed to get into business class, which was fair enough because my boyfriend at the time got so drunk that I had to actually hold his hand and walk him off the plane at the end. Didn't you guys get stopped from having cheese platters sent to you as well. He got cut off having cheese platters, so then they moved him onto bags of kettle chips, and then they got cut off. I mean, really, you should have been cut off from the alcohol a lot earlier than that. I feel like it kind of would have been a similar scene with Abby and Conrad, because they seemed really excited to be flying business class for the first time, and Abby shared a series of Instagram posts showing her and Conrad kissing and enjoying champagne in their seats. Then was a photo of Abby lying down asleep in the chair that obviously turned into a bed, and then Conrad standing behind the planes bar. And is it just me or did anyone else not actually realize that there were legitimate bars on planes because I thought this was only something that was in movies as a bit of a joke. No, yeah, I didn't realize that was actually a thing. They didn't have a bar when I traveled business class. I do recall a trip when I traveled with the thirty six ers to Utah and I was flying Quantus again, and I was so excited because at the back of the plane even though I was in economy, they had this little section where you could get as many timtams as you want it and I.
00:03:00
Speaker 2: He's so impressed by that.
00:03:01
Speaker 1: After seeing Abby's instance stories, I feel like there's no way you could go back flying economy after flying first class or business class because it just doesn't compare. I actually felt really happy for them both seeing how much they actually enjoyed it, because I feel like so many influencers or celebrities muster just take it for granted. Well, moving onto the trip and when Abby arrived in Scotland, she explained that she would be giving her followers live updates on her whereabouts and accommodation in Europe, as no one knows who she is over there, so people can't rock up and try and find her, which happens when she's back home in Australia. So after her friend's wedding, Conrad and Abby flew to Venice, where followers got a full tour of her hotel room. Now. Abby explained that the room they originally booked was pretty expensive, but the hotel had upgraded them to the best room in the hotel, and she was pretty shocked to find out that the room usually costs fifteen thousand dollars a night. Now. Abby said she didn't know why this happened to them, because she says she has zero clout in Italy. She said she thinks it might have been something that was random, or perhaps happened because her travel agent might have pulled some strings. And I totally think that the travel agent sent a sneaky screenshot of Abby and Conrad's following, because I'm sure this wasn't a random incident. I mean, I've never randomly been upgraded to any sort of hotel room like this. Do you think it's because not as many people are traveling though? No, this is because of their following. Maybe they tagged the hotel in something and they had to look at her page and saw she had so many followers. This reminds me sory. So many travel stories are popping up. It's making me miss traveling so much. But remember in Penang, I literally told our cousins, yeah, I've been to this accommodation, you know, eight or ten times, will get a really good room. And I had to like pull some strings to just get from the like not on the first floor. I've been here so many times. Now you guys might be wondering, what does a fifteen thousand dollars a night hotel room look like. Well, the hotel in question over looks the Grand Canal in the heart of Venice, and the hotel dates back to fourteen seventy five and is described as a place of exceptional art and elegance, where multiple generations of elite global influencers gather to explore, taste and celebrate. And I thought the last line about global influences was quite interesting because I did go and have a look at their Instagram page which Abby tagged, and it has over forty eight thousand followers. So clearly the marketing team at the hotel has a good grasp of how to generate extra exposure for themselves, and I think that's why Abby and Conrad are staying at this hotel. It's interesting because this marketing technique is the complete opposite to the Carlisle Hotel in Brisbane, which basically doesn't allow influencers to tag them in anything and is very over the top about how their hotel is perceived.
00:05:49
Speaker 2: On the Internet.
00:05:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, that these people are wanting her to post and she definitely did. She did this full tour, so The suite consisted of a lounge room, large bedroom on suite, and a spare bathroom. And when you look out the window in the lounge room and bedroom, you literally come face to face with the gondolas.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: It was incredible.
00:06:07
Speaker 1: I never knew that views like this existed in hotels. And it's got this really expensive and historic looking artwork all over the rooms. It's filled with antique furniture, chandeliers, it's got these enormous marble bathrooms.
00:06:22
Speaker 2: And I don't think Abby could quite believe that they were getting to stay here.
00:06:26
Speaker 1: I had a laugh because I was in Venice in twenty nineteen and Dale and my hotel room certainly did not look like this. I showed Dale with the Insta stories and we laughed because our view was like.
00:06:37
Speaker 2: This dingy view out of the window.
00:06:39
Speaker 1: It looked out into this weird street. And I remember when we arrived, we had to walk down this alleyway and there was like vomit on the floor. And it was just probably the most basic hotel room. Because everything is so expensive in Venice. So when I saw this hotel room cost fifteen thousand dollars, to be honest, it didn't surprise me.
00:06:58
Speaker 2: Because that view is.
00:06:59
Speaker 1: Incredible, and honestly, Venice is probably the most beautiful city I've ever been to. Well, later that night, Abby shared that she and Conrad were at a ritzy dinner at the hotel, and Abby said she was really confused as the menu didn't appear to have prices on it, but she quickly discovered that Conrad's menu had printed prices because the assumption was that he must be the one that's covering the bill.
00:07:23
Speaker 2: I just think that's so fucked.
00:07:24
Speaker 1: And it was hilarious because Abby followed it up with this rant saying that she's the bread winner out of the couple and that the patriarchy had struck again. And it's pretty funny because she put up a poll asking where the followers would prefer dinner where they were or at Toddy's. And I mean, I think both are probably just as difficult to get a seat or a reservation at. I'm not sure how good Toddies is after I heard Madison and her friend Caitlin talking about how they've gotten food poisoning there, so I don't think I think that's a bit of a blight on Toddi's considering they're like they're biggest fans in there all the time, So maybe I'd go with the fifteen thousand Venice hotel and just ask for two menus with the prices on it. Well. Abby then shared a lesson that she'd learned from the trip. She wrote, rich people and rich experiences are boring. Just FYI get me to a gelato shop. Stat Now. We had a few listeners writing in saying they thought it came across as quite unappreciative of the upgrade and experience.
00:08:19
Speaker 2: What do you guys think.
00:08:21
Speaker 1: The thing is with the hotel decided to upgrade her based on her following That is an exchange of services, so they are hoping to get something out of Abby by Abby staying in the room and hopefully promoting it, and in turn Abby is benefiting from that service. However, is not like she set up the agreement to promote the hotel. The hotel has to provide a level of service in order for her to provide an authentic review. So I think it's fair enough that she she is known for being a feminist, so if something at the hotel happened in regards to the menus being very sexist, then I think that she's well within her rights to talk about it. And also she has a following where I highly doubt many people would actually be able to afford to stay in a hotel like that, So she's just being honest. I mean, I think it's pretty great to hear, you know, you see how the other half live and they're staying in these luxury hotels. But to hear actually, I'd prefer just to be normal and go down and go to the Gilati stand. I think that's quite refreshing.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:09:18
Speaker 1: When I first saw her Insta stories, I actually thought it was more of an attempt at Abby trying to again be relatable, because a lot of her insiat stories had obviously been showing everybody this amazing room and then dining in this fancy restaurant. I actually thought she brought everybody back to reality by saying, well, actually it wasn't even that great.
00:09:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree.
00:09:39
Speaker 1: I think she was trying hard to appear relatable despite the fact that she is on a very unrelatable trip. And Abby is incredibly smart and savvy online, and I think that she doesn't want to ostracize her following. She wants them to know that she's one of them, and I feel like she wants to point out to her followers, as you said, Kate, that money isn't everything. Sometimes the experiences that you have slumming it in a backpack hackers are just as exciting or more profound than living it up in some fancy restaurant. And I think it's a really clever way to keep her audience on side, as followers really can get their noses out of joint when they feel like the person that they look up to is no longer relatable or one of them. Yeah. I think it's hard though when you're not traveling, because I feel like at the moment wild borders are open, it's really only influencers that seem to be making the most out of going overseas, and it's hard not to when you haven't been on holiday for years sit back and watch someone being absolutely spoilt and then kind of complaining about it. So I can see from that respect how it would seem a little bit disrespectful when she hasn't had to pay for the room. But again, I think that if they if the hotel knew who Abby was and what her platform stands for, then they would have to respect that She's going to be completely honest about her experience. Is it sad because I'm the person that is vicariously living through influences on their holidays. I'm actually thoroughly enjoying it because I personally would probably be a bit too nervous to travel at the moment. However, I love seeing the influences are back traveling because I feel like I can, as I said, vicariously live through them. Well that's like I watched Molly May's travel blog to France.
00:11:11
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I looked amazing.
00:11:13
Speaker 1: She had to actually change hotels completely because they rocked up, and she was too scared to stay in the hotel because it had all these like medieval or coldrooms, and she's like, I'm sorry, I know that I look high maintenance, but I have to get out of here.
00:11:27
Speaker 2: Michuld kind of.
00:11:28
Speaker 1: Respect that, especially after she's experienced a break in at her house. If something doesn't feel right to you in a different country. I love how she had to get a manager, Fran who is back in the UK organizing herself in your room. I feel like everybody needs a friend in their lives, and fuck, I found it ironic that she was only happy once they got to the Balenciaga Hotel in Paris.
00:11:48
Speaker 2: We're traveling first class. Thank you see your boarding passes. Our sun bolt is the tickets for our fortieth wedding anniversary.
00:11:55
Speaker 1: Have you traveled first class before? No? I do think you'd like him there. Slickstick owner Mia Plastic has raised eyebrows after listing nine of her designer items for sale on her Instagram account. The entrepreneur says she's either never worn the items or only worn them a handful of times, leading many to speculate, Sophie, it all seemed a little bit odd.
00:12:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was really peculiar.
00:12:18
Speaker 1: So Mia shared a post explaining that she's cleaning out her closet and selling some of her designer pieces that she just doesn't wear and would love to give a second life too. So she asked for a followers to reply the word sold to her stories to secure an item, and then asked for twenty dollars for tracked postage. Now. Mia listed a total of nine designer items, and what struck me was the amount of items she said she'd either never worn or only worn once. So she shared a photo of these really bright dulchy in Cabana wedges that she wore at her thirtieth birthday, and she said she'd worn them once and was selling She said that she'd paid one four hundred dollars for them and was selling them for seven hundred dollars. She then shared a pair of one and one hundred Gucci shoes and said she'd worn them two to three times. Now. This trend continued with another pair of designer shoes were three three hundred and forty four dollars, there were only worn twice that she's now selling for one eight hundred dollars, as well as some blue Fendy heels that had never been worn that she's selling for five hundred dollars. And this just makes no sense to me for someone to wear a designer item one or two times. It just seems so wasteful and something just doesn't quite add up. It's a bit strange because the way I look at designer items is that normally people save up a lot of money to purchase them, and they usually end up going for you know, if you're not a Kardashian, then you'll normally go for something like a Louis Vuitton travel bag that you're going to use a lot of times, you don't usually pick something that is like a really on trend item that is going to go out of fashion quickly. Normally people buy some fast fashion item to cover for that. So it did seem really odd, particularly her birthday shoes, which were very like you know, with lemons on them. It obviously fit her birthday theme, but it's not something that's going to have a lot of longevity in your wardrobe. But would you not just hold onto them for sentimental reasons instead of just getting half the price for them? But I also find it interesting that people show off about the designer items they have on Instagram and try to create this image of themselves, but then flog them off on the same platform that they're trying to get clout on for wearing said designer gear. It always seems like a bit of a desperate move. Is if you're strapped for cash or something, why not use deepop Yeah? Or I mean I have seen people selling their designer stuff if they just no longer love it anymore as well, So who knows well Me is one of those influences who quite often shares her purchases, and that was even before she could afford the real deal. So in twenty sixteen, she shared a photo of herself purchasing her first designer bag and wrote, work hard, play harder. I've dreamt of owning this bag for five years. After three imitations, I finally bought the real deal now. In twenty sixteen to two thousand and seven, Mia also used to share on her Instagram stories and feed that she would purchase fake designer shoes and bags from a Chinese website called dh gait. Now, I just find it awkward for someone to be selling her old designer gear online, especially when you've spoken about purchasing fakes before. Now I'm not saying that these are fake items. I'm just saying it all just feels a bit murky and doesn't really make sense.
00:15:25
Speaker 2: It's interesting you.
00:15:25
Speaker 1: Say that because there are a lot of strict rules regarding the selling of bootleg and imitation branded products on Facebook marketplace. So I tried to sell a Calvin Klein Singler, which was a legitimate Calvin Klein, and my item got taken down because they thought it was a fake. Well, that's the thing I mean. Also on depop, I think they're pretty cautious about which items are genuine or not. And also the same things on eBay. I mean a lot of people do sell branded stuff on eBay, but they are quick to take down items which are fake. So I suppose that's where people are seat of asking the question why would you sell on Instagram? Well? I did actually jump on DHG because I hadn't heard of it before, and it is sort of a wholesale is similar to Ali Barba, where they do sell imitation designer goods as well as other things. And I did type in a few of the things that Mia was selling and some fakes did come up. We don't know if their fakes or not, but it's just all very peculiar. And I mean, even if it is a situation where she doesn't want to be seen wearing the same thing again, I just think, can we get over this ridiculous Instagram culture where it's embarrassing like to wear the same thing? I mean, I mean I remember wearing I remember copying a message from a listener who was lovely and they said, I love your shoes. Where did you get them from? I've noticed them in your photos quite a few times? And I was like, oh god, I looked back. I literally have been wearing the same shoes in my.
00:16:47
Speaker 2: Photos for the whole year. But I loved those, just some Louis batons.
00:16:52
Speaker 1: There was some very cheap not imitation in this sense. They were I can't even remember that.
00:16:58
Speaker 2: No they're not Zara's. There's some I don't know anyway. They're nothing. Oh you mean ruby shoes.
00:17:03
Speaker 1: No, they're not ruby shites anyway, They're not. I think that was seventy dollars shoes anyway. But I mean, we just get over ourselves. Like, doesn't matter if we wear the same thing. If you love something, wear it a few times. Like if I had spent three ground on a pair of shoes, I'd been wearing them every day. Isn't it funny that that someone is more embarrassed about being seen outfit repeating than they are seen flogging said shoes off weeks.
00:17:23
Speaker 2: Later on Instagram. Come look in my office.
00:17:27
Speaker 1: So some of it may still be in the trash. Why did you well when it was quite large? I have to draw most of it away. You threw my sandwich away, my sandwich. Madison Woolly has revealed she fitted the bill for her lavish birthday celebrations, despite it being her birthday The twenty four year old paid over eight thousand dollars for her and seven friends to stay at a luxury coastal home in New South Wales. Let's listen to what Madison had to say about her birthday week.
00:18:05
Speaker 2: It because it's birthday week.
00:18:07
Speaker 3: It's birthday week, baby, I'm so excited.
00:18:09
Speaker 2: Your birthday feels like my birthday. This is the best week.
00:18:13
Speaker 3: I'm just like, I don't know, I just wanted to go all out this year and I love my love language is giving gifts.
00:18:19
Speaker 2: I was like, let's just have the best week ever with all my friends for everyone else involved. Perhaps not your bank account, but yeah.
00:18:25
Speaker 3: No, my bank account is screaming, Caitlin. Actually yeah, to hold me back from doing walk, Okay.
00:18:31
Speaker 1: Can you tell us about this incredible accommodation. So Madison kicked off her birthday celebrations with a three night stay at Dove Cote and The luxury coastal home is two hours out of Sydney and it's featured in the movie Invisible Man Now. The home sleeps eight people with four bedrooms and four bathrooms, and it's set on one hundred and fifty acres of farmland overlooking wary beach. Now.
00:18:52
Speaker 2: The house has a lot of features.
00:18:53
Speaker 1: It's got an enclosed courtyard with a fire pit, an indoor wood burning fireplace, large swimming pool, games room, gym, and it also offers private walking access to the beach and coastal trail. So it's definitely the perfect backdrop for an influencer's birthday. Now, the trip seemed pretty wholesome, with a trip to a winery and a cocktail making night at the home. Madison's friends also surprised her by dressing up in blonde bob wigs. Now. The accommodation for those who were wondering starts at two seven hundred and fifty dollars a night, and Madison and her friend stayed three nights, so that's a cool eighty two hundred and fifty dollars just for the first portion of accommodation for Madison's birthday weekend. I watched this vlog on the weekend and I couldn't quite believe it because it wasn't as though it was a big milestone celebration. It's a twenty fourth birthday. I mean, I'm all for people celebrating their birthday, but it kind of felt a little bit awkward that she was coming in and paying for it all because as a friend, I personally wouldn't want to almost accept that, And I also feel like there would be a lot of pressure on them providing an amazing gift to sort of make up for the fact that you've stayed for no money at this incredible accommodation. But I also think if she's got more money than everybody and she has picked this specific airbnb that's really expensive, then I can understand why some of her friends have just gone along with it, because it is sometimes rude if someone expects you to fit this massive bill for a place that you don't even really want to go to.
00:20:22
Speaker 2: But why seven friends as well?
00:20:24
Speaker 1: Like, you know, usually you have a big group of people, so you can all divide the very expensive accommodation into seven and you know, get somewhere nicer.
00:20:32
Speaker 2: I did hear.
00:20:33
Speaker 1: Madison say quite a few times leading up to her birthday that she'd had a few disappointing birthdays in the last couple of years, so she really wanted to make this one one to remember.
00:20:42
Speaker 2: So I suppose it's sort of like if.
00:20:43
Speaker 1: You planned a big birthday party for yourself, you wouldn't expect.
00:20:46
Speaker 2: Your friends to pay per head for that event.
00:20:49
Speaker 1: So I suppose when it comes to accommodation, if you're going to a luxury place that costs eight grand to stay, I don't really think it would have been fair for her to get her friends to fit the bill. I think the awkward thing was that some of her friends were influencers that went on the trip, so Lexi Murray was there, so you'd assume she'd have a bit of coin too. I suppose you can't ask for some friends to pay and not others exactly. Yeah, just back to the disappointing birthdays in the past. I feel like that's another massive dig at her ex boyfriend Jonathan Sour because I do recall her referencing that she and Jonathan had a huge fight on her birthday last year.
00:21:26
Speaker 2: That is interesting.
00:21:27
Speaker 1: I feel like when you're in a couple, there is a lot of pressure on your partner to do something great.
00:21:32
Speaker 2: For your birthday.
00:21:33
Speaker 1: So the fact that she is the single this year, she can do whatever that she wants. She's not waiting on her partner to plan something for her, because I feel like girls are the planners. I'm not trying to be sexist, like I think generally speaking, girls love planning things like so, if you planned a trip for your partner's birthday, I know heaps of my friends have done the same, whereas I don't think boys think like that. And again this is a general stereotype of people I know, but I think that girls out this hope for like Valentine's Day, engagement's birthdays, boys are going to do exactly what they want. But in this instance, Madison's gone, I'm single, I'm just going to plan exactly what I would have wanted, and I'm just going to fit the bill for all of my friends. I did listen to Caitlyn and Madison talking about the birthday celebrations on their podcast, and Caitlyn kept saying that Madison is the Kylie Jenner of the group, and you know, spoiling them all with this birthday celebrations, do you reckon? It almost creates a bit of a power in balance though in a group, because for instance, just say our best friend, just say if she spoiled us with a twenty thousand dollar gift or a twenty thousand dollar trip, I would then feel like I was a bit on eggshells around her and having to be ultra nice and you know, well you wouldn't also want to feel like you're using them to said birthday party like said gift. So it does create an imbalance there. It's like when I think about what it would be like to be friends with Taylor Swift. As much as I think we'd be perfect for each other in terms of friendship, it would be awkward because she'd be you know, having to fly me around and pay for everything because I wouldn't be able to afford to live to her life a situation.
00:23:11
Speaker 2: But with a friend, sugar friend sugar.
00:23:13
Speaker 1: Friends, yeah, there's always like you know, when you talk about winning the lotto and you buy the ticket and then you have that chat with your friends or your partner about everything that you do and you chuck out. There are a few good will gestures trying to you know, make the universe, make it happen. But one of those good will gestures that I actually think I would do is take my friends on an all expenses paid trip.
00:23:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:23:32
Speaker 1: So maybe it's just the fact that influence has earned so much money that they have the capacity to do. That's what I just kept thinking. I mean, for Madison, she probably gets paid about twenty thousand dollars for a sponsored post, and if you think about it an eight thousand dollar trip, you think, well, that's kind of less than half of what a photo would cost a post, So it's probably not a huge deal for her, and I can imagine if I was in a similar situation, I wouldn't mind treating my friends at all, especially because those friends are probably the ones that take all the photos that then hearn her the bank, so they probably had some obligations to take all their photos on the trip. I feel like we've got to get into round two of the celebrations, because this wasn't just one day, it was a whole week of celebrations. So she also had a yacht party in Sydney and she hosted a group of her friends and things appeared to get quite rowdy very quickly.
00:24:18
Speaker 2: Now.
00:24:19
Speaker 1: Funnily enough, Madison did have a wardrobe malfunction before the party, splitting her sheer dress up the back right to her ass cheek.
00:24:27
Speaker 2: And it wasn't just a sheer dress.
00:24:29
Speaker 1: There were pearls jewels all over this dress and she had a bikini underneath.
00:24:34
Speaker 2: It was quite a look. It cracked me up.
00:24:36
Speaker 1: No pun intended that she actually went to the party with the dress split right up to her bum crack. But the way I thought about it is like, well, you could see her bathers through the sheer dress anyway, so I suppose she got the picture she wanted and then just got into her bathers. We've got to get into round three because this again was an overnight stay, which really blew my mind. I'm like, you've already done your big stay. But then she had another sleepover at a luxury hotel in the city with a group of friends, which was then followed by a lavish dinner. Now her friends were good and organized her a surprise birthday cake, but it just cracked me up because she's obviously planning this whole week of celebrations, which could be seen as quite self indulgent. But then she was acting so shy when the birthday came came. What I thought was classic, Well, there were two things I thought were classic. One whether there were some friends who kind of looked a bit annoyed.
00:25:27
Speaker 2: They're like, happy.
00:25:27
Speaker 1: Birthday for the hundredth time. And then I thought it was quite interesting because people have been commenting that Isabel Clark which is one of Madison's friends and also an influencer, wasn't on the initial group trip. However, we later hear that was also Isabel's birthday that weekend, and you know, they got to the end of Madison's birthday celebrations and you could tell they were kind of like, oh, now we've got another party to go to. I mean, Paul, Isabel only had one afternoon, she didn't have the whole week Yeah, because Isabel Clark went to the yacht part and then they had this whole weekend revolving around Madison again, and then they were all hungover as and.
00:26:06
Speaker 2: Were like, oh, We've got to go drag.
00:26:08
Speaker 1: Ourself to Isabelle's thing now. And I was just thinking, God, if I was here, I'd be pretty pissed off about the whole You feel pretty shit, wouldn't you though? Trying to live up to that birthday weekend? Yeah, sorry, friends, I haven't spent eight grand on you now. Just to wrap things up, it does appear there may be a new man on the scene. As Madison showed off a very big bunch of flowers she received for her birthday, so her best friend Caitlin asked in a joking way who they were from, and then Madison was coyly laughing, and then the audio suddenly cut and then it was back to Madison naming every different variety of flower that was within the bunch. Then Caitlyn said, those are really nice. Whoever sent those must really like you. Now this all matches up with a story she was telling on her podcast, because she and her friend were joking around how it was very unexpected that Madison somehow turned up at a Merton hotel, and they kept joking that nothing good happens at a Merton hotel and they were very renowned back in the day for hookups. And Madison apparently left the hotel room at four am and took a selfie and senate to her friend Caitlin. So, I just feel like there must be something going on in.
00:27:12
Speaker 2: The works there.
00:27:13
Speaker 1: No, I don't get they run this relationships podcast yet we don't get any of the dirty details about from the pop teasm just saying like, you know, they're trying to be like Caller Daddy. Clearly, and if it was Alex Cooper, we would have heard what went down in that hotel suite. We wouldn't have heard someone kind of dancing around the fact that they obviously hooked up with some guy. It just makes no sense. I mean, we want to hear about it, Madison. I'm just surprised that Madison stated at a Meriton hotel.
00:27:39
Speaker 2: That's what shocked me about this whole thing.
00:27:41
Speaker 1: I think she was rather unimpressed with it as well.
00:27:43
Speaker 2: So do we think it's an influencer.
00:27:46
Speaker 1: I feel like it's going to be an influencer or someone in the public eye or a wealthy businessman, because, let's be honest, they keep saying they want someone just to pay for their lifestyles. Yeah. I think that's probably why she got rid of Jonathan, because I don't think he's making too much coin as an influencer slash model anymore. And you know, she was discussing how she doesn't reply to anyone in her DMS, but she'll only reply to them if they send her a Birken bag. So I don't know, there's a bit of maybe an old guy going on. Yeah, she was clearly joking there, but she is on Ria. So my bet is Aya, isn't it name it's Ryan Rya whatever?
00:28:18
Speaker 2: I thought it was Rya.
00:28:19
Speaker 1: I thought it was maybe I'm listening to too many American podcasts and they say Raya. Anyway, she's on there, so I'm predicting this has to be an influencer. I think this is probably the worst hotel we've ever studio.
00:28:31
Speaker 2: Yes, it is a service. Here is an absolute disgrace.
00:28:33
Speaker 1: I agree. You don't, yes?
00:28:35
Speaker 2: Do you know that we had to wait nearly half an hour for our main course and when it arrived it was wrong. And when I completed, he completely fumped me off with some rubbish. The roles were off, and when I told him, there was an argument and her meat was off. And I asked you to fix my radiator three times and nothing's been done.
00:28:53
Speaker 1: Satisfying ah. Over the weekend, news broke that Sophie Monk had tied the knot with partner Joshua Gross now Amy. Sophie and josh managed to keep their wedding a secret for some time.
00:29:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.
00:29:08
Speaker 1: So Sophie and Josh managed to keep things secrets for four weeks, and the news was broken by Stellar magazine on Saturday, who featured the newlyweds on the front cover as well as an exclusive interview with the couple.
00:29:20
Speaker 2: So the pair decided to keep things very intimate.
00:29:23
Speaker 1: So intimate in fact, no family or friends were invited and the wedding was just for themselves and took place at their Central Coast home in New South Wales. Sophie told Stella magazine. We figured if you don't invite one person, then no one could get upset. God you save a lot of money that way, as far I know. And she also said that so many friends had told her prior to the wedding that they barely saw their husband on the night of the wedding and they regretted not eloping. So Sophie thought, well, we really want a stress free day, so that's why they decided to have the wedding at home. How would you guys feel if I told you that Dale and I were just having our wedding at home when we were eloping, I'd be pretty upset because I'd really want to spend your special day with you. I know it's yours as a couple, but I sort of feel like weddings are really for your family as well. I mean, I suppose it depends what's important to you. The thing is, Sophie has had such a public love life that I kind of love the fact that she decided to get married secretly and just do the ceremony for her and her husband, because you know, she's been on the Bachelorette, she had a very public relationship with Benji Madden from Good Charlotte, and everyone seems to.
00:30:32
Speaker 2: Want to always talk about her love life.
00:30:34
Speaker 1: And this really shows me that it's not for show, that they really just did it for themselves. Let's be real, though. Sophie's house isn't your typical home. It's a gorgeous property on the South coast, and the photos from the at home wedding looked incredible. There were flowers and candles everywhere and beautiful candelabras. Sophie also wore two dresses by Melbourne based designers Jtonne Couture, one of which she designed herself. So get this, she gave this designer two weeks to make this dress based off her sketch. I can't wait for mom to hear that, because Mum was in absolute awe when I picked out my dress and they told her it would be eight to ten months. I'm like months, Jiman weeks, Well, I think when you're Sophie Monk, you can give them just two weeks to do it. And it was really funny because Sophie said that she didn't actually try on the wedding dress until the day, but luckily it fitted like a glove. Yeah, but it was custom made to her body, so I'm sure they took all the measurements. That's not such a shock. It's not like it was off the rack. It's pretty crazy because we've been talking about planes and travels all day and I feel like this ties in really well because Sophie actually met Josh on a plane. So she met him on a flight from Europe to Australia in twenty eighteen and they hit it off from the get go. So Sophie said she was drawn to him because he had a great sense of humor and she thought it was such a relief being sat next to someone to have a great chat with. I did hear Sophie on the Carl and Jackie Oh Show last year, and she said that Josh told her he had no idea who she was when she sat down, because I was just thinking, can you imagine if you're a young guy and Sophie Monk sat next to you. Yeah, but I doubt that she's sitting in economy. As we've all established, this would have been in business. It was Amy, your partner. Dale would have been pretty happy. Doesn't he have a big crush on Sophie Monk? Yeah, so, well back in the day he said he had a big crush on Sophie Mark in the day.
00:32:23
Speaker 2: So not anymore.
00:32:24
Speaker 1: No, well not anymore, but no, he's more of a girl.
00:32:27
Speaker 2: It's true. But I told him.
00:32:29
Speaker 1: How Sophie Monk had married the guy that she'd met on the plane, and he's like, yeah, but that couldn't happen to like normal people like me because it was business class. And I do like the fact that Sophie Monk's now husband. He's a neurosurgical robotics consultant. So I do feel like maybe he just didn't know who Sophie Monk was. Maybe it's a good excuse to play it cool. It reminds me of when we went on our first overseas trip without our parents, just the three of us, and we had the middle aisle and normally had four people in it, and so we're like, oh, who are we going to get next to us? And this nerdy guy rocked up who was absolutely lovely. I think we're still Facebook friends, but we were just like, oh shit, and poor Sophie got stuck for like seven hours talking to him.
00:33:15
Speaker 2: He was a pianist.
00:33:16
Speaker 1: Apparently he invited me to come and see his piano show. Oh maybe he could play at your wedding. That would be a bit of a turn of events, wouldn't it.
00:33:23
Speaker 2: Wait, Wait, wait a second.
00:33:25
Speaker 1: The guy was called Josh as well.
00:33:27
Speaker 2: He was yeah, you're Sophie. Sophie and Josh. Wow. Could have been maybe he was my soul mate and I didn't give him a go. Maybe. Well.
00:33:36
Speaker 1: On Sophie Monk and Josh's trip, she revealed on radio that they actually kissed on the plane during the fly and then Sophie thought to herself, God, I've got a ten hour flight with this guy, and if he says no, I'm in trouble. Of course, Josh said yes. But it was hilarious because Sophie said that they both went off to separate toilets to brush their teeth, to then return for the kiss.
00:33:59
Speaker 2: God, I can't how awkward that would be.
00:34:01
Speaker 1: Kind of being like, all right, so we're going to brush our teeth now.
00:34:03
Speaker 2: Would that kind of ruin the moment a little?
00:34:05
Speaker 1: Bit. I'm assuming they probably had plenty of cheese platters like Kate and an ex boyfriend, and who wants to kiss someone once they've beaten cheese? But I suppose it does take the romance out of it, slightly exiting to brush your teeth. You know what they got the budge on the bottom, you see that enables you to control your budget distribution as you're eating your asia.
00:34:33
Speaker 2: There was so much about that.
00:34:35
Speaker 1: Last week we discussed the disgusting clickbait headlines about Molly may Haig's endometriosis.
00:34:40
Speaker 2: During the topic, we also touched on.
00:34:42
Speaker 1: The Australian Federal government's announcement that fifty eight million dollars would be spent supporting women living with endometriosis. Now since the episode air, we received some very helpful feedback in our Facebook group regarding the Australian ENDO community's feelings regarding the funding, As outlined in an article in Independent Australia, many believe the funding has been ill considered. Now there has been no mention of spending the funding on expert excision surgeries or further training in this area, and this is a crucial area to invest in as expert excision surgery is currently the only successful tool available to fight and diagnose endometriosis. Now, excision surgery is considered the gold standard of care. However, surgeons trained in this technique are difficult to come by in Australia, so Australians living in capital cities are even struggling to find a suitable specialist. Furthermore, most specialist work in the private healthcare system, which means they are even less accessible to people with financial limitations. So in terms of where the government's funding is going, the largest portion has been allocated to MRII scans. However, this is questionable as endometriosis cannot be reliably detected through an MRI. And thank you so much to our community members for sharing this information with us, because I found it really helpful when I was putting the government's funding into perspective. Well, I think that's all we have time for today. Thank you so much for joining us for today's episode. If you have enjoyed it, could you please make sure you are subscribed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
00:36:16
Speaker 2: You can also find us on TikTok and Instagram.
00:36:18
Speaker 1: At the hand or Outspoken Underscore, the Underscore podcast and If you want to join in on all the conversations, join us in our Facebook community, which is outspoken at the podcast community
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. You're dose of the hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm Kate Torbert and I'm joined by my sisters and journalists Amy and Sophie. On today's show, Madison Wooly drops eight thousand dollars on her extravagant birthday accommodation Mere Plasic rids her wardrobe of designer gear she's never worn, and Sophie Monk ties the knot in a secret wedding. But first, Abby Chatfield and her boyfriend Conrad bn Stevens are currently jet setting around.
00:00:27
Speaker 2: Europe in style. The loved uck couple, who admit to having no cloud.
00:00:31
Speaker 1: Overseas, say they were shocked to discover they'd been upgraded to a fifteen thousand dollars a night hotel room in Venice, which overlooks the Grand Canal.
00:00:40
Speaker 2: Sophie, can you tell us about this first leg of the trip?
00:00:44
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, Abby and Conrad jetted off to Europe to attend a friend's wedding in Scotland, and for me, the worst part about traveling is definitely the plane ride. I get so irrationally scared about the plane crashing and also the facts that I'm five foot four and I still find the seats incredibly uncomfortable. And I feel like Abby and Conrad were living the dream because they were flying in business class, and it was pretty funny because they checked into the business class lounge but quickly left as they say, they didn't really fit in, and the vibe was way better at the airport bar. It actually reminds me of when I went business class to Malaysia. So my boyfriend at the time had this his brother had a connection at Quantas, and my ex boyfriend was so nervous that he made the lead up to the trip so horrible because he kept stressing whether we were going to get the upgrade or whether we weren't. Anyway, we ended up getting it, and we were that couple that everyone was like, why the hell are they here? Like we got asked so many times on the plane, are you guys on your honeymoon? Like? People just couldn't work out how we had managed to get into business class, which was fair enough because my boyfriend at the time got so drunk that I had to actually hold his hand and walk him off the plane at the end. Didn't you guys get stopped from having cheese platters sent to you as well. He got cut off having cheese platters, so then they moved him onto bags of kettle chips, and then they got cut off. I mean, really, you should have been cut off from the alcohol a lot earlier than that. I feel like it kind of would have been a similar scene with Abby and Conrad, because they seemed really excited to be flying business class for the first time, and Abby shared a series of Instagram posts showing her and Conrad kissing and enjoying champagne in their seats. Then was a photo of Abby lying down asleep in the chair that obviously turned into a bed, and then Conrad standing behind the planes bar. And is it just me or did anyone else not actually realize that there were legitimate bars on planes because I thought this was only something that was in movies as a bit of a joke. No, yeah, I didn't realize that was actually a thing. They didn't have a bar when I traveled business class. I do recall a trip when I traveled with the thirty six ers to Utah and I was flying Quantus again, and I was so excited because at the back of the plane even though I was in economy, they had this little section where you could get as many timtams as you want it and I.
00:03:00
Speaker 2: He's so impressed by that.
00:03:01
Speaker 1: After seeing Abby's instance stories, I feel like there's no way you could go back flying economy after flying first class or business class because it just doesn't compare. I actually felt really happy for them both seeing how much they actually enjoyed it, because I feel like so many influencers or celebrities muster just take it for granted. Well, moving onto the trip and when Abby arrived in Scotland, she explained that she would be giving her followers live updates on her whereabouts and accommodation in Europe, as no one knows who she is over there, so people can't rock up and try and find her, which happens when she's back home in Australia. So after her friend's wedding, Conrad and Abby flew to Venice, where followers got a full tour of her hotel room. Now. Abby explained that the room they originally booked was pretty expensive, but the hotel had upgraded them to the best room in the hotel, and she was pretty shocked to find out that the room usually costs fifteen thousand dollars a night. Now. Abby said she didn't know why this happened to them, because she says she has zero clout in Italy. She said she thinks it might have been something that was random, or perhaps happened because her travel agent might have pulled some strings. And I totally think that the travel agent sent a sneaky screenshot of Abby and Conrad's following, because I'm sure this wasn't a random incident. I mean, I've never randomly been upgraded to any sort of hotel room like this. Do you think it's because not as many people are traveling though? No, this is because of their following. Maybe they tagged the hotel in something and they had to look at her page and saw she had so many followers. This reminds me sory. So many travel stories are popping up. It's making me miss traveling so much. But remember in Penang, I literally told our cousins, yeah, I've been to this accommodation, you know, eight or ten times, will get a really good room. And I had to like pull some strings to just get from the like not on the first floor. I've been here so many times. Now you guys might be wondering, what does a fifteen thousand dollars a night hotel room look like. Well, the hotel in question over looks the Grand Canal in the heart of Venice, and the hotel dates back to fourteen seventy five and is described as a place of exceptional art and elegance, where multiple generations of elite global influencers gather to explore, taste and celebrate. And I thought the last line about global influences was quite interesting because I did go and have a look at their Instagram page which Abby tagged, and it has over forty eight thousand followers. So clearly the marketing team at the hotel has a good grasp of how to generate extra exposure for themselves, and I think that's why Abby and Conrad are staying at this hotel. It's interesting because this marketing technique is the complete opposite to the Carlisle Hotel in Brisbane, which basically doesn't allow influencers to tag them in anything and is very over the top about how their hotel is perceived.
00:05:49
Speaker 2: On the Internet.
00:05:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, that these people are wanting her to post and she definitely did. She did this full tour, so The suite consisted of a lounge room, large bedroom on suite, and a spare bathroom. And when you look out the window in the lounge room and bedroom, you literally come face to face with the gondolas.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: It was incredible.
00:06:07
Speaker 1: I never knew that views like this existed in hotels. And it's got this really expensive and historic looking artwork all over the rooms. It's filled with antique furniture, chandeliers, it's got these enormous marble bathrooms.
00:06:22
Speaker 2: And I don't think Abby could quite believe that they were getting to stay here.
00:06:26
Speaker 1: I had a laugh because I was in Venice in twenty nineteen and Dale and my hotel room certainly did not look like this. I showed Dale with the Insta stories and we laughed because our view was like.
00:06:37
Speaker 2: This dingy view out of the window.
00:06:39
Speaker 1: It looked out into this weird street. And I remember when we arrived, we had to walk down this alleyway and there was like vomit on the floor. And it was just probably the most basic hotel room. Because everything is so expensive in Venice. So when I saw this hotel room cost fifteen thousand dollars, to be honest, it didn't surprise me.
00:06:58
Speaker 2: Because that view is.
00:06:59
Speaker 1: Incredible, and honestly, Venice is probably the most beautiful city I've ever been to. Well, later that night, Abby shared that she and Conrad were at a ritzy dinner at the hotel, and Abby said she was really confused as the menu didn't appear to have prices on it, but she quickly discovered that Conrad's menu had printed prices because the assumption was that he must be the one that's covering the bill.
00:07:23
Speaker 2: I just think that's so fucked.
00:07:24
Speaker 1: And it was hilarious because Abby followed it up with this rant saying that she's the bread winner out of the couple and that the patriarchy had struck again. And it's pretty funny because she put up a poll asking where the followers would prefer dinner where they were or at Toddy's. And I mean, I think both are probably just as difficult to get a seat or a reservation at. I'm not sure how good Toddies is after I heard Madison and her friend Caitlin talking about how they've gotten food poisoning there, so I don't think I think that's a bit of a blight on Toddi's considering they're like they're biggest fans in there all the time, So maybe I'd go with the fifteen thousand Venice hotel and just ask for two menus with the prices on it. Well. Abby then shared a lesson that she'd learned from the trip. She wrote, rich people and rich experiences are boring. Just FYI get me to a gelato shop. Stat Now. We had a few listeners writing in saying they thought it came across as quite unappreciative of the upgrade and experience.
00:08:19
Speaker 2: What do you guys think.
00:08:21
Speaker 1: The thing is with the hotel decided to upgrade her based on her following That is an exchange of services, so they are hoping to get something out of Abby by Abby staying in the room and hopefully promoting it, and in turn Abby is benefiting from that service. However, is not like she set up the agreement to promote the hotel. The hotel has to provide a level of service in order for her to provide an authentic review. So I think it's fair enough that she she is known for being a feminist, so if something at the hotel happened in regards to the menus being very sexist, then I think that she's well within her rights to talk about it. And also she has a following where I highly doubt many people would actually be able to afford to stay in a hotel like that, So she's just being honest. I mean, I think it's pretty great to hear, you know, you see how the other half live and they're staying in these luxury hotels. But to hear actually, I'd prefer just to be normal and go down and go to the Gilati stand. I think that's quite refreshing.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:09:18
Speaker 1: When I first saw her Insta stories, I actually thought it was more of an attempt at Abby trying to again be relatable, because a lot of her insiat stories had obviously been showing everybody this amazing room and then dining in this fancy restaurant. I actually thought she brought everybody back to reality by saying, well, actually it wasn't even that great.
00:09:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree.
00:09:39
Speaker 1: I think she was trying hard to appear relatable despite the fact that she is on a very unrelatable trip. And Abby is incredibly smart and savvy online, and I think that she doesn't want to ostracize her following. She wants them to know that she's one of them, and I feel like she wants to point out to her followers, as you said, Kate, that money isn't everything. Sometimes the experiences that you have slumming it in a backpack hackers are just as exciting or more profound than living it up in some fancy restaurant. And I think it's a really clever way to keep her audience on side, as followers really can get their noses out of joint when they feel like the person that they look up to is no longer relatable or one of them. Yeah. I think it's hard though when you're not traveling, because I feel like at the moment wild borders are open, it's really only influencers that seem to be making the most out of going overseas, and it's hard not to when you haven't been on holiday for years sit back and watch someone being absolutely spoilt and then kind of complaining about it. So I can see from that respect how it would seem a little bit disrespectful when she hasn't had to pay for the room. But again, I think that if they if the hotel knew who Abby was and what her platform stands for, then they would have to respect that She's going to be completely honest about her experience. Is it sad because I'm the person that is vicariously living through influences on their holidays. I'm actually thoroughly enjoying it because I personally would probably be a bit too nervous to travel at the moment. However, I love seeing the influences are back traveling because I feel like I can, as I said, vicariously live through them. Well that's like I watched Molly May's travel blog to France.
00:11:11
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I looked amazing.
00:11:13
Speaker 1: She had to actually change hotels completely because they rocked up, and she was too scared to stay in the hotel because it had all these like medieval or coldrooms, and she's like, I'm sorry, I know that I look high maintenance, but I have to get out of here.
00:11:27
Speaker 2: Michuld kind of.
00:11:28
Speaker 1: Respect that, especially after she's experienced a break in at her house. If something doesn't feel right to you in a different country. I love how she had to get a manager, Fran who is back in the UK organizing herself in your room. I feel like everybody needs a friend in their lives, and fuck, I found it ironic that she was only happy once they got to the Balenciaga Hotel in Paris.
00:11:48
Speaker 2: We're traveling first class. Thank you see your boarding passes. Our sun bolt is the tickets for our fortieth wedding anniversary.
00:11:55
Speaker 1: Have you traveled first class before? No? I do think you'd like him there. Slickstick owner Mia Plastic has raised eyebrows after listing nine of her designer items for sale on her Instagram account. The entrepreneur says she's either never worn the items or only worn them a handful of times, leading many to speculate, Sophie, it all seemed a little bit odd.
00:12:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was really peculiar.
00:12:18
Speaker 1: So Mia shared a post explaining that she's cleaning out her closet and selling some of her designer pieces that she just doesn't wear and would love to give a second life too. So she asked for a followers to reply the word sold to her stories to secure an item, and then asked for twenty dollars for tracked postage. Now. Mia listed a total of nine designer items, and what struck me was the amount of items she said she'd either never worn or only worn once. So she shared a photo of these really bright dulchy in Cabana wedges that she wore at her thirtieth birthday, and she said she'd worn them once and was selling She said that she'd paid one four hundred dollars for them and was selling them for seven hundred dollars. She then shared a pair of one and one hundred Gucci shoes and said she'd worn them two to three times. Now. This trend continued with another pair of designer shoes were three three hundred and forty four dollars, there were only worn twice that she's now selling for one eight hundred dollars, as well as some blue Fendy heels that had never been worn that she's selling for five hundred dollars. And this just makes no sense to me for someone to wear a designer item one or two times. It just seems so wasteful and something just doesn't quite add up. It's a bit strange because the way I look at designer items is that normally people save up a lot of money to purchase them, and they usually end up going for you know, if you're not a Kardashian, then you'll normally go for something like a Louis Vuitton travel bag that you're going to use a lot of times, you don't usually pick something that is like a really on trend item that is going to go out of fashion quickly. Normally people buy some fast fashion item to cover for that. So it did seem really odd, particularly her birthday shoes, which were very like you know, with lemons on them. It obviously fit her birthday theme, but it's not something that's going to have a lot of longevity in your wardrobe. But would you not just hold onto them for sentimental reasons instead of just getting half the price for them? But I also find it interesting that people show off about the designer items they have on Instagram and try to create this image of themselves, but then flog them off on the same platform that they're trying to get clout on for wearing said designer gear. It always seems like a bit of a desperate move. Is if you're strapped for cash or something, why not use deepop Yeah? Or I mean I have seen people selling their designer stuff if they just no longer love it anymore as well, So who knows well Me is one of those influences who quite often shares her purchases, and that was even before she could afford the real deal. So in twenty sixteen, she shared a photo of herself purchasing her first designer bag and wrote, work hard, play harder. I've dreamt of owning this bag for five years. After three imitations, I finally bought the real deal now. In twenty sixteen to two thousand and seven, Mia also used to share on her Instagram stories and feed that she would purchase fake designer shoes and bags from a Chinese website called dh gait. Now, I just find it awkward for someone to be selling her old designer gear online, especially when you've spoken about purchasing fakes before. Now I'm not saying that these are fake items. I'm just saying it all just feels a bit murky and doesn't really make sense.
00:15:25
Speaker 2: It's interesting you.
00:15:25
Speaker 1: Say that because there are a lot of strict rules regarding the selling of bootleg and imitation branded products on Facebook marketplace. So I tried to sell a Calvin Klein Singler, which was a legitimate Calvin Klein, and my item got taken down because they thought it was a fake. Well, that's the thing I mean. Also on depop, I think they're pretty cautious about which items are genuine or not. And also the same things on eBay. I mean a lot of people do sell branded stuff on eBay, but they are quick to take down items which are fake. So I suppose that's where people are seat of asking the question why would you sell on Instagram? Well? I did actually jump on DHG because I hadn't heard of it before, and it is sort of a wholesale is similar to Ali Barba, where they do sell imitation designer goods as well as other things. And I did type in a few of the things that Mia was selling and some fakes did come up. We don't know if their fakes or not, but it's just all very peculiar. And I mean, even if it is a situation where she doesn't want to be seen wearing the same thing again, I just think, can we get over this ridiculous Instagram culture where it's embarrassing like to wear the same thing? I mean, I mean I remember wearing I remember copying a message from a listener who was lovely and they said, I love your shoes. Where did you get them from? I've noticed them in your photos quite a few times? And I was like, oh god, I looked back. I literally have been wearing the same shoes in my.
00:16:47
Speaker 2: Photos for the whole year. But I loved those, just some Louis batons.
00:16:52
Speaker 1: There was some very cheap not imitation in this sense. They were I can't even remember that.
00:16:58
Speaker 2: No they're not Zara's. There's some I don't know anyway. They're nothing. Oh you mean ruby shoes.
00:17:03
Speaker 1: No, they're not ruby shites anyway, They're not. I think that was seventy dollars shoes anyway. But I mean, we just get over ourselves. Like, doesn't matter if we wear the same thing. If you love something, wear it a few times. Like if I had spent three ground on a pair of shoes, I'd been wearing them every day. Isn't it funny that that someone is more embarrassed about being seen outfit repeating than they are seen flogging said shoes off weeks.
00:17:23
Speaker 2: Later on Instagram. Come look in my office.
00:17:27
Speaker 1: So some of it may still be in the trash. Why did you well when it was quite large? I have to draw most of it away. You threw my sandwich away, my sandwich. Madison Woolly has revealed she fitted the bill for her lavish birthday celebrations, despite it being her birthday The twenty four year old paid over eight thousand dollars for her and seven friends to stay at a luxury coastal home in New South Wales. Let's listen to what Madison had to say about her birthday week.
00:18:05
Speaker 2: It because it's birthday week.
00:18:07
Speaker 3: It's birthday week, baby, I'm so excited.
00:18:09
Speaker 2: Your birthday feels like my birthday. This is the best week.
00:18:13
Speaker 3: I'm just like, I don't know, I just wanted to go all out this year and I love my love language is giving gifts.
00:18:19
Speaker 2: I was like, let's just have the best week ever with all my friends for everyone else involved. Perhaps not your bank account, but yeah.
00:18:25
Speaker 3: No, my bank account is screaming, Caitlin. Actually yeah, to hold me back from doing walk, Okay.
00:18:31
Speaker 1: Can you tell us about this incredible accommodation. So Madison kicked off her birthday celebrations with a three night stay at Dove Cote and The luxury coastal home is two hours out of Sydney and it's featured in the movie Invisible Man Now. The home sleeps eight people with four bedrooms and four bathrooms, and it's set on one hundred and fifty acres of farmland overlooking wary beach. Now.
00:18:52
Speaker 2: The house has a lot of features.
00:18:53
Speaker 1: It's got an enclosed courtyard with a fire pit, an indoor wood burning fireplace, large swimming pool, games room, gym, and it also offers private walking access to the beach and coastal trail. So it's definitely the perfect backdrop for an influencer's birthday. Now, the trip seemed pretty wholesome, with a trip to a winery and a cocktail making night at the home. Madison's friends also surprised her by dressing up in blonde bob wigs. Now. The accommodation for those who were wondering starts at two seven hundred and fifty dollars a night, and Madison and her friend stayed three nights, so that's a cool eighty two hundred and fifty dollars just for the first portion of accommodation for Madison's birthday weekend. I watched this vlog on the weekend and I couldn't quite believe it because it wasn't as though it was a big milestone celebration. It's a twenty fourth birthday. I mean, I'm all for people celebrating their birthday, but it kind of felt a little bit awkward that she was coming in and paying for it all because as a friend, I personally wouldn't want to almost accept that, And I also feel like there would be a lot of pressure on them providing an amazing gift to sort of make up for the fact that you've stayed for no money at this incredible accommodation. But I also think if she's got more money than everybody and she has picked this specific airbnb that's really expensive, then I can understand why some of her friends have just gone along with it, because it is sometimes rude if someone expects you to fit this massive bill for a place that you don't even really want to go to.
00:20:22
Speaker 2: But why seven friends as well?
00:20:24
Speaker 1: Like, you know, usually you have a big group of people, so you can all divide the very expensive accommodation into seven and you know, get somewhere nicer.
00:20:32
Speaker 2: I did hear.
00:20:33
Speaker 1: Madison say quite a few times leading up to her birthday that she'd had a few disappointing birthdays in the last couple of years, so she really wanted to make this one one to remember.
00:20:42
Speaker 2: So I suppose it's sort of like if.
00:20:43
Speaker 1: You planned a big birthday party for yourself, you wouldn't expect.
00:20:46
Speaker 2: Your friends to pay per head for that event.
00:20:49
Speaker 1: So I suppose when it comes to accommodation, if you're going to a luxury place that costs eight grand to stay, I don't really think it would have been fair for her to get her friends to fit the bill. I think the awkward thing was that some of her friends were influencers that went on the trip, so Lexi Murray was there, so you'd assume she'd have a bit of coin too. I suppose you can't ask for some friends to pay and not others exactly. Yeah, just back to the disappointing birthdays in the past. I feel like that's another massive dig at her ex boyfriend Jonathan Sour because I do recall her referencing that she and Jonathan had a huge fight on her birthday last year.
00:21:26
Speaker 2: That is interesting.
00:21:27
Speaker 1: I feel like when you're in a couple, there is a lot of pressure on your partner to do something great.
00:21:32
Speaker 2: For your birthday.
00:21:33
Speaker 1: So the fact that she is the single this year, she can do whatever that she wants. She's not waiting on her partner to plan something for her, because I feel like girls are the planners. I'm not trying to be sexist, like I think generally speaking, girls love planning things like so, if you planned a trip for your partner's birthday, I know heaps of my friends have done the same, whereas I don't think boys think like that. And again this is a general stereotype of people I know, but I think that girls out this hope for like Valentine's Day, engagement's birthdays, boys are going to do exactly what they want. But in this instance, Madison's gone, I'm single, I'm just going to plan exactly what I would have wanted, and I'm just going to fit the bill for all of my friends. I did listen to Caitlyn and Madison talking about the birthday celebrations on their podcast, and Caitlyn kept saying that Madison is the Kylie Jenner of the group, and you know, spoiling them all with this birthday celebrations, do you reckon? It almost creates a bit of a power in balance though in a group, because for instance, just say our best friend, just say if she spoiled us with a twenty thousand dollar gift or a twenty thousand dollar trip, I would then feel like I was a bit on eggshells around her and having to be ultra nice and you know, well you wouldn't also want to feel like you're using them to said birthday party like said gift. So it does create an imbalance there. It's like when I think about what it would be like to be friends with Taylor Swift. As much as I think we'd be perfect for each other in terms of friendship, it would be awkward because she'd be you know, having to fly me around and pay for everything because I wouldn't be able to afford to live to her life a situation.
00:23:11
Speaker 2: But with a friend, sugar friend sugar.
00:23:13
Speaker 1: Friends, yeah, there's always like you know, when you talk about winning the lotto and you buy the ticket and then you have that chat with your friends or your partner about everything that you do and you chuck out. There are a few good will gestures trying to you know, make the universe, make it happen. But one of those good will gestures that I actually think I would do is take my friends on an all expenses paid trip.
00:23:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:23:32
Speaker 1: So maybe it's just the fact that influence has earned so much money that they have the capacity to do. That's what I just kept thinking. I mean, for Madison, she probably gets paid about twenty thousand dollars for a sponsored post, and if you think about it an eight thousand dollar trip, you think, well, that's kind of less than half of what a photo would cost a post, So it's probably not a huge deal for her, and I can imagine if I was in a similar situation, I wouldn't mind treating my friends at all, especially because those friends are probably the ones that take all the photos that then hearn her the bank, so they probably had some obligations to take all their photos on the trip. I feel like we've got to get into round two of the celebrations, because this wasn't just one day, it was a whole week of celebrations. So she also had a yacht party in Sydney and she hosted a group of her friends and things appeared to get quite rowdy very quickly.
00:24:18
Speaker 2: Now.
00:24:19
Speaker 1: Funnily enough, Madison did have a wardrobe malfunction before the party, splitting her sheer dress up the back right to her ass cheek.
00:24:27
Speaker 2: And it wasn't just a sheer dress.
00:24:29
Speaker 1: There were pearls jewels all over this dress and she had a bikini underneath.
00:24:34
Speaker 2: It was quite a look. It cracked me up.
00:24:36
Speaker 1: No pun intended that she actually went to the party with the dress split right up to her bum crack. But the way I thought about it is like, well, you could see her bathers through the sheer dress anyway, so I suppose she got the picture she wanted and then just got into her bathers. We've got to get into round three because this again was an overnight stay, which really blew my mind. I'm like, you've already done your big stay. But then she had another sleepover at a luxury hotel in the city with a group of friends, which was then followed by a lavish dinner. Now her friends were good and organized her a surprise birthday cake, but it just cracked me up because she's obviously planning this whole week of celebrations, which could be seen as quite self indulgent. But then she was acting so shy when the birthday came came. What I thought was classic, Well, there were two things I thought were classic. One whether there were some friends who kind of looked a bit annoyed.
00:25:27
Speaker 2: They're like, happy.
00:25:27
Speaker 1: Birthday for the hundredth time. And then I thought it was quite interesting because people have been commenting that Isabel Clark which is one of Madison's friends and also an influencer, wasn't on the initial group trip. However, we later hear that was also Isabel's birthday that weekend, and you know, they got to the end of Madison's birthday celebrations and you could tell they were kind of like, oh, now we've got another party to go to. I mean, Paul, Isabel only had one afternoon, she didn't have the whole week Yeah, because Isabel Clark went to the yacht part and then they had this whole weekend revolving around Madison again, and then they were all hungover as and.
00:26:06
Speaker 2: Were like, oh, We've got to go drag.
00:26:08
Speaker 1: Ourself to Isabelle's thing now. And I was just thinking, God, if I was here, I'd be pretty pissed off about the whole You feel pretty shit, wouldn't you though? Trying to live up to that birthday weekend? Yeah, sorry, friends, I haven't spent eight grand on you now. Just to wrap things up, it does appear there may be a new man on the scene. As Madison showed off a very big bunch of flowers she received for her birthday, so her best friend Caitlin asked in a joking way who they were from, and then Madison was coyly laughing, and then the audio suddenly cut and then it was back to Madison naming every different variety of flower that was within the bunch. Then Caitlyn said, those are really nice. Whoever sent those must really like you. Now this all matches up with a story she was telling on her podcast, because she and her friend were joking around how it was very unexpected that Madison somehow turned up at a Merton hotel, and they kept joking that nothing good happens at a Merton hotel and they were very renowned back in the day for hookups. And Madison apparently left the hotel room at four am and took a selfie and senate to her friend Caitlin. So, I just feel like there must be something going on in.
00:27:12
Speaker 2: The works there.
00:27:13
Speaker 1: No, I don't get they run this relationships podcast yet we don't get any of the dirty details about from the pop teasm just saying like, you know, they're trying to be like Caller Daddy. Clearly, and if it was Alex Cooper, we would have heard what went down in that hotel suite. We wouldn't have heard someone kind of dancing around the fact that they obviously hooked up with some guy. It just makes no sense. I mean, we want to hear about it, Madison. I'm just surprised that Madison stated at a Meriton hotel.
00:27:39
Speaker 2: That's what shocked me about this whole thing.
00:27:41
Speaker 1: I think she was rather unimpressed with it as well.
00:27:43
Speaker 2: So do we think it's an influencer.
00:27:46
Speaker 1: I feel like it's going to be an influencer or someone in the public eye or a wealthy businessman, because, let's be honest, they keep saying they want someone just to pay for their lifestyles. Yeah. I think that's probably why she got rid of Jonathan, because I don't think he's making too much coin as an influencer slash model anymore. And you know, she was discussing how she doesn't reply to anyone in her DMS, but she'll only reply to them if they send her a Birken bag. So I don't know, there's a bit of maybe an old guy going on. Yeah, she was clearly joking there, but she is on Ria. So my bet is Aya, isn't it name it's Ryan Rya whatever?
00:28:18
Speaker 2: I thought it was Rya.
00:28:19
Speaker 1: I thought it was maybe I'm listening to too many American podcasts and they say Raya. Anyway, she's on there, so I'm predicting this has to be an influencer. I think this is probably the worst hotel we've ever studio.
00:28:31
Speaker 2: Yes, it is a service. Here is an absolute disgrace.
00:28:33
Speaker 1: I agree. You don't, yes?
00:28:35
Speaker 2: Do you know that we had to wait nearly half an hour for our main course and when it arrived it was wrong. And when I completed, he completely fumped me off with some rubbish. The roles were off, and when I told him, there was an argument and her meat was off. And I asked you to fix my radiator three times and nothing's been done.
00:28:53
Speaker 1: Satisfying ah. Over the weekend, news broke that Sophie Monk had tied the knot with partner Joshua Gross now Amy. Sophie and josh managed to keep their wedding a secret for some time.
00:29:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.
00:29:08
Speaker 1: So Sophie and Josh managed to keep things secrets for four weeks, and the news was broken by Stellar magazine on Saturday, who featured the newlyweds on the front cover as well as an exclusive interview with the couple.
00:29:20
Speaker 2: So the pair decided to keep things very intimate.
00:29:23
Speaker 1: So intimate in fact, no family or friends were invited and the wedding was just for themselves and took place at their Central Coast home in New South Wales. Sophie told Stella magazine. We figured if you don't invite one person, then no one could get upset. God you save a lot of money that way, as far I know. And she also said that so many friends had told her prior to the wedding that they barely saw their husband on the night of the wedding and they regretted not eloping. So Sophie thought, well, we really want a stress free day, so that's why they decided to have the wedding at home. How would you guys feel if I told you that Dale and I were just having our wedding at home when we were eloping, I'd be pretty upset because I'd really want to spend your special day with you. I know it's yours as a couple, but I sort of feel like weddings are really for your family as well. I mean, I suppose it depends what's important to you. The thing is, Sophie has had such a public love life that I kind of love the fact that she decided to get married secretly and just do the ceremony for her and her husband, because you know, she's been on the Bachelorette, she had a very public relationship with Benji Madden from Good Charlotte, and everyone seems to.
00:30:32
Speaker 2: Want to always talk about her love life.
00:30:34
Speaker 1: And this really shows me that it's not for show, that they really just did it for themselves. Let's be real, though. Sophie's house isn't your typical home. It's a gorgeous property on the South coast, and the photos from the at home wedding looked incredible. There were flowers and candles everywhere and beautiful candelabras. Sophie also wore two dresses by Melbourne based designers Jtonne Couture, one of which she designed herself. So get this, she gave this designer two weeks to make this dress based off her sketch. I can't wait for mom to hear that, because Mum was in absolute awe when I picked out my dress and they told her it would be eight to ten months. I'm like months, Jiman weeks, Well, I think when you're Sophie Monk, you can give them just two weeks to do it. And it was really funny because Sophie said that she didn't actually try on the wedding dress until the day, but luckily it fitted like a glove. Yeah, but it was custom made to her body, so I'm sure they took all the measurements. That's not such a shock. It's not like it was off the rack. It's pretty crazy because we've been talking about planes and travels all day and I feel like this ties in really well because Sophie actually met Josh on a plane. So she met him on a flight from Europe to Australia in twenty eighteen and they hit it off from the get go. So Sophie said she was drawn to him because he had a great sense of humor and she thought it was such a relief being sat next to someone to have a great chat with. I did hear Sophie on the Carl and Jackie Oh Show last year, and she said that Josh told her he had no idea who she was when she sat down, because I was just thinking, can you imagine if you're a young guy and Sophie Monk sat next to you. Yeah, but I doubt that she's sitting in economy. As we've all established, this would have been in business. It was Amy, your partner. Dale would have been pretty happy. Doesn't he have a big crush on Sophie Monk? Yeah, so, well back in the day he said he had a big crush on Sophie Mark in the day.
00:32:23
Speaker 2: So not anymore.
00:32:24
Speaker 1: No, well not anymore, but no, he's more of a girl.
00:32:27
Speaker 2: It's true. But I told him.
00:32:29
Speaker 1: How Sophie Monk had married the guy that she'd met on the plane, and he's like, yeah, but that couldn't happen to like normal people like me because it was business class. And I do like the fact that Sophie Monk's now husband. He's a neurosurgical robotics consultant. So I do feel like maybe he just didn't know who Sophie Monk was. Maybe it's a good excuse to play it cool. It reminds me of when we went on our first overseas trip without our parents, just the three of us, and we had the middle aisle and normally had four people in it, and so we're like, oh, who are we going to get next to us? And this nerdy guy rocked up who was absolutely lovely. I think we're still Facebook friends, but we were just like, oh shit, and poor Sophie got stuck for like seven hours talking to him.
00:33:15
Speaker 2: He was a pianist.
00:33:16
Speaker 1: Apparently he invited me to come and see his piano show. Oh maybe he could play at your wedding. That would be a bit of a turn of events, wouldn't it.
00:33:23
Speaker 2: Wait, Wait, wait a second.
00:33:25
Speaker 1: The guy was called Josh as well.
00:33:27
Speaker 2: He was yeah, you're Sophie. Sophie and Josh. Wow. Could have been maybe he was my soul mate and I didn't give him a go. Maybe. Well.
00:33:36
Speaker 1: On Sophie Monk and Josh's trip, she revealed on radio that they actually kissed on the plane during the fly and then Sophie thought to herself, God, I've got a ten hour flight with this guy, and if he says no, I'm in trouble. Of course, Josh said yes. But it was hilarious because Sophie said that they both went off to separate toilets to brush their teeth, to then return for the kiss.
00:33:59
Speaker 2: God, I can't how awkward that would be.
00:34:01
Speaker 1: Kind of being like, all right, so we're going to brush our teeth now.
00:34:03
Speaker 2: Would that kind of ruin the moment a little?
00:34:05
Speaker 1: Bit. I'm assuming they probably had plenty of cheese platters like Kate and an ex boyfriend, and who wants to kiss someone once they've beaten cheese? But I suppose it does take the romance out of it, slightly exiting to brush your teeth. You know what they got the budge on the bottom, you see that enables you to control your budget distribution as you're eating your asia.
00:34:33
Speaker 2: There was so much about that.
00:34:35
Speaker 1: Last week we discussed the disgusting clickbait headlines about Molly may Haig's endometriosis.
00:34:40
Speaker 2: During the topic, we also touched on.
00:34:42
Speaker 1: The Australian Federal government's announcement that fifty eight million dollars would be spent supporting women living with endometriosis. Now since the episode air, we received some very helpful feedback in our Facebook group regarding the Australian ENDO community's feelings regarding the funding, As outlined in an article in Independent Australia, many believe the funding has been ill considered. Now there has been no mention of spending the funding on expert excision surgeries or further training in this area, and this is a crucial area to invest in as expert excision surgery is currently the only successful tool available to fight and diagnose endometriosis. Now, excision surgery is considered the gold standard of care. However, surgeons trained in this technique are difficult to come by in Australia, so Australians living in capital cities are even struggling to find a suitable specialist. Furthermore, most specialist work in the private healthcare system, which means they are even less accessible to people with financial limitations. So in terms of where the government's funding is going, the largest portion has been allocated to MRII scans. However, this is questionable as endometriosis cannot be reliably detected through an MRI. And thank you so much to our community members for sharing this information with us, because I found it really helpful when I was putting the government's funding into perspective. Well, I think that's all we have time for today. Thank you so much for joining us for today's episode. If you have enjoyed it, could you please make sure you are subscribed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
00:36:16
Speaker 2: You can also find us on TikTok and Instagram.
00:36:18
Speaker 1: At the hand or Outspoken Underscore, the Underscore podcast and If you want to join in on all the conversations, join us in our Facebook community, which is outspoken at the podcast community
