Britt's Big Move & McLaren Man Can We Have $50k?
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This episode was recorded on Camaragal land. And welcome back to another episode of Life Uncut. I'm Brittany. And I'm Laura. And I'm...

Don't often do this, but I'm coming straight hot out of the gate. Heavy, sweating. Huge news. Humid. Huge news. Pulsating. I am pulsating. I was pulsating. Nothing got me hotter than what I'm about to say. Covered in passata. Rolling around in some garlic. What? No, garlic gives me RBS. I would never do that. Garlic blokes me. It makes me fart. Parmesan cheese. This is not farting news. Officially, we don't live in Romania anymore. What?

I'm sorry, Dracula. You were great while it lasted. I don't think you ever really liked it that much. I think you were trying to feign excitement. You know when you know you don't like something, but you're just trying to keep positive? It wasn't my top destination. No, 100%. I didn't dislike it, but it was never somewhere that I was like, fuck yes. I get to go hang in Romania for a couple of weeks, but I made the most of it for sure. I did what I could do there and I tried to be a tourist and

But it was just whatever. But we no longer live in Romania. As of yesterday, we officially live in Italy. Ciao, Bella. Ciao. Pasta. Pasta.

For someone who talks about how you used to live in Italy for an entire year, your Italian isn't great, but you can work on it. And I think one day you're going to be fluent. You're just ordering two ice creams. I just ordered ice creams and a bottle of wine with one glass. That's what she needed to learn in Italian. I'm glad that you got the important things down pat, though.

Yeah, 100%. That's what I learned when I got there. How to ask for the toilet, the time, qué hora es, that's the time, what's the time, please, and then how to order wine. So in serious news, yeah, Ben just yesterday moved to – it's actually I'm so proud of him.

It is the biggest, best move of his career. It's one of the top five leagues in the world. Like this is the most amazing move for him. So he lives in Genoa. That's how you pronounce it. But if you don't know what that is. Say it again slowly. Well, it actually is Genoa. You know, like Genoa, but I didn't know it's pronounced Genoa. With a deeper voice. Genoa. Genoa. Hot. Oh, it's hot. It's hot. Genoa. So it's...

It's really exciting. So he signed there. It was just announced. He signed there yesterday. He had like 24 hours notice to move. And he literally called me and he's like, what do you think about Italy? And I said, my panties are off. My panties are off. Sign me up. Sign that dotted line right there.

I will do it if I have to. Hey, so I came over to Britt's house yesterday and this is when you told me the news as well. And it does feel like it all happened very, very quickly. And that's because it did. Are we allowed to talk about the speed of which? Yeah. Like Ben left his house, didn't pack anything, left a completely full apartment in Romania and flew to Italy and now lives in Italy. It's a wild thing to get your head around that that is how someone could be transferred. Yeah.

It's actually crazy. And that's not just him. That's normal. That's standard like football transfers. When something comes through and a team says that they want you, it's usually negotiated in like 24 hours and then they want you the next day. That's it. So he still has a whole apartment in Romania with all his stuff. He literally packed one bag.

and one carry-on of his life and flew the next morning. But I was like, it doesn't matter how quick it is. We'll sort out your apartment in Romania. You're like, I don't care so long as I now live in Italy. So long as my next holiday is not Romania and it's next to Positano. I Googled it. First thing I Googled, I was like, would you like to go on a day trip to Positano? And I was like, yes, I would.

This is also the reason why. So when Brit and Ben first started dating and then we like flirted with the idea of you doing records from overseas, we got all the equipment for Life Uncut for you to be able to record overseas. And this is the reason why it's still in Scotland. How do I know where it is now? Well, like Ben had to move so quickly to Romania and you got to Romania. You're like, where's my stuff? And he's like, oh, it's in Scotland. And now he's in Italy. It's in Romania. He's just leaving a trail of stuff.

all over the world no matter where he goes. He actually is. So if I go to visit him and it's in record time, I will take stuff now because I've got a court in Romania and I've got a microphone in Scotland and I've got who knows where anything is. Which just means you're prepared no matter where you end up. 100%. But that means we can all go and do a trip in Italy maybe. I am so keen. Do we have any listeners in Italy? I don't know. Slide into the DM so then we can tax deduct it. Ha ha!

Oh, yeah, we just need one person's proof. I think if we go over there and pick up a business card, I think that that's enough, right? Maybe not since I've now talked about it on the pod. Maybe cut that. I've just opened up the back end of the podcast.

Last month, 170 listens came from Italy. That counts. Wow. 170 people. Not people. Sorry, that's true. That could be one person listening to 170 episodes. That's all we need, baby. That one Italian listener. We've got one. It's probably an Australian just traveling through as well. They're not even there now.

Well, we are very happy for Ben and in particular we are very, very excited for our tax deduction work trip that we are absolutely having in Positano. Absolutely. As a mandatory. Well, I mean, lots of things have been happening in my household. Actually, that's a lie. Nothing's been really happening in my household. I'm living...

I just feel like I'm living vicariously through my husband because I have been put in charge of managing his socials and making sure that people vote for him in I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. Matt's now been gone for two weeks and tonight, because we're recording this on Tuesday, he is doing one of those fucked up eating challenges. Oh.

Praying for him. It's the worst thing I've ever done in my life. This is why I think it's a bit rigged because that was the one thing that he said he did not want to do, like that he would absolutely die if he had to do it. I said the same thing though. I don't think it's rigged. It's just there's so many of them and there's not that many people in the jungle. It's just the way the cookie or the nipper crumbles.

It's just how the anus falls apart. Slow cooked in your mouth. Gets in your mouth. Ew. But yeah, look, just wanted to sneak it in there and say go vote for him. We'll put it in the show notes. I'll be shocked if he doesn't vomit. It is. I cannot explain how rank. I was beside myself upset.

I was upset. I was genuinely upset that I had, even before I went there, like the anticipation because you know it's made to be so you vomit. I was really beside myself. The stink bugs. Well, then they cut out my projectile vomiting. It was too much for TV. They didn't air half of it because I was like, I coughed at one point. I went, I gagged. I went like this, like that and a bit flung out and hit Robert's shoe and they couldn't air it. They couldn't air it. It hit Robert's shoe.

And I was like, I'm so sorry. I feel sick even thinking about it and the thought that I have to watch that tonight at the same time as eating dinner because it's like – That's a choice. You don't have to eat your dinner at the same time. Well, it's like 7 o'clock. It's like dinner time. Tucker Tuesdays is dinner time. Wait half an hour, Lois. You don't have to be getting into your ravioli while he's eating his nipples. Obviously, I'm a Celebrity is Taking Over My Household and I have been watching it –

Very religiously. However, there is another show which has just taken over everybody else's lives. And normally I am the one on this podcast who is an absolute devout watcher and consumer of Married at First Sight. But this year, the tables have been all turned around and switcherooed. The turn has tabled and now I watched maths. I never thought I would say that. Did you hate it or did you love it? I think both simultaneously. Both can be true. I couldn't stop watching it like a train wreck.

but nothing has made me so enraged. Like I was so angry. And that's why I remember that I didn't like to watch it in the past because I don't need the anger in my life. There was one person in the show that I have not disliked so fast in my life. And it was one of the bride's sisters. So one of the brides, Lauren, we're introduced to her. She seems lovely at the start. I shouldn't say at the start.

But I don't align with what she aligns with. She really wants to be like 1920s bride. She wants to be at home and cook and clean and he goes to work and she wants very stereotypical old school gender roles. Couldn't care less if that's what you want. Like if that's what you want and you find a partner that that's what you want, that's amazing. But that's not what I align with, obviously. But it was her sister. So it's Lauren's sister, Tamara, who was, I guess, almost the star of the first episode in a way. She really stole the show. Yeah.

And she was just the most horrible person that I thought, this can't be real. Like, surely you can't be like that on national television at your sister's wedding. I did flick over. So as soon as Celebrity had finished, I flicked over to maths and I caught the end tale of this. And I don't believe for one second that that wasn't heavily produced. Like, I don't actually think that there is anyone in this world who

who has that little self-awareness that would behave the way that she behaved at the wedding. I saw that there was like drama around her getting the wrong meal and the way she spoke to the waitstaff. And then like she was heckling her own sister in the first dance. This is my only gripe with maths because I love maths. I think it is too overproduced now because I think they know that they need these really extreme characters for people to have the outrage that you've obviously felt, Britt.

But I think if you've watched enough seasons of it, you start to see the patterns and you start to see that actually those people are playing a specific character. And I think she's absolutely been egged up to be that person. There's no way that if their relationship, the sister's relationship was really like that and she really was that horrible 24-7, there's no way she'd be at the wedding. There is zero way you would ever speak to her again.

And you do see at the end, Tamara, the sister walks out. She's had enough because she didn't get her pescatarian meal. She said, and she said, I'm the bride's sister. You are not treating me like I'm important enough kind of thing. And at the end she goes, I'm not giving you any more. And you hear her say that as she walks off. And I feel like that is a nod to the production aspect where they're like, just give us something else. Give us something else.

but something I did want to talk about that happened on there was a new couple Karina and Paul now this apparently has never happened in maths history but they get to the wedding they are at the end of the aisle they're like frothing each other to the audience like you're very handsome you're very beautiful blah blah blah it looks amazing and you're like wow these people look really suited to each other and he's really like she is stunning oh my god I'm stoked like

Like then she walks off camera and she says to a producer, basically find me someone else, get me a new husband. I know him. And the producer looks really shocked. They're like, what? You know him? Like, oh my God. And I'm like, as if you don't know that from a production aspect.

But apparently, long story short, they had dated before briefly. They'd matched online. They'd dated in Perth. They'd gone on a hike, had a really amazing date. They kept texting each other and then he ghosted her. So he just literally never messaged her again. The first contact that they have had from that original date was on national television getting married. So stupid. But also, like, they have to both be in on it for them to have known that they've been ghosted. Do you know what I mean? Like, how do they...

Otherwise, this is like the most serendipitous, incredible production that's ever existed or it's very, very manufactured and they've found two people who have been on a date and then ghosted each other. The thing is, though, is that that would be a particularly hard thing to find because how would you know unless someone's spoken publicly about going on a date with this person and being ghosted, how would you know that those two people have ever –

been together previously. So I just think that this has to be orchestrated as well for it to have actually been a discovery. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know because one thing that I did notice about this season, and I don't know if it's just the first ones that have gotten married, is that they seem to be matching them more with location, which I think is a really wise thing. Because if you get someone who's from Perth and someone who's from Sydney, one person, if it works out, is going to have to move to the other side of the country. Perth is not that big of a city. I've got a lot of friends from there. And I think that the dating pool, from what I've heard, it's pretty like

You've kind of been through everybody. So you think it was totally serendipitous that they have been matched together? I don't know. I think it could have been, but I was kind of picturing what I would do in that situation if I was walking down the aisle and this whole production had happened because I was on maths.

And I recognised him. Like it's surprising to me how long it took for them to be like, guys, what the fuck? Like to the producers, I'm surprised they didn't say anything in the actual ceremony. I wonder if the ghosting was a bonus. So this is what I think has happened because I –

you know, Laura and I have obviously done a lot of reality TV. We've done a dating reality TV show. You know the due diligence that they do on each person. What I think has probably happened is they've found the contestants that they think could be an option and then they go through their social medias. I just wonder if maybe they were following each other on social media and the production team have at least seen that there's some form of connection without knowing what. And then maybe when the ghosting came out, they've been like, bingo, like we couldn't have asked for that.

Yeah, because remember last year, wasn't there a couple that they were like intruders or something like that and they went to the same gym or they knew each other's name, remember? One of them got down the aisle and he was like, oh, hey, I can't remember whose name it was.

But they had that moment where they realised that they actually knew each other from – they hadn't dated though. They just knew each other. I think it was through like a gym connection or something. But the funniest thing about that situation with Paul and with Karina is that up until the point where she was like, I know this guy and we've been dating before –

I realized that I still have so much work to do. I think I've learned so much from like producing this podcast and hearing so many of the experts talk about dating and relationships. But up until that point, I was like, he's the catch. He's the one where they've just got this amazing guy to like have on the whole season that everyone falls in love with. He's the guy, you know, he's talking French to her. He's handsome. He's tall. He's like hardworking. Like he's got all of it.

Keisha was like, he's absolutely my kind of guy. This is in the car this morning. And I was like, oh, I was like, oh, so he must be a fuck boy then. Well, funnily enough, yeah, it turns out he's actually been on that show, The Love Boat. He seems like the guy who just tells you exactly what you want to hear. And I laughed to myself because I was like, I still to this day would have fallen for that lady.

that like she's like I am not as progressive as I thought I was but here's the question what do you reckon you would do or have you ever gone back as like someone you've been dating completely like fucking cut you off like hardcore ghosting then they've come back so they've zombied you and then you're like yeah cool I'll tap that again to be honest I can't like nothing comes to mind as like an immediate example however I just know that yes I absolutely would have like I I

Think about, like, you guys know, there's no secrets here. My dating in my 20s was an absolute fucking shit show. The amount of things that I tolerated all was just like, yeah, second time. Hurt me again. That sounds good. People can change. Yeah, people can change.

He'll change for me. I'm the exception. Like I would have done that easily. I also was the person. I would have too. I was also the ghost who resurrected myself many times because I was – and now I think about it and I'm like, I only did that because I was bored and lazy – not lazy, sorry, bored and lonely. I was lonely and I wanted company and I went through my phone and I was like, fuck, guess –

Guess we've got to go back to that guy. Don't you guys remember? I think I told you on the podcast, but I had been on this dating app and I'd matched with this guy and we were talking and then I ghosted him. He kept wanting to meet up and I was just like, fucking nah, not interested, couldn't be bothered. Ghosted him. Three years later. People change. Three years. I went on the app and the conversation was still there and I was like, got nothing else going on. I was like, ready for that drink.

He was like, yeah, okay. That was it. Three years. I ghosted him for three years and he said yes without skipping a beat. We went to the date and it was the most boring night of my life and I was like, that's why I ghosted you. Did you fuck him still? Absolutely. Yes. I didn't. I didn't. We didn't even kiss. I was like, within 10 minutes, I was like, this is why you go with your gut. Were you like, I can't wait to ghost you again?

I was like, got to go to the toilet and never came back. I think though your message, ready for that drink, well played. Because I think most people would have been, how have you been? And it's like, there's too much that's happened in three years. I can't catch you up. I'm pretty sure what I wrote to him was the answer to what he asked me three years ago. I just continue. Yeah. It was a continued conversation three years later. I just pretended that three years didn't go

I literally just was like, how's 7pm? To be fair though, good on him for not being angry because the amount of people, and maybe I don't know if this is still a case on Tinder and on online dating, but you'll be talking for a little while and you'll go cold because you're just kind of not into the chat. And like, if you're not committed to the person, you've not been on a date or anything, I think it's okay to go cold on someone when it comes to chatting to them. It's just kind of part and parcel of online dating. The amount of...

men who take it as a personal insult and then get angry at you because you haven't replied to their messages to me i think that that is like such a determining factor of someone's red flags right like if their response to you not replying is i thought you were looking for someone but clearly you don't have time no am i the only one who received those type of messages yeah because i was so desperate i was like yeah i was on the receiving end keisha's like i'm there as

I'm outside in the bushes. Come out. Keisha never didn't reply. She's like...

He should triple text it. But for these couple though, they'd actually been on a date. Also, I don't know if they'd hooked up. It kind of gave a little bit of a, I was like, there's a bit more to this. I feel as though you guys hooked up and then he ghosted you and that's why you're a bit like, no, that guy was a bit of a shit time. Also, yeah, I mean if you've been ghosted in the past by someone, and I mean like true ghosting, like really poor form. Three years. You've slept with a guy and then they've just –

absolutely fucking blocked you. What would that feel like? I have no idea. By the way, that was sarcasm. I absolutely know what that feels like.

I don't know. It calls into question the kind of ethics around the show, which it does every year. But it's like sometimes there are people who are undeserving of another chance or undeserving of you trying to work out whether or not you would be a good match. And it's like, I kind of feel sorry that this woman is now in a position where in order to be in the experiment, she has to give a guy who's already treated her really badly, already compromised her boundaries, a chance at

at being and showing himself to be a good guy. It's a shit situation for her. Yeah. And I did find this, the next part that happened of that evening, I found it really interesting. So they were at the wedding ceremony and he said to her, are you happy if I go and speak to your family and tell them about what happened and our history and stuff like that? And she was like, yeah, great. And then so he goes up to her parents.

And says, I just want to be really honest and forward. And he explained it. And he basically said like, I didn't treat her right. I ghosted her, whatever. I didn't message her. But then put it down to like, I wasn't in the right headspace. No, but wait, it worked. Then they do an interview with the parents that are like, the dad said, it's just so admirable. I think he's really admirable that he told the truth and he's obviously very respectable. And then she was like, not many people would be able to go and speak to my parents like that. And I was like, wow, he just mastered it.

manipulated the entire situation. He's also just someone who's absolutely very good at and is literate in TV, like reality TV literate. So he knows that this is a situation he can't get out of. He knows he's going to be painted badly for being the ghost star and the only way to repaint that picture and to be seen as someone who is actually a stand-up guy is to face it that way, which just means that he has either like a understanding of reality TV or he has enough self-awareness of how he comes across because

Probably from lessons he's learned from his last experience of reality TV as to how he's going to navigate this. Or he might have changed. Oh my God, Keisha. No, I

No, I don't want to judge the guy too quick because at the end of the day. I do. I haven't even watched it and I am. At the end of the day, there is something that's like, cool, you don't have a choice but to own the situation. So I'm glad you did own it. I just think it's fascinating to watch like from a fly on the wall that you can use that honesty as like a bit of a manipulation technique and whether that was an intentional or not.

it very much worked. Like we just said, we've all ghosted people. Everyone does it if you go on one date or whatever and you're not interested. So I don't want to hold that against him, but I just feel like what Keisha said, I think there was more there. I think he was probably, was a bit more of a turd burger than he's letting on. So maybe they did hook up or there was more of a connection and then he just completely blanked us. So that's

Yeah, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt for now because it's very early days. You don't need to, it's maths. You sound exactly like I did when I was dating. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they've changed, maybe they've evolved. The guys who are manipulators, though, they have evolved, guys. We've spoken about this with some guys who use therapy talk as a weapon.

Keep your wits about you. Keep your eyes open. I don't know if I'll watch anymore. See, I feel jibbed because I really want to be watching it and now I kind of feel as though I have to support my husband. It's a real damn shame. Oh, what are you going to do? Well, support my husband. I think I have to. Everyone vote 10 times Maddie J.

Something that the three of us have been talking about for the last couple of weeks, and it has been in the media again this week. So we were going to talk about it on last week's podcast, but unfortunately, Brit's infestation of Huntsman's reigns supreme. Shock. However, there's been updates and we thought

If we're still talking about it two weeks later, it might be something that you guys are interested in as well. You may know the Today Show host. His name is Alex Cullen. He was recently stood down from the show for breaching the laws around cash for comment. However, him being suspended from his job and taken off the show has been quite controversial. You might be familiar with the billionaire. His name's Adrian Portelli. He's the billionaire block guy who rocks up at all the block auctions and buys British

pretty much all the houses. Well, they call him Lambo Guy because from like the first season, he rocked up in his like fluoro bright Lamborghini and that's been his nickname since. And he's decided he doesn't like that nickname anymore. Yeah. So he wants to rename himself basically. And the Lambo Guy kind of moniker that's followed him around is

I mean, there's worse things you could be called. Yeah, but McLaren man's not that much better. What is a McLaren? Is it a type of car? Luxury car. A very expensive car. Like Lambos are hot and sporty. McLarens are like the same, but kind of considered a little bit more...

I was going to say classy. This whole thing is so stupid. So basically, Lambo guy no longer wanted to be called Lambo guy. So Adrian Patelli got onto his social media and he said, I will give $50,000 to any journalist or presenter who talks about me and uses a different name first. And that different name that he wanted to go by was McLaren man. Now, this was all done as a bit of jest. However, the reason why this has become so controversial is because Alex Cullen was the reporter who took him up on the bet.

There was a cross during the Australian Open that involved Sarah Abdo and Karl Stefanovic. Have a listen to this.

A little bit of celebrity spotting today. Deborah Lee Furness has been here. Danny Minogue as well. Adrian Portelli, a.k.a. the McLaren guy, likely to make an appearance here today as well. It's a different luxury car. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I think it's pretty sure it's McLaren. Yeah, no, it's definitely McLaren. He's probably got both of them. We can split the 50 grand. Yeah, yeah. Give him away. I got you.

The reason this has escalated to the point that it has is because Adrian Patelli, McLaren man. Do you reckon he'll give it to me actually? Lambo guy. McLaren man, McLaren man. I'll do anything for you, whatever you want. We could split that actually. So the reason, yeah, it escalated is because Adrian paid up. Adrian was like,

This was not a joke. I'm going to give you 50k. Well done. Transferred in 50k, took screenshots of it, posted it, Alex shared it. It was all a bit of a PR funny jest. There was nothing that was secret about it. No one was trying to hide it. Like they really lent in. I saw it happening and thought,

So colloquially in our industry, it's called cash for comment. You're basically not allowed to be paid for any brand or personal advertising without making it very clear that it is a sponsored advertised post. That's

That is what is in all media, but it looks different in different capacities for TV or for radio or for podcasting. Like everyone has their set of rules. Yes, McLaren men, it looks different for podcasting. Just to be clear, McLaren men, yeah, the rules do not stand to you for podcasting. These standards are also set by ACMA.

which is the governing body who puts rules and regulations in place to ensure that free-to-air TV and radio and everybody else are abiding by an ethical code of standards and not misleading the public to buy into products or to buy into businesses that they otherwise wouldn't because of referrals from a friend type situations. And you do actually see it a lot. Now, I don't think maybe the everyday consumer would see it, but when you're in media, I think you've got an

eye for it. And sometimes I think you see things that are questionable or that you would wonder, but they just slip under the radar. This couldn't slip under the radar because they lent in to make it a joke and a PR stunt. Nine reprimanded Alex and stood him down. Initially, it was temporarily. And I even thought that was like, oh, that was a big call. I understand that you need to punish him in some capacity and be made to look like you were doing something. But I, at the start was like, come on guys, it was very obviously a joke.

Alex made a statement saying I was always going to give it to charity and

Channel 9 made Alex give the money back to Adrian Patelli and Adrian Patelli then split the money and donated it to two of Alex's chosen charities. So to be clear now, Alex did not take a dollar and said he was always going to donate it to charity, which a big part of me believes because he's in media. He's been there with the network for five years. You do know the laws. He was so open and public about it. It's hard for me to believe that he would have been that silly person

I think the intention was always to gain some form of publicity for the show, for himself, for the segment. That's why Karl Stefanovic doubled down and also made his jovial comments as well. Now he's been completely let go from the network. He will not work there again because of this cross. And I personally feel like that has gone far too far. Yeah.

It's an interesting one because I think a lot of people feel as though there needs to be some sort of, he needs to be reprimanded in some way. Because I think it's tricky when you start to bend the rules and say, well, this type of cash for comment situation's okay, but then this type of cash for comment is in the gray. The issue is, is that it's something that does happen pretty often across media and

Obviously, there are watchdogs and people are called out for it all the time. But it seems like this is the most severe reprimanding that we've seen, especially since he didn't keep the $50,000. He didn't profit from this in any way. And now he's lost his job. Alex came out and said that this has been a very difficult time. And I just want to say thank you to all the wonderful people who reached out. It means the world to me and to my young family. I miss my colleagues at the Today Show and wish them the best. Thank you again. And I look forward to whatever comes.

So this is a presenter who's worked in that role for the last five years and worked alongside his co-hosts. I can only imagine that this has been a massive blow to the show and to the teams in general. But I guess I sit on two camps because on one side, I think maybe the repercussions for this were too severe and don't seem to be in line with how Channel 9 has handled cash for comment situations in the past, which we'll get into in a moment. But also on the flip side of that, I'm like, it was so brazenly obvious that this went against the code of conduct.

And people, as in the public, some people did have such an adverse reaction to it that I think that Channel 9's hands were sort of tied and they had to take action that maybe it was too severe. I would be shocked. There is no one that would have been upset by the fact that a billionaire gave a charity $50,000.

if that was the way it was going to go. And all we have is Alex's statement of saying, of course, that's what I was going to do. And this is why I find it hard to not believe him because it was so obviously a joke and a stunt.

He knows the rules. He shared the screenshots. There's no way he would have thought he was allowed to keep that. No one in media would have thought that that was going to be okay. Well, I have a question for you. Do you think we feel differently about it when it's kind of posed as an on-air gag and one person seems to be benefiting from that on-air gag?

Or is it more of an issue when it's a business that's profiting and it's done in a more sinister or manipulative way where someone's getting money back from a business in order to speak about them positively? My problem is when people are really subtly trying to promote a business and then take the money. But for this, no one was genuinely being promoted. It was a list of people's names. No one would have bat an eyelid. No one would have thought twice about it. The money would have ended up going to charity, which is why I have an issue with the fact that he's been stood down because we know that

that there have been people that have done far worse and taken money and benefited, profited from supporting businesses on the sly that haven't had the same repercussions. So I think for me, that's where my issue comes from. I think it's important to establish why these laws were brought in in the first place, because they are rules that have been put in place to protect the public.

So back in 1999, this was also the heyday of radio where talkback radio had such a stranglehold across Australia. There was an inquiry that was done from Alan Jones and also John Laws who were receiving cash from businesses. And some of these businesses were Qantas, Optus, Foxtel, banking associations, Rams, home loans. There were so many businesses that were paying them in order for them to not speak negatively about their company on air.

And this might not seem as significant now because I don't think Talkback Radio has the same hold on Australian public as it did then. But at the time, these people were so incredibly influential that they had the power to really sway people's opinions around brands and around companies. Well, it was almost looked at as hush money as opposed to cash for comment because it was like, we're going to pay you to not slag us and not sling mud at us. But

They were found to have committed 90 breaches of industry codes of conduct worth estimated about $18 million. Like this was a huge amount of money. I think the interesting thing about it as well, and obviously we have a bit more insight into the radio world, but at the time those two men were seen as men

such like brute forces in broadcasting, really people trusted them. People had this like deep connection to the fact that they were the holders of information and the way that they got that information about what was going on around them was from these two men in radio. So there was also kind of this like betrayal aspect to it where they found out, the public found out

You have been profiting off of deliberately misleading me. And that's why the cash for comment rules came in. And for anyone who hasn't worked in media before, we have to do codes of conduct. When you work at a radio station, you have to do them every single year. You have to do compliance training. And I think it's the same for TV from what I've heard from friends. Like it's a really big deal. They want to make sure that you're not doing things that are misleading to the public and you're financially benefiting from them.

Because it reflects that trust. You know, it reflects the fact that the public can't trust what you're saying anymore. The only thing is, though, that I think is questionable is that to me, that is such an obvious example of cash for comment. When you're receiving cash from a business to then promote that business in a positive light. Very, very clear cut. I don't think anyone would argue that that's misleading. We have those laws in place for influencers. Influencers can't work with brands without disclosing that they are getting paid by the brand to speak positively.

In this instance of Alex Cullen talking about Lambo guy and calling him McLaren man, I just don't see who benefits from this. I don't see, I actually think it's such a great area because yes, he received cash and yes, it was a comment, but that comment wasn't about a business. It doesn't sway public's perception. It really was this like very jovial, PR-able, almost like silliness to it. I get that a journalist shouldn't necessarily be paid $50,000 to say someone's name, but

but it doesn't have the same ramifications or impact on anybody as what these sort of examples do. And another example, which I think is really important, and the reason why I want to bring this up is because it's comparative. So this happened under Channel 9.

Last year, there was an inquiry on Ben Fordham, who works on 2GB, which is part of Channel 9, for anyone who doesn't know how that's structured. The inquiry found that he had broken the laws around cash for comment and that he had spoken about Uber, of which he's an affiliate for.

So what happened on the show was that Ben Fordham, who is paid an incredible sum for his radio show, it's estimated that he's paid around $1.5 million a year. He was speaking about Uber saying that he has a secondary job. He'd taken his very first Uber passenger and he spoke about how convenient Uber is and what a great secondary employment it is and the flexibility of it. Why always get a secondary employment on $1.5 million a year?

That's exactly the question that was raised, right? And the question is maybe he never was doing Uber as a secondary job, not because he needed to by any means, but actually because he was being paid to speak positively about the company. But none of this was disclosed.

So the reason why I think we wanted to unpack this and kind of be like, well, why is this not apples for apples? Is that the reprimanding for that situation of Ben Fordham was simply that he was expected to do more training and the team around him, the production team had to do more compliance training.

So they would have had like a half day of compliance training and it never really made media. It never really became a big song and dance. But in this instance with Alex Cullen, it has become such a huge thing. And I think it's to do with the media spotlight that was put on it. This couldn't just be swept under the carpet because of the publicity that it gained.

And I think it's kind of unfair when you have two different media personalities who have done similar things. One arguably is far worse and he has received absolutely no punishment for it and the other person has lost his job. I don't think it's fair at all. And I try to put myself in that position when I'm talking about these subjects because I think it's important to be like, what would I actually have done? Britt's like, I would have gone for the $50,000 cash. I would have. I'd name this episode McLaren Men for 50 grand.

We will. This episode is called McLaren Man. An ode to McLaren Man. I do wonder if it's a bit of a bendy area that Alex would have said, you know what, I think I'll be fine. Like surely there will be no repercussions of this. We can get $50,000 from a billionaire that doesn't need it and give it to a charity that needs it.

Tell me a person that wouldn't say yes. It was so open and obvious. I don't think that he would have thought that this would have happened. Yeah, I think the only thing that has been raised, though, is that maybe the charity aspect came as a response to the punishment. So

I mean, for anyone who's not familiar with the timeline, Alex himself hadn't come out prior to the investigation saying publicly that it was going to go to charity. So people are kind of calling a little bit bullshit and being like, oh, you're only saying that now because you're in trouble for it. I also don't know how he would have got the bank transfer to begin with without giving his bank details to Alex.

Exactly. McLaren, man. Do you know what I mean? Like you can't just transfer $50,000. I don't know if you can pay ID that. And I think that that's the issue is like if you did have every intention to give it to a charity, why wouldn't you have just said, hey, I don't need that $50,000. Can you donate it to this charity and send me the transfer so that I can see that you've transferred it to a charity? Why does it need to go into your bank account to then go into a charity bank account? Yeah, I get that.

I understand that it probably raised some alarm bells for a few people and I don't want to necessarily like question his intent with it because there could be a very good chance that he did intend to donate it to a charity. But at the end of the day, he doesn't have the money and there has been $25,000 donated to Salvation Army and there's been $25,000 donated to RSPCA. My big thing from this is that I think it is disappointing

that a journalist has completely lost his job when other people have received a slap on the wrist for it. And I think that that is kind of the part where I go, these rules need to be in place, but it's how we enforce them and shouldn't there be a standardized way that we approach these situations? The only other thing that makes sense to me is that when he sat down to do the training online, you know, when you just click done, but you don't read it.

He just didn't read the codes of conduct. Like, you know, you're like, yeah, I've done it. I've done it. Fast forward. Because no one else would make such a blatantly obvious decision if you had read the rules. I don't know. He would have had to have been aware of them because he's been a journalist for so long. The thing that I find really interesting is that I think regardless of whether he would have donated it to charity to begin with or not, I think the same rules still apply. And I very much, I can't believe I'm actually completely defending Channel 9 here. Yeah.

I really do think it is important that these rules are in place and are enforced. And even though this situation seems as though it's very victimless, I think that if you, like you said before, Laura, if you start to bend the rules for certain situations, well, then you've got to bend them for all of them. And the reason that I think they had to crack down on this was because it was so obvious. But they bent them for everyone else. Yes. And that's my issue. I understand. And I absolutely agree with you. I do think that those rules need to be

in place. And I think if anything, they need to be enforced in a way that's far more consistent. And I just don't think that it's fair when ACMA says, okay, well, on one side, we're going to do an inquiry and on the other side, someone's going to lose their job. And the determining factor for that is purely publicity. Public scrutiny shouldn't be the determining factor as to how bad someone's punishment is. Because if that was the case, it's like, well, on one hand, Ben Fordham just got away with it because no one really cared about the whole Uber situation.

Yeah, that's kind of why I sit in the grey with this one. I don't think that Channel 9 are the perpetrator in this situation. I know that they had to do something. Yeah. But I don't think that you can have a varied response in these situations. Do you think the other networks, do you think all of the radio presenters, do you think all of the radio networks are going to be more transparent or do you think they're going to be more careful about making it more subtle so that people don't pick up on the fact that this is happening? I think...

Look, I mean, we've come a long way in terms of people having decent media literacy and being able to sniff out ads as opposed to say like 10 years ago, I think the general public

didn't have a good grasp, say 10 years ago, especially I'm talking about in general, I'm talking about social media as well, when someone was being paid to influence a product or to influence a business. But I would say that this happens, and I know you mentioned it earlier, Britt, it happens so frequently, especially on like morning shows, on some radio shows, where people will subtly talk about a product or subtly talk about a business that they love, but also they are in some ways getting a kickback from them, whether it's obvious or not.

And I just think that maybe partly, yes, I do think that networks will be a little bit more subtle about it for a period. But I also think these things are flash in the pans. I think that as soon as the media cycle of this has died down, they will go back to doing the same things. And I just think that they've made a scapegoat out of Alex Cullen. I do think it's funny. Adrian Patelli did come out and say like, you know, if Alex loses his job, I'll hire him. I'll give you a job. I've got jobs going. Anyway, the jobs came out. They're like videographer jobs. It's like

social media like recording jobs I was like I don't think that's Alex Collins alley you never know you could upskill all right it is time for accidentally unfiltered your most embarrassing stories and if you had one for us please send it on through

Two years ago, I went on a Contiki trip to the UK solo and I had the time of my life. Yes, queen. Since I was traveling solo, I had organized with my travel agent that I wanted transfers from my hotel to the airport. Anyway, I had a male friend from my Contiki who I teed up to have a shower at his hotel before my international flight that evening. We went to dinner and I had the best ramen of my life. This information is not imperative to the story, but you know. I love that though. We love a ramen. It adds color.

I went back to his house with him, had a shower and shoved all my dirty clothes from the day of sightseeing into my backpack. Anyways, I then ran back to my hotel that I'd checked out of and hopped into my private transfer to get to the airport. I decided to rearrange my backpack whilst I was in the car and pulled out all my dirty clothes and refolded them, put them into the bag. The driver offered to turn the light on for me as it was completely dark, but I was like, no, no, no, it's okay.

Anyway, we arrived. I got my luggage, my backpack, and I headed into the airport. And as soon as I'd walked through the security, I got a WhatsApp message from my driver. It was just a picture of my worn G-string from the day, dirty side up, sitting in the back seat of his car. It gets worse. He called and then said that he was out the front. And when I went back out, he had it hanging from his finger out the window. Mortified. If you don't laugh, you'll cry. Why?

Also, why is he touching it? Just throw it in the bin. Hang on. I have a similar story. Last year when I was in the Maldives on holiday with Ben, we were on a little island because everything in the Maldives is an island.

And it was time to go. So to leave the hotel, you pack up and you get a speedboat or some kind of a boat back to the main island to fly out. And so we got on the boat, did the trip, and it wasn't a speedy boat. It was a mediocre medium speed boat. Just Ben and I, we medium sped back from our island to the mainland. And when I got off the boat, there was a member of the hotel staff waiting for us to greet us. And I was like, how did you get here? And in his hand, he had

a gift bag and in the gift, like the gift bag was beautiful blue, had the hotel's name on it. And I said, oh my God, Ben, they've like brought us a gift to say like, thanks for coming and staying at the resort. And so it gives me the gift. And I was like, thank you so much. Like kind of, anyway, I was so excited and I opened the bag and there is nothing in the bag except the

A dirty old rank G-string. So I had obviously left one pair of undies. They've seen it as soon as we've checked out. They have packaged my dirty undies up, speed boated it.

To the island to get there before me and handed me back my dirty undies. I was mortified. That is amazing service. Impeccable service. Speaking of dirty undies, do you remember when I went to the beach and I picked up underwear that I thought was mine that I dropped and I got home only to find that I'd picked up someone else's dirty undies from the beach and brought them home?

Why are we all so ranked? I don't know. We've got some issues. Anyway, let's do suck and sweet. My suck for the week, I'm going to keep it snappy. My suck for the week is that this last couple of days, three days, I think is the first three days that I've really felt the pinch of

of parenting solo and also not just parenting solo but like not having someone to share the weekend with. It makes everything a little bit harder. I feel that, yes. Yeah. I don't share any of my life with anyone. I know, but doing it like with kids in tow.

Yeah, it just kind of felt a bit relentless and there were quite a few battles this weekend, which I don't normally have to do solo. Usually when you're having a battle with the kids, Matt will step in and he will take over for a bit and then like, you know, you can tap out because you're overstimulated, you're tired, you're also feeling frustrated and there is no one to tap out to. So that has been a little bit challenging. We're two weeks into him being away and the girls are also not coping with it very well. They miss him so, even Lola.

so much even Lola they miss him so much which is probably what he needed they really do and my sweet for the week was that yesterday morning I took the girls I mean we went to another water park would you believe it or not but we went to this like place called wild play it's instantennial if you're a mom and you've got kids I fucking highly recommend not getting paid to recommend that just FYI not cash for comment no cash for comments from the water park

No, Centennial Park is not giving me kickbacks. But we just had a really, really good morning together. And like amongst the chaos of me saying that I felt like parenting was relentless, that was one particular part of our long weekend that I was like, my kids are cool. And they're at an age now where I'm like, you guys are cool. Like I like you as people, not just as kids. Not just because you're my kids.

I like you because you've got a backbone, Lola. Okay. Well, my sock this week was the last couple of days I've had really bad vertigo, which makes me sound like I'm 100 years old. You might remember I had it last year. I spoke about I had a one night last year, but I've had it for two days now. So it's like I get...

I get it in my sleep. So when I roll over in bed. It's so weird. It's so weird. When I roll over in bed, I'm so dizzy that it wakes me up. Like you're nauseous. You can't like you stand up and you get dizzy. And so I had it both nights for two nights. And then this morning I thought we were fine. And then I got to work and I was getting a coffee and I was with another work colleague and just like fell down on the lounge. Like out of nowhere, everything is fine. And then I get this hectic,

moment of vertigo and I need to sit down and then it passes again. Did you do a pregnancy test? I've done three pregnancy tests now. Today? Yesterday? Yes. I'm not pregnant. Okay. I don't know how to double down on this. There's been a period and three pregnancy tests. I am not pregnant because I have had so many people message me saying you're pregnant. Well, it's only because yesterday when we talked, you said you hadn't done one since Dubai and then like tracking back on your cycle, you still hadn't gotten your period and-

I was like, maybe just do one. Just do it to be sure. No, I forgot that I had had my period on. Oh, yeah. Well, that's a different conversation then from yesterday. Things have changed, haven't they? I'm 100% not pregnant. It's just a really random. That sucks. So I hope it passes because it's like, yeah, it's pretty hectic. And my sweet this week, I'm going against the rules. We're not allowed to say the same thing twice.

I don't care. My sweet is Ben moving to Italy and getting like, not just that it's Italy, but getting the job of a lifetime. I'm just so proud of him. I'm the proudest fiance. I could cry now thinking about it. He sent me like photos of him and his manager taking the, like usually family members. I'm really sad. Yeah.

Usually like partners and family are there and it's a really big, nice moment that you sign and you're there together and they always get photos and I'll just never get to do that with Ben. And so he just sent me photos of him alone and just with his agent. And like I should have been there and it was really upsetting because I was like I should be there with you, not just like saying well done from the other side of the world. So that was really – that was also another suck. But I'm really proud of him so that's my sweet. And my sweetest is that we all get to go to Italy now. A bastard. Yeah.

Roll around in some garlic. That is it from us, guys. We hope you loved the episode. If you did, go and leave a review. God, the highs and lows. Now Britt's crying. Don't. I'm going to hug you. And also, you can watch any of this on Facebook. Sorry, you can watch any of this on YouTube. We don't actually put it on Facebook. And we'll put the links to everything in the show notes. You know the drill. Tell your mum, tell your dad, tell your dog, tell your friends and share the love because we love you. We love you.