Influencers Gone Honest

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Jess Boozel: Hey guys, welcome to Episode 3 of Season 2 of Untamed Social, I'm Jess.

Anna Dobbert: And I'm Anna.

Jess Boozel: And today we're going to be talking about the influencer trend on TikTok, where influencers spilled their secrets. If you haven't heard of this trend, right before TikTok went dark, a lot of influencers were spilling their secrets. They were doing it to an audio that was saying that, since we're all gonna die, there's one more secret that I have to share with you, and that is, and then they would share their secrets. A lot of TikTokers were doing this, saying, since TikTok is going to go away, I have one more secret to share with you, and then they shared that the entire, like, platform that they've built, and the trends that they've built on their platform, basically their brands, were all a lie. I don't know if you have seen many people do this, but I was seeing a lot of influencers do this. Specifically, I don't know how to say her last name, but Lexi Hidalgo. I I don't know how to say it. She was really known, I feel like in the beginning of her TikTok career, she would do these coffee talks, which would just be, I don't know why I did that. These coffee talks where she would make coffee and talk about her life, give updates and all of that. She revealed that her secret was that she never drank the coffee. A lot of people were mad because it's like, were you wasting it? I think a lot of people's point was that she was wasting it and they were upset with that. The waste.

Anna Dobbert: That makes sense. I honestly had never even heard of her. Is this the Ice Cube Girl?

Jess Boozel: No, this one's different.

Anna Dobbert: Oh it's different? I had a-- maybe I saw both of them, but like specifically with the Ice Cube Girl, I never even heard of them until that trend. And I saw all these people being like, oh my gosh, they weren't actually doing XYZ. And I was like, well, this is the first time I'm hearing of it, so I was there for the drama. I like, hopped on board. I was like, oh my god, the ice cubes!

Jess Boozel: The ice cubes. They were wasted. Yes. I had heard of them, but it wasn't like I was a fan of either. Lexi or the Ice Cube Girl, and the Ice Cube Girl's name is Kaeli Mae. We'll get into her way later. Not way later, literally next. But, I think just a lot of people were really upset because, and it was more their fans. They were upset because they were lied to. That's just, bottom line, they were lied to and that's what the uprise was calling. But, for Lexi, she also came out and said that she was doing workout videos. Also, again, in the beginning of her TikTok career. So, during this time for TikTok, I feel like people didn't care for realness as much as they do now. And that's why it being revealed now, it's like, oh my gosh, like, that is heartbreaking that you lied to us. But I feel like if it would have been revealed, like, say, a year ago or something, they would have scraped by. Like, nobody would have cared. Just because authenticity and realness is so much more valued on social media, now than it was a few years ago. But, um, Lexi actually put out a defense, because she didn't want to get cancelled. And, obviously, TikTok came back. It was only dark for like, I think, 17 hours? So, as yeah, as soon as TikTok came back, she was like, hey guys, I'm sorry. Um, she said that her mom drank the coffee, that she made the coffee for her mom, so the coffee was not wasted. And then she said that her workout videos, she did fake for the video, but she was actually doing those workouts. It was just for the video, she was only doing like one or two reps, which I think that makes complete sense. I'm not going to fault the girl at all. I mean. Social media, like, even now, doing this, I took two takes to do the intro. Like, it's okay to not be 100 percent real, especially whenever you're editing out your stutters and stuff, like, I feel like that's fine.

Anna Dobbert: Well, and, to film something, it has to be staged to some degree. Like, you know when people do like, Day in the Life, or like a vlog of some sort, and there's a shot of them like, walking out the door? They have to cut like, come back in and get the phone. Like, you can't just-- I think sometimes people forget that in order to make the video, like, there is an entire film process that has to go on behind the scenes. And it's like, you can make it as authentic as you want, but a day in the life, the majority of the things they were doing that day was making sure they got those things filmed. And like, making it look nice, because you wouldn't actually enjoy to watch a video that wasn't polished at all. Like, that would have no value or interest to people.

Jess Boozel: Yeah, that's crazy that you bring that up, because I actually saw a guy that was filming his 5 to 9 after his 9 to 5, and he actually left in all of the parts of him, like, setting up his phone, getting into his car, backing up, and then going and getting the phone. And he did that throughout the entire video, but I will say, I kind of found it less boring. Because he didn't cut those parts out.

Anna Dobbert: Yeah!

Jess Boozel: But I understood why he did it completely and I'm sure he doesn't do that with like every video I'm sure he's just like making a point but I will say like you said I was less intrigued by it because I'm like, okay, I get it like I know you had to go back for the phone.

Anna Dobbert: Yeah, definitely. It's also just, like, I think it's funny because this kind of content that is staged is still successful. People wanted to see that coffee. People wanted to see the elaborate ice cubes. And it's funny because it's like, the method works. It gets people's eyeballs on it and they do like it. And then when they actually have to sit and logic out how this video was possible to be made, they're like unhappy with it suddenly. It's like, you liked the end product. Like, it doesn't, it doesn't change what that video was or the entertainment it brought you just because they had to stage it a little bit. Like, I don't know. Imagine you went to a restaurant and you found out that like, the side vegetables you got, like, came from a bag. You're like, okay, yeah. Don't expect you guys to be cooking all of this. Like, I'm not at a Michelin star restaurant right now. Like.

Jess Boozel: Ma'am, this is an OIP.

Anna Dobbert: It's, yeah, I think it's just something where I feel like consumers of media like to live in this fantasy land where it's all just gonna be perfect one take and not actually realizing that they're like they're consuming a product.

This video is polished and made in production, and it's not going to be 100 percent raw, authentic, even like when it's like labeled have you seen a like realistic day in the lives? Like even that. In order to make it something that is even gonna trend, is even gonna get views on it. It's gonna be staged.

Jess Boozel: Yeah yeah. And I think with this trend of telling your secrets, I think more authenticity and real realness is coming from the trend itself and I understand like people are upset that they may have lied in the beginning. But now they're being, like, really honest and really, like, raw, and that itself is something. And a lot of people that did this trend also got love for it. For example, the Duolingo Owl, they finally showed their face, and a lot of people liked that. Because, I guess, I'm not really a fan or a follower of Duolingo social media, but I guess the guy had appeared in videos before so like people knew his name like they knew who it was whenever he took off the mask and so everyone was like oh my god that's crazy yeah like they were happy to know though like it wasn't a bad thing they didn't use this trend in a negative way like the others did.

Anna Dobbert: I think there was definitely, like, a wrong and right way to do this trend. Like, I think it was obviously really interesting to see influencers, like, expose themselves, but there were some people, like the Duolingo one, who did it really smart, of being like, what's a secret we can let people into that's not gonna damage or destroy anything that we've been working so hard to craft and build? Like, I'm sure the Duolingo account could have had way crazier things. Like, that they could have said, but they stuck with something that they knew was gonna still garner attention and be interesting and people would like to hear it, but that wasn't, you know, being like, my whole life that you think I'm living is a facade, you know?

Jess Boozel: Yes exactly and I feel like afterwards, when TikTok came back, people, like, just were happy to continue watching their content and following them because it didn't really change the realness or rawness to their content. So that was really helpful. Um, I don't know if you've seen the guy that cooks on his bed. I haven't, like, watched his videos completely, and again, I'm not a follower of his, but I've definitely seen his content on TikTok before. And at one point, it was like a few months ago, I saw someone said that he actually was doing it on a table. With a bed sheet. And I was like, oh, that makes so much sense. And for months, that's just what I thought. I'm like, at least for me, I wasn't mad about it. I was like, okay, that makes sense. Well, for his reveal, he revealed that that was a rumor. He always has done it on a bed and that he didn't know why someone said that he did it on a table, but he does it on a bed. Like, the, the realness was there from the beginning. It never left. Someone just came up with a rumor and then others believed it. Me, I'm other.

Anna Dobbert: You fell victim. You--

Jess Boozel: But yeah, he came out with, um, his secret was that it, it was a bed. He's always made food on the bed.

Anna Dobbert: See, those ones are also very interesting because like, so many have to do with, like, the shtick that people run with with their content, like their niche, or their piece that makes them stand out. And so, I could see how if his was, like his secret that he revealed, if it was that it was on a table, I could see how that would make people upset, because it takes away that shock value, and, but then to just be able to further prove being like, no, I was actually doing that, I feel like establishes a good amount of trust between you and your audience.

Jess Boozel: Yeah, absolutely. 100%. Another person that didn't get negative feedback from their truth and their truth was their truth the entire way through but they got negative feedback still because people think they're lying and honestly, I don't know how to feel about it. Scar girl. Do you know of scar girl?

Anna Dobbert: I do and I thought that she revealed that it was fake.

Jess Boozel: Yeah, so she did make a video kinda saying that it was fake, but if you watched it all the way through, at the very end she said something about how, no, I'm just kidding, like, it was real the entire time. But a lot of people didn't watch it the whole way through, and so in the comments, everyone's like, finally, she told her truth, and then, yeah, literally you. She's like, finally, she told her truth, and everyone's like, did you watch the video the whole way through? Because at the end, she literally says it's a joke. Like, it's a joke that it's that it was fake. You know what I mean?

Anna Dobbert: Okay, so.

Jess Boozel: It was real the entire time.

Anna Dobbert: That just can't be true. Because, so I didn't even see her video pop up. First I saw other people's videos being like, I love this trend, scar girl finally admitted it. Like, people being like, the closet was glass, like we always knew. And so then I looked up her video, and I watched that first couple clips of it, and was like, I freaking knew it, and then carried on with my life, and like thought that that was the truth.

Jess Boozel: I knew it. I knew it.

Anna Dobbert: That's.

Jess Boozel: That's great.

Anna Dobbert: That like makes me, like, question my entire reality.

Jess Boozel: Yeah, well.

Anna Dobbert: I, I can't believe she's sticking to that. I think she should have, I don't know.

Jess Boozel: I feel like a whole episode could be done on whether that scar was real or not. But as much as she's doubled, tripled, and fourthed down said it is real, I don't know. Like, the more she says it's real, it's real, it's real, the more I believe it. Because at this point, I'm like, it's been like, what? Three years? Two years? I'm like, come on, girl. That is a big lie to keep. I don't know. And I feel like if she would have admitted it, now would have been the time.

Anna Dobbert: I agree. I also just don't know, like, I don't even, I don't know how you could backtrack on something like that. Like, I could imagine that would be a very uncomfortable experience if when you were young, you started this little gimmick, and everyone I don't even know this girl's name. I literally only know her as scar girl. I could definitely then imagine--

Jess Boozel: It's Annie.

Anna Dobbert: I could then imagine how difficult it would be even if everyone else is doing it, to like, own up to that. Like, I could understand how that would be really hard, and so you would just kind of consistently for the rest of your life, like, feel the need to double down. I could understand and have sympathy for that. I also could understand and have sympathy, if it is real, to just sort of keep playing along or playing into the joke.

Jess Boozel: Yeah.

Anna Dobbert: But I don't think it's real. I don't.

Jess Boozel: Right. Like I said, a whole episode could be done on whether it's real or not. And I honestly will never really know only her and I guess probably her close personal friends know but other TikTok influencers that did the trend and a lot of people didn't think that what their truth they said was real was Pete and Vicky. Pete is the son in the relationship online and he is like a tall red head and then his mother is a short person with dwarfism, and she also has brown hair, so they kind of do look pretty different, but they have this mother son relationship online, and this is what they built their TikTok on, so everyone thinks this. They put out as their Godfather, their lie that they weren't related at all and everyone in the comments was like, we do not believe this at all. We think that you're related, even though you look different. We're pretty sure you're related because also I should say, I think their facial features are similar. It's just like the height and the hair. That's very different and everything. Um, and then whenever TikTok came back, they said, yep, we lied. So the people were right on this one.

Anna Dobbert: That was the first one that I saw that then started to make me question everything. Cause at first I was like oh, people are actually you know, being real about this and like, I'm learning so many different things about these people that I passively watch all the time. And then this one I was like, okay, no wait, this one I can tell is a joke. What about all these other ones I've seen?

Like, were any of those jokes, is this all ever gonna truly be solved? Like, will I ever really know anything? But, I thought that was a clever way to do it and to be on trend.

Jess Boozel: Yeah, again, just another way that you're just telling the truth the whole way through. I mean, yeah, they lied for that, but like, then they came on and were like, Yep, I've been telling truth the entire time. We all, we are mother and son. Like, there was no, like, lie or unrealness there.

Anna Dobbert: There's a difference between, like, a bit and, like, a farce. So, like, that video would have been more of just a bit, a gimmick, a gag. Whereas then some of the ones, like scar girl or, like, the Ice Cube Girl, where it's, like, this is just an entire ruse you're potentially putting on. And I think that's then where people's point of pain comes with it. Like, obviously no one cared that they did that trend as a joke, but people then did care about how other people did it when it came into their entire, like, brand.

Jess Boozel: Yeah, absolutely. And I think for this, for people and influencers like Lexi, this kind of did hurt their brand in the long run, because everyone was viewing Lexi as a liar then. Her entire brand was built on these coffee talks and her workout videos in the very early stages of her TikTok fame. And so people were like, this is why I followed you and you didn't even like actually do these things. So I think that definitely hurt. And I think we've gone over a lot of different ways that it did good, it did bad, it did funny. But I thought it was really interesting and we'll end with this. The influencers who were saying, thank god I didn't do that trend. Because even though they were saying, I'm so glad I didn't participate in that trend, they were like so relieved they didn't reveal their secrets. I'm like, what are you hiding? What part of your brand is a lie that you are so grateful that you didn't put out there?

Anna Dobbert: And it's also like, it's, uh, TikTok isn't the only place where the internet exists. You know, these people like Kouvr, who was like, thank god I didn't participate in this trend. She's also very popular on YouTube and on Instagram. Like, if she had revealed some secret there. And then TikTok disappeared forever. It's not like we were never gonna see from her again, you know? So it is kind of ironic that people were like, Oh, thank god I never did this. It was like, well, it was kind of done in good fun the entire time anyway.

Like, people were fine with this secret coming out. And they just took this opportunity to do that. Because the internet still was gonna exist. It's not like TikTok getting banned was gonna like end influencers. It was just one channel, one medium for it.

Jess Boozel: Yeah, I completely agree and I think people forget often that TikTok isn't the only place to be. I do think that a lot of more realness and authenticity comes with TikTok because I feel like on YouTube and Instagram and Facebook, things are more polished and clean. But on TikTok, it's like, you can go crazy. Post anything you want. Like, there are literally Get Ready With Me's where you are in your they start in their underwear. You wouldn't post that on any other app. So.

Anna Dobbert: That's so real.

Jess Boozel: It's like, it's, it is a different kind of app that if something happens again, where it goes dark again, I will be sad to see it go, but I think that there are, like you said, so many other apps that people use, and whenever TikTok was going to go dark, I just went and followed my favorite people. So if your audience really is loyal to you, they're going to do the exact same thing, and they're going to follow you on YouTube and Instagram, or whatever else you have, because they care about you that much. And that's how you know that your audience is real.

Anna Dobbert: 100%.

Jess Boozel: Well, this was a really great conversation about realness and this specific TikTok trend. Thank you guys for tuning in to the Untamed Social Podcast. See you next time.

Anna Dobbert: Bye.