Just for shits and gigs, we’ve gone back and looked at the biggest celebrity and influencer scandals of 2022 and ooft, there’s a lot of them.
From the MAFS malarkey to influencers behaving badly, 2022 really did bring us some bonkers headlines.
Here’s a round-up of just some of the craziest shit that went down this year…
The most cooked season of MAFS in history
The largest source of scandal in 2022 was MAFS.
It what was arguably one of the most fucked-up seasons ever, which is really saying something for the show that’s given us the likes of Bryce Ruthven, Jessika Power and Cyclone Cyrelle.
But as chaotic as the past seasons have been, nothing could have prepared us for what came this year.
There was mud-slinging and couple-swapping galore along with the stars being outed as actors, but that stuff is part and parcel for MAFS.
What dominated the headlines was a bizarre chain of stories involving the likes of serial killer Ivan Milat and Real Housewife Gina Liano.
The chaos reached a fever pitch when Olivia Frazer was accused of leaking nude photos of Domenica Calarco, prompting a barrage of slut-shaming from certain cast members. Only for those same people to then go and create their own OnlyFans accounts when the season ended.
We will never see another MAFS season like this year’s and honestly, thank Christ for that.
Aussie foodies blasted
If COVID has taught us one thing about influencers, it’s that some (read: a lot) of them lack the ability to read the room.
Take, for example, two influencers who run a foodie Insta who had the audacity to try and fang a free meal from a small business.
Earlier this year, Elle Groves (who owns @twoteaspoons along with her mate Annie Knight) messaged an undisclosed Aussie restaurant via Instagram asking to try out their food in exchange for posts on their personal and foodie accounts. It did not go down well.
The owner of the restaurant sent a huge paragraph in response, detailing their struggles in simply trying to keep their business afloat. Screenshots of the heated exchange were published online by John Lethlean — a food writer for The Australian.
The owner wrote that they’d had to “take a job at another venue on their days off just so they can continue to pay their staff properly and still be able to pay their rent”.
They also called out the fact that Groves’ message was essentially a copy/paste job that could have been sent to any restaurant in Australia.
“Reaching out blind to a venue you know nothing about looking for free stuff is a shitty enough thing to do at the best of times,” they wrote.
“But it’s even worse when COVID is still very much a thing, affecting small businesses like us devastatingly for two years now.”
The owner ended their message on an extremely satisfying note:
“Maybe give it a year or so and see how the business landscape looks, and see if you can amass enough followers for your ‘collabs’ to actually be of benefit to the venues you approach so naively, instead of them being only of benefit to you.”
In response, Groves told the Daily Mail that “we have never asked companies for free food, it is always left open to them to what they want to offer.”
“We have dined at 99 per cent of restaurants featured on our page paying full price.”
Let’s leave freeloading in 2022 / in hell where it belongs, pls.
Fyre Festival 2.0
Next up is the event that was described as 2022’s Fyre Festival, REVOLVE Festival.
Back in April, influencers took to social media to vent their frustrations about the exclusive Coachella-aligned event which saw Post Malone, Willow, Jack Harlow, Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, and Cindy Kimberly all make appearances.
Averie Bishop who has over 700,000 followers didn’t mince her words describing the sitch as “absolute chaos”. The TikToker said she waited hours for a shuttle that was supposed to take her to the festival before eventually giving up and going home.
@averiebishop I hope you made it to the festival @kate bartlett !! #revolvefestival @revolve
TikTokers also uploaded vids of the pickup area which looked like an uninhabitable dustbowl, with influencers queueing up without water or food.
@sarahfarrugiaa The real tea #coachella
REVOLVE later apologised for all the malarkey, blaming the whole thing on “safety requirements causing longer wait times for entry and resulting in some guests not being able to attend the festival.”
Sure, Jan.
Two local footy players got in strife over footage of one sucking off the other at a pub
Next up on the biggest scandals of 2022 involves a coupla dickhead athletes.
Two senior players from the Glen Waverley Football Club went globally viral after a video of one of them sucking the other off in the middle of a public bar emerged online.
Per the Herald Sun, the teammates had made a bet over the course of the day and whoever lost had to give the winner oral sex. In their genius brains they simply decided to do exactly that in the harsh light of the venue in full view of everyone there.
Let’s not even go into the fact these blokes clearly see sexual acts between men as a “punishment” and the incredible homophobia that line of thought carries but if you’re going to blow your friend at least have the decency to do it in the bathrooms? Good lord my dudes.
The eastern suburbs club released a statement condemning their behaviour and said the wider club is “saddened and disappointed” at the antics. Glen Waverley FC confirmed it is taking immediate action to discipline and educate the players.
“While this occurred away from the club and was not a club-sanctioned event, we are extremely saddened and disappointed in the behaviour shown by people who should know better,” the statement read.
“The individuals involved, along with the broader playing group will be both disciplined and educated and if need be, counselled in the type of conduct expected by members of our Club, along with the physical & emotional impact this has had on the families involved, club members, players and the wider community.”
Another patron who wished to remain anonymous told the Herald Sun the wider playing group allegedly disrespected the venue by smashing glasses, vaping inside, trying to nick bottles from behind the bar and abusing other customers.
It’s also claimed they left the bathrooms in a total state and covered in vomit.
A perfect illustration of how the rest of us felt after reading about this unfortunate incident.
Jadé Tunchy’s row with a small biz
Next up in influencers using their platform to fuck with small businesses is that time Jadé Tunchy got called out after unleashing her Insta followers on a small biz who refused to refund her honeymoon.
Tunchy was called out by Celeb Spellcheck over a series of now-deleted posts about her honeymoon which was booked for March this year.
She said in the post that after she and her fiancé Lachie Brycki postponed their wedding back in August of 2021, they contacted Weekenda (the small biz they’d booked their honeymoon through) and requested a refund.
Tunchy then accused the company of saying that the best they could do was relist the couple’s holiday online and see if someone else booked it. She then complained that the company denied her a refund.
“Six weeks out of the booking and we’ve again asked for a refund which they’ve denied. They’ve had months to refund us for a booking that we don’t need,” she said.
“They’re taking our money just because they can. It’s just incredibly poor form and so disappointing that businesses are taking advantage of people in the middle of a pandemic.”
Except the business wasn’t taking advantage of anyone because a no-cancellation policy is literally in its terms & conditions.
As pointed out by Celeb Spellcheck, Weekenda’s policy states that you can’t cancel your holiday and get a refund after you’ve paid for it.
Plus they’re a small business in the travel industry, one of the sectors hit worst by the pandemic.
Tunchy then posted another story saying “not y’all following them” directed at her followers.
She then revealed a little while later that the company had refunded her and Lachie.
“They’ve agreed to refund us our stay! Thank you for your help,” she wrote.
From there, she copped a ton of backlash for pressuring the small business into refunding her. The business later leaked her nasty emails just to show how awful the whole sitch was for them.
This was the beginning of a downward spiral for Tunchy which even resulted in her management “reviewing” the drama and several other claims about her behaviour.
Elly Miles’ invasion day party
Wow, influencers were really ON ONE this year, weren’t they?
Let’s not forget that time old mate Elly Miles held an invasion day party and plastered it all over social media.
After being called out by Celeb Spellcheck (and anyone else with a conscience), she later shared an Instagram Story in which she clarified that she didn’t attend a party to celebrate Australia Day but was “at a friend’s house… hanging out”.
“We’ve got some friends going away — that is it,” she said.
“I wanted to come on here so you could hear directly from me. I want to clear that up.
“I am all for abolish the date. I 100% respect the Aboriginal Land we’re living on.”
But several pointed out that just because you weren’t actively celebrating Australia Day on Wednesday doesn’t mean you can party on with mates. January 26th is not a day to celebrate.
Let’s hope the backlash has sunk in and she’ll stay the fuck home next year instead.
Sophie Cachia was on Survivor?
And finally, I was stunned to realise that Sophie Cachia‘s stint on Survivor occurred earlier this year.
She’s been embroiled in so many bloody scandals throughout the course of 2022 that I forgot this one even happened.
The influencer starred on this year’s Australian Survivor: Blood V Water, despite insisting she’d never sign on for the show and resented publications reporting otherwise.
Following her Survivor eviction, she went on an Instagram rant slamming her co-stars for voting her out.
It was as if she had no idea how the show works.
“Opting to work tonight instead of watching the episode because of how much anxiety I have,” she wrote.
“The lies created to save their own asses turned really personal and I wasn’t having a part of it. It hurt me and a lot of others. Mutual friends have confirmed it was a part of [their] plan from way before production even began when they knew I was on it.
“It was fucking horrible and they know exactly what I’m talking about.”
She added, “‘It’s a game’ is one thing, and I always credit impeccable game play. But what one person did was beyond what I could deal with and am still clearly affected today. That type of shit isn’t for me xx.”
In a follow-up Instagram Story, she went IN on production, writing: “I’m also really disappointed in production again. Everyone could see us talking the whole time. We made a set deal on that podium. I told her she could win and get the victory in front of both tribes, but in return, my boys would be safe and they wouldn’t be picked off.
“I put my trust in her again. And I swear on my children’s fucking lives of that and hold my head high for that decision. I wouldn’t involve my children if it wasn’t the truth. That’s my loyalty to my people. That’s me.”
Something tells me we won’t be seeing her on any future All-Stars seasons.
And that’s a wrap on the scandals of 2022! Let’s see what shit 2023 has in store…
