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Telly addicts

Apple Cider Vinegar - Netflix

162 replies

Bankholidayhelp · 09/02/2025 22:51

Any one else watched it?

Binged it over a couple of days. I'm not sure what to think.

OP posts:
Sugarnspicenallthingsnaice · 18/02/2025 12:36

HelloMyNameIsElderSmurf · 17/02/2025 23:35

I mean, they're both grifters but in different ways, and one paid a higher price than the other for the grift.

Cancer grifters (and I include 'positive mental attitude' people in that category) absolutely boil my piss, I hate them all, so I rage watched this. Thought it was smart and clever and the influencer 'gloss' of it was really thought-provoking. Is Lucy a real person, does anyone know?

There's a recent episode of Australian current affairs programme 60 Minutes on YouTube. It's mostly about their earlier exposé of Belle but there's a woman on it called Kate who has some similarities to Lucy. Recently married, worked in a cafe, followed Belle and alternative therapies only to return to conventional treatment. She even had brightly coloured hair.

The real Chanelle is interviewed in it, too.

LoafofSellotape · 18/02/2025 12:48

Sugarnspicenallthingsnaice · 18/02/2025 12:36

There's a recent episode of Australian current affairs programme 60 Minutes on YouTube. It's mostly about their earlier exposé of Belle but there's a woman on it called Kate who has some similarities to Lucy. Recently married, worked in a cafe, followed Belle and alternative therapies only to return to conventional treatment. She even had brightly coloured hair.

The real Chanelle is interviewed in it, too.

That sounds interesting,do you have a link please?

GlitchStitch · 18/02/2025 13:06

There is a really good documentary about the real Belle Gibson on ITV Hub called Instagram's Worst Con Artist. I watched it before this drama came out. They also interview Belle's family on there.

Also still really recommend Anatomy of Lies about Elizabeth Finch, she is loathsome, far more so than Belle IMO.

thenightsky · 18/02/2025 13:47

Also still really recommend Anatomy of Lies about Elizabeth Finch, she is loathsome, far more so than Belle IMO

Just starting episode 3.

tothelefttotheleft · 18/02/2025 17:32

@emailthis

The lies Belle was peddling would have encouraged people not to have conventional possibly life saving treatment.

Taking her advice would kill people. It doesn't matter what hard luck back story she had.

tothelefttotheleft · 18/02/2025 18:05

@GlitchStitch

I think the itv programme is much better than the Netflix dramatisation. It really shows the damage she caused. Made me feel that the Netflix dramatisation created a false impression of her. Wished I'd only watched the factual programme about her.

Thankyou for mentioning it.

Redcrayons · 18/02/2025 18:08

I’m not normally a fan of true crime but really enjoyed this. The Clive character is interesting, I’d assumed he’d told his story which is why he was getting a sympathetic portrayal, although it does suggest he knew something about it.

The Milla part of the story was really sad.

ClodHoppers · 18/02/2025 18:18

@GlitchStitch thanks just starting the Elizabeth finch thing!

GlitchStitch · 18/02/2025 18:22

Hope you enjoy it!

Babymamamama · 19/02/2025 01:58

Just binged this. Didn’t love it for the first half but got totally drawn in for the last three episodes so I’m glad I stuck with it. Really wanted to know more about her childhood, did she fabricate that too or was she really neglected. Also that totally weird scene when she visited some kind of quack gp who seemed to know her background but was also familiar with her son. What was all that wiring her job to some experiment and then selling her some bit of medical kit. Was that doctor actually grifting her? Seemed quite ironic. And did she actually purchase the kit. And if she did actually have something wrong with her why didn’t she make more of that? When people were questioning her fabricated diagnoses. Also when she collapsed at the party with a fit was that real or fabricated? Pray explain someone who is cleverer than I am?

thenightsky · 19/02/2025 11:15

I'm pretty sure the party fit was faked as it went on for 40 mins or more apparently.

I thought the barefoot Dr with the expensive machine was some quack who she'd gone to because of her obsession with woo treatments.

Dueanamechange2025 · 19/02/2025 11:22

Babymamamama · 19/02/2025 01:58

Just binged this. Didn’t love it for the first half but got totally drawn in for the last three episodes so I’m glad I stuck with it. Really wanted to know more about her childhood, did she fabricate that too or was she really neglected. Also that totally weird scene when she visited some kind of quack gp who seemed to know her background but was also familiar with her son. What was all that wiring her job to some experiment and then selling her some bit of medical kit. Was that doctor actually grifting her? Seemed quite ironic. And did she actually purchase the kit. And if she did actually have something wrong with her why didn’t she make more of that? When people were questioning her fabricated diagnoses. Also when she collapsed at the party with a fit was that real or fabricated? Pray explain someone who is cleverer than I am?

The fit was faked because people were starting to question if she was ill.

I didn’t totally understand the doctor part either. I have watched part 1 of the ITV documentary and she is talking about a doctor that diagnosed her and then disappeared so wondering if that’s what this represents. Will update if there is any more info in part 2.

FanofLeaves · 19/02/2025 11:31

Dueanamechange2025 · 19/02/2025 11:22

The fit was faked because people were starting to question if she was ill.

I didn’t totally understand the doctor part either. I have watched part 1 of the ITV documentary and she is talking about a doctor that diagnosed her and then disappeared so wondering if that’s what this represents. Will update if there is any more info in part 2.

The doctor part was a bit of exploration/ artistic licence into what Belle recounted led to her cancer diagnosis. IE, made up and fantastical. It’s a nod to what she describes in the 60 minutes interview.

FanofLeaves · 19/02/2025 13:11

If anyone would like a podcast re commendation for something in the same genre, ‘sympathy pains’ is a really good one.

SpikeGilesSandwich · 19/02/2025 19:37

Did her mum actually have MS? It's hard to know what to believe!

Dueanamechange2025 · 19/02/2025 19:50

SpikeGilesSandwich · 19/02/2025 19:37

Did her mum actually have MS? It's hard to know what to believe!

Yes that was one of the truths.

GlitchStitch · 19/02/2025 19:50

SpikeGilesSandwich · 19/02/2025 19:37

Did her mum actually have MS? It's hard to know what to believe!

Yes she died from it a few years ago. I think the drama was quite unfair to her family, seeming to take Belle's account as fact when she's a proven liar. She also said in an interview she had to care for her autistic brother. But apparently he doesn't have autism and came across well in the documentary.

SpikeGilesSandwich · 19/02/2025 20:17

Thanks, I didn't think the Netflix drama made it clear and it seemed as though the mum wasn't actually using the walking stick at times. I wouldn't be happy seeing that if I was her mum and genuinely had MS!

fingerbobz · 19/02/2025 20:57

The documentary explains more about the fit

Somebody asked if she wanted a doctor at which point she made a miraculous recovery and said no thanks

PrincessBing · 20/02/2025 09:19

I also watched all 6 episodes in quick succession, it was compelling. I thought it did a good job of showing how the characters came to be as they are whilst always coming back to the central point that the wellness industry - certainly beyond a few recipes pedalled to most of us just attempting to eat more veg- is a huge grift.

I thought it did a good job of showing Belle from a lot of angles - unmothered and too young really to be a mum herself, alone and smart but without means. Yet also as predatory, attention seeking, self interested and ruthless. Your sympathy for aspects of what she'd been through fluctuated. Especially as she fleeced that poor family. Ultimately she had a good product but the lies she told to sell it were needless and hinter at her true illness - in her psyche.

Something I thought it did cover well was how people came to be vulnerable to the wellness "cult". In particular it didn't outright state but certainly showed one of the reasons could be bedside manner and treatment by those practicing conventional medicine, which as you can well see on this site has a huuuuuuge impact on patients. Milla's diagnosis appointment was absolutely brutal, and whilst her dr was right, he seemed annoyed that she didn't take in her stride some of the most appalling news you could get and let the fact that his treatment plan was actually an amputation dawn on her rather than stating it - that was awful. There was no attempt to break it to her sensitively or try and get through to her. Even when a psychologist was brought in at that firing squad-esque panel appointment, it seemed too little too late. Contrast this to Belle's quack dr, who was charming and talked to her not at her.

Similarly Lucy felt bereft of her identity and any agency. Both are devastating. Her dr rightly shut down Lucys attempts to introduce wellness but Lucy's mental state seemed to be overlooked and a bit of an inconvenience. I can understand how someone who seems glowing, confident, in control and well would be such a powerful draw.

There's a lot to unpack, like Milla being a scammer as well, how she was actually more vulnerable than she seemed as she had also had an eating disorder, how culpable Clive really was but overall I just found it a fascinating watch.

The two things that got me angry were Belle scamming that poor family and the Hirsch institute, based on the real life Gershon institute. The Hirsch woman was sending people to their deaths. How have the real life proprietors not been prosecuted. The scene where Millas mum collapsed out of her wheel chair and you could see the blood on the seat of her trousers was heart breaking.

Dueanamechange2025 · 20/02/2025 09:45

Does anyone know why the documentary didn't cover Clive at all?

Disturbia81 · 20/02/2025 10:08

It just made me feel sad about all the people who followed that advice in real life and have died since.

UrsulasHerbBag · 20/02/2025 10:29

I have been watching this. 2 episodes to go. As I literally type my husband is having his eardrum removed, skin cancer spread. He had hodgkinsons a few years ago and I would literally have given him the coffee enemas myself… fortunately he has more sense than me. I absolutely understand why people are desperate for hope and to latch on to that positivity. When money starts being asked for then it is a load of old shit, anyone who professes love peace and wellbeing that had a cure for cancer would not be making money on it.
As for Belle it looks like she has serious issues around delusions, compulsive/pathological lying, narcissistic personality traits and a whole raft of other things. The boyfriend may have been bonded to the child but if you are living in a beautiful expensive house paid for by the proceeds of a vile scam perpetrated on the truly terrified and desperate then you are just as bad.
It takes all sorts and thank god the majority of the human race are not filthy grifting shits. Rant over!

Mombie · 20/02/2025 11:23

I binged it and I feel like I have known a colleague like this. We spent a lot of time together on a work trip and I shared my son’s ASD diagnosis with her. As the trip wore on her behaviour became more unhinged as she started to announce allergies and illnesses that were a bit suspect. When we got home, she started to display ASD characteristics that we had talked about and I was the only one that knew this and couldn’t question her without looking like a bitch. I find it so interesting that Belle has become a part of the Ethiopian community now as this person that I know has also converted to another faith and “gives religious advice” on FB.
i watched Belle’s 60 minute interview too and she is so good with her words but she has this look in her face when she makes a statement and speaks in a sort of question to see if the other person has accepted what she is saying.

I don’t think Clive is innocent either. He has to know and was reaping the benefits too. It is so terribly sad for genuinely ill people who were taken in by her.

GlitchStitch · 20/02/2025 12:17

There is a documentary coming to Disney Plus tonight called Scamanda, about Amanda Riley who is now in prison for faking illness and ripping people off. Her husband even went to court to lower his child support to his ex based on having to pay for medical bills for Amanda's non existent cancer. I will be watching later, I've become a bit fascinated by the stories of influencers and vloggers who end up in disgrace.

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