Life Uncut - The Best Of The PickUp - The Man with 1000 kids

Episode Date: July 21, 2024

It's our weekly round up! The best of the week from our National radio show THE PICKUP. On the show:  Mitch is an uncle! Delilah is a menace Laura's obsession with the Netflix doco - the man with 1000 kids See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life Uncut podcast acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders, past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. This episode is recorded on Gadigal land of the Aurora Nation. Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of Life Uncut. I'm Laura. I'm Brittany. I'm Mitch. This is The Radio Show, The Pickup.

We do it every day and this is all the best bits right here for you if you don't listen to the radio live. If you don't listen to the radio live, why? A lot of people don't listen to the radio because they listen to podcasts. I saw a tweet this week. This was off the back of a Trump assassination attempt. Someone was like, God, in a moment like this, in a national emergency, it's almost like we need a live form of a podcast that tells us

exactly what's happening the moment it happens. Surely that was satire. No, it wasn't. Someone retweeted being like, that's radio. like it's been around a long time we had a big week this week guys if you listen to like our podcast episode earlier i spoke to you about the fact that i've been having a lot of trouble with my dog delilah she did have some issues getting kicked out of her doggy school with her dog walkers there's been a whole kerfuffle that is ongoing so this week we sort of dedicated quite

a lot to trying to get to the bottom of it we're speaking to the dog walker we got dog experts on we got like a dog explosive expert on i don't know how she came into the whole thing but we We got Jodie. I mean, you guys, if you listen to Tuesday's air, Britt was saying not only was it one dog, it was both of the dog walkers. In one fell swoop did Delilah get kicked out. She obviously had an off day.

But we spoke to Jodie. So Jodie is Britt's dog walker. She was also my dog walker. And we got to the bottom of what the actual problem is. It's not good. She's very sweet. But then we actually did speak to a dog narcotics trainer. Yes.

It was at her wit's end too. She's like, listen, I work with drug dogs. All right, enough about that. Enough about that. I, speaking of babies in our lives, I became an uncle this week. Oh, my God, I'm still so happy for you, Mitch. I'm also happy for Becky, but I'm so happy for you. Yeah, well, it's cute.

You guys met Becky. We heard Becky on the podcast. She's been on, you know, with a battle with MS, and she had a miscarriage earlier this year. She got diagnosed and had a miscarriage, like, in the same week. It was a rough trot for Becky this year. But she just gave birth to her first baby, my first niece or nephew. Niece.

Yeah, niece. Yeah, niece, you're right. But little baby Remy was born. There's a lot of details in there, including why Laura Burns sobbed before I did. No, I sobbed because I was having a hard week, and then seeing someone like have the happy news of having a baby, I was like, oh, you've sent me over the edge, Mitch.

You really did. But just like actually I haven't got to hold her yet. I was going to say getting to hold her, but I haven't even touched her yet. My sister's been a bit like, don't touch the baby. I completely understand that. Mitch sent a photo of himself in the group chat with Becky and he was like having a selfie with the baby, which looks weird as like a photo,

but also I can completely understand why so many mums are opposed to anyone, whether it's family, friends, whoever, holding the baby, especially in the first few weeks. Yeah, but I got whooping cough. I went to Kevin's warehouse and got jabbed. It doesn't matter. You didn't get whooping cough. You got the injection.

Yeah, the vaccination. Now, this is something I wanted to talk about on the pod earlier, but I think not everyone has enjoyed the series so far. Like, Britt, you were kind of a bit like you thought it was slow moving. I was just bored. Topic's great, but the doco bored me. I fucking loved it. You guys might have seen the doco that's on Netflix at the moment

called The Man Who Fathered a Thousand Kids or something of that effect. But it's all about this Dutch guy who has been giving his sperm away through like sometimes through like the formal processes of sperm banks, but also through very informal processes like Facebook Marketplace and online listings. And he has come out and said he thinks he's fathered like 550 children. But this documentary goes into how many children they think that he has fathered through his network of sperm donations.

And they think it's upward of a thousand. So we were talking about that, but we also talked to someone in Australia. His name is Adam Hooper, and he is kind of doing a similar thing. He's created an Australian sperm bank, an unofficial sperm bank, where people can go on, they can meet people, they can get sperm. And it's really fascinating because it brings up all the questions around how difficult it is for so many people to access sperm who are, you know, needing to go through those fertility treatments.

Yeah, and someone in our direct team is going through that right now. So you'll hear that story too. Let's get into the show. i this week became an uncle we're so happy for you honey we're so happy for becky for your sister but also for you this is such a big moment for me it's the first baby in the family my beautiful sister becky who's been on this show before many times many times yeah she gave birth to the first baby in the family baby remi uh 37 weeks she's a gorgeous little girl and uh with with my brother-in-law

kurt happy healthy i feel like a different man even though it's not my baby there's something going on in my body my hormones who knows but i okay i see this baby and i think this is part of me i understand this mitch because i remember when my sister had her very so she's got a little boy and a girl but when she had archer my nephew my very first nephew i had this real feeling it just was different i was like oh this is my baby yeah i'm now an auntie but also i'm a mom like i'm Sorry, Alicia, but I'm up. It felt really different for me. But also I think from us as well, with Becky having a baby,

there's so much more loaded into this. Becky's been on the show. She's spoken about how hard her health battles have been over the last year having MS. Yep. And this is just such a huge and incredible change in life. Like we're so excited for her, so much so I sent a photo of myself bawling my eyes out in our group chat.

I know. I couldn't help it. I got a photo of Remy. And first of all, they didn't tell me the gender. They're like, born 1717, Remy. And then it's just a baby. And all babies look like blobs. Also, Remy doesn't really, yeah.

Remy's gender neutral. So I'm like, oh, my God, boy, girl, boy, girl. I didn't find out for two hours. They were so stressed with the birth of the baby. Maybe that is a beautiful baby. No, it's a little baby girl. And I sent it to the group chat and Laura was sobbing. Sobbing.

You know, some people are pretty criers and some people are ugly criers. And dear God, I'm an ugly crier. No, I just think like, and, you know, your sister, Sherry's pregnant, Brit. Yep, she's having a baby in like seven weeks, her first baby. So I'm super excited. I just, something came over me. I'm so proud of Becky. Like, she was so scared, truthfully, about living with MS.

She was only diagnosed this year, having this baby. She had to get a Caesar. And the whole family were worried and scared, and the Turi family are so close. Like, you know us. We are all obsessed with each other. I still live at home. My other sister lives at home.

Like, the royal function that happened after this baby was born, Michelle Turi, like, she sat down on the couch. She's now a grandma. She gets the phone book out. She calls everyone she's ever had an interaction with, And she did it the same way. She went, hello, Aunty Karen. Yeah.

It's Grandma here. Like the same joke the whole time. First time I went, that's good from you, Mum. And an hour later, hello, Sam from Coles who serves me on a Sunday. Grandma here. This is ridiculous. To be fair. It's so beautiful is what it is.

To be fair, you did call me and I was like, hello. You're like, hi, it's Uncle Mitch. So you took your mum's gear. I love to plagiarise gear. You really do. It's definitely a Mitch jury thing. I do, but I'm an uncle. So when you listen to this show now, you know, that's been what's missing.

You know, on this show, we talk to mums all the time. Mums picking up kids in cars. Now you understand. Now you can go, I can write to that gay man now. Now it's the pick up with Brit Laura and Uncle Mitch. Oh, my God, rebrand. Well, okay, from all of us, genuinely, we could not be happier for Becky. It's such a beautiful and special time.

And for your whole family, it's incredible. We're so, so thrilled for you guys. Well, Mitch, we've just been talking about your beautiful sister having a baby. Having the first baby of the Ture family. She's so cute and tiny and she's beautiful. She's so beautiful. But this got me thinking about a Netflix special that I've been watching recently.

And I don't know if you guys have seen this yet, but everyone in my friendship group is talking about this. It's The Man With A Thousand Kids. It's on Netflix. It centers around this guy. His name's Jonathan Meyer. And no one knows exactly how many children he has fathered. But as one could figure out from the title,

people think it is upwards of a thousand children. So he basically what happened is in the Netherlands, He was giving his sperm away to people like on Facebook Marketplace, on the internet, throughout these different websites that were set up for. It's like the dark sperm web. Yes, it really is. But also it's come out that it wasn't just in the Netherlands. There's people in Australia that have birthed children to him.

There are people all over the world that have birthed children to this man. So he's FedExing this sperm around the world. No, he's been travelling. So he's actually a YouTuber and a musician, right? So he's travelled the world. Good on him. And every place that he goes to, he's making sperm deposits. And then sometimes it's through sperm banks, but more often than not,

it's actually through like unofficial sources, things like Facebook Marketplace. So hang on, Laws. Is he doing this because, you know, not all heroes wear capes and he just wants to help people out? Or is he making money from it? Or is it some weird power trip? No, so apparently he doesn't make much money at all. Like it's quite, in terms of how he sees it, it's quite altruistic that he's like,

I've got great sperm and I want to give the gift of life to as many people as possible. Hang on, if he's traveling the world, he's making bank from this. No, he's not. He's not doing it as a, I mean, if you look at his YouTube, he's definitely not a wealthy man by any means. And I don't think that donating sperm makes you a lot of money as a career choice. But the laws in the Netherlands is that if you're donating sperm, you're not supposed to father any more than 25 children.

So the fact that he's exceeded this by like God knows how many, he says he thinks it's more around the 550 mark but the documentary goes into saying it's a thousand now the problem is is that now it's come out that there's all these kids to this man which then creates like the issue of all these children growing up in the same town who are all siblings or half siblings and then like they sleep together yes and then falling in love with each other and going to the same university and meeting their half brother and having a relationship with them But originally, I had that thought of like, okay, who's crazy enough to go and do this. But then I kind of had to step back a little bit. And I was like, I'm in such a privileged position that I

have my own sperm bank walking around the house at home. You know, I don't need to worry about where I'm getting mine from to make children. But I mean, you would have to consider this people who are in same sex relationships or people who are not in a relationship but are desperate to have a baby. It is so hard. There's such a wait list for getting access to sperm that then it kind of made me rethink I understand why if you're desperate you might go to these sorts of resources to try and get a bit of help. Yeah it's a good discussion but then clearly now the ethics need to be outlined and there needs to be an infrastructure that that can make something like this actually happen because it is very beneficial but you're right kids getting with

siblings down the track is not what we want. I 100% understand the people that are looking to get the sperm from Facebook marketplace like there of course they are there is such a limiting factor or limiting number of available donations in Australia. I have multiple friends in same-sex relationships that have had to go to other countries to get what they need to go and procreate. So I understand the feeling of desperation to go to a place like this,

but I don't think, I'm going to have to do some research, I don't think I can get on board with this. Ethically, there's a lot wrong with it. You don't know where it's from. You're not doing the same testing. There's not the same screening. So it's, for me, I understand it, but that doesn't necessarily mean I think it's completely okay.

Or also the risks that are involved. And that's what this documentary goes into, like what people thought they were getting. And some people didn't just get a deposit. Some people actually slept with him. So it's like... Here's the thing, though. It's so interesting to talk about it thinking this man's in the Netherlands.

We've done some research here at The Pickup. There is an Aussie version of this guy who lives and breathes in Australia and he's doing the exact same thing. He hasn't fathered a thousand kids and he's a bit more ethically focused. But we thought, you know what, let's actually go inside the mind of someone who does this for a living. Yeah, like what would make someone want to father that many children or even donate sperm in the first place?

Exactly. So he's joining us next, Adam Hooper. On the phone, joining us live is Adam Hooper from Sperm Donation Australia. Adam has two children and more than 15 donor children out there in the wild. He joins us now to educate us on this because it's such an interesting topic. Welcome to The Pickup, Adam. How are you, mate? Yeah, I'm good. It's been a whirlwind watching the Thousand Kids show on Netflix, hasn't it? My biggest question, though, Adam, is, correct me if I'm wrong,

you don't go through the normal traditional sperm bank sort of set-ups, do you? You have a different way in which people can access sperm. Well, that's not entirely true. Okay. Look, basically these days now the wait set clinics for a donor is two years plus. So a lot of clinics now are telling them to come to Sperm Donation Australia, source your donor, and then take them through that route. So, you know, the thing about Presbyterian Nation Australia

is it's more of a personal choice because anonymity is dead now. The child can find out who you are at 18 regardless. People are deciding now that it's probably good to find out from day one if they're comfortable with who that donor potentially is going to be. Adam, what made you want to do this? I came across a person that was in a same-sex relationship and they said that they were looking to start a family. I had just had my second child at that stage and I was in a relationship and I knew how special it

was for me and my life to be a parent and when I got to speak speak to this person I thought wow this person you know really deserves um you know to be worthy of being a parent so then I looked into the clinics and then I went to go sign up with a clinic and they're like you don't know who you're going to be helping or who's going to pick you and that didn't sit right with me because I didn't want my children having incest so for me I had to know who I was helping. So can you tell me then if you've got 15 donor kids already do you have a relationship with those children at all and and also on top of that what's the limit for you like how many donor kids do you think you'll bring into the world oh look my days uh slowed right down now i've got so many donors now uh

back in pioneer days when jonathan was around uh back in 2014 uh you know he would do a post and nearly every woman on the post was um commenting and wanting services that's because there was a lack of donors now we've got thousands and thousands of donors to choose from and uh you know this documentary is just brought through uh 300 people we had to screen through in the last week week or so so you know um so for me uh i'm not really actively looking to donate but every now and then i come across a really good person that just captures my interest that you know i feel compelled to help so if people don't if people wanted to just donate adam like they want to do a good deed and help someone but not be involved can they do that oh look every donor

of looks for something different for what suits their lifestyle for me I like the personal social aspect of it I like to know that the child's going all right and that I helped a good person yeah um no I don't have like you must check in with me sort of demands but like you know just the friendly chat here and there that's that does me fine and yeah I put the the group meetings out there for parents to come and let their children meet each other so they all feel comfortable and know each other so they don't have that risk of incest uh you know the formal channels of clinics unless the kids come forward and want to reach out to the donor, then the children don't necessarily ever meet or know of each other.

So, you know, you're still finding that risk of incest that happens from the clinics more likely than this way nowadays. Let's go to a break because, I mean, we can't just talk sperm hours on end as much as we'd all love to. You would love to. Let's get Producer Grace in here because I think if you're in the car listening to this and you're thinking, oh, it's a bit, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

I mean, odds are I'd put money on it. You've got a nuclear family. You might be in a heterosexual relationship. I think you'd really benefit from hearing Grace's side, someone who is actually at the precipice of doing this herself. Hey, if you're just joining us, we've been talking a lot about kids and IVF, procreation, going down the right channels and the wrong channels.

And the reason that that is is because this Netflix documentary, Man With A Thousand Kids, has been going viral. It's exactly what it sounds like. It's a man that is spreading his seed left, right and centre and he has a thousand kids around the world. Don't, apparently. Don't to kids. So we did speak to our very own version of that in Australia.

His name is Adam. He has been doing the same thing on a lesser scale, more monitored. 15. I mean, it's much, much different. No, but he runs, sorry, he's done 15, but he runs a group for it that is not mainstream IVF clinic. It's just a group on Facebook online where you can go and swap eggs for sperm or donate sperm.

But we have our very own executive producer, Grace, who is married to her beautiful wife, Diana, and happened to be a member of this group. Grace, you're going down this track, are you? Well, yeah, I've been a member of Sperm Donation Australia for probably the last three or four years. Congratulations. No, purely because I was just fascinated and, you know,

it got to a point where I was like, I'm going to marry this woman so I need to start figuring out what my options are and that kind of thing. And it was just really fascinating to see when it was a smaller scale and it's grown a lot in the last couple of years and you see all these babies born, people asking for things, having discussions about co-parenting and stuff like that. It's really fascinating to be a part of.

Grace, why would you, and I think the big ethical question that everyone kind of goes to, especially people who don't have to ever consider the idea of getting a sperm donation, is like why wouldn't you go through an IVF clinic? Why wouldn't you go through a registered source? You know it's safe. You know they do the testing. Why is it that so many women who are looking for,

or people who are looking for sperm donations are doing it through, like an unregistered way or like a Facebook marketplace? Because it seems crazy. It does seem crazy. But I think the biggest selling point going through a known donor or someone you meet on a Facebook group for me personally, is that when you go through like an IVF or go through a sperm bank, your child can't know who that person is until they're 18. They can find out everything at 18. But I think it's really fascinating. And I've been reading a lot from donor conceived children who are now grown up and have been through that experience

themselves. And I think it's so fascinating when they're like every child has the right to know biologically where they came from, their cultural backgrounds, their family medical history, that kind of thing. And it's really important to me that that person, that my child would know who their biological parents are. But you get that information through an IVF clinic, right? Yeah. But they can't, they can learn all their medical history and stuff, but they can't then have a connection with that. I think the shocking thing here that a lot of people in the car listening wouldn't know is that there is up to a two year wait at an IVF clinic to get a sperm donation, especially even if you're happy with what's on offer. And I say what's on offer because

there's not that many. No. I know a lot of people that go overseas to get it because they go through the Australian books and they're not happy. And I guess that's a huge reason we're seeing people go into these underground groups. Absolutely. Especially if you do happen to have more things around what you're looking for in a donor. For example, my wife is Filipino. I intend on carrying our child, but we'd really like, you know, our baby to share cultural heritage from both of us. So we would love a donor that happens to be Filipino. Do you ever worry about the safety of this sort of situation? And I think that's the big thing is everyone's like, well, if it's not from a registered source, it's not safe. Yeah. But I mean, also hooking up with some random guy

at a nightclub doesn't feel particularly safe to me either. But yeah, is that a consideration for you? Definitely. And I probably will go down the route of like testing anything that that kind of thing. But like you said, you hook up with a stranger in a club and you get pregnant. Nobody's done any genetic testing there. Nobody's, you know, got a family medical history. Like it's the risk you take in any situation. You know, the one thing in relationships that I think everybody has a very strong and negative opinion on. Yeah. Sharing food or not? Well, I mean, maybe in your relationship, but no, I was going to say cheating. There's a TikToker who has gone viral. Her name is Lay Penny, and she's gone viral for sharing how she found out that her

boyfriend at the time was cheating on her. So have a listen to this. The guy that's been talking to me for the past few months just walked in with his baby mother. His baby mother. His baby mother that's about to give birth. Okay? Wow. Wow.

He comes in here. As soon as he sees me, his face drops. I'm confused. I'm quickly enlightened because the mother is behind him with the belly before her. Wow. So she is a nurse and she's at the hospital. That day, she's been texting her boyfriend.

They've been texting throughout the day. Everything's normal. The guy she's been talking to. Yeah, the guy. She's been seeing him for a while. Maybe not boyfriend, but, you know, they're definitely an item. And they've been sleeping together. Anyway, she's at work.

She's on a shift at the hospital. And in work walks her boyfriend. And she thinks, oh, he's come to visit me. He's come to surprise me on my late night shift. But no, he walks into the hospital. And behind him is his wife or girlfriend or whoever it is. And she is heavily pregnant. And that's how this poor woman found out that her partner was cheating on her.

Did she approach and say, hey, I'm here to deliver your baby? No. Do you know what? And I loved this about this TikTok because I think if you're ever put in a situation where you find out you're being cheated on, like you have that kind of question as to whether you're going to confront them, you're going to confront the other person. Yeah. As a nurse, she realized the amount of distress that that would have caused that woman who

was just about to go in and have a baby. And she was like, I hate him. He's an absolute jerk. but I don't want to do that to another woman in this moment and maybe she will find out I mean finding out

shortly after you've had a baby is also still horrific but I don't think anyone wants to have that news as you're walking in to have a baby and walking into labor God no

It's hideous I mean I feel like that says a lot about the person if she was to go and tell that pregnant woman in that moment when she's giving birth

I think that says a lot about her anyway like I think there's not many people that would be in that situation that would go and ruin her like she's in labor she's pushing it

like you just wouldn't do it in that moment It's also not her fault. But it's not, yeah. The person that needs to be spoken to is the guy. And like you said, Gloss, pregnancy, such an intimate moment, a special moment for that woman. She can find out at a later date.

But it does make you sort of raise the question around the interesting ways that people have found out how their partners were cheating on them. So when I was in my 20s and my real long-term boyfriend who I was, I mean, I genuinely thought we were going to get married. Like I was so obsessed with him. Many toxic things happened in that relationship. But I came to work this one day and one of my staff from Tony May, she was like, look, I don't know how to bring this up with you.

I'm scared you're going to fire me for being the messenger in the middle of this. She's like, but I need to tell you, my girlfriend matched with your boyfriend on Tinder and they went on a date. And I only know this because she showed me the guy that she'd been on a couple of dates with and then I realised it's your boyfriend.

Could you imagine? This is awful, but I would have loved to have, How old were you at that point? I was 28. I would have loved to have met 28-year-old Gloria. How does that happen to you? I was devastated. I thought my life was going to end.

Laura, there were a lot of signs in Laura's relationship that I think at the time you chose to ignore, like the woman's undies in the bed. I also found a pair of undies that were not mine in his bed and he managed to explain away to me that they weren't. The signs were there. I believed him. What would he have said?

How did he explain that away? There was actually something else that happened like the next day. I found messages because I didn't want to confront him because I knew he would lie about it again or say she was making it up. So I am not proud of this, but I ended up going through his phone. And as I was in his phone, I got a notification, which was just a number, and it said, do you want to remove this number from spam?

And I was like, what, spam? And then I found the spam folder and it was filled with messages. You were really deep in that phone, weren't you? Oh, no, I was. It was filled with messages from girls that he'd been cheating on. Oh, it was. Listen, how did you catch the cheater? How did you find out, Georgia?

Hey, how did you catch the cheater? Oh, it's a few years ago now. I can't remember how I stumbled across it, but I was on the computer at home and I came across a folder called Golf and I'm like, that's weird. My husband doesn't play golf. Golf, oh my God.

And inside was a whole heap of porn. Oh, okay. And when I looked at it, there was no faces. There was no, you couldn't see who it was. And I'm like, oh, that looks like his wedding ring. That's a bit strange. Oh, no. And then I saw a tattoo on the tummy of the girl

and I went, oh, okay. And I saw another one and it was just the girl, same tattoo, saw the face and went, hold on a minute, I know you. And it was someone he worked with. And there was like heaps of different videos of the two of them. Did you confront him? Oh, bloody, I was like, yes. What happened?

What happened? Oh, you know, denial, it's not what you think. Okay, the pictures are there. It's like, no, babe, it's golf. That's how golf works. What about Sarah? Hey, how did you catch the cheetah? Hey, I was in a long distance relationship with my boyfriend at the time and we're on

FaceTime chatting and then all of a sudden like the phone just fell on the floor and I was like, oh, hello, like, hey, you still there, whatever, no answer. I was like, okay, whatever, like the reception must have just died or whatever. So I hung up and then like a couple hours went past and I was like, this is so weird. So I decided to check his location, which I think he forgot that I had his location, psycho ex-girlfriend, you know. And then he replied like three, four hours later and was like, oh, I'm so sorry.

Like I tripped and fell and hit my head and I got knocked out. Oh, what an idiot. So then I was like, well, no, I think, you know, that's not right because your car was moving like you left the house. He's got amnesia. But what a weird lie. Like I was unconscious. Okay, we'll go to the hospital then.

Yeah, but how did you actually catch the cheating? Just because he's in a car driving doesn't mean he's boning someone else. because I, like, questioned him about it and I made him feel really bad that he confessed. Do you know, okay, the thing about this, though, is that it's so devastating at the time. Like, there is nothing more emotionally ruining than finding out you're being cheated on.

But then it always, in retrospect, years later, once you've done a bit of healing, you always find it funny. It's hilarious. You're always like, what an idiot. Absolutely. That guy's a loser. I was talking about this on the show last week.

My boyfriend had his birthday and we booked him a night at a hotel this weekend. So I had it this weekend. Yeah, last Friday you were so excited to get out of here. We got so excited. However, I think I've been scammed by the hotel. What? How?

Tell me if you think I'm in the wrong or they're doing the right thing that hotels do. So it's a very fancy new age hotel and I got a message on WhatsApp like the day of check-in. Like, hi Mitch, this is the hotel. We don't have a front of house. This is how we'll communicate. If you need anything, let me know. WhatsApp. So new age.

Yeah. And they said, are you celebrating a special occasion with us? And I'm like, well, they've asked. So I said, yeah, it's my boyfriend, Stephen's birthday. You know, that's what's happening. Like, oh, do you need anything upon arrival? I'm like, this is so nice. I said, yeah, whatever you can do to make it super special would be nice.

And I thought maybe they'll get a hand towel and shape it like a swan. Like some chocolates on the bed or like rose petals. Yeah, right. Even rose petals is too much. I'm like, no, just like a bottle of champagne, a cheap one, you know. I was like, whatever you can do to make it special were my words. And they said, leave it with us. We got you, Mitch.

And they put a wink emoji. Like, they're cool. It's a new age hotel. Wink, wink, tongue out, eggplant. I love this. So I'm like, great. So I pick up Stephen. We drive there.

We park in the hotel. All is good. I get to the room. Yeah. They did something special. There was a bottle of champagne. There was a handwritten note that said, welcome Mitch and Stephen. Happy birthday.

Enjoy your stay. Here are some macarons from the local French bakery. So cute. Yeah, that's really sweet. Nice, right? So we drink the champagne. We have the macarons. We have a great night.

Go to dinner. Check out the next day. We're wheeling our bags to reception and we go, here are our key cards. We had nothing from the minibar. Nothing from the minibar. They said, great, just your parking stay. We'll charge you for parking. I'm like, oh, God, parking stung me.

It always gets me parking. And they went, and then also just to close off the bill for the champagne and macarons. And I thought. Oh, no, they charged you. I thought, hold on a second. I WhatsAppped with your AI bot person or whoever that was. I don't know if it was a real person or not,

but they were sending very flirtatious winks and I want to talk about that. But secondly, I didn't ask for that. That's a bit rich. It's a bit rich. It's rich of you to assume that you're going to get things for free, firstly, but I think that that's a big, that's like an overestimation of them to think that you were going to pay for a bottle of wine and macarons that you didn't even know the price for.

Were they well-priced or expensive? But did you actually ask them, Mitch? Did you actually say, oh, your hotel messaged me and asked me? Did you confront them about the charge? Absolutely not. I'll pay the charge. It's fine. It might have been an accident, though.

They might not have meant to have charged you and then it didn't filter down from top of house to front of house and then back of house because everyone was confused. First of all, too many houses and too many sides, front, back, left, right. I also, how emasculating for Stephen, because I bought the hotel room. You're like, I thought it was going to be free.

Yeah. So, hey, hold on. These treats that you gave my boyfriend, I will not pay them. I can't do that. It's the way they ask. Listen to what happened to me. Ben and I, my fiancé and I, were on a boat not that long ago

and it was like a beautiful boat that Ben had go out of his way to make a special day for me. Anyway, it was like a sunset cruise and all this stuff. And then at the end, they said to us, oh, it's such a nice night. You guys just want to stay for an extra half an hour. And we're like, you know what? Yeah. I saw these photos.

You posted these photos. We will stay for another half an hour. Why not? Thank you so much. And then when they dropped us off, they brought a card machine and we had to pay a lot for that extra half an hour. The way that they said it made it sound like we can just cut another lap. And I was stunned.

We'll give you a bit extra. Yeah. It's the way they say it. You know who does it well? airlines they're like hey you know we've got some extra business class seats would you like to upgrade here's the cost because if they said to you would you like to upgrade you go oh gorgeous thank you it's three thousand dollars yes that's what i did when i accidentally upgraded to first class i thought it was free and it wasn't no one accidentally upgrades to first i did i thought it

was a free upgrade take all my points and my first child all right well oscar's called hey what were you conned into buying oscar um well i went shopping recently and you know how some stores they like to say oh would you like to buy a bag for a dollar carry bag sort of thing oh yeah so some places like to do the carry bag as a tote bag so i've gone to the shop they've gone yet blah blah whatever do you want to buy a tote bag and i thought yeah okay ten dollar tote bag just to carry my stuff in they told me it was for charity so i was like all right at least my ten isn't, you know, it's going to something good. Only to find out after the fact, maybe a day or two later,

it didn't go to charity. Wait, what do you mean they told you it was going to charity and it didn't go? How did you know where the money went? Yeah, didn't you follow up? Well, no, I didn't follow up. I just had a secondary look at the receipt and on the receipt it has to say donation to charity.

And it didn't. And this time it didn't. Do you reckon it's even the shop charging you or do you reckon the shop assistant's got a side hustle of just taking your $10, putting it away? I mean, if she's got a side hustle, that's an excellent side hustle because I would have been none the wiser if I hadn't had read the receipt. I just think there's nothing more annoying now when you walk into a shop

because most shops do it. Most shops you walk into, whether it's your local service station or you've gone in to get a cheap T-shirt, they'll be like, do you want some mints? Do you want a bag? Do you want some hair ties? Do you want a comb? I've got a cotton on for a pair of socks.

Yes, it's cotton on. Hey, do you want a Frisbee to support UNICEF? Hey, do you need a violin to support UNICEF? I'm like, what? They go through like 17 different things and I'm like, no, I don't need hair bands. I just want to buy that one shirt. I say yes.

I buy everything. If someone goes, can you support a charity, I feel so guilty, even though I've just done 25 of them in a row and I'm like, yes. You're a good person. I said, I'll also have that cube of ice. Do you know what it is currently? It is when you go to a restaurant and you sit down, it's a fancy restaurant, and they go, still or sparkling?

That's entrapment. That's entrapment because you're going to get charged for the still because it's going to be purified still. You're going to be charged for the sparkling. They should say steel, tap or sparkling because you can just say tap. That's a hack for us out there. You can still just ask for tap water, Mitch. Yeah, but they say steel or sparkling and you go,

oh, sparkling costs, I'll get the steel to save money. But then you're charged for fancy steel water. Come to Mitch for the cost of Libby tips. Wow, Mitch. Mitch who buys the most designer things that look like rubbish. But doesn't want to pay for water. Doesn't want to pay for anything. His designer things that look like rubbish.

That's so mean. You said it, Laura. You said his bag looks like a rubbish bag. It's beautiful, Mitch. I've moved out of my rubbish stage. I know, but you do have a garbage bag that's very like Kanye-esque. Listen, don't pay for the water. That's all I'm saying.

Oh, don't you laugh, Oscar. All right. I was going to say he got that as a $10 tote bag. Oh, very funny. Very funny. Now, kids can be pretty convincing when they want something, right? I think whether you've got little kids and they manage to whinge enough that they get their way or whatever it is, if kids want something,

they're usually pretty good at getting whatever it is that they want. But there's one thing that I think as parents, we all have to consider. Now, my kids are too young at the moment to have to worry about this. But it's something that I remember when I was a teenager, I had to talk to my mom about and it's something that as a parent, the conversations coming whether you like it or not. And that is, when is the appropriate time to let your child's boyfriend or girlfriend sleep over? What age is the appropriate age? Now, the reason why this has gone viral is because there's two kids who created a PowerPoint presentation for their parents. Now, they're not really kids, they're 18, but they haven't been allowed to sleep over

at each other's houses yet. Oh, that's not kids in my mind. That's an adult. But also, they still live at home with their parents. And so their parents obviously have very strict rules around not having any boyfriends or girlfriends sleep over. But they put together a PowerPoint presentation to prove to their parents that they're responsible enough to be able to have their boyfriend sleep over. Now, some of the things that they brought up in this PowerPoint presentation, though, They were like, so we're going to go over your concerns. We've got some s**t to do with our futures. Sex means babies and it also means that you'll be broke

and I don't want to be broke and I understand your concerns but I don't want that responsibility right now. I kind of want to, you know, like shove little kids over when I hear them cry. That's probably a bit of an unnecessary one but he's trying to establish that he has no interest in having babies. He just wants to have a relationship with his girlfriend and have a sleepover.

Yeah, but most youths that accidentally have a child don't have the intention of it. They get carried away with doing the deed with those feelings that they haven't really felt before and it just happens. Oh, come on. They get overwhelmed. Well, yeah, you can have good intentions about I don't want a child, but a lot of people, unfortunately, it still happens.

Kids aside, right, because not every couple can have kids. I've got boys in my room, you know. You did it when you were 18, though. You had girls sleep over back then. I did. I did have girls sleep over. But I think it's fine. I think you've got to because here's the thing.

If you don't let it happen in your house, A, you're going to ostracise yourself from your kids and you're going to lose them. They're going to go to the girls' or the boys' house. I'm so interested to know, how old were you when your parents let you have someone sleep over, Mitch? For me, it wouldn't have been until I was 22, 23 because I wasn't really having people over.

I was one of those weird drama kids. And Britt, how old were you? Well, you were also confused. Yeah, I was. I didn't know if I wanted girls or boys or none. Well, hang on. Before we talk about my age, I just want to go back to this. I think that there's a part of me that thinks,

of course, you want to give a safe place for your children to do that, right? First of all, they're not kids. They're 18. it's you're an adult if you are old enough to be doing the deed and living your life like that you're old enough to go and get your own apartment you have to respect your parents decision firstly how old were you brit when you're allowed to have boys sleep over actually i was 18 i was 18 my i was really young so i was probably at at the late age of 15 like my mom let me have a boyfriend sleep over very young but but i do want to preface this in my mom's defense he was allowed to sleep

on the couch. And I was so well behaved because my mum's room is right next to the lounge room. So like there was no way that there was any sneak. There was no sneaking that went on. But I think for me, like I was a little bit of a late bloomer when it comes to all that sort of stuff. And I actually think it's because it wasn't the forbidden fruit. Like my mum was like, if you're going to have someone stay over or you're going to stay over their house, I don't want you to sneak around on me. I'd rather be under my roof. I want you to be safe. And I just want to know what you're doing. But then what's the point? If he slept in the lounge room and you didn't see him and you stayed in your room like just go home and they'll see in

the morning no because he didn't live near us so that was a problem he lived like a good hours drive away so it was a tricky weekend for us yeah but that's also how resentment builds it's not about the actual act it's like my parents won't let me do this trust me yeah i'm out you know and it adds to my rubbish don't parents house they're paying the bills they can set the rules you're 18 if you don't like your parents rules go and get your own apartment yeah but if you're parents and you've got those rules why did you have kids that's part of the fun that is It's not rubbish. It is.

I think it's part of it. You don't have kids so that you can let them fornicate under your roof. I'm not talking about sex, but let them have their partner in the house. Extend the family. Mi casa, su casa. Unfortunately, we have some interesting updates in the world of Brit dog Delilah, your beautiful Australian shepherd. She's beautiful to look at, but to spend time with, horrific.

She's not horrific. You love her and she loves you. And if she heard you say that, Mitch, she would be really upset. She'd be so hurt. She is a beautiful dog. And I liken Delilah to imagine like that person that you went to school with where they're so hot that they didn't have to work on their personality. That's what I mean.

That sounds mean enough. No, because she's so hot she can get away with anything. But I would love to get to the bottom of like what's the actual problem? Like do we need to sedate her? Like what's the next step in this? No, because we heard on Tuesday on the show that you're having issues keeping a dog walker. No, not issues keeping one.

I have had two dog walkers that take turns for two years. They both dumped you. But in the last week they've both said that, well, one of them is sort of dumped on. So I think she's better suited, you know, with a different pack. And the other dog walker, Jodie, put her on a one-month probation. We've got Jodie on the phone now. She's joining us.

We want to get to the root cause of the issue. Jodie's on the phone. You can schmooze away, Brit. We need to know what is going on with this dog. Jodie, welcome to the show. Hi. Hello, everybody. Hi, Jodie.

Look, I'm not going to lie. She is a little baby bit of a bully, but not all the time. Not all the time. She's got her times where she is a bit of a biatch, and then she's got her times where she's a bit of an angel. I think Delilah's got pretty privilege. That's what I think this is. She doesn't know she's pretty.

She 100% does. Sorry, Brit. Like, I mean, she literally looks like you. She does after her mum. That's so funny. She's an influencer dog. But, Jodie, you did give us a report card the other day because you've put her on quite a loose,

I would like to say loose, one-month probation. Because after you told me she was on probation, I went home, and I'm embarrassed to admit this, I sat down with her and I spoke to her like she was a toddler. I was like, you are not going to have anyone that wants to walk you. You're not going to have any other dog friends. I was like, you need to rein your behavior in. And then I thought I was crazy if anyone saw me doing that.

How was she the next day? She was absolutely fine until I picked up my first dog. Delilah's got a thing where she is incredibly territorial she thinks that any human that's with her is hers she's got about 87 mothers um and so when she's with me she thinks she is absolutely in charge of all the dogs and my car so she wasn't the greatest student when I picked up a few dogs she has to be in the front with me um and yeah she just basically like if I'm not really holding her back I think she may jump over and like tell them what's what but because I am prepared for it I don't allow it to happen. Do you know what Jodie I actually had after we spoke

about it the other day I had so many people write out that are the parents of Australian Shepherds and they all said the same thing they were like it's not you it's an Aussie trait where they have this like weird obsession with the humans. Absolutely they are so loyal and so protective and because they're really, really affectionate as well, that mix of sort of protection but also lovingness, they get so confused. And I just think it ultimately comes down to protection and loyalty. She doesn't get that she can share.

She's just not a good sharer. She's not a good sharer. Well, like a mum. Jodie, while we have you, the question that the whole country wants to know. Everyone's on the edge of their seat. Especially me. Are you going to keep Delilah and put in the work to making her a reformed dog?

Or are you firing Delilah right now? No pressure, Jodie. Or do I need to pay you more? Correct. What's your choice? Look, a bit of column B, but let's rehash this in a month and I'll give you an answer. So she's still on probation. Oh, my God.

Report cards daily. It's been one walk. It's been one walk. But I still love her with all my heart. You know that. Yeah. So let's chat in a few weeks and we'll go from there. If you're just tuning in now and you've missed the updates,

we've had this week on Brit's dog Delilah, her beautiful Australian shepherd that has the mind of a 33-year-old woman. That dog is... I'd say like a 16-year-old girl. Why do you say the mind of a 33-year-old? Well, they're very specific. She's such a developed, intelligent dog. You look at that dog and you go, that dog has superannuation,

that dog can pay taxes. Yeah, but I think her attitude is more, like she's quite mature in that sense. Because her attitude is more of a, like, 16-year-old that might not be getting her way. Well, this week we found out that Delilah has been fired from two dog walkers. Not fired, on probation. From one, fired from the other, though. Yeah, she can't keep a dog walker down. Here's the problem.

We've exhausted all avenues to get help for Delilah. So we found Australia's version. Welcome to the show. From Austin's Dog Training Education, Vicky Austin. Vicky has worked as an animal wrangler for media, television commercials, show dogs. She's worked with narcotic scent detection dogs. She's trained dogs in explosive scent detection. She's also worked with famous dogs on A Place to Call Home,

Fighting Season, Harry's Practice, Better Homes and Gardens. If there's someone that can fix Delilah in this country, it is Vicky Austin. Welcome to The Pickup. Please help us. Hi, Vicky. I don't think Delilah's on the same level of explosive detection. She's not really a narcotics dog.

She could be. Maybe you just haven't had the opportunity. Oh. Okay. Well, I'll tell you Delilah's problem quickly. like her main problem so she's an Australian Shepherd she's three years old the most beautiful sweetest affectionate dog you've ever seen everyone loves her but when she's with other dogs she has claimed her dog walker as hers so whenever another dog comes even remotely close she's quite

aggressive and it's a protection loyalty thing but I cannot since she's a puppy get her out of that protection yeah what it is is that she is a bit of a scaredy cat and her human whether it's or the dog walker is her security. And if other dogs are interfering with that, then it's a risk to, you know, to her safety. You know, it could even be very well a risk to her life. In other words, she's not a confident dog. She's scared and she needs that human to protect her

and she's scared that another dog's going to take her human away from her. Oh, poor little Delilah. I know, I feel bad. I called her a bully. So, Vicky, what do you suggest? What can Britt do? What can she implement to make Delilah? We need to give her confidence.

So the very worst thing you could do is any form of punishment or scolding when she does it because that's going to make her feel like you're rejecting me and now I really have got a problem because, you know, I've got no one to protect me. So what we would need to do instead is make good things happen for Delilah when another dog is around. So she might, if she's greedy and she likes food treats, if there's another dog approaching or you're patting another dog or talking to another dog, Delilah's getting a, you know, a handful of food treats.

or she's having a ball thrown for her if she's that sort of girl. Whatever it is that she likes in life, and it could even be that she gets heaps of attention when another dog's coming. So you might start off with saying, hello, Polly, to the other dog, and then, oh, Donala, you're so wonderful, you know, because you're going to get all this attention

when another dog is around rather than losing the attention whenever another dog approaches. Britt's face right now is like, I screwed up. Well, no, what I'm actually thinking is she does the same thing with balls and food. So it's like if I have a ball or a food, she's the same thing that aggression yeah aggression the term is resource guarding so anything she values she's just simply trying to protect and say don't take it this is mine and

it's valuable to me and i don't want to share it so it's the same as food guarding you know i mean most people are a lot more accepting of dogs guarding food in their possession um i think we sort of get that don't we they don't want their food taken from them but for some dogs you know depending on their nature it can be their toys it can be their bed um it can be individual people or it can be the person that's there at the time. Wow, God. Thank you, Vicky, for the help. We do appreciate it.