Just last month, Love Island‘s Cassie was busted asking for a free dinner and drinks as part of an influencer collaboration.
And while she was slammed by man on social media, former reality star Matty J has actually jumped to her defence on his podcast The Babble, with fellow media personality Natalie Bassingthwaite.
Former reality star Matty J has come to Cassie’s defence.
(Images: Instagram @thebabblepodcast/@cassielansdell)Speaking to his co-host, the former Bachelor said: “I don’t know what your opinion is going to be on this story. I feel quite strongly, I think I might be on my own here.”
If you missed it, a Sydney rooftop bar shared a screenshot of messages from Cassie, who asked if they did Instagram collaborations and if she could bring a friend and her sister to the venue, presumably for a free dinner and drinks.
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Matty himself described her request as “quite a polite way of discussing the opportunity of collaborating.”
WATCH BELOW: Love Island‘s Cassie on X Factor UK. Post continues after video…
However, the venue then replied to decline Cassie’s offer, as they don’t accept posts over cash, adding that “the influencers with 2-3M followers who frequent us seem to be cool with that.”
The screenshots of the correspondence have since been deleted, but Matty weighed in on the bar’s decision to expose Cassie in such a brutal way.
“Now I think not only is that harsh, but then what they did following this is a little bit below the belt. They posted that on their Instagram page and there’s no need,” he explained.
The now deleted post by the rooftop bar exposing Cassie.
(Image: Instagram @slims.rooftop)While Sydneysider Matty himself loves the bar in question, he did admit that he thinks the venue knew they did the wrong thing, hence why the post was deleted.
“She’s come out and she said ‘I’ve received so much hate for this’ and I do think it’s unfair and I also think it’s a little bit naive from the venue to treat an influencer like this,” he said.
“Don’t get me wrong, I know there are influencers out there who are viewed negatively because all they do is post very raunchy, skimpy photos of themselves and all they want to do really is get a free dinner, they’re not about promoting a great venue to people, they just want stuff for free.”
Matty and Laura met while filming The Bachelor in 2017.
(Image: Instagram @matthewdavidjohnson)Matty added that while this venue in particular may “hate influencers” and that the word itself has negative connotations, he believes it can be an effective marketing tactic, referencing brands who have had huge success collaborating with his fiancé Laura Byrne.
“There’s a baby blanket called O.B. Blankets and Laura did an Instagram story saying they’re really great, just because they’re really cheap, a really good product, they’re Australian made,” Matty recalled.
“A couple of days later that company hit up Laura and said ‘We completely sold out of that product in 48 hours and we couldn’t figure out what happened and we realised it’s because you did a story,’ so it can be really beneficial for brands.”
Matty revealed an Instagram story of Laura’s led to a baby blanket selling out in 48 hours.
(Image: Instagram @ladyandacat)This isn’t the first time Matty has weighed in on a reality contestant via his podcast.
The father-of-one took a swipe at this year’s Bachelorette second runner-up Ryan Anderson, even joking that one of Ryan’s date with Angie was so boring that she “faked” being seasick to get out of it.
“With Ryan I just didn’t like the fact that he won the Cosmo Tinder Bachelor of the Year, he had been DMing Angie but then never got the guts to say hey let’s go for a coffee,” Matty said on air.
“Something was just… he just seemed a bit like he was above it all when he was on the show.”
