Life's a SHITSHOW
Life’s a SHITSHOW is the brutally honest, no-bullshit podcast where Jo and Natasha say what everyone else is thinking but too scared to say out loud. We tackle the chaos of modern life, culture wars, family, politics, and everything in between, with swearing, laughter, and absolutely zero filter.
If you’re tired of fake outrage, echo chambers, and people pretending to have it all together, you’re in the right place. We don’t have all the answers, but we’re not afraid to ask the big questions, challenge each other, and listen - really listen, to every side. This is a space for real talk, raw opinions, and the occasional rant. Come for the honesty, stay for the community. Life’s a Shitshow… but at least we’re in it together.
Life's a SHITSHOW
003 Triggered by Cancel Culture: Can You Still Say What You Think?
Welcome to Life’s a SHITSHOW : Triggered by Cancel Culture: Can You Still Say What You Think? 🎙️🔥
Episode Summary
Are we all too scared to speak our minds in 2025? In this episode, we (Jo & Natasha) go full throttle on cancel culture, freedom of speech, and why everyone’s so easily offended these days. We share our own stories of being “cancelled,” losing friends, and getting trolled for saying what we actually think. Expect unfiltered rants, real talk about internet outrage, and a hilarious, honest look at the madness of modern life. If you’re tired of walking on eggshells, this is the podcast for you.
Key Takeaways
- Cancel culture in 2025: Is it killing free speech?
- Why we refuse to be silenced online (even if it costs us friends and business)
- The rise of outrage culture and why everyone’s “triggered”
- Fake friends, trolls, and surviving the social media mob
- The true cost of authenticity in a world obsessed with image
- Swearing, scandals, and stories that would get us banned anywhere else
- The importance of boundaries and saying “no”
- How to keep your sanity (and sense of humour) when everyone’s offended
Resources & Links
- Jo’s book “What the F*ck” – foreword by Katie Hopkins, available on Amazon, Kindle, and audiobook
- Katie Hopkins’ audiobook (narrated by Katie, produced by Jo)
- Subscribe & hit the notification bell for more unfiltered episodes
- No complaints department here - if you’re offended, you probably should’ve clicked off sooner
Join the Conversation
💬 Comment below: Have you ever been “cancelled”? Do you think cancel culture’s gone too far?
👍 Like, subscribe, and share if you’re done with fake outrage and want more real talk
🔥 Tag a mate who’s not afraid to say what they think
Enjoyed the show?
Leave a review, follow us, and bring your best banter for next week’s episode. If you’re easily offended… this probably isn’t the podcast for you. Cheers! 🍻
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Website: https://lifesashitshow.com
Life's a SHITSHOW S1 EP03
[00:00:00] Natasha: Wow. Imagine watching those last two episodes and still coming back. So thank you for that. Hello to everyone. Hello to all of our followers subscribers. Jo, I don't even, it's been a crazy week. It's been phenomenal week. So now I'm gonna let you, I'm, we basically just had to come and say, wow, thank you.
[00:00:23] Wow. And thank you so much because we, and I've had men messaging us, women messaging us, younger generation, older generation
[00:00:34] Jo: voters,
[00:00:35] Natasha: Republicans, Democrats. I'm like, this is what we wanted
[00:00:39] Jo: messaging
[00:00:40] me. You old enough told me there, like I, what I say, what can I say?
[00:00:46] Natasha: In my inbox. That's probably 'cause you're too busy with your facts and figures and your data, whatever that is.
[00:00:53] Oh, that reminds me, I've still gotta write that bio for you actually. So
[00:00:57] Jo: yeah, if you could get onto that, I'd appreciate that. So what we gonna talk about then, Tash, I'll,
[00:01:03] Natasha: I promise I'll get that done. I think. I think firstly, I do wanna genuinely, seriously, jokes aside, say thank you to everyone because our first episode was just us deciding the day before, do you know what?
[00:01:18] We are really pissed off, aren't we? Fuck it, let's speak. Yeah. It's like as soon, I think as soon as we saw sort of Charlie Kirk effectively being told to shut up. Yeah. We went, I think you had one or two people went one or two ways. They either went okay. Yeah. Or they went fuck you
[00:01:36] Jo: and we were the fuck you out.
[00:01:36] See the fucking world. Do you want me to tell you what triggered me, Tash? What got me to go? I'm ready now to speak. And I mentioned this I think I mentioned this in the first episode that a couple of years ago, and this is I'll try and quote word for word, but it's not verbatim.
[00:01:54] Like essentially I was basically told. You not Katie Hopkins. So why do you have to keep showing up online and putting controversial stuff online? You're never gonna be here, so why do you have to do it? It's damaging to business. So just sit down, shut up and just think it, but don't say it. I respond that then lost friends.
[00:02:17] I lost clients business. A lot of money contracts got terminated. I was called a trans phobe. It was off the back of commenting on one of your posts, Ash. So for two years, yes, it was two years. I've retreated and gone, why am I like this? Why do I have to speak out when I see something that I don't agree with?
[00:02:38] Why do I have to defend children? Why do I have to defend women? Why do I have to say this is wrong? So for two years I've retreated and be quiet. Charlie was me, only Charlie was braver than me because he was sat there and took a bullet to his neck. Yeah. And I went, why have I been quiet for two years?
[00:02:58] Why did I show up?
[00:02:59] Natasha: Yeah.
[00:03:00] Jo: Why was I quiet? So now here I am, taking the torch and saying, Charlie, I'm only a small voice, but I'll keep talking and I'll keep sharing the message. And I disagreeing. We've gotta keep the debate going.
[00:03:17] Natasha: Yeah, this is it, isn't it? It's not. See, it's not about what he was saying.
[00:03:22] It's not when I'm the same as you. I'm very outspoken. I say what I've gotta say, but here's the thing. I own it. I own it. If I post something and someone comes in the comments and gives me a bit of shit, I'm like, okay. I don't post stuff on the fucking internet. If you don't want people to give an opinion, that's what the internet is for.
[00:03:43] Exactly. If you don't like what people are saying, block them. Don't go to the fucking event.
[00:03:49] Yeah.
[00:03:50] It's like you have a choice. You don't have to be at every event. I never used to like Katie Hopkins. I never used to like Candace Owens. I never liked Ben Shapiro. I still don't like Ben Shapiro.
[00:04:02] I still think he's an absolute dick. But I remember, I think you, you'd. Done an audio book with Kate you'd done the the actual audio of one of Katie Hopkins books. And I think we were talking once, this was a few years back. Yeah. And I said, oh not a fan mate. And you were like, you're actually quite alike.
[00:04:23] And I thought, yeah I've seen that quietly thinking, oh, actually we are not that bloody different. We don't agree on everything, but we're not that different in terms of character. Yeah. And then watching.
[00:04:35] Jo: I recorded Katie Christmas 2021, I think it was. Something
[00:04:40] Natasha: like that. I recommend that to everyone because let me tell you what happened.
[00:04:43] You said to me, just listen to her book, Tash. Yeah. Not gonna say no more, HELP, you just listen to her. Katie hops HELP. It's on all the platforms and I can't read because. For anyone that don't know, I have a DHD and I can get to the bottom of a bloody page and I've forgotten what I've read. So I'm an audio person, so I thought, all right, I just got an audio book.
[00:05:06] Fuck it. I'll listen. And I started that audio book at something like eight o'clock in the evening, seven or eight o'clock in the evening. And I literally did not go to sleep until I'd finished it. I think it was like six o'clock in the morning or something. It was like a 12 hour
[00:05:18] audio, I think.
[00:05:20] Yeah, it's a long, and I laughed.
[00:05:23] And I cried, genuinely cried for her and just, she narrates the story and sh and it was honestly, and I don't say this lightly, and I still don't agree with everything she says, but as a person, I think she's fucking amazing. Yeah. To the point where I felt compelled. To send her an email. I do not send any celebrities fucking emails.
[00:05:52] I'm not that much of a dickhead. Except certain celebrities. But not once they got the the, keep her away from me. I'm joking. I'm joking. I felt compelled to email her and she never fucking replied, by the way. So next time you speak to her. There's an email from about four fucking years ago in her inbox, rude Bitch.
[00:06:12] Anyway, because once I finished the book, I just completely understood who she was and why she was the way she was. I haven't experienced the same things, but I've experienced things that have made me think the same way and made me who I am, and that's why she's defiant. Yeah, I come across very. Offensive and loud, and, but I care deeply and people I hide that with bravado and I hide that with oh, I'm fearless in my fight for stuff.
[00:06:48] Yeah. But I care deeply for people and so does Katie Hopkins, believe it or not. She just wants your chill the fuck out and have a laugh.
[00:06:57] Yeah.
[00:06:59] So it changed my view of her completely. And then I thought let me just watch some more. Candace Owens. Yep. Again, I don, I don't know, she's perfect.
[00:07:10] Every time people will seem to think that people have to be perfect all the time. We, or say the thing that they like all the time and it's just not the case. But don't make 'em bad people.
[00:07:22] Jo: I dunno what answer's gonna come outta your mouth now. Oh no. What do think about Piers Morgan?
[00:07:27] Natasha: Alright, so he was one of the only journalists back in 2019, or where Michael Jackson was concerned, where he pushed. He was the only one that questioned certain narratives, so I thank him for that. There's been a couple of interviews he's done where he has pushed against the narrative and asked questions other people weren't, and for that.
[00:07:50] I commend him, but
[00:07:53] I love it when you say,
[00:07:54] but come on. He's a fucking he's the ring master and he's a circus. He knows what he's doing, but he sits there when he said, him and Andrew Tate kill me. Because you couldn't get too more egotistical men on one fucking screen. That is actually hilarious.
[00:08:12] Andrew Tate is rah. And he's right. When it's between those two, nine times outta 10, Andrew Tate absolutely kills him, right? And appears Morgan sits there doing that. You know that fucking kid at school? That was just a pedantic little twat, condescending little cunt in the corner. That one. Yeah. You know the one go, actually, it's 14.5.
[00:08:40] Yeah. And you just think, oh, you little fucking weasel bastard. The one that would go and tell the head teacher and then smirk at you. That's Piers Morgan, isn't it? Where he goes, that's not what I said, but that's not what I said. And you think, oh, you fucking, oh, you know what you're doing, you That annoys me because again, he's all just, he's all for the clicks.
[00:09:02] Yeah,
[00:09:02] I genuinely don't give a fuck about the cliques. I don't give a fuck about the cliques. I'd rather have people following us because they like what we're saying or they just find a bit of like relief or whatever. Not that kind of relief. No, I'm doing that.
[00:09:15] Put it away. Dirty bastard.
[00:09:18] At least fucking pause. Do you know what I mean? I can't. I can't sit here knowing that someone might be. Let's be honest. How fucking listen, let's honest joke. There ain't no one. There ain't fucking no one sitting there doing that with these two faces on the screen, it makes that impossible. It's an impossible job to start with these two fucking faces on the
[00:09:41] Jo: screen. Be grannie slippers on with me. Big zip up, fluffy onesie and no tooth.
[00:09:47] Natasha: And I ain't shaved my armpits since about fucking September last year.
[00:09:51] Jo: Oh yeah. I have to keep mine shaved ash. 'cause I wear shorts living in a hot Oh yeah.
[00:09:55] Natasha: You live in a hot country, didn't you? Yeah. I've got hag hair right here. It is like
[00:10:00] Jo: I have one on a mole here. I shave all the time.
[00:10:03] Natasha: I missed one.
[00:10:04] Jo: Got squeezers there, plucking it out,
[00:10:05] Natasha: missed one. All the men have just logged out. Hey, I love that
[00:10:11] Jo: people can be in the comments throwing insults in or trying to hurt feelings like it's like a water off. A duck's back to me. Honestly, like you can't hurt me. I've had grown men. Punch me in the face and break me jaw, break me nose and knock my teeth out I've got a false tooth you were laughing.
[00:10:31] Natasha: That wasn't funny. I wa I wasn't laughing that someone punched you in the jaw. I'm not surprised It
[00:10:36] Jo: Words, don't hurt me. Do you know what I mean? As Katie Hopkins said, and I heard it so many times, we were recording the audio book. You choose to take offense. I didn't give it to you.
[00:10:49] Natasha: This said this is I literally, do you know what? I'm gonna have to find the, I'm gonna have to read it to you. I'm gonna find you the exact comment.
[00:10:57] Jesus, what the
[00:10:59] fuck was that? I thought my phone was on silent and it fucking wasn't, right. Sorry. Sorry, guys. Let me find it.
[00:11:07] Ah. Carry on. Carry on talking. I'll find it. Go on.
[00:11:11] Jo: Okay. So Tash,. Just while you are looking for that, I'm just gonna share this so hopefully people will be able to see. So this is the, or this is the, obviously the paperback copy, but you can get this on Amazon if you print, if you wanna read it, it's on. Kindle, I believe, and paperback. So this is the paperback version.
[00:11:29] I think you can also get it from Katie's website, but the audio book is the version that I worked on with Katie. But going get it, it's an absolutely brilliant book. So that one, if you fancy having a listen and finding a little bit more from Katie narrated by Katie from herself, but also I've gone with absolute.
[00:11:51] Brilliant book, satire book.
[00:11:54] Hi. I wrote this book. This is my book, Lucy as me. Yeah, this is me on the back. Luke with me union Jack Tattoo here. I'm glad
[00:12:05] everyone can, I'm glad everyone can see your fake AI background. They can,
[00:12:09] you got
[00:12:10] a laundry pile behind that at the moment. But anyway, so this is my book. This is because life is full of those moments where, you know, the only three words we'll do, so I wrote a book full, what the fuck? And it's about everything in life that basically. Makes you think or say out loud, what the fuck?
[00:12:33] And Katie Hopkins actually wrote the foreword of the book for me.
[00:12:38] Natasha: Oh, did she?
[00:12:38] Jo: She wrote the foreword.
[00:12:40] Natasha: Why don't you tell me this? You've had like enough times to tell me this. You, I didn't know this.
[00:12:45] Jo: Can you see this? This is a quote from Katie about me.
[00:12:48] Natasha: I did not know that. Wrote the four, how she said. I love that. I met me yet
[00:12:55] Jo: interested, the audio version is on there, but if you easily offended with the F word, dont buy that book because it's full of them. For everything that I've gone through in life I've given it a rating in this book like, and all of that kind of stuff.
[00:13:12] Natasha: The people that don't like the F word have already got three episodes into the worst podcast ever.
[00:13:17] Jo: Exactly. I know. If you don't like the F word, you know you can just fuck off. You can always be you.
[00:13:21] Natasha: Probably someone rocking in a corner like this right now. Stop. Make her stop. You clicked on my face, bitch.
[00:13:29] As they,
[00:13:30] Jo: I cover everything in this book. clothes sizes. Insurance sales at the till. Do you want buy? Do you wanna bag a fucking supermarket? And you're there with a whole fucking conveyor belt full of this week shopping. And they go, do you want bag course? I fucking bag.
[00:13:47] Think I course I want fucking bag, Christ. So anyway, what the fuck? It's. Tasha, have you found the video you were looking for? She's gone.
[00:14:00] Natasha: You can't, but you have to edit this out man. You can't put that. I can't breathe. Can I just say the funniest shit Watching you, the go off into one was just so much fun because I've never really like proper watched you. 'cause it's always voice note. Oh yeah, I see voice notes. Do me a favor. Do me a favor, do it.
[00:14:22] Do it for the public Jo, do what? Pick the book. Fuck up. Just flick to any page. Random page. And just the first topic, right?
[00:14:36] Just read short bit
[00:14:37] Jo: high beam wankers. Do I need to say anything more? Oi!!, you behind me. You're approaching me. Switch your fucking high beam off you fucking knob jockey.
[00:14:50] See, that was in the chapter that's entitled. It's called Driving. Hi Beam Wankers
[00:14:58] do anymore? Would you like, you've not even, you've not read the book I've sent you? I think I've given you copy of the audio.
[00:15:06] Natasha: Do I look like I've read it? No. Oh I was gonna do the audio. I think. Yeah, do the audio version, not had time mate.
[00:15:15] Jo: Theres a whole chapter here on politics?
[00:15:17] Natasha: Oh no.
[00:15:18] Oh God. Come on. Give us an Jo. This was.
[00:15:22] Jo: Liz Truss had just been like however many days in office, 44 days in office.
[00:15:30] Natasha: The lettuce don't forget the lettuce. Politicians. Yeah, I've seen that quote before. I totally agree.
[00:15:38] Yeah, totally
[00:15:38] agree.
[00:15:39] Jo: Oh, freedom of speech and cancel culture is chapter eight. There's a chapter about COVID-19, the Scam, demic.
[00:15:46] There's a chapter in there about that, and then I, oh, Tash, you'll love this. There's a chapter about everything else. There's one about childbirth. Would you like me to share my thoughts on childbirth or vulva casts? There's one on vulva casts.
[00:16:02] Natasha: Oh, Christ. Christ. Oh, I know. How do you know about those?
[00:16:07] Jo: Because I was scrolling on Instagram, right?
[00:16:11] Natasha: All great stories, start
[00:16:13] Jo: and there was a video for this event that I was meant to be going to right this event over in Cheshire somewhere, and I saw this video pop up and I thought, oh, it's for the event. I like that. Supporting somebody who was connected with, I'll support that.
[00:16:26] The next thing she's fucking unboxing a plastic cast of of her fucking vulva I don't want see her vagina. I you out on my fucking Instagram post. What the fuck is that? Who in the right mind dribbles plaster of paris down there, like a kebab shop? Who, Who does that? And then sticks it on the fucking mantle piece. Why would you do that? Tash, at that point, I was out. I didn't attend the event. I didn't go because apparently there's gonna be a whole fucking display of all these people's vulva's what we were gonna do. Stand there, admiring the vulva wall and look at it and go, is that yours wasn't supposed to get mine done?, And go, that's mine now. I was like at, I'm dead proud of it.
[00:17:15] Natasha: Wait. Let me just have a sip and see. Just please don't fucking look at, don't even look at me.
[00:17:21] Are we all calm now?
[00:17:23] Are we calm? We're calm.
[00:17:24] We're calm.
[00:17:25] Jo: We're 22 minutes in. I want to Thank Everybody turned into a comedy sketch that did,
[00:17:31] Natasha: I'm sorry.
[00:17:32] Jo: You weren't offended before you'll be, now
[00:17:35] Natasha: you need your own fucking show. There's something so just so funny about Northern women when they're having a rant. It is just so funny. It's,
[00:17:47] Jo: mate, I've got millions of rants in me. I've been bottling them up a long time.
[00:17:52] Natasha: I think we should do a week. I think we should, there should be like a weekly or a monthly thing of Jo's rants of the month, like Jo's September rants.
[00:17:59] Jo: There is a lot of offensive stuff in this book and I'm not whacking of you because is it though? Is it though me having a good old,
[00:18:08] Natasha: do you know? You just write something I wrote down today. I just, when I'm just like going about my, if I'm sitting having a cup of tea and I'm scrolling social media, I make little notes in my big black book.
[00:18:21] It's not even a little black book, Jo. Fucking huge. I'm gonna fill this and I just make little notes of stupid shit I see on Facebook or Twitter or whatever. Just write it down just to oh, if I'm ever doing an episode on this, I'll fucking make it. I won't ever probably look at this book again. I do this, I make notes a lot, but I was having a little idea about something called a couldn't make it up section of the podcast.
[00:18:47] I like that idea. I've gotta tell you this one. I've gotta tell you this one 'cause it's fucking funny. So there was a time, not so much now, 'cause they do my fucking editing the gender fucking identity politics brigade. I they're just fucking, they're nuts. Anyway, come at me. Don't care. Nuts.
[00:19:09] So anyway, there was an account that like, because I used to look at a particular account, watch a particular account. And I have to say, I do love star. He's fucking great. Do you ever, have you ever watched Jeffree Star?
[00:19:22] Jo: No, I haven't.
[00:19:22] Natasha: I fucking brilliant. Love him. I think he's great. Anyway, I'll have to send you some of his later 'cause I know you'd like him.
[00:19:29] Yep. Anyway, and I follow a couple of the, like the gay influencers or some of the trans influencers, but they're just, they're like, they talk like us. I don't get offended by fucking the word. He, honestly, I can't even believe we're saying that. But anyway, so there was a, an account I used to follow. and I've had to unfollow them because I lost all respect today.
[00:19:57] Because I saw something and I just thought you couldn't make that up. And I thought, do you know what? We're gonna have a fucking section every week. So someone that was, I thought was alright, turns out they're not. So I watched this person preach this week, this beginning of this week. Not this week.
[00:20:20] Sorry, last week. Yeah. So been over just a week. And they were they'd said something about how they'd, they were so proud of the fact that they'd managed to lose someone, their job, because they'd been misgendered or they'd mis this person. I don't think they'd misgendered them, but they'd misgendered someone and lost their job.
[00:20:40] And this influencer was going on. About that. And that's when I went, oh, know what? Oh, fuck off. You've gone, nah, you've lost me now. But the funniest thing was so celebrating the fact that someone lost their job because they use the wrong pronoun, right?
[00:21:03] Jo: The arrogance of it
[00:21:05] Natasha: today. Today they were crying because a really good friend of theirs.
[00:21:12] Lost their job for celebrating the death of someone. And
[00:21:17] I was just like, this is
[00:21:18] Jo: so much of that I've seen this week. It makes you,
[00:21:22] Natasha: I was like wait. Let me get this right.
[00:21:24] Oh my God, you couldn't make this shit up. And you know when you sit there and you go, they really don't see how fucking contradictory they are. Yeah. And I'm not saying they to respect their pronouns either. I'm saying they in the correct term to be used.
[00:21:43] Jo: People losing their job. I had a job for six years, microsoft. Oh god,
[00:21:50] Natasha: also, mate, these people clearly never grew up in the fucking nineties. Because our parents used to call us cunts.
[00:21:59] Jo: Mine, I don't remember. Can I just say I think that's a London thing, because mine never did that.
[00:22:04] Natasha: If there's any Irish Did you have any Irish people around you?
[00:22:08] Jo: No, none. I've only,
[00:22:09] Natasha: it's only endearment.
[00:22:11] Jo: I can't even say it 'cause it like, yeah, I can it's a word. I was only became familiar with Tash when I met you, when I first met you 10 years ago. It's great. It's warming on me now.
[00:22:22] Natasha: It's a great word. Yeah, it's a great word.
[00:22:25] See it fascinates me with swear words. How I saw a woman comment. I watched a podcast the other day and it was proper funny. And and some woman commented underneath like the social media post and put something about, oh, it was it was great, but it.
[00:22:41] Didn't really like in swear words. And when you think, oh, fuck off Brenda. Do you know what I mean? Fuck off this. The person doing the podcast is like four. I'm 46. This person doing the podcast, like 40, whatever. Definitely over the age of 35.
[00:23:01] Yeah.
[00:23:02] Who the fuck are you to tell someone what language you think they should use? If you don't like it, piss off. Also, you're an adult. If you don't like the language while you're watching it, switch it off. It's not a fucking airport. Love. You don't have to announce it. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.
[00:23:18] Jo: Tash bit of a story for you on swearing, right? So my other off first language isn't English.
[00:23:28] Natasha: Lord, no neither's mine.
[00:23:31] Jo: You can imagine he's learning English from me and I'm from Stoke and like my English isnt brilliant. You know what I mean?
[00:23:37] Natasha: Be talking like this init it up?
[00:23:39] Jo: Yeah. I thought it'd be hilarious if I taught him some swear words, but not really tell him what he was saying. So he thought he's calling me something really nice and it's endearing.
[00:23:50] Natasha: You didn't.
[00:23:50] Jo: So when he sees me, he goes. cheeky bastard. Like he calls me a chicky bastard all the time.
[00:23:58] Natasha: You not told him.
[00:24:00] Jo: He knows now, but he only found out when he came to the UK a few weeks ago. No, and I took him in Marks and Spencer's and I was going up the escalator, mark and Spencer's, and he shouted me and he went.
[00:24:15] Hey, cheeky bastard. Dead loud. And then he's who?
[00:24:21] Natasha: What do you think it meant?
[00:24:22] Jo: He just thinks it's like endear, like an endearing. What do you think it meant? Think pet name. For me, I dunno, because I've said it to him when he said something and I've gone, you cheeky bastard. But in a. Endearing way in a loving wage.
[00:24:39] You know what I mean? So that he then picked up on that and that's where he calls me. So he'll come home from work and he'll go, cheky bastard, come on.
[00:24:48] Natasha: You are so outta order for that. You are
[00:24:51] Jo: mate. I was so cracked up. It was like years ago. My kids were, I don't know how old they were. It was a, BBC radio one thing.
[00:25:01] I think it was, everybody was shouting. Matt Damon and I went shopping with the girls and I think there was some like 14 and 16 at the time we were on an escalator. I love being on an escalator in a big shopping center and I just go, Matt Damon and the girls are like, so it's just these moments in life you could take away my language.
[00:25:24] You can't take away the memorys
[00:25:25] Natasha: it's just reminded me something about you. I think I, I literally think I've just snort laugh. Sn I was just remembering when we went to Singapore and we are staying in that extremely gorgeous Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which is just one of the most stunning hotels ever. And. I got there and you said you'd just been to some fucking bag shop and.
[00:25:56] Jo: I've still got that bag.
[00:25:58] Natasha: I spent a lot of money on a fucking bag and too much like they gave me a can of Coke. They said, would you like a drink?
[00:26:07] And you were like, they gave me a can of Coke. Said me and Becky had a of Coke. The fuck fucking dollars for a and a Coke. And you just talking about that is just reminded me of that. And I remember at the time just thinking you should never have been in that shop with without accent. It should never have been in that shop.
[00:26:26] Jo: I got Lynched walking in that me and Becky walked in the shop. I've got denim shorts on and a football top on and short hair. Then Team GB said on, I think it was like a football shirt, team GB with a union jack on it.
[00:26:41] You, you had short hair and I had me short hair. My tattoos around. I covered in tattoos for anybody. You looked lesbian on me arm and walked into this shop. Dulce and Gabana and the security and they were all poof there at me and Bec. 'cause we both picked a bag up off the top. I don't know what the protocol was in these shops, but I picked this ruck sack up that got all like picture postcards on.
[00:27:07] It was all it ugly fucking bag you've ever seen in your life. It was fucking, yeah, it wasid and a lovely, I saw you coming. A lovely light green. Bag thing. Becky, light, green leather. It was really whatever. Six grand. Six grand for these two bags. But how they swept in on me. See my angry Jo kicked in and I was like, oh, look at this.
[00:27:33] You think we are going steal it? So I'm I'm gonna pay cash for these bags. I didnt even want the fucking bags!. I bought them outta spite. Who am I? spite, I only spite me bank balance, and then they couldn't do enough silver tray, two cans of Pepsi Max. Oh, here's your can of Pepsi Silver Service.
[00:27:51] Poured it in the glass for as I was like, oh, ah, fuck you. Ah, you thought it was gonna nick the bag and now look at you serving me Pepsi. I got back up to the room. Fucking A can. A can. I couldn't believe it. You're robing bastards.
[00:28:14] Anyway,
[00:28:15] Natasha: you know you saying that, right? Me and my second husband, come on. You got.
[00:28:22] There's plenty of time. Plenty. There's plenty of time. You're younger than me. No, I went, we went to Milan for a few days after. As a honeymoon. It wasn't, we just did a city break. 'cause we had two kids and we didn't wanna, couldn't go away. Couldn't go away. A nice beach. I lived for two weeks, it weren't fair.
[00:28:38] And we went to Milan and you got, I was gonna say I was a proper chav back then, but not much has fucking changed. But it was worse because the scrunchie was a Burberry one. I am not even joking. I was textbook Bianca Jackson, east Enders. I was right. Yeah. It was hideous. I dunno how, I dunno why the fuck he married me.
[00:28:58] Let's be honest. Neither does he now. Anyway, we go shopping. It's a beau beautiful place, my love it. And we go into, I think it was the Louis Vuitton shop. Right now. It was so posh. I think it, I think they called it like the Galleria, which is funny 'cause I've got one down the road. It don't look like that, but it was like called the Galleria and all this.
[00:29:19] The shops were like black with gold writing. So Ev, the Louis Vuitton shop, the Gucci shop, they all at the same, yeah, it was a McDonald's in there. Louis Vuitton. It looks like Louis Vuitton. Yes. McDonald's. It's the only McDonald's I've ever seen anywhere in the fucking world that had the same branding as all the designer shops.
[00:29:38] It was the black thing and the gold McDonald's. It was hilarious. Anyway, my point, so we go to the Louis Vuitton shop and the doorman opens the door for you. I'm wearing like Adidas slip-on trainers.
[00:29:52] I've got, my husband's I don't know, it was a, I think it was like a Ben Sherman or a Stone Island fucking course. It was. Do you know what I mean? Like rain jacket thing on. I thought I looked super cool. That was my designer gear for Milan, by the way. My added as trainers, right? I make sure everyone sees I'm wearing some label shit.
[00:30:11] Anyway, we go in, I walk up to the counter, which is glass covered, like it's got like a glass top, obviously, and you can see what's in the thing. Because I'm already knowing that I can't afford a lot in here, but I'm gonna have a look anyway. 'cause don't judge. I could be a fucking millionaire.
[00:30:27] Yeah.
[00:30:28] The woman that was the shop assistant didn't even look at me bearing in mind she was talking to a customer and she was showing her like a little purse thing, and because she was showing her a purse, there was a purse left on the counter that she'd obviously shown her already and hadn't put away.
[00:30:45] And I went and stood like next to this woman that was being shown the purse, and I'm just stood at the counter and I'm just having a look. I didn't touch it. I was just looking. And the woman, the shop assistant literally did this, grabbed the purse and pulled it towards her and didn't even acknowledge me.
[00:31:00] Like she kept her eye on the customer. When you, I thought fuck you. I'm not buying nothing in now. But the difference between me and you was I couldn't afford to anyway.
[00:31:10] Jo: But that just reminds me of another time where a shop assistant looked at what I looked like and then just assumed I was either getting robbed the store or couldn't afford Yeah, pre-judged who I was.
[00:31:22] So I went into a jewellers store, and this was in Nottingham City Center. On my way home from work went into this jeweller store i'm scared and I said I'm scared. No, I said I'd like to have a look at that watch. There we're quite like that one. I'm not sure whether can you show me a few different watches?
[00:31:41] She made me pay a thousand pounds. She took a swipe of my card. As a holding payment before she'd even unlock the glass cabinet so that I could try the watch on, because I have tiny wrists, right? A really thin, tiny wrist. I wish my whole body was as skinny as me. Wrist was same. Yeah, me rested, had skinny me.
[00:32:04] Ankles are the same. No weight on my ankles or me wrist. So I wasn't sure even after they'd taken some clasps out of these watches, whether they'd fit me anyway or if they'd just. Of them would just be wrong. Yeah. So I believe because of how I was dressed, she pre-judged me and I had to swipe my debit card so she could take a holding 1000 pounds deposit just to show me the watches.
[00:32:31] So I fucking bought three, all three of them. And what happened to those three watches? I took them Singapore.
[00:32:40] Natasha: And do I have one of those watches, Jo
[00:32:43] Jo: Tash you've got the oyster set one with diamonds. I have, I've still got that. Yeah. Becky had, I don't even know how you pronounce it. Bvlgari, or however you pronounce. She's got that one. The blackface peel bill set one. And I ended up with the cheapest one of all three. The armani one.
[00:33:03] Natasha: That was a beautiful watch. Yeah, absolutely. Beautiful. I love that watch and I've still got it, but it don't work.
[00:33:11] Jo: It's, you just need battery. Put a battery.
[00:33:13] Natasha: Yeah. No, but I just haven't put a new battery in it, but I've still got it.
[00:33:16] Yeah,
[00:33:17] Jo: That was the same kind of thing, but I've got over that now, so I'm like, it's a little bit like this. I'm marmite, either like me or you don't like me, but I aren't really care. I really don't care. Now if you judge me when I go in a shop. I'll walk out and have that pretty woman moment of, although I'm not a pretty woman, I'll just walk out and go, fuck you.
[00:33:37] I'm not spending my hard earned cash, here? No. No, but previously I used to go, fuck you, let me buy all your shop just to prove to you that I can't afford it and that I'm not who you think I am.
[00:33:51] Natasha: Yeah, I think we all go through stages like that though. I've
[00:33:53] definitely gone through stages where I feel like I'm I've convinced myself that I'm working towards goals that I wanna achieve, but actually I think I'm not because I'm not money driven.
[00:34:03] Jo: I used to be. I used to
[00:34:05] Natasha: Yeah, no.
[00:34:06] At work or were you, were other people making you money driven? Do you know what I mean?
[00:34:11] Jo: No, I was completely driven by how much I could invoice every month, chasing the money, working hard obsessed with me job and how much money I could earn because I thought if I had a nice car, I'd be happy. If I had a bigger house, I'd be happy if this I'd be or more accepted or happy. I was always chasing that destination of, yeah, if I have this, I'll be happy. Or if I have this, I'll be finally accepted into the family, the friendship group, the insert, wherever you, you think in there. I got there, Tash and I just I don't fucking want this.
[00:34:46] I don't want to. Didn't I? Exactly the same. Yeah. I looked around at the people that weren't earning the money that I was earning, and they were now leaching. And wanted to be people who wanted to be friends with me because I was earning money. If I went out for a meal, like there was an expectance of Jo, get a card out and pay for it and like I felt like I was just paying for everybody all the time.
[00:35:10] Yeah. And then the paranoia kicks in of are these people actually mates or not, or. I just didn't like it. So like
[00:35:17] Natasha: we're both poor now and we are still friends. I think that both very,
[00:35:21] yeah, that's
[00:35:22] what
[00:35:22] Jo: Yeah. For anybody that does happen to get this.
[00:35:27] And also next week, and I've written my book, no, but what I wanna say is the very first thing that I address in this book, the very first topic, right?
[00:35:39] I'm gonna get to it, the scam artists, fraudsters and jokers. We could do a second volume. So that's how I'm not money driven, but scam artistes and fraudsters like wait. What was that? Was that scam? Artistes? Ais, yeah. Scam artistes. I've literally had my life savings and all the money I worked bloody hard for and sacrificing my kids for. I had it all stolen and lost my relationship with money there on in yeah.
[00:36:13] Natasha: Do you know what we should do? A, we should do an episode about that,
[00:36:18] because that is,
[00:36:19] Jo: I can't moment till the court case is
[00:36:21] Natasha: no. Let's, yeah, no, let's wait until that, but at some point.
[00:36:25] Jo: But I'm, i'm tied up in one of Spain's. Biggest stories about fraud and estate agents scamming people or predominantly scamming British expats to the tune of three and a half million that, not just, that's not my three and a half million. Mine was a portion of it. There's a lot of families caught up in it.
[00:36:46] Natasha: It's a significant amount of money though, mate.
[00:36:48] Jo: It's a huge amount of money that this person's stolen and gotten away with. And she's still on the run, but we can go into more detail on another episode. But I'm still smiling. I'm still happy. I still have faith in humanity.
[00:37:01] Natasha: Firstly, I was, I was gonna say I knew you. I met you actually, I first met you when you had money, substantial money.
[00:37:12] And and I know you now without that money and you are no different, no change for me whatsoever. If anything, the only difference is that you don't, people please as much as you used to. You don't feel the need to have to be nice to everyone the way you used to. People would definitely use you and take the piss 'cause you are, you're a beautiful, you've got a beautiful heart.
[00:37:35] And other than that, so you stand up for yourself a bit more. Which is brilliant. Other than that, you've not changed at all.
[00:37:42] You're exactly the person I'm met
[00:37:44] Jo: that when you go through these self-development cycles that have been on this long journey of self-development, but it's amazing when you start to put in personal boundaries.
[00:37:54] Yeah.
[00:37:55] The people around you that have been abusing your kind nature, your kind heart, they've mistaken now that you've got boundaries like they're mistaken, your boundaries that you don't love them anymore. You don't want to be mates with them, all of that.
[00:38:11] Natasha: Yeah, they show themselves is what it's, they show themselves. They show themselves.
[00:38:15] Jo: I are Shocked when you start telling people more to fuck off, like when you've put your boundaries in place and you start telling more people. No, actually no.
[00:38:26] Natasha: Yeah, I don't it's funny because I think you probably ended up surrounded by people. That would use you for your status or your talents, your skills. Money.
[00:38:39] Jo: I said to you this afternoon on a voice clip, didn't I at one point, Sadiq Khan, sent me a Christmas card. I got home from work one day. I used to work in London a lot. Worked in the House of Commons and wherever. I dunno how he got me addresses. Or is Office got the address?
[00:38:58] Natasha: Crime watch Probably
[00:38:59] Jo: signed by him. Wishing me a happy Christmas. Happy Christmas. And I was like, how's he got my address? What? Like why can't they just send one of them e-cards, to your email address? I knew I must be on some government emailing system,
[00:39:15] Natasha: jo, sorry, did he send the, did he send a return address at all? That's a shame. That's a shame. I'd love to send him a Christmas card this year.
[00:39:26] Yeah.
[00:39:27] I don't end up with people in my circle that want me for money because I don't have money, but why I do have is I tend to find that I get surrounded by people who are fake.
[00:39:36] That's my problem. I end up surrounded by people that pretend to be something they're not. In fact, if I look at the last five people or so, five or six people or so that I've had to politely ask them to step the fuck outside the circle. They've been people that either say they, they want to be someone or they are someone and they're not, and wants to say that
[00:40:00] they're
[00:40:00] not.
[00:40:01] Jo: Yeah. Did you ever reme, you might be too young for this, but there should be a program on called runaround and you had run into the space that they give you a question and they tell you where to run to. 'cause that was Yes. Vague. Yeah. Some of the runaround things are so small. Like my circle is still so small now.
[00:40:21] There's only just about room for me, in it? And some days I tell myself to fuck off.
[00:40:25] Natasha: Yeah. People have gotta stand on the shoulders now, aren't it?
[00:40:28] Jo: Yeah. To get into my circle now, like I'm, when I meet people, I take them on face value and I'm trusting from day one. Me light's just gone out and pay me lecky Bill. I need go put some money in the meter
[00:40:41] Natasha: buy the book guys. Buy the book.
[00:40:44] Wait. Can I interest anyone in the Star Wars cup? Send
[00:40:48] Jo: Yes. me, I love
[00:40:50] astar wars I've lost. Carry. Carry on. Where was I that by me? Carry on.
[00:40:56] I can't remember
[00:40:56] Natasha: your lucky bill, which is ironic given what your fucking industry was.
[00:41:01] Jo: I can't even fucking remember what I was saying. Run around. Oh, run around.
[00:41:06] Yeah. No, I was on about my circles. Cool. I'm small are, yeah. But since I've had boundaries in place, I just, yeah. Do you know what I mean? But it's, you are entitled to put boundaries in place, and you are entitled to keep your circles to being your immediate family. Like close fam family and a handful of friends, that's fine.
[00:41:27] Do you know what I mean?
[00:41:28] Natasha: Yeah. Yeah. I'm the same now. I don't. I literally, I don't, do you know what it is though? I think I, you have to genuinely not care if people like you or not.
[00:41:38] Jo: I genuinely it stop seeking. Don't approve it from external sources. You've gotta love yourself. Care for yourself. Yeah. Caring what other people think about you isn't going to it. It's just not gonna help you at all.
[00:41:51] Natasha: No. Even doing this, there was a time, if you'd gone back even, maybe even like a year ago, yeah. I'd have been like, oh, I need to get, I need to do my hair, I need to do my makeup, I need to, no, I fucking don't because this is what I look like 90% of the time.
[00:42:05] So if I was to meet you on the street. I'm not even gonna look like the same person. So I'm not pretending I'm menopausal, I'm fucking just about managing to hold it all together like everyone else is. Who the fuck am I doing my air for? Strangers on the internet?
[00:42:20] Yeah. No. And
[00:42:22] then you can't
[00:42:23] who you want to show up for or to speak out for who you like.
[00:42:28] Everybody's talking about being
[00:42:29] judged. Yeah. And it's like the people, Jo, I have I can't see. I see it all the time. And we know, 'cause we've worked in industries where, you know, you, we see this a lot. The life coaches and the business consultants and the fucking, this, that and the other, the experts on whatever. 'Cause they sold a lot of health products or whatever, but it's just it's the polished image. And then they bang on about being fucking authentic, which just always makes me laugh. I understand. Having a professional that's different. I don't mean that. Yeah, I mean on their, not on their business stuff.
[00:43:03] The business stuff is different. I understand. Everyone's got a professional face and that's complete. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about on their own personal. Yeah, these are my friends only on this platform, on this page, and it's all, I'm real. I'm genuine and I just, I sit there watching, going, no, you fucking ain't. 'Cause you're not like this in real life. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So stop pretending to be or shut the fuck up and don't pretend to be,
[00:43:29] Jo: that's what I love about Katie Hopkins is when you speak to her, you get the same person. Show up. Yeah. On. Katie's arms live on a Friday or a Wednesday evening, I think on a Wednesday evenings or whatever evenings it is that she can do it in between the shows.
[00:43:49] Exactly. Yeah. The same person there that you get at the bat Bonkers tour shows as the same person that showed up and recorded her audio book with me. She's the same person.
[00:44:01] Natasha: Yeah, but you can tell that if you've got a brain, if you do. You know what I think it is actually, I think I'm. I am gonna, I'm gonna play devil's advocate on myself because I assume people are just thick.
[00:44:11] But actually I think it's, I don't think everyone has that skill of being able to understand when people say certain things that you can work out actually the sort of person they are. Yeah. And I think Katie Hopkins is a prime example of dark humor. Oh, god yeah,. Of bravado and banter and all that. But because I'm also like that, I know why I'm like that and I know where that's.
[00:44:34] Like I am. That's genuinely me. I'm not putting it on, but it's because of other things that you become that person. Yeah. And when you see it in other people you can work out. There's a reason. 'cause our really bad people don't behave like that. And there's little things that she'll say and do and some people hear oh, she's being.
[00:44:59] She's been out of order. I don't hear that. I hear what they're not hearing. Yeah. Yeah. Does that make
[00:45:04] sense?
[00:45:05] Jo: Yeah. Absolutely. It makes absolute sense to me.
[00:45:08] Natasha: Yeah. So I think the people that kind of will find us here, it'll be the same with us. People that find us will see that we are more than a swear word and more than looking a bit scruffy.
[00:45:18] We don't have a, we haven't got a 10,000 pound studio and 400 pound
[00:45:23] mics.
[00:45:24] Jo: Thousand miles in between us and this is the best that we are going to you know what I mean? If we're gonna do this, yeah, we'll do it remotely and yeah. I don't want people, it's my choice. I don't want people seeing where I'm sat.
[00:45:38] I'm sat in the office at home, but it's my office and it's private to me. It's got pictures of family around.
[00:45:45] Natasha: Just that everyone knows there is no reason for this background other than it's the only wall in my house that I haven't knocked out.
[00:45:51] It's the only wall that doesn't have plaster missing. So I haven't really got much of a choice but to use this boring gray wall. But I think what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna start feeling like I'm on B BBC and have something here.
[00:46:02] Yeah.
[00:46:03] Breaking news. And I'm gonna be, I can green
[00:46:05] screen if you want me to.
[00:46:06] I can
[00:46:07] green screen you. No problem. I can do that. No, I don't wanna be green screened. I'm gonna put, I'm gonna put Sadiq Khans face up here and just throw fucking
[00:46:14] darts at it.
[00:46:15] Jo: Tash, I think we should wrap up, but as episodes go, we were gonna do an episode on a little bit more about us. But I think we've done that now, haven't we? I think we've covered that now.
[00:46:25] Natasha: I reckon we've bored people deaths. Yeah. I don't reckon they give a shit at this point. I think they're like, I just wanna get these fuckers off my screen.
[00:46:33] Jo: If you're still with us after 50.
[00:46:34] Natasha: No, I wanna know, how do I pause? Don't wanna know.
[00:46:38] Get this. We did three episodes. That was a good run, Jo. Back to our normal lives. There we go. It was a passion project. It did good. It's
[00:46:48] been emotional.
[00:46:49] Nice knowing you.
[00:46:50] Jo: Just in case like we have offended anybody, I have no employer that you can go and send this to. I'm self-employed.
[00:46:57] Natasha: Wait, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on.
[00:47:07] I found this. Is it yours? We don't have a complaints depart. Listen, do you know what? You clicked? You clicked. You should have clicked off sooner.
[00:47:19] Jo: Yeah, but if they have made it this far, brilliant. See this red symbol here in the corner? It says subscribe, like notify. Click that. Come and join us more often for the next episode.
[00:47:31] If you've enjoyed what you've heard tonight, buy the book. Bring the banter, bring the Fs, but just don't
[00:47:36] Natasha: help feed a middle-aged woman. Help feed a middle-aged woman for just 10 pounds. You could feed for another week. Buy the book.
[00:47:45] Right guys. Thank you. See you again. Goodbye. Bye guys. Thank you. Bye.
