Two Hot Takes - Check Out: Fed Up

Episode Date: July 26, 2022

When Emily Gellis hears rumors of people suffering horrible side effects from a trendy diet she springs into action. Armed with over a hundred thousand Instagram followers, Emily launches a social media crusade to expose F-Factor and its founder, Tanya Zuckerbrot. It’s the start of a feud that will attract trolls, lawyers, and, eventually, national media all because of fiber. From Wondery, this is a story about wealth, wellness, and influence hosted by Casey Wilson. Listen to Fed Up: wondery.fm/2HT_FEDUP

When you are scrolling through social media, how can you tell what's real? Misinformation can be dangerous, especially when it's related to your health. Anything can be posted online without being fact-checked. But if you heard about the secret to permanent weight loss, wouldn't you give to follow? Tanya Zuckerbrot, founder of the trendy high-fiber F-factor diet, has celebrity followers including Megan Kelly and supermodel Olivia Culple. Tanya has a nice house, nice husband, nice vacations, a very aspirational lifestyle, but allegations of troubling side effects with the diet began to surface,

and people started to question, is she selling powder or power? Emily Geliz, a popular fashion influencer, saw these allegations and put the diet on blast to her own large social following. She launched a crusade to expose Tanya and the F-factor diet. Emily thought bringing awareness to the claims would be enough, but that was just the beginning. What was once an online feud escalated into the real world, resulting in threats, lawsuits, and a whole lot of drama.

You're about to hear a preview of FedUp. Listen to FedUp on Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Spotify, or you can listen early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. And on this August day in 2018, it's the usual 1400 degrees, and the rats are living their best lives. The sidewalk outside Cipriani downtown is packed with people having a good time, hanging out, enjoying 30-dollar salads. A waiter brings out a piece of cake with a candle on it and delivers it to one of the tables.

My friend like sends over the cake with the candle, like they're pretty like white meringue cake that they're like kind of famous for. That's the almost birthday girl herself, Emily Gellis. And before I go to blow out the candle, I say something like, oh, I need to get an Instagram for this. Like I need to like record this like influencer life. Influencer life. At the sound of those two words,

the woman sitting at the table next to her pricks up her ears and said to me, like, oh, I heard you say you're an influencer. This woman has long, dark brown hair and blindingly white teeth. And what do you know? She's an influencer too. She was like, oh, I'm so-and-so. I do this diet. I was like, oh, cool.

And then we took a video together because I think she wanted me to post that she was eating pasta or something. Look who I bumped into at lunch. The queen of F factor nutrition and they're eating pasta. The queen of F factor nutrition does a double jazz-handed wave, blows a kiss and holds up her plate of pasta for the camera. Because you can be happy and F factor and pasta and live your best life ever. She giggles and the video ends.

And that might have been it. A typical New York encounter. Except that two years later, these two New Yorkers, Emily and the queen of F factor nutrition would be on opposite sides of a war of words. One that has spread from Instagram to the pages of national newspapers to the courtroom. And depending on which side you're on, it's either an attempt to silence the truth or the worst case of cancel culture in history. And it all begins with fiber.

Emily Gellis came for everyone. He came for anyone that was more successful than her. You're a powder-pushing, money-hungry, disgusting, gas-lighting, greedy woman. These women don't care if they have proofs. That's what's sick about them. Apologize to the people you got sick and move on with your life. You're sick. You are a sick, sick woman. Why threaten to kill my family over a diet?

I have seen the devil. I have absolutely seen the devil. You just heard a preview of FedUp. Listen to the rest of this episode wherever you get your podcasts.