The hotly anticipated Netflix series about notorious Australian influencer Belle Gibson, who was revealed by this masthead to have falsely claimed to have had cancer, will be hitting TV screens on February 6.
The official trailer for Apple Cider Vinegar, the “true-ish story based on a lie”, has dropped, showing what audiences can expect from the tale of a woman who built a social media following by claiming an all-natural lifestyle had cured her of cancer – a diagnosis that turned out to be entirely faked.
The limited series is set during the ascendant Instagram era, following Gibson and other personalities who gained traction as the social media influencer emerged as a force in the exploding wellness industry.
The trailer details Gibson’s increasingly glamorous lifestyle as she gains online clout, and the surging competition between Gibson (played by Kaitlyn Dever) and rival influencer Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey), before allegations of fraud and revelations of the fabricated disease bring it all crashing down.
The trailer shows the growing scepticism of the members of the wellness community. In one scene, shot in the former Melbourne office of The Age, Aisha Dee’s character is seen in the newsroom telling a journalist: “This is a big story.” Mark Coles Smith and Rick Davies play Justin and Sean, fictionalised versions of the journalists who covered the story.
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Gibson became famous in 2013 as the creator of the lifestyle app The Whole Pantry. A book deal followed, plus a public profile as a cancer battler and philanthropist – before her story unravelled spectacularly.
“This is a story of large-scale deception; a tale that duped millions in the reckless pursuit of attention and fame,” journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano wrote for this masthead in a 2017 Good Weekend cover story. The duo went on to write the book The Woman Who Fooled The World: The True Story of a Fake Wellness Guru, which inspired the Netflix series.
The show’s stars – Dever (Dopesick, Unbelievable), Debnam-Carey (The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Fear the Walking Dead) and Dee (The Bold Type, Safe Home) – will walk the red carpet at the global premiere in Sydney on February 3.
Other cast members include Susie Porter (Irreverent, Wentworth), Matt Nable (Transfusion, Last King of the Cross), Phoenix Raei (The Night Agent), Chai Hansen (Night Sky, The New Legends of Monkey), Kieran Darcy-Smith (Mr Inbetween), Catherine McClements (Total Control) and Essie Davis (One Day, The Babadook), and a cameo from comedian Peter Helliar as a morning TV news host.
The limited series was shot on location in Melbourne.
