‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ Doesn’t Want Too Much Focus On Belle Gibson
The new Netflix series Apple Cider Vinegar bears a lot of resemblance to Inventing Anna, the 2022 series about socialite scammer Anna Delvey. Both are Netflix sagas based on true stories about young women who used attention-economy clout (i.e. social media) to lie about their backgrounds and scam people into footing their bills. Both feature talented young American actresses doing accents. (In Anna’s case, it’s Julia Garner attempting Delvey’s bizarre German-esque accent; in Vinegar’s case, it’s Kaitlyn Dever pulling off a remarkably convincing Australian twang.) Both chart the fallout of their respective protagonists’ lies — and question why they got away with their scams for as long as they did. But only one series bears its scammer’s name.
Apple Cider Vinegar doesn’t really seem to want to be about Belle Gibson, the real Australian influencer and cookbook author who faked her cancer diagnosis to convince thousands of followers (some of whom did have cancer) to trust her 'holistic' advice. The show repeatedly reiterates the fact that it’s a fictionalised version of true events, and that Gibson was not paid a cent for the re-creation of her story. When I interviewed Apple Cider Vinegar creator Samantha Strauss ahead of the series premiere, she referred to the character on the show as 'our Belle,' not the 'real' Belle. In other words, the Belle Gibson in Vinegar is a reflection, not a copy. The show wants to use her true story as a jumping-off point, not as a facsimile.
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But that’s a tricky thing to do when the story itself is so bonkers to behold. Over the course of six episodes, we watch as Dever’s Gibson buries herself increasingly under the weight of her lie, going so far as to raise charity donations for real cancer patients but pocketing the money for herself. In the final moments of the show’s last episode, 'Tapeworm,' a placard reads, 'In 2017, the Federal Court of Australia found Belle Gibson guilty of misleading and—' before cutting to Dever, breaking the fourth wall as she addresses the audience directly. 'You know what?' she says. 'You can Google it.' In other words: This isn’t about what happened to the real Belle Gibson. If that’s what you care about, you can figure it out on your own time.
So what, then, is Apple Cider Vinegar really about? The finale episode spends a significant chunk of time depicting Gibson’s downfall — in particular, the journalistic investigation that revealed her scam to the public. But it also devotes multiple scenes away from Belle entirely, focusing instead on her partner, Clive Rothwell; her deteriorating relationship with her son; the mourning of a fellow wellness influencer, who actually died of cancer; a mother who can’t treat her son’s cancer without Belle’s promised charity funds; and a journalist whose wife finally agrees to go back into conventional cancer treatment after understanding Belle’s lies. Even as the show addresses the most salient details of Gibson’s story—including, of course, her infamous 60 Minutes interview—it attempts to depict the scope of her damage more than the details of her conviction. When the camera homes in on Dever’s increasingly dramatic sobs, it is not to paint her character in a kinder light; it’s to reveal the extent of her manipulation. She is not meant to be the object of the audience’s sympathies.
As Strauss told Vulture in a post-finale interview, 'I always wanted to stop myself from forgiving [Belle] for what she did...The real stakes of what Belle’s doing need to be centered in the conversation because, otherwise, it is just watching a grifter, a cancer scammer, and going, I can’t believe she did that. As opposed to the heart of it, which is the people she could have so profoundly hurt.'
This choice is what lends Apple Cider Vinegar an edge that Inventing Anna frequently lacked. While the latter series outlined Delvey’s crimes in detail, it also made them look impressive, almost aspirational. (The real-life Delvey has since become something of an internet icon, having only yesterday walked the runway at New York Fashion Week.) Dever’s Belle Gibson, on the other hand, is the epitome of cringe-inducing. When she belts Katy Perry’s 'Roar' a capella during a scene in the penultimate episode, it is viscerally uncomfortable to watch. There’s little chance of Apple Cider Vinegar viewers coming away from the finale and thinking to themselves, You know what? Good for her.
Some of this dichotomy can be attributed to the nature of Delvey’s versus Gibson’s crimes. Delvey’s scams took advantage of the wealthy and privileged; Gibson targeted everyday women and cancer patients. Strauss understood, then, that the finale episode could not leave that harm unaddressed. She told Vulture, 'I really hope this isn’t a glorification of Belle’s behaviour. I think across six episodes, it’s pretty monstrous, unforgivable behaviour...Certainly in Australia, she can’t profit from what she’s done financially. It felt important to say that. We liked the idea of the form of the show speaking to the premise of the show as well.'
Strauss also shared that the final line of Tapeworm, in which Dever talks directly to the audience, was intended to be, 'Do your own research' — a nod to the ways in which wellness influencers and other internet personalities have weaponised misinformation online. Instead, the line is 'Google it,' a subtle but clever tweak. 'Do your own research' could be misconstrued as an endorsement of the very 'alternative' practices Belle peddled. 'You can Google it' is a reminder that this story exists in the real world, that there are news articles and Wikipedia pages devoted to its events, and that Gibson’s actions had real impacts. In its final moments, Apple Cider Vinegar does its darnedest to remind us that Gibson isn’t the star. She’s the threat.
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