Inside fashion 'mean girls' scandal rocking Shameless: Hosts' 'aggressive' takedown of influencer sparks fury - and why fans say apology isn't enough. Now, Zara and Michelle reveal changes are coming

Independent media company Shameless Media braced for backlash this week after its Style-ish podcast became embroiled in an online feud with a popular influencer.

Tamsin Amy, who boasts about 700,000 followers across social media, got on the bad side of the Style-ish hosts when she shared a video criticising people who develop 'taste' based on Pinterest boards and micro‑trends.

The British content creator, 32, suggested people should develop their style based on lived experiences and take inspiration from the real world, sparking an 'aggressive' takedown from Aussie fashion tastemakers Maddison Sullivan-Thorpe, Anika Joshi-Smith and Joanna Fleming, who said her take was 'pretentious' - among other things.

It all kicked off on March 4 when Style-ish, part of Shameless Media's stable of millennial podcasts, released an episode in which the trio shared their opinions on current style trends - but things took a rather sour turn at the end of the recording.

A clip from one of Tamsin's recent TikToks was played, in which she said: 'Nowadays people have terrible taste or have not developed their own sense of good taste. Developing good taste requires curiosity. It requires friction. It requires longevity.' 

Maddison, Anika and Joanna had some strong opinions about Tamsin's comments on 'taste' - with their comments labelled by listeners as 'mean' and 'aggressive'. 

Comments made by the women included Joanna saying, 'F***king hell, this is pretentious. That video I watched and I was just like, "This is the biggest first world problem I've ever heard in my life."' 

Joanna then said Tamsin should 'go touch some grass', to which Anika, who is heavily pregnant, added: 'Go take your shoes off, sweetie, and go stand in nature.'

'I've got more than enough "friction",' Maddison fumed.

'I'm a nearly 31-year-old woman who is single with a big fat golden retriever, running my own business, working like a dog. There is more than enough f***ing "friction" in my life. So you know what? You back the f*** off.'

Listeners were left stunned by the comments, noting how wildly off-brand this was for a trio of hosts who are usually 'nuanced' and 'measured' when discussing different perspectives on fashion.

But none were as shocked as Tamsin herself, who, after being alerted to the comments by the Australian podcasters, took to TikTok to address what Maddison, Anika and Joanna had said about her. 

'It is weird as hell. It's so unnecessarily aggressive... I was like wow this has absolutely no need to be this mean and aggressive,' she said in a lengthy video.

She added that the Style-ish podcast was created to thoughtfully unpack niche perspectives in fashion, while also offering commentary on style and taste.

While Tamsin's response was articulate and thoughtful, listeners of the Style-ish podcast cut right to the chase and labelled the podcast hosts 'mean girls'. 

'Unfortunately the entire Shameless network of shows has been going in a direction I do not love (mean girls),' one person wrote.

'I find it interesting that Shameless Media often talk about the "whataboutmeism" on social media where content consumers take commentary as a personal attack and when you listen to this segment that's exactly what the hosts have done. They [have] taken commentary personally and adopted this "whataboutmeism", tearing you [Tamsin] down in the process. I agree that it felt a bit mean girl and as an avid listener I was shocked to be honest,' added another.

Other comments included: 'They're such mean girls,' 'Appalling mean girl behaviour here,' and, 'Love the podcast but ya'll def missed the point here. It's giving mean-girl.'

'As a long-term listener of you all, this felt weirdly aggressive and mean girl. Really disappointing,' said another, reflecting the views of many fans.

While the backlash was completely overwhelming, there were a few voices who broke through in defence of the Style-ish podcast. 

One listener said they agreed with Tamsin's initial take on developing taste, but added that 'style and taste have different financial access levels and it's a privilege to be able to curate a sense of taste, so also I agree with the Style-ish girls'.

'What I love about this podcast is they're talking about a whole spectrum of fashion, lifestyle and beauty, at all different price points and making it more accessible to people who maybe don't have the time or money to add the friction and experience to their life (at least not every day/week/month). Yeah they could have spoken more kindly about it but it was a hot take on a hot take. A man wouldn't be dragged over the coals like this for that.'

Shameless Media, which owns Style-ish along with the original Shameless Podcast, Everybody Has a Secret and The Shameless Book Club, appeared to take the online feedback on board.

Their initial response was to delete the TikTok video they uploaded of the Tamsin takedown, but they have since left the Instagram video up and allowed listeners to freely share their opinion on it.

Co-founders Zara McDonald and Michelle Andrews also sat down with Maddison, Joanna, and Anika for a special Style-ish episode where they discussed the backlash in full and issued apologies to Tamsin.

'It's never nice having commentary like the commentary we've had. I think it's been deeply reflective for all of us,' Maddison said.

She went on to add that she 'loves Tamsin' and her content, but just didn't agree with the influencer's take on how one's taste should be developed.

'I thought that was an interesting take. I disagreed with it. I came across more aggressive than I would probably like... I don't think we got the tone right on that one,' she added.

Joanna said: 'I definitely made flippant and unnecessarily aggressive comments that were directed toward Tamsin. I didn't do my due diligence when it came to looking at the broader content Tamsin makes.'

She added: 'I think I projected my feelings about that entire segment onto Tamsin as a creator... I remember being like I don't really have anything to add to this conversation. It just felt a bit above me. I don't feel like I'm a taste-maker.'

Joanna said she let her insecurities get the best of her and she projected her feelings onto Tamsin, noting: 'I absolutely think that my language and the way I came into it a bit aggressively toward Tamsin was uncalled for and I apologise to her for that. I think that was just unwarranted.'

Anika also agreed that their 'intentions didn't land where I really had hoped because, Tamsin, she has really thought about this. I did agree with a lot that she said but it didn't come through a lot, and for that, I am sorry.'

Co-founder Michelle added her own commentary to the apology, saying the 'tone' of the first podcast episode 'missed the mark' and it was her and Zara's responsibility to 'goal keep' the image Style-ish puts out there on behalf of Shameless Media. 

'I think the message of your [Style-ish] segment was something a lot of people could see themselves in... When it's three of you in a room, the tone can very quickly get away,' she said. 

'You can't always have that bird's-eye perspective in the moment to check that tone. That's where it's Zara and my responsibility and the Shameless Media team's responsibility to be that bird's-eye perspective. That's where we have potentially let the show down, but also let Tamsin down that that tone got away from us and we didn't goal-keep it as well as we should have.'

When the Daily Mail contacted Shameless Media for further comment, Zara and Michelle released a statement saying the controversy had been 'a lesson for the Style-ish brand' and a reminder that all of their podcasts 'need to reflect our values'.

'As co-founders of the business, we felt it was imperative (and very much our responsibility, given the buck stops with us) to make personal contact with Tamsin hours before our podcast episode went live,' they said.

'We thanked her for laying out her thoughts, and acknowledged that having three women unpack one woman's TikTok on a podcast episode can be heavy-handed.' 

'Once the episode was live, where the hosts personally apologised to Tamsin in the studio together, we sent Tamsin the link privately,' added Zara and Michelle.

'We also felt it was important to appear on Sunday's episode (which was unmonetised) ourselves; we are the owners of this company, and ultimately, all content under the Shameless Media umbrella needs to reflect our values.

'We thank Tamsin for her honesty and candour; this has certainly been a lesson for the Style-ish brand on tone and balance. This experience is an opportunity for Shameless Media to make a better, more thoughtful show.'

Unfortunately, it would seem the podcast apology episode didn't quite land with many listeners, as they once again flocked to the comments of the Style-ish social media pages to criticise the 'buzzwords' and perceived lack of accountability used in it. 

'Yeesh. That "apology" pod ain't it. Heavy on the buzz words ("unpacking", "missed the mark", "learnings") + immediately defensive ("we didn't even put the video in show notes, the production team did", "I didn't even know who Tamsin was", "the social cut-down missed the 'nuance' of the full episode") and wayyyy too light on the accountability & responsibility (did MST even apologise?!),' one person wrote.

'Clearly the "we try to imagine the person we're talking about is in the room with us" strategy is optional - why even mention that?! The OG bin fire (which involved plenty of oversight + multiple intervention points to re-think publication) was not "missing the mark"; was not a problem with "tone" & editing FFS. Minimising and justifying your behaviour doesn't help your cause.'

Tamsin herself has since addressed the apology - by essentially saying it's not up to her to decide if it's good enough.

She shared another TikTok video on Monday saying she 'very much appreciates that they [Style-ish] took the time to sit down and record it and talk about it'.  

'I'm not going to dig into the apology that they released because I don't want to open another can of worms. I will say I appreciate that they took the time to do it,' she added.

'The response that they put out isn't for me... It's for the regular listeners and active listeners to decide how they feel about it... I am very grateful for everybody who was very kind in sticking up for me or in challenging their response to me. But I also do not condone being nasty individually to the podcast hosts.'

The Daily Mail has also reached out to Tamsin for further comment, as well as Maddison, Anika and Joanna, who host Style-ish. 

Read more in tomorrow's Inside Mail column, exclusively for subscribers of DailyMail+