Don’t believe everything you see on the internet. After watching Apple Cider Vinegar, you’ll want to question every influencer’s story – miraculous or mundane – that come across your algorithm. That’s certainly something followers of Belle Gibson will wish they’d done when, in the early days of Instagram, she built a wellness empire off her tale of beating brain cancer via nutritious eating.
This new limited series from Netflix is based on the “true-ish” story of the Australian entrepreneur, played spectacularly by Unbelievable’s Kaitlyn Dever. In what is perhaps a hangover from the legal battles around last year’s real-life smash hit Baby Reindeer, we’re reminded in each episode that what we’re watching is a fictionalised version of events, some characters have been made up and that Gibson has received no compensation for her story being put on the screen. Regardless of what parts are fact, it’s a compelling attempt to untangle the spread of wellness culture and who we trust online.
Inspired by influencer Milla Blake (played by Alycia Debnam-Carey) – who narrowly avoids having her arm amputated after following a strict regimen of coffee enemas and juicing – Gibson launches a healthy eating app called The Whole Pantry and proudly shares her story of healing a malignant brain tumour with fruits and vegetables. People from all over the world in need of a positive twist in their own journeys swallow up her tale without stopping to ask if she’s telling the truth.
Apple Cider Vinegar doesn’t lecture us about falling for internet hustlers, using characters like Lucy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) to portray the nuances at the heart of this story. Suffering from breast cancer, Lucy has been undergoing rounds of chemo to try and rid her body of the disease, with no luck. She’s lost all her hair and is tired of being drained by both the illness and the treatment for it. Gibson’s story presents a ray of hope – if it worked for her, why can’t it work for Lucy, too?
It’s easy to view Gibson as the villain of the piece – like the Anna Delvey of the wellness set, selling a lie and cynically piggybacking off someone else’s experience, with no concern about how detrimental her actions could be to others’ survival. You’re unlikely to come away from the series thinking she’s a good person, but creator Samantha Strauss gets inside the young mother’s mind and shines a light on the circumstances that got Gibson to this point. Similarly, Blake could be lifted up as the virtuous character to root for – after all, her testimony is genuine. But she harbours secrets too, which mean that while her intentions might be different, her followers are also being conned.
Like The Whole Pantry, Apple Cider Vinegar is set to be a hit. It deftly combines true crime, real-life drama and the gripping twists and turns of a thriller that keep you second-guessing and switching your allegiance between characters. It’s a knotty, complex tale done brilliantly and, in an era when we’re getting more of our information and inspiration from social media, a timely reminder that a few Instagram carousels or TikTok videos are only ever a snapshot of the real story.
‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ is available to stream on Netflix from February 6