01x04 - A Girls Trip and a Scandal

[bunniefuu]

Hi, guys. I'm currently in Costa Rica

and I'm just about to go pick up the girls

at the airport.

And I'm beyond excited because it's

our first Hoaka girls' trip in Costa Rica,

and you guys know how much

it is my favorite country in the world.

This is our 11th Hoaka girls' trip so far.

We've been doing it for several years now.

I wanted to travel with my followers.

Most companies will travel with top models

to do photo shoots

that showcase their swimwear ranges.

However, I wanted to include my followers.

What's more, Hoaka supports diversity.

Plus, we've made this trip

very, very extra.

We've planned a lot of activities,

which I'm keeping secret now.

You'll see it throughout the week.

I also got a vintage Jeep.

It was a dream of mine

and I feel like it's gonna be

like a jungle vibe for the girls.

So, now, I don't want to be late,

so I'm just gonna rush.

And bye-bye. Love you.

ELISABETH RIOUX

UNFILTERED

TWO WEEKS EARLIER

-Hola.

-Hi.

Real quick. Have the girls already

been contacted about the Costa Rica trip?

-Yes.

-Make sure they're available for the dates

and then we need to get them here

to tell them they're going on a trip.

We don't really hire models

to promote our swimwear.

I never go to modeling agencies

to enquire about their models.

Basically, what we do is

we often hold competitions on Instagram.

We invited the girls to the Hoaka office.

They're collaborators

who do photos for us.

They think they're coming to pick up

some swimsuit sets to take new photos.

They're used to coming in to see us.

KESHA, DAPHNÉE AND TANIA

HOAKA COLLABORATORS

We have decided to invite you

on a very special trip,

which will be in Costa Rica.

It's important the mood is just right

when they meet.

We don't want anything to happen.

We want it to be safe for her

and for the girls too.

Basically,

I've already rented the villa and car,

but we also need to book the activities

and I want to make sure

we have pretty spots for the photo shoots.

I wanted to show you a list I've started

to understand your preferences and ideas.

Organizing a girls' trip

is always complicated

as trips never go perfectly.

Even when you travel on your own,

nothing ever goes totally smoothly,

so it can be really stressful.

Elisabeth is made of strong stuff.

When she went to Hawaii with the girls,

she came back ultra-burned out,

totally wiped out.

People think it's easy.

"She just travels about."

But no, it's exhausting.

Have you had a think about the girls

we interviewed the other day?

-I'll be off on maternity leave soon.

-Yeah, you can call them.

-Really? We can trial them?

-The two we said would work well together.

Let's try them working together

and we'll see.

You mean Shan and Neha, right?

From what they showed us,

they seem to have what it takes.

We'll try them out and see.

We're even prepared

to just hire someone part-time

to at least try to free up some

of Eli's time, as she's doing too much.

I've just received confirmation from Eli.

She always does things last-minute.

So, we're going into the shampoo

and hair care business.

With those new products, we will need

to consider the warehouse space too.

I'm not really surprised that Eli made

this decision without talking to us first.

-We must determine the quantities etc

-Okay.

-If you have any insights, tell me.

-Yes.

You absolutely must relay anything to me

as I need to visualize it all in advance.

I was surprised when I was

told about the hair products project.

However, at the same time,

it is a swimsuit company.

It's all about travel, pools, summer

and sunshine, so it does make sense.

What did she tell you?

Just because I wasn't informed.

Did she just say we're doing it

or did she give any info?

Just that we're going ahead

with the project.

-She didn't tell me any more than that.

-Okay. Okay.

You'll likely hear more than me

as you work closely with her.

We'll discuss it.

-It's important we're kept in the loop.

-Yeah. No problem.

I'm still fairly new to the company

and finding my footing is a challenge.

The hair products range will definitely be

my second major challenge to overcome.

Do you know when we'll receive

the samples? Have you seen what we'll get?

At the moment, I have no idea.

All I know is the project is going ahead.

We must put pressure on the right people.

-Knowing Eli, this is gonna hit us hard.

-Yes, that's for sure.

24 HOURS BEFORE LEAVING FOR COSTA RICA

My weekdays always start

by me taking Wolfie to my mom's.

Wolfie is my little ray of sunshine.

When she comes over,

she lights up the whole house.

I often take care of my daughters' kids.

They have a proper routine at our house.

Give the plants lots of water.

Wait until Mommy smells these flowers.

They smell amazing.

With a shortage of daycare centers,

I've still not found the right one for me.

With Eli's rather unpredictable schedule,

most daycares with set timetables

are out of the question for her.

-Yes? Hello?

-Hello, Mom?

-Yes.

-I saw that you called me.

I don't think Wolfie is feeling too well.

I think it's best you come and get her

as I don't want Aakash to get sick too.

-No.

-You're sick. You can't stay with Aakash.

Whenever I get a notification

on my phone saying,

"QC Scoop has sent you a message,"

my heart races

and I need to take a moment

before I can open the message.

I think, "What now?"

Québec Scoop is a gossip website,

as the name "Scoop" would suggest.

They post a lot about me

and what I'm up to.

There is always gossip

and unbelievable stories.

Can we not have peace

and quiet together as a family?

STEEVE RIOUX - VICE PRESIDENT OF HOAKA

AND ELISABETH'S FATHER

We have a right to go to a restaurant

or for a walk in peace.

I know how social networks

and the media work,

and it's all based on clicks.

That's the goal, so they always need

sensationalist articles for that.

-Do you want to read a pony story?

-Yes.

Wow. There are princesses too.

-Hello.

-Hello.

VOICE OF DOLORES

Everything okay?

Just before I called you,

I got another message from QC Scoop.

What now?

When I was in Miami,

Clau invited Rémi and I out on a yacht.

-Okay.

-There were guys there.

But, like, I didn't care. I didn't even

know they were going to be there.

Anyway, someone took a photo,

and as you know, I'm seeing someone

in Montreal, so I'm like

It's an uncomfortable situation right now,

as the guy I'm seeing

is not on social networks at all,

and it's too early for me

to go public with him,

so I don't want to tell people about it

as it's something

I've decided to keep private to me.

Did they just post it

or send you a private DM about it?

No, they wrote to me privately.

So now I feel anxious.

I need to reply, but I feel like

They're just causing drama.

The thing with gossip columns

is if you respond to the articles,

people think you're playing the victim,

lying or covering your back.

However, if you don't reply,

you can let a rumor spread.

It can be a minor thing like this, but be

blown out of proportion for no reason.

Everyone will conjure up another boyfriend

then complain that I have too many.

People often say

she changes boyfriends all the time,

that she's always with a different guy.

It's so hard knowing how to deal with it

and what the right thing to do is.

There is no right thing to do.

In fact, the Hoaka girls' trip

is an all-expenses paid trip the girls win

to a destination of our choosing.

WINNERS OF THE COSTA RICA GIRLS' TRIP

We've just landed in Costa Rica.

-It looks stunning.

-Incredible.

We've just collected our luggage

and we're so excited.

Hola.

-How are you?

-Good. How are you?

How was the trip?

-Oh, my God.

-Unreal. Hi.

It fosters a sense of community

among our followers.

It gives them opportunities

and it's our way of thanking them

for supporting us

and being part of our community.

Basically, we have lots of activities

planned, so that's really exciting.

I won't reveal the itinerary for each

day now as you'll find out as we go.

Each morning there will be surprises.

We've also got lots of gifts for you,

swimwear you've never seen.

-Nice.

-Okay.

Our goal is for our brand

to represent everyone.

Okay, it's time to reveal

the villa to the girls.

-Oh, my God.

-Oh, my God.

Hello.

How are you?

-Great. And you?

-Good. How was the trip?

Claudia and I pretty much never fight.

If we do, it's only because

we want the best for each other.

I feel like the fact Eli is dating someone

who wants nothing to do

with her life on social media

is already a red flag, in my opinion.

You've met Laurie before at the warehouse.

She's a familiar face for you.

She'll be with us for the trip.

She'll help you pick out swimsuits.

I love the competitions

where Eli takes fans on trips.

It gives fans hope they can meet her

one day. It makes that accessible.

Also, it's really fun. Not everyone gets

the chance to do that with their fans.

It's a bit like a dream come true.

Basically, right now

I'm mainly getting Laurie

to help me pick out

the designs and accessories.

She'll pick out some pretty combos

and give me some options

so I can just work from those.

That will make it way quicker

for me to look over,

and from that I'll set up a photo sh**t.

So, she helps narrow down my options.

It's so exciting. Here is some swimwear

that isn't even out yet,

so you're the first ones

to see and wear it.

-We will sh**t the campaign with you.

-Oh, my God.

Amazing. Thank you.

You've got your new bikinis on.

One, two, three.

The water is pretty warm.

Claudia is a really positive person.

Her energy brings people together

so I love having her at my photo shoots.

Also, I'm often behind the camera

so having at least one person there

among them

who knows what she is doing

also helps reassure the girls.

-This is Sandrine.

-Hello.

Nice to meet you.

She's the photographer who always does

our Hoaka destination photo shoots.

She's really sweet and super lovely.

The girls are all really nice.

They just arrived.

I thought we could maybe do

a photo sh**t this evening.

Go.

Everyone's hot.

Okay, look this way. Yeah, that's great.

We're trying to take more action photos

for our ads.

The goal isn't just to sell swimsuits,

but also the Hoaka lifestyle.

One, two, three, go.

Everyone looks so happy.

Hoaka girls' dinner.

Cheers to you all getting here.

-Here's to your first night.

-Costa Rica.

Are you excited for tomorrow?

-Yes, majorly.

-We're going to the waterfalls tomorrow.

-Wow.

-Are you girls in relationships or single?

I've been single for six years.

Just like you.

What are you talking about?

I'm kind of in a relationship.

I don't know what to call it.

-Situationship.

-Yeah.

That's the word.

I basically started dating my partner

at age 14.

Wow.

I feel going to dinner with the girls

in a friendly, personal way

helps me to better understand

my followers and find out who they are,

so I can better understand

their needs too.

You know, as I'm a bit older now

and I've got a child,

I'm not as aware of what's going on

in my community anymore,

so events like this help bring me closer

to them.

-I had a question for you.

-Yes.

As an entrepreneur,

was it difficult for you

before you gained in popularity,

before everyone loved your company

and you started getting lots of orders?

Well, to be honest, when I started,

I didn't expect it to get this big.

When I started Hoaka, I did it on my own.

I had no choice

but to do every step of the process.

It seems when people start companies now,

they try to have different teams

for each thing, but it's key

to oversee and be involved in everything.

I was really young, but you're also young.

You can make mistakes as you still live

with your parents. It's all cool.

You don't have adult responsibilities yet,

like a family, a mortgage or whatever.

So, now is a really good time for you.

Have you ever

As you have tons of followers,

have you ever had a fan do

anything creepy or weird towards you?

Okay, there was one time

I was at home and I just went

to get Wolfie from my mom's.

I was just gone for an hour,

then I came back.

My friend came over to mine

and saw footprints in the snow in my yard,

-which isn't accessible in winter.

-Oh, my God.

She went in my room and called me, like,

"Eli, your door is open.

There's snow in the house."

-I went, "What?" The back door was open.

-What?

There was snow in my house.

It hadn't melted yet.

They didn't have time to steal anything.

If I'd got there at the same time

Oh, my God. I would have been terrified.

Weren't you scared too

because of all that stuff with your ex?

-Is that something that still scares you?

-Yeah.

I definitely considered

all of the possibilities.

Could it have been my ex?

Often prisoners are released earlier

than the set release date.

That often happens

when they show good behavior.

He wasn't granted early release.

SIX MONTHS OF PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE

FOR BRYAN MCCORMICK

The media often quoted his words saying

that in short, it was my fault

and that I was a liar.

When he got out of jail,

I was really afraid.

-Did they ever find the person?

-No.

That's terrifying.

They never found the person.

They were on a mission

and knew how to get away.

To protect myself,

I try to avoid going out at night.

When it gets dark,

if I need something from my car,

it's my worst nightmare. I always run.

Now that I have a child,

I'm even more scared.

I'm also anxious when

I post on social media.

Behind the scenes. Go for it, Eli.

I'll film my stories spontaneously,

but I'll post them around three days later

just so that my ex

or other people can't know

exactly where I am at a specific moment.

Cheers to the Hoaka girls only trip.

No toxic guys allowed.

Here's to no toxic relationships.

Bye.

-It's so hot, but this will do us good.

-Oh, my God.

-Oh, my God.

-It's so huge.

Wow. It's massive.

Oh, my God.

Hola. Hola.

It really is beautiful. Oh, my God.

When we got to the waterfall,

it was pretty busy.

When I got there I was like, "Oh, my God.

It'll be hard to take photos,"

but as long as the girls are happy,

we can sort the photos out.

The goal is to take

at least one lovely photo

of the girls striking a pose.

-You got it.

-One group shot and one of each girl.

Then after, lots of shots of them playing,

jumping and coming out of the water.

I'd say maybe sat down instead

so the bridge is visible,

but not a full-body shot.

There is a huge amount of work

and organization involved.

My brain was going

a million miles an hour.

The girls often expect to meet

the Eli they have seen online,

so an Elisabeth that's full of energy,

but she's only human.

In life, you can't

always be full of energy.

You're so beautiful.

You're really photogenic. These look fab.

The first time I met her,

she told me she wanted to be a model.

Just seeing how happy the girls are

on trips like this

and giving them

this opportunity is amazing

as often, only influencers

or supermodels get to do it.

When posting on Instagram, can it be hard

to feel happy in your own skin?

I really struggled

when I started my career.

It's tough, but by doing it,

I've learned to love myself.

I think it's important to include

all body types

and as many people as possible.

That's a really beautiful message

from Hoaka.

At the end of the day,

it takes a lot of inner work.

It's about being patient

and kind to yourself

and reminding yourself

that if we all looked alike,

there wouldn't be any beauty

in this world.

No, that's enough, thanks. Hola.

It's pretty rare for someone to interfere

with our shoots, especially like that.

I didn't even know how to react,

to be honest. It was just so strange.

-Okay. Gracias. Buen día.

-Bye.

Okay.

Okay.

No.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Okay.

Excuse me. Thanks.

At a certain point,

I had to put my foot down.

I always want to be kind,

but at the same time,

I had to protect my girls

as I am responsible for them.

-Okay, can you go please?

-It's fine.

-Okay.

-No. No. No. Okay, thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Bye.

We were also in a foreign country

in the heart of the jungle at the falls.

That guy was acting strange.

We had no idea how far

he was going to take it.

He almost went for you

so I gave him a hard shove.

I was scared.

He was that close to your mouth.

It was a really uncomfortable situation.

Did you reply to QC Scoop

about the photo they sent you?

It's making me so anxious,

I don't even want to think about it.

In the photo, it looks like

I was talking up-close to a guy,

but I didn't get close to anyone,

any guy on that boat,

apart from Rémi, who is g*y.

-Seriously, if they publish that

-Yeah, exactly.

That could ruin what you have with

The guy I'm seeing. If he sees it,

I don't know him enough

to know how he'd react

or if his family would see it

I would 100% say that in Québec

in particular, influencers are subject

to really intense prejudices.

It's a shame they don't let people

live their lives how they want,

but because Eli is in the public eye

she's a much easier target.

It's too much. For example, that article

that came out about your dogs.

That was something extremely personal

and they decided to rip your heart out

ÉLISABETH RIOUX IS LOOKING

FOR A NEW FAMILY FOR HER DOGS

AND KARINE ST-MICHEL REACTS

I've always been a mother at heart.

As soon as I turned 18, I bought a house

as I was dying to have dogs.

They were a big part of my life.

I would have never imagined having a child

would change that.

It was a situation where I was

kind of helpless. I couldn't defend myself

as I didn't want to say

I loved my dogs

from the bottom of my heart.

-I had them for fricking ages.

-Your first babies.

Yes, I had them for a long time

and they were always gentle,

but then they started behaving badly.

I was there with you from the start

when they were puppies.

They were good dogs for six years,

but if they end up being a danger

to your child,

they must be rehomed.

I didn't want to tell everyone,

"My dogs, who I love more than anything,

are dangerous for my baby."

-Yes.

-It was just

It was really emotional.

It was also the first time

that I wasn't able

to properly address it online.

ÉLISABETH RIOUX IS DESPERATELY

LOOKING FOR A NEW HOME FOR HER DOGS

I'm usually a really open person

about most things,

but when I'm going through

a hard time in life

and people decide to comment,

that's when I realize it's a lot harder.

ELISABETH RIOUX IS CRITICIZED FOR WANTING

TO GIVE HER DOGS UP FOR ADOPTION

Some people have no limits, but I do.

The haters.

If you give them what they want,

you keep fueling the fire

and it will never stop.

QC Scoop is such a pain.

Yes. I wonder if I met them in person,

would it be like

Would they be in sorry mode

trying to be full-on nice to me?

Doesn't it scare you? If you met up

with someone, they could twist your words.

In fact, the way I deal

with controversy is

by constantly reminding myself

that I know I am a good person.

I know my intentions are good.

I'm not perfect. No one is.

ONE WEEK LATER

The Hoaka haircare products line

is a huge investment for us.

I'm actually really excited

to see the new samples.

The whole visual marketing aspect

really falls within my field of expertise,

so I'm really excited to discover

what the products will be like.

We need to start from scratch.