Shane Seacole Interview
PRODUCER: I’m so sorry to hear about the trouble you’ve had outside your flat recently due to the documentary leak. I hope it’s not been too disturbing?
SS: Yeah, it’s not been nice. I mean, me and Paige knew it would happen if news of the documentary got out, but I guess we didn’t realise how soon that would be. Good news travels fast. You know, or at least, not good news but, news. You know what I mean. It’s been quite distressing, we had to call the police the other day.
PRODUCER: Oh God, how horrible. But is it in hand now?
SS: It’s better. The police put a pretty stern warning out. It’s unbelievable what these people get away with. Paige was pretty upset about it all, but it’s okay. She’s very strong. Very. Like, crazy strong, man.
PRODUCER: How sweet. Well then, let’s get down to brass tacks. Count us into the filming and three, two, one.
PRODUCER: So, Shane, how did you meet Zanna?
SS: I met Zanna kind of just around. I know it seems mad now to not remember the very first time I met her, but there were always a lot of girls around. When I was a young guy, I had a lot of girls’ numbers on my phone. She was, you know, she was fit — obviously.
[He shrugs, pauses and looks down.]
PRODUCER: Take your time, I know it feels strange.
SS: Yeah.
PRODUCER: You do get used to it.
SS: So, Zanna, yeah she came to a few parties and we got talking, I guess. It happened slowly. She linked me first, I was like, damn this girl’s keen. There were some Insta messages, then texts. Next thing I know we’re three dates in and I’m agreeing to be exclusive. It was funny though, I liked it, really. A lot of girls don’t have much about them. Zanna was so focused, man. And she was beautiful. She came from a posh family. We were different like that. All my mates were jealous. It was cool, you know. She was cool. Yeah.
Honestly, I’m a pretty laid-back guy, you know? I like things the way I like them. I got up, I went to the gym, I trained my clients, I came home and had a few beers and dinner with Dad. Before Zanna, anyway. My mum wasn’t around. She left when I was little. Dad’s not native to the country, he found it hard to meet people. I think I inherited some of that shyness. I guess that’s why I didn’t really date when I was young either. You know, stuff with my mum. Zanna was my first official girlfriend.
PRODUCER: How did you make it official?
SS: For me, I wanted to keep the relationship casual at first, but I didn’t have much choice in the matter, if you know what I mean. On our second date I turned up in shorts and a tank top and flip-flops, she told me she was taking me shopping. Once a woman buys you clothes it’s a done deal. You’re hers now, bro, she’s got that tag on you. Stamp on the forehead, innit? “He’s mine.” [Laughs.]
PRODUCER: What did your friends and family think of Zanna?
SS: [He makes a whipping sound and mimes the action, then laughs.] My mates called me pussy whipped. Sorry, can I say that?
PRODUCER: You can say whatever you like.
SS: So they called me pussy whipped, you know what that means, when a girl is, like, the boss? Everyone said that about us to be fair but, yeah, I didn’t mind. I didn’t mind.
PRODUCER: Is that what your dad said?
SS: Well, my dad’s from a very different background. He’s a labourer, he’s worked with his hands all his life. And he would never say the P-word, he’s probably going to slap me on the back of the head when he sees I’ve said it. [Chuckles.] He never really got Zanna, her family. Don’t get me wrong, you know, he liked her, just two different sides of the track. But he always looked out for me first, always. Still does. It was just me and him, always there for each other.
But Zanna, yeah. Look, things weren’t perfect, as you know. As the world knows, at this point. But yeah, I did love her.
PRODUCER: We can circle back to that later. I’m curious — what are you hoping to get out of the documentary, Shane?
SS: Oh man. I’m just wanting to move on. To put it all behind me. You know, Paige, she wants to do this, so I did. I just want to put this all to bed and never wake it up, if you know what I mean.
PRODUCER: I do. So, let’s start at the beginning. When did you find out about the blog?
SS: [Shrugs.] A few months into our relationship was when she started it. Then I guess it took about six months to get to the point where she hired Paige. I didn’t pay much attention to it, to be honest, except that she’d started asking me to take pictures of her outfits. It was funny, really. She’d stand on the step of some hotel we were just walking past and then look away from the camera and look back and ask me if I’d taken it. I’d say, “No, I’m waiting for you to smile.”
She’d say, “I’m not supposed to be smiling.” [Laughs.] My days, looking back it was funny, really. I thought she’d gone mad. But I went along with it. Happy wifey, happy life-y.
She wouldn’t be happy before she got a picture. And there would be this, like, stressful vibe over the whole evening before she got a picture she wanted to post. Obviously, I loved being with her, but that did annoy me. I got the hang of it eventually. Being the “Insta Boyfriend”. [Makes air quotes with his hands.]
Then she started getting sent free stuff. The first time I remember, I was over at her flat and she got this package, it was all blue and wrapped with a big bow. I thought, It’s not her birthday, what’s going on here? Maybe she’s got a secret admirer. I’m not a jealous guy, but gifts start turning up at your girlfriend’s house and you’ve got to wonder, haven’t you?
I was shocked when she told me she was leaving her job to do it full-time. And worried. Then she laid out this whole business plan to me and it blew me away.
I had no idea what she could make from all this. She had ten thousand followers, and she was making like £200 off one Instagram post. One post. Made me want to throw the towel in on my personal training altogether at first. Then, she started showing me all these personal trainer accounts, guys who were raking it in showing what they did in the gym and taking selfies.
I could do that, I thought. And she was like: “You could do this.” It’s thanks to her I have the career I do now.
It was around then I moved in with Zan and Paige, in London, after Zanna graduated and they started working together. It was fun around that time.
PRODUCER: And what did you think when Zanna invited Paige to move in with the two of you? Quite an unusual set-up. Would most boyfriends be happy living with their girlfriend and her best friend?
SS: I think it was Paige that suggested it, actually. I mean, that’s what Zanna told me. That Paige was having to leave her uni halls and she asked Zanna if she could move in for a bit. She said Paige didn’t have much money, she didn’t have her parents’ help or anything, and that it would make our rent cheaper anyway. So I said yes. I didn’t mind.
It was generally a really chill set-up. It wasn’t the most masculine environment, if you know what I mean. The whole flat was like one big wardrobe. You couldn’t move for clothes and make-up and shit, everywhere. Literally everywhere. [Laughs.] Paige and Zan were constantly signing for packages and the doorbell rang all day. The poor supervisor for the flat block, Mr Mazur, I guess you know about him, he was the favourite, and he loved the girls. He was always taking fancy packages for the flat. Literally constantly, his office was full of them.
Every month or so we loaded the products into the back of a taxi and headed to a car boot sale. We would take like a hundred shampoo and conditioner bottles and make £250 off them. And the girls got sent such expensive stuff, they would walk away with over £1,000 in a day from those sales. I always wondered if it was against the rules, like, do these companies know how much cash the girls are making selling their freebies? There was so much money to be made. Honestly, I think selling the things she got sent second-hand made up half of Zanna’s income. You had to admire the entrepreneurial spirit, you know?
PRODUCER: What did you think of the public aspect of the blog, Zanna posting pictures of herself online? She must have had a lot of admirers. Were you jealous at all?
SS: Jealous, me? Nah, no way. I’m comfortable with myself. Never jealous. No. That’s not me, man.
PRODUCER: Did the blog take a toll on your relationship in any way?
SS: No . . . No. The relationship was fine. It was good. I mean, I guess, sometimes. Like, there were things that got Zanna down, like, things that were posted about her online. Nasty trolling. Some really, really bad rumours got made up. People just posted things that weren’t true. Total strangers, making up things about her. That’s going to fuck with anyone’s head. And, you know, she felt a huge amount of pressure to show that what she was doing was legitimate. A proper career. Her dad, especially, was . . . harsh about it. He never really gave her credit for what she’d created. And then, of course, they fell out.
But I was proud, I still am. Of everything she achieved and continues to achieve even now. The yearly charity event, for example, is part of her legacy. We — me and Paige — we love doing it, every year.