Netflix’s Byron Baes is classic influencer chaos and these 22 moments prove it

Netflix’s latest reality show Byron Baes dropped last week and in all honesty you will never watch anything as messy and unhinged as these eight episodes of TV.

Byron Baes is a reality show based in, you guessed it, Byron Bay in Australia. It features a group of young influencers who spend their time taking selfies, partying on the beach and engaging in sound baths all whilst gossiping about the other members of the group. Think of it like Made in Chelsea just with fewer storylines and more matcha and shirtless guys.

The eight part series centres on new girl Sarah who has moved a whole hour away to Byron Bay from the Gold Coast. She gets on with the boys but unsurprisingly the girls aren’t her biggest fans and thus drama ensues. There’s also an influencer war between a man claiming to be the most followed male influencer in Australia and a talent manager hell bent on uncovering his “true” follower numbers.

The series is exactly how you’d expect it to be – long storylines, influencers acting like gurus and plenty of arguments. And yet it is addictive even if it is for all the wrong reasons.

Byron Baes contains many messy and bizarre moments and these are the 22 most chaotic:

1. Sarah turning up to her meeting with Alex, playing a keyboard and just getting him as her agent/friend

I appreciate certain scenes have to be set up to make the show work but I think this is perhaps the most orchestrated scene I’ve seen in reality TV.

Sarah dragging along her little keyboard, singing a 20 second song only for Alex to fall in love with her as both best friend and agent. We all know this is not about the music so why not just do us all a favour and skip the charade?

2. When Elle said she was making Hannah a ‘ceremonial cacao’

Should have known from this comment alone that Elle was absolute chaos.

3. Hannah breaking down over the crystal gift from Jade

It’s mad to think how much Hannah turned it around by the end of the series, because in all honesty after her wailing over the crystal Jade brought her I was ready to kick her straight to the Gold Coast.

It was hard to tell if she was orgasmic, in pain or a combination of both when she unwrapped that pink chunky crystal.

4. Alex’s comparing the sound bath about the Handmaid’s Tale

It was at this moment that I knew I loved Alex. Unlike everyone else he was not taken in by the sound bath and hilariously compared it to the Handmaid’s Tale.

The only disappointing part was when he tried to spin it around to Hannah in the next episode. We’re all thinking it Alex, just say it.

5. Hannah not knowing the word ‘sorry’

Hannah and Jessica’s fight was so irrelevant I can’t remember what it was even about and I literally watched it yesterday. However the one thing that does stick out from that attempt at drama was Hannah’s refusal to utter the words “I’m sorry”.

Hannah danced around the word for so long uttering excuses for her behaviour that Jessica had to physically say “sorry” for Hannah to say “I’m sorry”.

6. Alex acting like a detective over Jade’s followers

Imagine leaving a party to calculate the percentage of someone you met at a party’s followers? The whole scene of Alex typing away at his laptop was like a moment from a true crime documentary or heist movie – not a talent manager investigating an influencer’s claim they’re the most followed man in Australia.

7. Sarah playing the ukulele on her date with Nathan

Netflix is really in its serenading era. Just a few weeks ago Sal was playing his ukulele to Mallory in Love Is Blind and now Sarah is doing it to Nathan.

Sarah playing to Nathan was cringe for a first date and even worse when she asked him to film it for her. And if you didn’t have the ick for Nathan already then you will when he starts referring to it as a “uke” later on.

8. Hannah talking about dragon bones

It was painful to watch Hannah talk about dragon bones when she clearly meant dinosaur bones. And what was even more painful was Jade not being able to correct her. You’re 29 years old Jade, c’mon you’ve got to know this is not Game of Thrones.

9. Sarah saying she wasn’t on a date with Nathan because she was wearing underpants

Sarah I love you babe but this was not the one.

10. Alex’s Turkey obsession

Why Turkey? Why Turkey? Those were the only words out of Alex’s mouth for the majority of the show. He was a man on a mission to find out the truth about Jade’s following and it turns out all roads lead to Turkey.

11. Cai’s hair

Cai was an unproblematic vibey character who seems to be a pretty decent artist, but really could something not have been done about his hair?

12. Alex and Jade’s show down

Alex said what we’ve all wanted to ask an influencer, “how real is your following?” What no one was expecting was the explosive reaction Jade gave back to Alex, including Alex himself.

Jade’s moustache looked like it was about to leap off his face at one point. Easily one of the best scenes of the series.

13. The outfits at the fire pit

Cai and Sarah what the fuck are you thinking? If you’re cold Cai wear your coat and shirt done up, if you’re warm take your coat off and still keep your shirt on. The in-between stage of wearing your coat with a bare chest underneath does nothing for you.

And Sarah you can’t mesh the Gold Coast with Byron Bay if your answer to that is to wear a harness bra under a linen top, you look ridiculous.

14. The mermaid scanner moment

Sure you want to save the reefs, but do you need to do it by making it about yourself? Probably if you’re an influencer from Byron Bay.

15. The Slip ‘N Slide scene

More adults should have Slip ‘N Slides in their gardens. However the scene of Nathan and Cai sliding down one added nothing to the plot and was totally random, much like the rest of this show.

16. The staged horse ride

If you thought Sarah and Alex’s scene together in the first episode was staged then you are not prepared for the horse ride meet up.

Saskia and Frimmy suddenly turn up on horses to speak rather meanly to Sarah and Alex on the beach. What sort of grown adult has time to just ride a horse across the beach to deliver a shady line and be on their merry way? Also on a side note what sort of name is “Frimmy”?

17. Tuna being served at the sea life fundraiser

Thankfully the irony of this was not lost on Alex, the only voice of reason in this matcha fuelled show.

18. Alex comparing himself to escargot

If I couldn’t love him enough already Alex’s half hearted attempt at an apology to Jade included him comparing himself to escargot.

He said: “It’s like escargot darl. I’m a really acquired taste.”

Jade had no clue what he was on about and had anyone else said it I would not have cared but it was basically like Alex was giving a wink to camera and it was probably one of the best moments of the series.

19. Elle, Nathan and Sarah’s sit down

Name something more awkward than this tea session? Yeah you can’t because it doesn’t exist.

Poor Sarah had to sit there and watch the guy she was seeing and his best mate try and deny they didn’t hookup.

20. Hannah saying ‘thanks for blocking me’ to Elle whilst twirling her paintbrush

An iconic moment. Loved her for this and that’s all I have to say.

21. Sarah just leaving randomly

Whilst a little part of me experienced joy at seeing Nathan stood up, it would have been far better TV for Sarah to rock up and tell him in person, cause a scene and then drive off.

Running away in her Jeep just felt completely flat and anti-climatic. The way the whole storyline was constructed to be this giant move, when in reality she was driving an hour away from the Gold Coast. She definitely could have made her relationship work with Nathan, I travel more than hour to see my friends sometimes and we live in the same city.

On that note I am super confused as to why Alex said Sarah was his only friend in Byron Bay? Sarah literally came to work with Alex because of his connections to the area and he appeared to have a whole office set up in Byron? Make it make sense.

22. Stav’s proposal

And the prize for the most underwhelming proposal, possibly in the history of the world, goes to poor old Stav proposing to Elle.

He does it at a party surrounded by all their friends on a swing set, Elle looks completely unbothered and hardly anyone cheers for them.

It’s awkward, uncomfortable and given what we’ve just seen about Nathan and Elle it seems like the oddest timing for a proposal.

Byron Baes is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

Related stories recommended by this writer:

•Introducing Byron Baes: The controversial reality show that’s just dropped on Netflix

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•Inside the ‘influencer’ Instagrams of the cast of Byron Baes on Netflix