Split Screen: There Goes My Childhood
by CBC
Introducing: There Goes My Childhood
About this podcast
What ever happened to some of the first girls to grow up – and blow up – on the internet?
In the late 2000s, YouTube gave rise to a new profession: kid-fluencer – kids making content for other kids, earning millions-strong audiences and massive paycheques. And for years, some of the most popular YouTube videos for girls lived on one channel: Seven Super Girls.
It featured a rotating cast of tween and teen girls uploading sketches, skits and vlogs daily. Host Lauren White was one of them. Over time, they gained billions of views, big-name sponsors, lineups of screaming fans and more money than a child would know what to do with.
But with their growing success, came new rules from the man in charge: their manager. He began as a mentor, a kind of father figure. Then, he began dictating how the girls had to look, dress and behave. Above all, they had to look as young as they could for as long as they could. And for years, the girls did as he said… until he was put behind bars for hurting one of their own.
Almost a decade after the YouTube empire they built collapsed, the girls are now old enough to tell their own stories for the first time – the fame, the fortune, the friendships and the man they trusted for far too long.
About Split Screen
Welcome to Split Screen, an examination of the utterly captivating, sometimes unsettling world of entertainment and pop culture. From reality TV gone awry, to the cult of celebrity, each season of Split Screen takes listeners on an evocative journey inside the world of showbiz. Ex-contestants, producers, and cultural critics uncover complicated truths behind TV’s carefully curated facades, and question what our entertainment reveals about us. Split Screen: sometimes reality is twisted.
Season 1 | Kid Nation: The true story behind one of reality TV’s most controversial experiments.
Season 2 | Thrill Seekers: A multi-million dollar media experiment. Would you fall for it?
Season 3 | Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Was the Canadian punk pop sensation replaced by a look-alike?
Season 4 | Bachelor of Buckingham Palace: The story behind one of the world’s most bizarre reality dating shows.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 31 episodes
- Introducing: There Goes My Childhood · 2 min · Season 5What ever happened to the first kids to grow up – and blow up – on the internet? Now old enough to tell their own stories for the first time, stars of one of YouTube's earliest…
- Split Screen Introduces: The Big Bet · 40 minHow did sports betting go from being illegal to being EVERYWHERE? The answer lies in the convergence of daily fantasy sports apps, a bombshell New York Times op-ed, and the…
- Bachelor of Buckingham Palace, Episode 6: In Reality · 30 min · Season 4 Episode 6’I Wanna Marry Harry’ makes its prime time debut. Things do not go as planned. Scott begins to question what we really mean when we call something “reality” TV?
- Bachelor of Buckingham Palace, Episode 5: Not So Happily Ever After · 26 min · Season 4 Episode 5As filming wraps, the girls fly back home, and the producers have a surprise waiting for them when they land. As surprises go, this isn’t exactly a great one.
- Bachelor of Buckingham Palace, Episode 4: Princess Material · 29 min · Season 4 Episode 4Who is Matt Hicks? A questionable Prince Harry lookalike… but also the man who might be able to tell us what was really going on behind-the-scenes. All we need to do now is find…
- Bachelor of Buckingham Palace, Episode 3: The Believers · 27 min · Season 4 Episode 3Film crews, cults and coercion. A handy guide on how to get people to believe what you want them to.
- Bachelor of Buckingham Palace, Episode 2: Fever Dream · 29 min · Season 4 Episode 2Just whose idea was this anyway? And how did they intend to pull off such an absurd stunt? Scott needs answers. And he knows just who he needs to speak to. Danny Fenton — the…
- Bachelor of Buckingham Palace, Episode 1: The Fairytale · 30 min · Season 4 Episode 1Kimberly and Meghan audition for a secret new reality dating show. Producers won’t tell them anything about where they’ll be going, what they’ll be doing, or who they’ll be…
- Introducing: Split Screen: Bachelor of Buckingham Palace · 1 min · Season 4This is the inside story of "I Wanna Marry Harry", one of the world’s most bizarre and ballsy reality dating shows. Coming soon, wherever you get your podcasts on Nov. 10.
- Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Episode 6: My Happy Ending · 33 min · Season 3 Episode 6Joanne is back Canada… she has something she really needs to tell Avril. After months of digging – Joanne has finally tracked down the source of this rumour. SO Avril DEFINITELY…
- Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Episode 5: Wish You Were Here · 32 min · Season 3 Episode 5Joanne was beginning to come to terms with the fact that this might all be nonsense. She turns her sights on who started this conspiracy. Where did it come from? Joanne speaks to…
- Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Episode 4: Don’t Tell Me · 35 min · Season 3 Episode 4Joanne and her producer Sophie set up a war room with all of the evidence about Avril being replaced layed out. Her clothing, height, make up, song lyrics, voice.. it’s all there…
- Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Episode 3: Complicated · 31 min · Season 3 Episode 3Avril’s career hit something of a bump in the road. At one point she appeared to fall off the radar completely, all while the rumours about her being replaced were swirling. Can…
- Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Episode 2: Here’s to Never Growing Up · 40 min · Season 3 Episode 2Joanne arrives in Napanee, Ontario – Avril’s hometown. She plunges into Avril’s early career. The young superstar-Avril was under a lot of scrutiny and pressure. Was she itching…
- Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Episode 1: What The Hell? · 31 min · Season 3 Episode 1Joanne LOVES conspiracy theories… and there’s one she can’t get out of her head. Is it true that Avril Lavigne died, and was replaced by a body double? Joanne digs deep into the…
- Introducing | Split Screen: Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? · 3 min · Season 3Joanne McNally LOVES conspiracy theories… and there’s one she can’t get out of her head. Is it true that Avril Lavigne died, and was replaced by a body double? Joanne digs deep…
- Thrill Seekers, Episode 6: Back to Earth · 34 min · Season 2 Episode 6Space Cadets: where are they now? We learn how the contestants struggled to adapt to life after the show. We bring them together after 20 years, to finally reflect on how the…
- Thrill Seekers, Episode 5: Spacewalk · 36 min · Season 2 Episode 5Four cadets are sent to space and have a profound experience as they view the Earth from above. Back on the ground, producers scramble to find a satisfying end to the series…
- Thrill Seekers, Episode 4: Hoax TV · 26 min · Season 2 Episode 4The reviews are rolling in, but they’re not what the crew were expecting. Psychologist Cynthia McVay examines whether the manipulations integral to reality TV can be ethical and…
- Thrill Seekers, Episode 3: Behind The Curtain · 33 min · Season 2 Episode 3Before the cadets begin auditioning, a production team is hired to make the show. They too were sworn to secrecy as they were challenged to tackle a job they didn’t even think…
