Scandalous shockers should become a new Netflix sub-genre with the likes of Inventing Anna, The Tinder Swindler and now Apple Cider Vinegar. The "true-ish" new series exposes the bitter side of the wellness industry as Kaitlyn Dever (Unbelievable, Dopesick) portrays Belle Gibson, an Australian influencer and fake health guru who claims she cured her stage 4 brain tumor through healthy living and natural therapies.
Based on the book The Woman Who Fooled the World by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, Apple Cider Vinegar is important viewing in an era dominated by influencers and misinformation. This dramatization follows Belle, who built a lucrative wellness empire by pretending to have terminal brain cancer and other serious health issues.
Gibson's story attracted hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, prompting her to create a food and beverage app called The Whole Pantry as well as a cookbook. Eventually, the con woman's life came crashing down after Australian journalists uncovered her lies and scandals.
Female fraudster series are my new favorite sub-genre
There's just something about scandalous dramas like Baby Reindeer that I can't get enough of. So, when I saw the similarities Apple Cider Vinegar had to one of the best Hulu shows, The Dropout, I had to unbottle this shocking "true-ish" story built on a lie.
While Apple Cider Vinegar and The Dropout follow the lives of female fraudsters in the health and wellness industry, they're told in strikingly different ways. The Dropout focuses on Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried), who founded the healthcare start-up Theranos and put millions of patients at risk with her claims to the point she eventually lost everything.
The Dropout is very much a slow-burn series that's told in a largely linear narrative, but the drama of the jaw-dropping story becomes too irresistible that you can't stop watching. With Apple Cider Vinegar, it's a fast, punchy and witty commentary on the desperation that leads someone to fabricate their whole life for attention and how social media can encourage this behavior.
Although Gibson is the main star of the show, Apple Cider Vinegar also explores three narratives as it jumps back and forth from 2010. One is her growing rivalry with another health influencer Milla Blake (Alicia Debnam-Carey) and a third follows cancer patient Lucy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), who becomes absorbed in Belle's lies.
Where can you stream Apple Cider Vinegar?
What makes Apple Cider Vinegar well worth streaming is Dever's show-stopping performance as Gibson, whose masterful acting is something I couldn't take my eyes off while watching the series.
It's Dever's performance alongside the fact that the show has an 82% score from the critics (at the time of writing) on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes that cements it as one of the best Netflix shows.
All six episodes of Apple Cider Vinegar are available to stream on Netflix (aka the best streaming service) now in the US, UK and Australia.
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