Tana Mongeau
YouTuber wishes death to tour guide in podcast – and loses sponsor
More than five million people follow Tana Mongeau on YouTube
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In her podcast, the American Youtuber Tana Mongeau talks about her trip to Europe and a wine tour in France. However, the 25-year-old only has bad things to say about this tour guide, and above all about the tour guide, who she finds particularly annoying. She becomes so abusive that she even loses a sponsor.
After a fairly short night in Paris (“We partied until 4:30 a.m.”) and without breakfast (“I was pretty hungover”), she had to be on the train at 8 a.m. to start the tour. There they would also have met the tour guide named Cynthia. “I was told there was something to eat on the train, but there was no such thing,” she says. She only claims to have found out on the train that the tour involves a ten-kilometer walk – and that her friend was wearing high heels. (“Wouldn’t you be better off saying, ‘Bring your Air Maxes?'”). When asked what happened to the golf carts, the tour guide said she had booked them another tour that she thought they would like better. She had already started the tour on the train, although Mongeau preferred to doze off for a while and catch up on sleep.
Cynthia is said to have railed against influencers
On the subsequent hike through a village of 300 people in northern France, during which the tour guide bored her with her stories about her private life or fertilizing grass, she kept asking how she was feeling. (“If I had known that I was signing up for an Iron Man, I would have slept maybe 12 hours. According to the pedometer, I was at about 9,800 steps at 9:55 in the morning and still didn’t have a glass of wine in my hand”). When Mongeau finally put in earphones, she asked the tour guide to take them out, telling her that she was being very disrespectful.
At some point, the influencer asked to be picked up and taken back to Paris, but no taxi was found. The woman finally offered them to use the winery’s driving service. But when he came, Cynthia got into the car to her horror. (“I couldn’t believe it. Now I had to sit in the car with her for three hours?!”). In the car, she put her earphones back in while Cynthia allegedly railed against influencers.
Sponsor Babbel announces collaboration with Tana Mongeau
She then names the winery and calls out to viewers, “Ask for everyone except fucking Cynthia!” She also calls the tour guide a “stupid F…. and explains that she wishes her death. Her co-host also repeatedly insulted Cynthia as “bitch” and “whore” in the conversation.
When Mongeau interjects an ad from her sponsor Babbel, she adds: “And with Babbel I could have told Cynthia, the wine tour guide, in her native language to shut up.” Apparently too much of a good thing. Matt Horsburgh, Babbel’s director of public relations, told NBC on Tuesday that the company is no longer working with Mongeau and will look more carefully at podcast sponsorships going forward. “This is absolutely not in line with Babbel’s corporate values,” Horsburgh wrote in an email. “As is evident here, Tana is obviously not a person who understands or celebrates the differences between cultures and we regret having any association with her.”
The said tour guide Cynthia, by the way a certified and award-winning wine and spirits trainer, was also contacted by the station. Confronted with the allegations, the entrepreneur clarifies that she sent Mongeau’s friend a detailed itinerary in advance, which said: “You should bring a bottle of water and wear comfortable walking shoes, casual clothes and layers. In the basements it will be cool”. Since the podcast was broadcast, she has received many hate comments online – but also a lot of encouragement. “People sent me Reddit threads. I’ve never used Reddit in my life,” she told the broadcaster. “(…) It reconciles me with humanity when I see that one of the consequences was this wave of kindness and a wake-up call for many people,” Coutu continued. “Cyberbullying is just wrong and death threats, well that’s the next level”.
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