BEA ELTON: The Social Media Star Using Cleaning to Change People's Lives

0:00I clean for free for people that are in need. We're typically cleaning homes that are like, you know, on the full end. They're biohazards. They're quite extreme jobs. They're often very, very expensive to clear up. You're on the front line seeing people who are really struggling. I don't think the world realises how many people are struggling. Every single person I have met, they are desperate, absolutely desperate for help. They want to get out of that situation. Why do you care so much about people and change and community? Hi, I'm Bea Elton and I'm in great company. It's our first free clean of 2025.

0:40When they see it for the first time, when they come back, what are their reactions? A lot of people are so overwhelmed that they kind of just stand there like, there is no world where a free clean is going to fix and rewrite years and years of trauma. It does not work like that. That person probably needs therapy. They need counselling. they might need to talk to a trauma specialist. Like what the goal behind the free cleans is, is to put that first building block down, to put that foundation down. The Sunday Times named you as one of the most inspiring people in the UK. I'm totally and utterly blown away.

1:13I'm not very good with compliments at all. It's lovely that you're seeing that as a compliment. It's not even a compliment, it's just fact. It's what you are. If you were to ask the government to make some changes, to make a real difference in people's lives, what changes would you want to make? I would vote for you in a second. Oh, I don't want to be in politics. I'm sure you don't. Don't worry. I'm sure you don't. Keep your vote, Jamie.

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2:41Hey guys, welcome back to another episode. I'm so excited for this one because I'm sitting down with a really just incredible person today, Bea Elton. She has an Instagram account called CleanWithBee. You may have seen it, right? She goes round to different places and cleans people's houses. Now, it sounds maybe a little unusual to you, but trust me, this person is one of the most inspiring young individuals I've possibly ever met. The things that she's doing are going far deeper than anything you can imagine. And we talk about this all on the show today. So please watch to the end and really enjoy this and really understand what Bea is actually doing, which is just spectacular and magical in so many different ways.

3:22Now before we start, I would just like to ask one quick thing, which is if you can click that follow button. It takes one second, it's completely free and it does its absolute wonders for the show. It means we can keep making the show better for you every single week. So join the community and enjoy this insane episode of Great Company with B. Elton. Guys, just before we start, I want to let you know this episode contains discussions around suicide. So please take care whilst listening or watching this. Now, if you or someone you know is struggling, support is available. Please see the show notes for more information and links to helpful resources.

3:58So wait, this is your first podcast? First ever podcast. I'm quite nervous about it. Listen, I'm nervous. I'm a bit starstruck. Shut up. I'm not kidding you. I'm not kidding you. When you walked in, I was like, there she is. There she is. That's so weird for me. because I grew up watching Maine and Chelsea with my older sister and she'd be like, that's London. That's Chelsea. That's what Chelsea's like. And I was like, wow. Wow. And you've got to be honest with me. Yeah. Taller or shorter in life? You are shorter. Yeah. You know, but that is the truth. Well, how tall are you? I'm six foot two.

4:38Same. Same. Actually, Harry, my partner, it's very, very, very disputed and he claims I'm lying, but I know I'm not. I first like saw him, met him 10 years ago, like at uni. And I swear he told me he was like six foot. He's like, no, I never said that. That never happened. And he's like, what, five foot 11, five foot 10 and a half. But he was really adamant he was six foot. You know what? I think guys do this. Harry's sitting in the room. Harry, do you want to defend yourself at this point? I haven't said 5 '12". Yeah, 5 '12". I'm also 5 '12". Me too. You are an incredible person, truly incredible.

5:17You created a career around helping people, but in a kind of unique way. Can you explain to everyone what you do? I clean for free for people that are in need and like by in need, you know, maybe they're disabled, maybe they have complex mental illnesses, maybe they have, you know, they're in cognitive decline, like whatever that may look like but every single person we help is very very different but the main thing they have in common is they simply cannot afford to get out of the situation that they are in so we're typically cleaning homes that are like you know on the full end they're they're biohazards they're quite extreme jobs they're often very very expensive to clear up and to sort and a lot of people that are struggling don't have that kind of money like that's the long and short of it.

6:07So what do you do when you're in a situation that requires money to get out of it and you don't have any? That's what so many people experience. So I'll be honest, I completely fell into this. It was never planned. I rented a flat with Harry in London. It was a shit hole. Personally, I'm quite scared of the landlord, so I'm not saying anything more than that. It was in South London and there was holes in the floor, mice infestation, but the biggest thing was mould and it hadn't been built properly it was like structurally I think everything was done dodgily and under the table and like not proper contractors were brought in and I don't think knowing what I know now and looking back at that property I personally don't think it would have ever passed health and safety like inspections and standards for like what our buildings need to be in order to be safe to rent them out and and just quickly for anyone who doesn't understand why is mold a problem it's dangerous it's if you're elderly if you've got young children, it really, really agitates and compromises your lungs.

7:10And that can be very, very deadly for someone who is already immunocompromised, someone who has lung cancer, someone who, like, whatever it may be, especially if you're a baby, especially if you're elderly, you are more vulnerable and more susceptible. The people that you highlight and the people that you help are people who really need it. Yes. Can you explain more about that? People always ask, like, how do you pick who you clean for? Because we get like 160 applications every single month on average. Sending via Instagram, via emails? No, no, those are like people who fill out a formal application form.

7:48If I included like DMs, emails, like on every single platform that I have, I think we would have received around, like I want to say confidently, probably over 10 ,000 people asking for help from every single country across the world that you can imagine. This is since when? In the last two years. In the last two years, you think you've had over 10 ,000 people applying? That have reached out to me in some form, whether that's through the form or through email, through DM, Like, yeah, we get, I don't think the world realizes how many people are struggling. Let's just say it's proven concrete. It is 10 ,000 people.

8:27Those 10 ,000 people are just people who know that they can apply, that know that this service exists, that have come to me. There are other free cleaners in other parts of the world. I would love to know how many applications they're getting and if there's any crossover of the same people that they're replying everywhere they possibly can. So if someone writes an application, you don't charge them. No, no. You don't charge them. But what you do is you go to their place, you find out a lot about them, you research them two or three weeks before, maybe months before you talk to them. You find out what it's going to cost.

9:01It typically costs£4 ,000,£6 ,000, maybe more. and use the money that you make from your social media to pay to clean someone else's flat for them. Yeah. So it's like every clean pays it forward for the next one and it's rolling. So it's great. And like, it's a model that like, I'm so, I can't put into words how grateful and thankful I am that we've got to the point where it's like a well-oiled machine. It kind of just works and no one's out of pocket and it can keep going the problem that's been the most difficult is it solely relies on views we might do a clean and spend i don't know six thousand seven thousand pounds on it and we might not get that money back that's fine but then what if we do another clean and spend the reserves of what we have and again the videos don't perform we're not making that money back by this point we've got the next six months of free cleans booked in so then like and this hasn't happened on this scale at all to us like i'm very very fortunate i'm very thankful but like it's a well-oiled machine where it works perfectly if everything works but as soon as one part of that machine starts to slip or fall you're risking the next six months of a scale and that's so many people and families that you could be letting down so that's the only downside but again like that's never I'm very very grateful that we've never been in that kind of predicament on that scale the way that I that I see it right is you're going into someone's apartment and there is stuff everywhere yeah and you turn up and and people are living in there people that are in these situations I've not met a single person that is happy or content or wants to be there every single person I have met they are desperate absolutely desperate for help they want to get out of that situation but just in the same way and I always explain it like people that watch these videos that see it they'll be like oh my gosh that's that's dreadful that's terrible the person living there thinks exactly the same thing and just like you might watch and be like I don't even know where I would start with that they don't know where to start with it there's a quote which she said, sometimes we get comments like, I can't even imagine living like this.

11:22And you say, you're really lucky you can't imagine. I'm jealous of you. And I'm sure loads of people who live like this are jealous of you that you don't understand. Yeah. Yeah. It makes me so mad. It still makes me mad. Why does it make you mad? It doesn't make me mad when people are, they just want to understand. That doesn't make me mad. I think that's amazing. I think that's welcome. It's when people try and compare their pain or like their perspective of what pain and suffering is and project it onto someone else. And it's this discourse of, I have depression and I never behaved like that, or this happened to me and I never acted like that.

12:01And it's not a competition. And also, why are we pretending that... I've given you a smidgy bit of context in a one-minute video. Why are you assuming that that's the whole story it's not a lot of the time the people that we're cleaning for like I always say we have multiple meetings multiple contract likes and I'll say I will only put stuff in my video that you yourself have consented to like you have to tell me like they'll tell me their whole story and then they'll say I'm comfortable with you talking about this and it's two percent of what's happened but I can't I can't say the rest but you want to scream at these people like I promise you, if you watched a film of the exact same things of what happened to that person, if there wasn't that barrier of disconnect because you can't see this person and you don't know the whole story, you would not be saying that.

12:56Whose story really stuck with you? Can you share it? Keeping her completely anonymous. So multiple things happened. So her mother was very, very unwell. Her mother died. She'd been with her partner for like 10 years. They were engaged. he cheated on her she was pregnant in time she lost the baby it just back to back with her mother dying very tragically then he leaves they just sorry also while this is happening they just signed for a house to move in to a house he leaves for like two days while he's gone she gets robbed and the men rape her all night and take it in turns with her and leave her she's also sorry on top of this has been disabled like pretty much most of her life but after that it was so violent that now she's scared of men she's scared to leave the house she's very conscious that these people know where she live and they'll come back she just completely does not know what's going on your body enters survival like you're in complete trauma so she with whatever energy she has left she's like i need to leave this house i need to move she moves into a new flat everything she's know, and her whole support bubble is just ripped away in the space of a few months.

14:08Like it's gone. Before this, she was very, very successful in her career, had a really good job, loved what she did. Everyone loved her, has so many friends. Now she's disabled. She's got no income. She's lost her job. She's lost her partner. She's lost her mum. She's lost her friends and she's lost her family. And she's terrified of leaving the house. Her toilet breaks down, right? And she can't use it. She starts going to the toilet in bottles and in buckets, okay? Then the heating goes. So now she's got, like, the boiler goes. So she's got no way to cook food for herself, no way to wash her clothes, but also she's been going to the toilet in bottles and buckets.

14:46So even if she wasn't absolutely petrified and terrified of men and of going outside and taking her rubbish outside or seeing anyone, she's also ashamed because she's never been this person before. But now the idea of inviting someone into her home and then seeing that, that's terrifying. So she kind of struggles along, the mess accumulates. Again, that mess is accumulating because she can't go outside. She's terrified of going outside to take our rubbish into the bins. A lot of the times when that's kind of a factor, you'll see these people, they've bagged up the rubbish. They've just not taken it outside because they can't.

15:23And there's so many reasons why. It could be disability. Again, And this woman's disabled. She can't walk unassisted. So many different layers, right? She gets to the point where she's like, I can't live like this. I can't tell anyone. She had great friends. None of them knew this was happening. She hid it. She told them that she, you know, didn't want to go out because she was terrified after what happened with the assault and the robbery. Also, sorry, just to add, she's going through a lengthy police process throughout all of this and that police process ends with them going all of the uh dna samples that we found inside you when you came in we've got nothing we can use to prosecute from that these men are still out there we're really sorry we've tried everything if anything comes up like we'll try and get back so she feels completely betrayed like is this is big right so she starts writing her suicide letter.

16:14She plans to die. She fully, she makes her plan. She knows where she's going to do it. She knows how she's going to do it. And she's written a letter and she makes sure to put the letter, the letter's going to be far enough for her body that when she starts to decompose, the letter will still be intact. Right. And she contacts me after she's written this letter and asks for a free clean. And that's how that started. Now, that woman after the clean, She's doing really well. We cleaned up that place. She was teamed up with a mental health specialist nurse. So she's been continuing that. She's been going to therapy.

16:47She's been swimming. She wants to do a swim for charity. Her disability, she's doing physio. And she's happy, like really happy. Spoke to her yesterday. Like she's doing great. like sometimes all someone needs and obviously everyone's completely different but sometimes all someone needs to get out of that funk is just for the slate to be wiped clean of like okay that's happened let's put a line under that let's fix this get this back to a manageable condition and we'll go from there and like we'll get you some help we'll get you some therapy whatever because multiple things have led to this and you need to deal with the grief the trauma the agoraphobia like you need to deal with all of that I can't help you with that but I can help you with having a space that you're not ashamed to let someone in to fix your boiler so like that was one of the first ones we've done where I was just so sad doing it like knowing everything seeing everything and like you're going through you're seeing like versions different versions and stages of someone's life you're finding like cards from their 20th birthday and they're in the 50s now but they've held on to that card everything is like a part of someone's life and you're like this is a real person this is what has happened to a real person and no one around them knew that they were struggling makes me emotional like yeah because we forget how much people are struggling when someone hands in that application and you speak to them and you do it and you check them and you hear the story you go and clean that whole place and like you said sometimes you have to go in a full biohazard suit and you have to every time you clean this place of mold and everything and mice and everything and anything you can imagine is in this place right when they see it for the first time when they come back what are their reactions honestly everyone's very different like some people cry they don't stop crying like they want a hug and like i think everyone's overwhelmed i think overwhelmed is the main emotion but people show that in different ways Everyone is super, super grateful.

18:55We've never had anyone that's been not grateful. But a lot of people are so overwhelmed that they kind of just stand there like, and they don't say very much because they just can't believe it. Because one thing we need to remember is when we're on the clean, we put that resident in a hotel. If they're a suicide risk or if a hotel is not a wise decision, then no, obviously we're not doing that. We'll take friends, family, we're going through whatever. whatever. If a hotel is easier than, yes, a hotel, an Airbnb, whatever. For them, they've left and then they're returning. And it is a home that a lot of the time they've not seen those walls and that floor for 20 years, 10 years, however long it's been.

19:46It's very overwhelming for them. So I totally get that. And they might be like, oh, thank you, but they're not saying much. And then we'll get a really nice email after we leave when they've like had a chat because it's shock you know so everyone reacts differently the fact that you've done these to these individuals their lives now hopefully i know there's i'm generalizing but their lives must be tenfold better hundred times better than what it was i always say like there is no world where a free clean is going to fix and rewrite years and years of trauma it does not work like that there needs to be so much additional support that goes alongside the clean that person probably needs therapy they need counseling they might need to talk to a trauma specialist like they might need a stair lift so they can actually access the upstairs to their home like there's so many things that they might need I'm never going to think I fixed everything because it doesn't work like that and I'm not naive to think that it does what the goal behind the free cleans is is to put that first building block down to put that foundation down so that from that there's a jumping off point from that carers can safely and legally like access that home to give ongoing care for someone who might be disabled you know might be might have a catheter that needs to change like whatever it is yeah it might allow an electrician a plumber a gas engineer to come in and fix remaining repairs it might allow an exterminator to come in and sort it out painters decorate like it's the baseline and the biggest thing is it allows is someone to feel comfortable enough to start inviting friends and family over.

21:22And that is the biggest one for me. Because connection is everything. Yes. You need a support network. You need a support bubble. And a lot of the time, what we're seeing is people either A, have loads of friends and family that they're really close to, but their family have no idea. Friends and family have no idea. Because that's the other thing we forget. We think it's easy to spot someone who's like this. It's not easy to spot them. A lot of the people that I clean for have jobs. like they work with the public they are out and about we've had applications from tv producers vets doctors like all sorts you don't know everyone has this idea in their head of what someone struggling looks like and i promise you 99.99 of the time it's not going to fit that idea you've got in your head because someone's struggling if it's mental illness it is hidden it is in your brain you're not going to see it it's rare that I get moved I can get moved but like I do get moved I sit with a lot of people it's rare that I get that moved by someone telling a story about someone else's life normally get moved by an individual telling about their own experiences like oh god I can see that the the passion that you described other people's lives like it was your own life made me really get to a point where I don't know if I can say anything here because I might roll over the edge.

22:46And that is incredible that you bring that much empathy to other people. Makes me realize that I could definitely do way more.

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24:00So going back to the story that you're in your flat, you're in South London, you're with Harry, you've just moved to London. What's happening in that flat? everything wrong that you can possibly imagine we've got mice we've got holes in the floor in the kitchen where you can like look down into the flat below we've got the shower like underneath the shower the floor had rotted right through again holes you can like kind of see down into the flat below every time you would get in the shower you feel like you're going to collapse through the ceiling there was literally everything you could possibly imagine was wrong there was black mold everywhere and I mean everywhere nothing about the house had been built properly everything was done to a really poor standard and the biggest thing was the landlord did not care still probably does not care and obviously like we had the renter's rights out so I'd like to believe that even though that there was nothing technically on paper well obviously it was wrong and like anyone could see it was wrong.

24:59But because our renters' rights were so backdated before the new Renters' Rights Act came in, there wasn't really a way of enforcing it to be like, no, you actually need to fix this. It was more just the vibe I got is if you've got a good landlord, good for you. Why did you rent the place? Honestly, I just didn't realise. Well, there's two things. So for me, I have always been very unlucky with renting at university. Every single home that I rented in university had mould, like to the point where I just assumed it was normal. My home growing up, like didn't have any mould, but everywhere else I lived did.

25:40So I just kind of assumed like mould is mould. And then also I think the biggest thing is that I was poor, really poor. Like we couldn't afford, in London as well, like where the majority of my paycheck is going just towards my rent and I'm in one of the cheapest flats I can find. Like, unfortunately, that's the reality for most people. We're living in accommodation that we can afford, especially in big cities. Manchester is crazy for it as well. London is a big one. Edinburgh, like any of the big cities, you're going to get affordable housing, but housing that's affordable because it is in such a terrible condition.

26:19How does it all start to begin? You start filming yourself. Yes. So essentially I lost my job or like the company that I was working for kind of like went under. And at this point, you were a social media job, social media. So I worked in social media, but I always had a dream of being a presenter. Like that was always my big dream from when I was younger. I wanted to be like a TV presenter. So you would be fantastic. You would be fantastic. So I'm, I'm losing my job. I'm at this point where I'm like, I can't live here anymore. I hate it, but I also can't afford to leave. At this point, I was considering calling my dad and going back to living in Leicester with my parents, because I was just like, I don't know how anyone's doing this.

27:03And I was jealous. I was really envious of anyone I was seeing that was living in a home that wasn't falling apart in any capacity. And I was jealous of people that were making, I don't know,£1 ,000 more than me every month, or like people that were like not much of a difference, but they seemed like they just had it together and like they were managing. Because I was just felt like I was drowning anyway, in terms of like property and whatnot. So I was like, I can't live here, lost my job, can't afford a deposit for a new place, can't afford to break my contract. What do I do? And at this point I was like, I need to make sure I get that deposit back.

27:44So I was like, I'm going to start documenting how bad it is. And then that footage kind of just stayed on my phone. I didn't do anything with it for ages because I wasn't planning on doing it. It was just meant to be for when I leave. So I could be like, this is what it looked like. So give me my deposit back to prove like, you know, I've not damaged the property or I've not been not being a responsible tenant or whatever. Do you like standing up for yourself or would you not do that? At that point, I think it was quite new to me. so now I would say yeah like I will stand up for myself I'm better at standing up for other people than I am for myself I think but back then no I think I was very like I didn't want to upset anyone I didn't I also did not want confrontation confrontation terrifies me I get very even when someone raises their voice to me I'll start to cry I'll start to shake like I can't do anger or or like anything like that, I really, really struggle.

28:40And like all of my siblings are the same. Like all of us can't do it. But now I'm like, if you're being mean to me, okay. But if you're being mean to them, okay. But think how many other people are in that situation, right? Probably right now and have been. Millions and millions and millions where they don't like signing up for themselves. They don't like having arguments. And when you have to go into battle with a landlord and you don't have anyone backing you or whatever it may be. There's also that power dynamic. There's a huge power dynamic. They've got fancy lawyers. They've got a lot of money.

29:08they've got a steady income you don't have that and also you don't understand the rules or anything behind it right yes i really didn't at the time so you have this all on your phone and then you think i've documented that i'm going to go and give it to the landlord if i need what so so essentially one day um he just really pissed me off like really really really annoyed me and i started filming i think it was in the kitchen i began i just we were seeing mice we seeing mice i peeled back the floor and it was like loads of mice droppings black mold all under the floor like the the flooring itself was completely saturated and i remember just snapping and be like nah fuck this that's when i made my first video and i can't remember what my first video was like i can't remember what room it was uh flatmate's bathroom yeah because at that time we had a flatmate so it was me and harry and a flatmate our flatmate moved out and me and harry again minimum what we could not afford the rent without a third person like we it was not an option from the get-go it was very much like finding another tenant that is your problem like because you're in this contract you've signed for this amount of time like if someone leaped that's fine but you've got to sort a replacement or you've got to like you've still got to make that amount so the flatmate hadn't actually said she was leaving at this point but she'd already planned to leave I just didn't know and Harry just didn't know and she was a model so she was always traveling all of the time and again the house had so many issues that like you would the it's growing mold by itself it's not that she was doing anything wrong but I remember going into her bathroom and I was like I really want to make this like nice for her like I want to try and clean it so she's got something nice to come home to because I also can't imagine like living in that kind of world where it's very much like appearances and glamour and stuff and then and everything's fancy and glitzy and then you're going home and you're returning home to that like so anyway and I just thought like I would just really like to make this nice for her so I did the bathroom I was really proud of it and I put the video out I love how you're always thinking about other people even back then you're thinking about other people I don't know any flatmate that I would have had who would have done that for me this is weird I'm not very good with compliments at all but thank you it's lovely that you're seeing that as a compliment it's not even a compliment it's just fact it's what you are you're looking up for other people that's amazing It wasn't entirely selfless though.

31:30Like I enjoyed doing it. You enjoyed doing it. And so you put it online? Yeah. So I put that online and it immediately hit like over a million views. And I remember thinking, oh my gosh, because I had a personal TikTok account before. I was lucky if I got like 200 views. So I was like, people are interested in this. Okay. When your views started going up, what did it make you feel? I think I was just very shocked. it took a few months for it to set in that like these were real people like even now like i never get recognized i never ever ever have people that are like i know who you are like it rarely it's probably happened like six times you now have 1.4 million subscribers on youtube you have 2.3 million followers on instagram and you have 3.1 million followers on tiktok

32:26That's a lot For a while though I was just like Oh it's just like I don't know It sounds stupid You've only been recognized Six times? Yeah Like and I never Get right And I'm so happy with that Like so happy with that Because I also Have this like Fear that Someone will Meet me And be disappointed Or someone will meet me And be like Ugh And also The first ever time Someone came up to me they said something like oh I really like your videos and I just went I turned around went oh my god you're a real person and she just looked at me and I just looked at her and then I could not stop overthinking that interaction for the next like two weeks you're so articulate and passionate about this it just feels like you've experienced pain and so you know what pain is in some sort of capacity and so you really feel these people is that fair to say or no yes I've experienced pain but not on any level that comes close or similar to what the people I help have which is what I mean like I don't think you need to personally have gone through that kind of level like I've struggled with my mental health since I was 11 I've struggled extensively with my mental health really really really badly but I've always been very fortunate that when I was at my absolute worst, I was, you know, at uni where I only had to look after my bedroom and it was, it might be really messy for a week.

33:59I might be like really contemplating, am I going to get out of bed to go to the toilet right now? Cause I don't want to, like, I feel so depressed. I don't want to like whatever it is. Right. But you know, a three hour cleaning spree on a random 5am Tuesday morning or whatever. And it's somewhat done. Like I've never been at the point where it's a biohazard or it would be like a seriously expensive job to fix and I'm very very very grateful for that because I think yes like we all go through our different things we all have bits and bobs in our childhood or in whatever that shapes who we are today and I've definitely had a lot of stuff that has been painful but not on that scale and I wouldn't want to pretend that I have either because that feels disingenuine that that doesn't feel right because it's not true but the snippet of what I have experienced has been enough for me to go fuck if if that's what's happening you don't even need to tell me what's happened I know it's bad I know you're struggling I don't think there should ever be any shame in asking for help when you need it never my 20s were like super turbo in lots of different ways made in chelsea was great it was fun it was exciting it was a lot of drinking and it was a lot of drama and a lot of unnecessary um late nights and breakups and all these sorts of things which it doesn't feed the soul in the best way and so what happened was is i became incredibly anxious and the depth of kind of like where I went mentally was like so unbearable at times the version of a person that I've become since that is so much kinder more empathetic more understanding yeah that's obviously happened with you as well you know what I think it is I think everyone is kind and lovely like I do believe that but I believe that there's we are innately conditioned to not know things we don't understand and like have that kind of barricade or that barrier of like, I have no like focal point to understanding this.

36:07So maybe I'm intrigued enough to try and learn more or maybe it disgusts me or maybe I find it strange or maybe I just can't wrap my head around it. I don't believe that in someone's head, it's like choosing to be ignorant, choosing to be apathetic. Like I don't believe that about anyone. Let's say for example, like you've never, ever, ever struggled. Obviously everyone struggles at different levels, but your like basis of like what poor mental health looks like or what a bad day looks like is only as big as what your own experience is. Totally. Like, I can sit here on the massive scale of things.

36:46Like, I live a very privileged life. I'm geographically privileged. I'm white. I speak with a posher accent that maybe gets me more opportunities. Maybe it doesn't. I don't know. But, like, on a big scale, I'm very, very privileged. Someone who is not geographically privileged, who is, I don't know, a different skin colour, discriminated against in loads of different ways they might look at what i consider to be a bad day or like doing really badly and they'll be like shut up you you have no idea what pain is because theirs is a different experience and i feel like i'm using that example because it's the same with mental health in terms of someone's 10 could be someone else's three it's not anyone's fault because all we know is what we ourselves have experienced and obviously we can be empathetic and we can try and understand and stuff.

37:40Like I'm a big believer. I don't think you have to have gone through something traumatic in order to understand. I think it helps you like massively. It helps you to compartmentalize a bit better and put yourself in someone's situation. It should be as simple as you're struggling. Let's get you some help. You don't need to understand it. You don't need to know the ins and outs of every single thing that's happened to this person. You should want to be like, this person is struggling. This person's in pain. What can I do? Even if it's just you see someone walking down the street and they look a bit sad, just saying, hi, you all right?

38:14Like, whatever it is, whatever the metric is, the tiniest thing is still putting out a little bit of positivity. Like, isn't it worth it? Oh, man, 100%.

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39:30you're on the front line right you're on the front line seeing people who are really struggling that's what you truly are right and you're helping these individuals if you were to if you were to ask the government to make some changes to make a real difference in people's lives what changes would you want to make i think we need massive rent controls um i i think there needs to be standard i personally think homes if you're renting out a home it needs to be evaluated by third party person and that third party sets the price for how much there is because there are so many landlords out here being like my property is worth three thousand pounds it just is and it's like but it's not though they're like it just is it's like is it i don't think it is doesn't have running water you know like there needs to be some kind of standard that's first second we desperately need investment in the nhs desperately the nhs is on its knees people don't realize how much the NHS is struggling.

40:28There is so much. I'm very passionate about it. Mental health services are literally collapsing. They're struggling so bad. We've had, I think it's the third consecutive year of massive, massive budget cuts for mental health services. And at the same time, we're seeing record numbers of people struggling with their mental health. That doesn't add up to me. You've got doctors and nurses that are using food banks and working their butts off. You've got like just entire sectors that are understaffed and underfunded. And with that, everything else falls. Community, especially councils need a bit more funding.

41:13A lot of people don't realise how council funding and council budgets even work. Youth clubs is a big thing. Funding for the youth, I think. Free school meals, obviously. I know we have that, but there's a lot. I think the basis of everything I would change would be we need community desperately. And we need to make sure that we are putting more funding into the community. And also sort out the water. Put it into public hands. God. You're like a special individual. I'm totally and utterly blown away. The Sunday Times named you as one of the most inspiring people in the UK. And it was said that proving that digital influence can be used for social change, right?

41:52And I saw you and I was like, I'm going to check this person out. So I go into your social media and I see what you're doing. And I'm like, this person's awesome. This is incredible what you're doing. And so I was like, this is going to be great. Sitting with you today, totally blown me away. I would vote for you in a second. Oh, I don't want to be in politics. I'm sure you don't. Don't worry. I'm sure you don't. Keep your vote, Jamie. And we haven't even discussed the fact that you got a petition. You've got over 200 ,000 signatures now to stop people who have a history of abuse on pets being able to have a pet.

42:18I can't believe that wasn't a thing. It drives me insane. It drives me insane. Where does this come from? Why do you care so much about people and change and community? I think, honestly, I don't like feeling powerless. I think I felt powerless a lot. And I think by some miracle, I've got a platform. and every single thing I've done, I've not thought I'd be able to do it. Even making an account, I didn't think it would ever be successful and then it got a bit successful and I still have imposter syndrome and I thought like, yeah, this is not going to go anywhere. I won't still be relevant in a year and then a year passes and people are still watching.

42:56Anyway, all of these different things have like very gradually in my head, I've been like, I've got the most chance I've ever had in my entire life of actually being successful at something what do I want to do so like something I felt really passionate about was changing renters rights I had no part in that at all like I'm nothing to do with the renters rights act but when that came I was like I'm so happy and we've got to speak to so many politicians it would be like you know just you talking about it was really interesting and like it really helped us to understand and that was great I had nothing to do with the act at all but like just that was another seed and another seed with the animals it's come down to you look at something you think that's not right like it's not right if someone was a sexual predator towards children we wouldn't give that person unlimited access to more children by letting them work in a school or a nursery or whatever like we wouldn't do it why do we do the same to animals why do we have people coming in that have like documented documented long-standing records of torturing killing raping animals whatever it may be and they can walk into pretty much any any shop any pet shop any whatever and just buy another one and take it home and do the same thing again there is nothing stopping them they're nothing because their crime will be listed on the police national computer but no one that is standing between them acquiring that animal has access to that computer they don't have access to that register the only people that do are the people that can access the national police computer so basically what we wanted was for there to be a red we wanted it to be illegal for anyone that had been convicted in a court of law and just not to ramble on but the threshold of actually being taken to court in the first place for animal abuse.

44:55We're not talking neglect. We're not talking like, we're talking like, it's disgusting to think about, but we're talking about raping. We're talking about killing, torturing, beating, kicking, biting, anything you can imagine. We're talking about the extreme level. It needs to be extreme in order for the RSPCA or the police to even deem it worthy of taking to court. There needs to be a mountain of evidence already even to just get in that courtroom. because otherwise they're not going to waste their resources if they don't think they can realistically get a conviction. Then, let's say you've done the most disgusting, heinous things.

45:30Let's say you've done it to multiple animals. They find you with 50, 60, 60 dead dogs, whatever. Maximum sentence you can get is five years in the UK and that's only after Battersea campaigned for years and years and years to get it raised from six months. Five years is the absolute maximum you can get for the most disgusting things you can think of doing. it's heartbreaking these people might get five years and a temporary ban from owning animals or five years and a ban from owning animals that's permanent and that's like at the judge's discretion but then there's nothing enforcing that because a lot of this abuse it's happening domestically it's happening behind closed doors it's happening in homes how do you prove that that cycle is continuing if all you're hearing is a dog screaming a dog crying you know for a fact that that neighbor has had 60 dogs and he's gone to prison for killing and raping them or whatever and you're hearing another dog in there what do you do well the answer is you can't really do much you you can call the rspca they again they have to restart that cycle of well we need evidence we need enough evidence in order to get the police to issue a warrant and once we've got that police issued warrant then we can go in and seize that other dogs they're wasting their own time and resources.

46:44It doesn't take a genius to be like, well, two and two is four. We know what's happening inside. We just can't stop it. The second that you make a register, you're number one, making it so that when that person tries to go to a pet store or a shelter or whatever, when they try and get an animal, the people have access to that register so they can already flag that person as we're not giving this person an animal. The second thing is just by making it illegal for them to have that animal in the first place, it means even if they did acquire an animal, that person, that neighbour ringing up saying, my neighbour John, I'm hearing a dog screaming.

47:23Police, RSPCA can check that register and go, John shouldn't have an animal, so we're immediately seizing it. We don't then have to wait months and months and months and months to get enough evidence of a dog being tortured in order to prove that it has indeed been tortured. Because bearing in mind, that whole process lasts so long a lot of the time by the time the rspc and the police get that the dog's already dead multiple animals are already dead because you're too late so that's what we want and defra said we don't think that's necessary we're gonna write a bill a big beautiful bill we're gonna write a bill um so next it will be i need to find a lawyer i need to find a lawyer that's really good but isn't going to bankrupt me or the other thing i thought of was well what we could do is say listen we'll pay for a lawyer whatever and we'll ask for donations from the public because then that way obviously we trace where those donations we're very transparent about how it's spent where it's spent but then also that way by the time it gets to the house of commons to parliament you're going not just if people signed a petition they've put their hard-earned money because that's how much we want this you talk to anyone and they all want this claps all around to you oh thank you thank you for having me this was yeah it was such a nice like podcast experience as well like i obviously knew it would be nice and not horrible but i was very nervous and i really had a good time and i feel very relaxed and at ease and i really appreciate you be thank you i listen we're going to leave all of your social channels everything that you do in the show description so people can go and check you out.

49:04We're also going to leave the petition for the campaign you're doing against cruelty to animals. We're going to leave that as well. Everyone can check out all your stuff. And if you are a lawyer listening as well and you want to help out. Please help me. Yeah, if anyone wants to help out as well, we'll leave an email address that I'm sure you can give us, that we can put in the show description that people can email. Anything. Listen, we'd like to end the conversation with quick fire questions. Are you ready? Okay. What's a saying or phrase that makes you smile or cheers you up? Oh, when a good, a proper northern goes, hey, help me, Doc.

49:33I love it makes me happy best compliment anyone's ever given you I love it when people ID me that's a good one I still get ID'd like all the time yeah I love being ID'd but you're still in your 20s I think I'm like 28 okay you're like you don't need to ID me for a Red Bull like I'm over 16 that's true what scares you most about yourself I get very passionate but I think it could be passionate to a I get very upset like don't lose that that's not that's let that passion come out 100 let it go i just think there's a level you know i don't know i need to find that balance i think it's great when was the last time you cried oh two days ago i went to an rspca shelter and um i just saw all of the dogs in the cages and again like we spoke about before like i don't want to go on a rant but you know when you look at any shelter and there might be like six dogs there's not six dogs there there's like 20 dogs there you're just seeing six dogs because the other 14 are involved in court cases so they can't be seen online and again knowing what it takes to be actually go to a court case and then seeing them there yeah i just started bawling i was like poor babies your heart is so big wow what's something you can't let go of the past i'm bad with the past really i'm bad with grudges yeah why uh i don't know i'm just i think i've got so much love to give and i think it takes me a lot it takes a lot of like fuck it with me for me to be like no I don't care anymore like you're done and when I reach that pace I will hold that grudge till I die really?

51:06yeah yeah but you know that only injures yourself I know but I've still got beef from a girl in year 8 like I will it will be till I'm on my deathbed like yeah but you're but look I mean we all have our little it's only like three people yeah whatever but like if I was Arya Stark with the list you would not to like kill them or anything Just to be like, I am like you. What's your guilty pleasure? Vaping. It's really bad. Phoebe. Vaping. Oh, vaping. Phoebe. Vaping. That's okay. But don't vape. No one vape. Don't ever vape. And I'm going to quit again. And I'm going to stick to it this time. All right.

51:44What do you like most about yourself? I don't. I'm really bad. I don't know. Come on. I'm working through it. Molly, what do you think? I don't know. Her big heart. Her passion. just everything brings such goodness to the world yeah I'll give you a ton later thank you thank you Bea you're amazing please don't stop please keep going I'll keep going please keep getting bigger and I just I hope I hope this episode goes far and wide I'm quite good at manifesting things I'm quite good at like that so I really and I really feel like it should and will so I really hope it goes everywhere and people hear this and people connect with you in the most positive way and I feel and I hope people reach out to assist you in the most positive way because they should.

52:27And I would like to do as much as I can to help you. You're amazing. You're incredible. And you're beyond fantastic company. Thank you so much for coming on. You're amazing. Honestly.