Before she makes her debut inThe Last of UsSeason 2,Kaitlyn Deveris playing a different kind of villain in the new Netflix seriesApple Cider Vinegar. Dever plays a woman who cured her cancer with a little apple cider vinegar — or, at least, that’s what she would have you believe. The true story (based on a lie) has beenturned into a dark comedyshow for the streaming service, and its new trailer makes it look like one you won’t want to miss.
Also starringThe 100andFear The Walking DeadstarAlycia Debnam-CareyandThe Bold Type’sAisha Dee, the show follows two women setting out to cure their life-threatening illnesses with health and wellness rather than, say, certified medical science.Apple Cider Vinegarcenters its gaze on early Instagram scammer Belle Gibson (Dever), an “Australian wellness influencer who claims to have cured her terminal brain cancer through health and wellness,” per the official Netflixpress release. “As it turns out, Belle has never actually been diagnosed with — or cured of — the malignant brain tumor that she shares with the world through social media, the mobile app she develops, and its companion cookbook.”
Cure Cancer With ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’? The Series Is Based On A “True” Story
Created by Australian writer Samantha Strauss (who worked onNine Perfect StrangersandThe End), the series was inspired by the bookThe Woman Who Fooled the Worldby journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano. According to Netflix’s Tudum, Strauss was first introduced to Gibson’s story through the authors' reporting inThe Age, a Melbourne newspaper. The series, Strauss explains, takes creative liberties with the story in order to lambast and investigate, “how media uses food as a weapon against us and how much we crave the nourishment, but how much of a privilege and how expensive it is to try to be well.”
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As for their parts in the show, Alycia Debnam-Carey plays Milla Blake, “a young woman who builds a platform promoting the power of food to fight cancer,” while Aisha Dee plays Milla’s close friend Chanelle, “who meets Belle at an event and begins working with her on her growing business,” undoubtedly creating a bit of tension and conflict of interest in her relationships.
According to the source material’sofficial synopsis:
Gibson, a high school dropout and teenage mother, built a global business in less than 18 months that vaulted her to fame and fortune. She had 200,000 followers from Melbourne to Los Angeles to London, international book deals, and a best-selling smartphone app, having fooled both Penguin Books and Apple. She was a digital-age celebrity, a one-woman cult, a hero of the “wellness” world, and an inspiration to many.
Written by the two journalists who assiduously uncovered the details of Gibson’s lies, ‘The Woman Who Fooled the World’unravels the mystery and motivation behind this deception. It follows the public reaction to the scandal, which included headlines in ‘Time Magazine’ and Gibson being named in ‘The Washington Post’s list of the year’s top 10 villains. '
The Woman Who Fooled the World’also explores the lure of alternative cancer treatments, the cottage industry flourishing behind the wellness movement, and the power of social media. It documents not only Gibson’s folly, but the devastating impact this con had on her fans and on people suffering from cancer.
Shot on location in Melbourne, the series also stars Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Mark Coles Smith, Ashley Zukerman, Susie Porter, Matt Nable, Phoenix Raei, Chai Hansen, Richard Davies, Essie Davis, Kieran Darcy-Smith, and Catherine McClements.
Apple Cider Vinegaris slated to drop on Netflix beginning June 29, 2025.
