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(DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)
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Hey, gang.
Oh...
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You'll never guess what I heard
in the news today.
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Oh! What did you hear?
Well, apparently...
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Like many young
people of today,
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Billy likes to impress his friends
with his knowledge of world affairs.
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Oh, I'm so impressed by
your knowledge of world affairs!
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But young Billy is about to
make a big mistake.
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You see, this morning, as always,
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Billy cast an eye
over his social media feed,
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looking for the niftiest news.
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Golly! This story is outta sight!
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Look out, Billy.
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That interesting story
might just be a fake.
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(BOOM-TISH!)
(LAUGHTER)
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Look at this.
(ALL LAUGH)
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What is...?
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People create fake news
for all sorts of reasons.
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Sometimes, it's to make you laugh.
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Other times, it's to influence
your opinion
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or to make money
by attracting your click.
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Or sometimes, they're just jerks.
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Hmm!
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But repeating that fake news
can make you look pretty silly.
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Did you guys know that aliens
from outer space built the pyramids?
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Really?
Isn't that neat?
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Yeah!
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Your friends could spread
that fake news even further.
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Hey, guys.
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Did you hear that the pyramids
were actually built by aliens?
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What?
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You might have noticed fake news
is having a bit of a moment.
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(CLICKS FINGERS)
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TRUMP: And CNN and MSNBC
are fake news!
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Fake news!
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There's been a lot of talk about
how made-up news stories
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can end up influencing
the real world
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and many agree that's a real problem.
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But did you know it's not a new one?
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(CLICKS FINGERS)
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(MIDDLE-EASTERN MUSIC)
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What does it say?
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That aliens built the pyramids.
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For about as long as people
have been communicating...
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Well, there you go.
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We've been using our tools
of communication
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to tell great, big whoppers.
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We can see evidence
dating back thousands of years
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of leaders, artists and historians
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bending the truth to make themselves
or their bosses look good,
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or to tell a better story.
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Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
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Get your news here!
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Eventually, the printing press
came along,
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making it much easier to spread
phoney information.
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Creatures found on the moon!
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Paper, sir?
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You see, many newspaper owners
realized they could sell more copies
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if the news was exciting.
-
even if it wasn't exactly true.
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Oh, penny, sir.
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One famous example of this
was the great moon hoax of 1835.
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The New York Sun published
a whole series of articles
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about creatures that had been found
on the moon.
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Of course, it wasn't real,
but it did drive up circulation.
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(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
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Then there was propaganda.
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During the First
and Second World Wars,
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governments on both sides
would exaggerate
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or downright make things up
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to make their enemies look bad.
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(ARTILLERY FIRE)
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(SNIPPETS OF RADIO BROADCASTS PLAY)
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MAN: Orson Welles.
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We know now that
in the early years,
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Of course, not all fake news
was made to fool people.
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WELLES: ..this world was being
watched closely by intelligences
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greater than man.
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Some was made to entertain -
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Like, in 1938, there was
a very famous radio broadcast...
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Shh-shh!
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Orson Welles read an adaptation
of the novel War of the Worlds
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live on air,
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presented as
a fictional news bulletin.
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Afterwards, there were reports
it had caused mass panic,
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with many listeners thinking
aliens really were attaacking.
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Aliens are attacking!
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WELLES: about their
little affairs,
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serene in the assurance...
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But even that fact
was later found to be fake news.
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Most people knew
it was just a story...
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..besides, a group of people
in a small US town
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who attacked a water tower
because they thought it was an alien.
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Still, it's thought the panic story
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was grossly exaggerated
by newspapers
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to discredit their new competitor -
radio.
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And welcome to television.
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REPORTER: President Kennedy
has been shot!
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As the 20th century went on
and TV joined the mix...
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NEIL ARMSTRONG:
One small step for man.
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journalism ethics evolved...
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Nothing will save
the Governor-General.
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Many governments
created organizations
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to promote standards in journalism.
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MAN: The vehicle has exploded.
And many media organizations
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built their reputations
on telling the truth.
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Your struggle.
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(FANFARE PLAYS)
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That doesn't mean
fake news went away,
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but it was often easier to spot.
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For instance, if you wanted
to read stories
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about UFOs and Bigfoot,
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then you'd probably find them
in a tabloid, like this.
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But if you wanted more accurate news,
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well, then you could try
a more reputable broadsheet.
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Oh, my goodness!
Hmm?
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There's a sale on at Grace Bros.
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But then came the internet,
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and things got
a little more complicated.
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(MODEM SCREECHES)
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(MYSTERIOUS MUSIC)
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All of a sudden,
anyone could be a publisher.
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And with so much information
out there,
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it could be hard to know
what to believe.
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I don't know who to believe anymore!
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The internet, with its blogs,
message boards and chatrooms,
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created the golden age
of conspiracy theories,
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as people seriously speculated about
celebrity lizard people,
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the illuminati
and who really killed JFK.
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MAN: Next, please.
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Social media
has kind of made things worse
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by letting us share stories without
making it clear where they came from
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or if the source is reliable.
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Plus, we're more likely to see
stories we already agree with,
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and we're more likely to believe them
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when they're shared
by our trusted friends.
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Wow!
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That's a really serious problem
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Next, please.
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especially when it comes to
political stories
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which can influence the way
people vote.
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('THE BATTLE HYMN
OF THE REPUBLIC' PLAYS)
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There's been a fair bit
of speculation
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about whether or not fake news
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could have affected the outcome
of the 2016 US election.
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There were heaps of fake news stories
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doing the rounds during the campaign.
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In fact, near the end,
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it's thought fake news
was being shared
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even more than real news.
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So, what about the future?
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Well, there's a real worry
new technology
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will make the problem
of fake news even worse.
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Imagine watching an interview
or a speech
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and not knowing if you're seeing
a real person
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or a super-accurate animation.
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Yep, this technology
is already being developed,
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which gives us even more reason
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to stay aware of fake news
in all its sneaky disguises.
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(CLICKS FINGERS)
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Gee willikers!
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This fake news stuff
is completely bogus.
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NARRATOR: Don't worry, Billy.
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Here are some handy hints
to help you spot fake news.
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Ask yourself, "Does the story
seem a bit suspicious?"
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"Is it too good, too bad
or too crazy to be true?"
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Then maybe it is.
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Don't just read the headline.
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They're often designed
to suck you in
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and sometimes,
they can be misleading.
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So, read on.
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Dig a bit deeper.
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Find out where the story came from.
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Who's the author?
Who were the sources?
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What website does it come from?
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Does it look professional
and unbiased?
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Ask yourself who might benefit
from the story
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or who might end up looking bad.
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Is it actually news?
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Think about
why the story was written.
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Could it be satirical, an opinion
piece or an ad in disguise?
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And if you're still not sure,
try doing that thing
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you young people
like to do these days.
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What, google it?
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Yes. Use your preferred
internet search engine
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to see if you can find
some more legitimate information.
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There are even some sites out there
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that specialize in
debunking fake news.
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So, kids, armed with
these useful tips,
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hopefully you'll be able to tell
the real deal from the nasty fakes
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next time.
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What a dill I was!
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Yes, you were, Billy.
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Oh, my name's actually Sam.
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Oh, Billy!
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Captions by Red Bee Media
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Copyright Australian
Broadcasting Corporation