It all started with a single post to a Facebook community noticeboard on a Monday. Bec Watson posted her rant about the Peninsula Link roadworks anonymously, not feeling confident enough to put her name to it in case she copped flack. She’d had a bad run over the previous six months or so and just wasn’t feeling like she could face that.
Then something happened. Actually, a lot of things happened. Her rant garnered over 2000 likes and the comments came in thick and fast. Comments like “This so well written; you should do this as a job”, and “If you don’t have a page, you should make one”.
So, on Tuesday, sitting in the carpark at school pickup, Bec made a page: ‘Bec’s Unhinged Reviews’ was born. “I started the page in October, and, within a week, it had gone totally gangbusters,” said Bec. “I thought to myself ‘Holy shit this is actually a thing’.”
The rise of the page has been meteoric. From nothing in October, it now has over 56,000 followers, all keen to hear Bec say the things they had always thought but were too afraid to say out loud.
Bec has written about everything from the price of petrol, the price of Easter eggs, more on Peninsula Link, Married at First Sight, Collingwood Football Club, the Stony Point Line, more Married at First Sight, the Somerville five-way roundabout, and how every dog in Blairgowrie is named something like “Archie, Poppy, Lulu, or Clementine” while hers is named “Diesel”. All that interlaced with a generous serving of photos with her holding a ‘Hard Rated Lemon’ drink in hand.
Bec’s back story isn’t unexpected. She has always lived in Mornington. The 38-year-old mother of two is busy doing all the things you’d expect with a 15-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter. But as she travels around, she notices. “Since I’ve started the page, I’ve been really honing in on things,” said Bec.
“Sometimes I’ll be driving, and I’ll pull over and start dictating ideas into my phone. I think I always had this in me, but lacked the confidence to do it,” said Bec.
Her sometimes-eviscerating take on life on the peninsula and beyond are not Bec’s first foray into writing though. “I was actually the editor-in-chief of my grade six newsletter at school,” said Bec. “It was kind of something I had forgotten. I remember I wrote this story, putting a lot of mayo on it, and my English teacher sent it into The Leader. I wrote the story in such a dramatic way that I think it appealed.” She also credits her love of storytelling to growing up with a “tradie” father and learning from listening to him and his mates.
What does her family think about it? “My 15-year-old son seems pretty non-fussed, but some of his friends have said things like ‘My mum loves your stuff’, so I know that it is out there. And as for my seven-year-old, she thinks it’s just fantastic, telling people ‘My mum is famous’,” said Bec.
Both of Bec’s parents are proud, and she can’t talk highly enough of the support she has received from her husband, Ben, who has stood by her through the entire journey.
The thing that most people don’t realise is that, while Bec’s writing may be therapeutic for the reader, the journey has also been therapeutic for Bec. “Six months ago, I wasn’t leaving the house. I get nervous when I talk. I have inner feelings that I am going to be judged,” said Bec. “When I write, I feel relaxed,” said Bec. “It is still a long process. I write the article three to four hours beforehand and probably edit it another ten times.”
“And now I’m thinking to myself ‘I’m good at what I do’ and it has been great for me.”
I went from being afraid to speak to talking to a crowd of strangers
Bec is now out an about, rubbing shoulders with politicians, speaking at charity functions, and generally supporting causes that are close to her heart. “I went from being afraid to speak to talking to a crowd of strangers at an International Women’s Day event in Frankston and telling them all about being a single mum with my first son, and how I harassed my husband until he married me!”
There was even a brief stint where she considered the idea of running in the Nepean by-election, before clarity returned. “Yeah… the document was like 40 pages. I spoke to family and friends about it and decided it wasn’t for me.”
And of course there is the merchandise. “The first drop of t-shirts sold out in four hours. Now we have trucker hats, bucket hats, stubby holders, car stickers and even a bloody book!”
Bec is keen to see where this all goes. She has started doing a podcast with the people at Searoad Ferries and, as expected, Bec plans to continue to lean into causes she feels strongly about. “I don’t want to be involved in things that I’m not passionate about, so I’m being picky about that,” said Bec.
“To be truthful, I’m just hanging on and enjoying the ride!”
