Luxury vs. Dupe (Can You Spot the Difference?)

📙 Check out George’s book Breaking Free From Broke. Taste tests, TikTok trends, a little friendly competition—today may be all about “dupe” culture, but don’t worry, this episode is the real deal as always. You don’t want to miss it! Next Steps: · 🎙️ Catch our episode Financial Experts Rank the Worst Spending Habits! · 💵 Create a free budget and find more margin with EveryDollar. · 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour · 📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it. Connect With Our Sponsors: · Check out the FAIRWINDS Credit Union exclusive account bundle. · Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. · Get 20% off with code SMARTMONEY at Cozy Earth. Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🍸 Strawberry Kiwi Smash Recipe By: cocktails · 1/2 kiwi, peeled and diced · 3 small strawberries, diced · 2 ounces vodka · Juice from half a lime · 3/4 ounces simple syrup · Club soda or flavored seltzer for topping off · Diced strawberries and kiwi for garnish Instructions: Muddle fresh kiwi and strawberries in glass, add vodka, add juice, add simple syrup, shake with ice, pour over ice, then top with club soda. Stir, garnish with diced strawberries and a kiwi slice, serve, and enjoy! Explore More From Ramsey Network: 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 📈 EntreLeadership Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05George Kamel?

  Taste test, trends, friendly competition. Today, we're breaking down dupe culture, but don't worry. As always, this episode is the real deal. Is that true? Emilio's in the room. I want to just get verification.

• 0:15Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh. I need my husband to come in.

• 0:17George Kamel?

  Oh, my gosh. You hold it up to the light.

• 0:20Rachel Cruze?

  Uh huh. Ooh.

• 0:26Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, guys, I'm Rachel Cruz.

• 0:28George Kamel?

  I'm George Kamel.

• 0:30Rachel Cruze?

  And this is.

• 0:31George Kamel?

  Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 0:39George Kamel?

  All right. All right.

• 0:41Rachel Cruze?

  Well, this is a show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. So everything from pop culture, current events, and money.

• 0:48George Kamel?

  And before we get to the content at hand, let's talk about what we're sipping on. This is a strawberry kiwi smash, as evidenced by the.

• 0:55Rachel Cruze?

  Happy, and it looks happy.

• 0:57George Kamel?

  A garnished kiwi. I've never seen that. I never thought about doing that. Are you a kiwi fan?

• 1:02Rachel Cruze?

  I'm eating a strawberry.

• 1:03George Kamel?

  What do you just eat?

• 1:05Rachel Cruze?

  A big ol' hunk of strawberry.

• 1:06George Kamel?

  Strawberry is in it. Stick around for the end. You're gonna want to know our rating, and we're gonna reveal the cost per glass at the end of the episode. All right, today, we're camping out in dupe city. Population us. There you go. What, can you explain dupe culture? Because people out there, especially the men.

• 1:23Rachel Cruze?

  This is a great, this is like a dream come true of an episode for me. Did you know that?

• 1:27George Kamel?

  Because you love a dupe?

• 1:28Rachel Cruze?

  I love a dupe. You know me.

• 1:29George Kamel?

  You love the fake out.

• 1:30Rachel Cruze?

  I don't need, I don't need designer shoes. I don't need, I don't need name brand clothes and stuff, you know, like. I mean, I can appreciate something nice, but every now and then, I'm like, or most of the time. It's like, yeah, give me the dupe. And so we're going to, uh, though, start this episode and end this episode, George, in a little competition.

• 1:51George Kamel?

  Why does everything have to be a competition?

• 1:54Rachel Cruze?

  It's the best because I win. I like to win. All I do is win.

• 1:58George Kamel?

  But then I just let you win, which takes out all the fun for you.

• 2:01Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, stop, come on, play, play the, play the game.

• 2:03George Kamel?

  All right, I'll play. So dupe culture is big, and we're all about, you know, smart spending around here, saving money where you can. And I think dupe culture is one of the better trends to come out of the more recent generations.

• 2:15Rachel Cruze?

  I think that's fair because it's saying, hey, I don't, I don't need the name brand thing.

• 2:19George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 2:20Rachel Cruze?

  You can give me anything that's maybe a little less quality, but I'm gonna be paying a fraction of the price.

• 2:24George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 2:25Rachel Cruze?

  And I'm good with that.

• 2:25George Kamel?

  And this is across all categories, makeup, clothing, food.

• 2:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, through it all.

• 2:29George Kamel?

  You name it, there's a generic brand for it, including medicine. Take that, Big Pharma, we're coming after you today. All right, so we're gonna do a guess the dupe food challenge later on, but first, we're gonna try to spot the designer outfit versus the dupe version. And we're gonna do a couple of rounds of this because Rachel will demand that there's a clear winner. Can't just be one and done.

• 2:50Rachel Cruze?

  No, no, no, we're gonna, we're gonna go three rounds on this one. Okay, so you got video number one, George, you gotta.

• 2:54George Kamel?

  All right, here's our first dupe video, courtesy of producer Jenna. Let's see what she whipped up for us.

• 2:59Rachel Cruze?

  The way your wrist is angled.

• 3:00George Kamel?

  I'm trying real hard.

• 3:03Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, here we go.

• 3:04Speaker 02

  One of our outfits costs $3,616, and the other costs $267.

• 3:09Speaker 03

  And we're asking the public to guess which one is more expensive.

• 3:12Speaker 04

  I watched these online, and I'm always like, if I was ever that, I would know. That looks more expensive to me, that stitching. Maybe not, I don't know. Oh, that feels quite expensive. That one, not so much. The stitching on this, this looks really quite nicely done. I'm actually gonna say this one now.

• 3:26George Kamel?

  Which one is more expensive?

• 3:27Rachel Cruze?

  I'm gonna say the outfit on the left.

• 3:30George Kamel?

  Like the more purple versus the more pink?

• 3:32Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know, I don't, I'm not sure.

• 3:33George Kamel?

  Like more of a lavender?

• 3:35Rachel Cruze?

  Let me, just the one on the left. Yep, I think that one's more expensive.

• 3:39George Kamel?

  I agree.

• 3:40Rachel Cruze?

  You do? Okay.

• 3:41George Kamel?

  I could tell it, does the material look like higher end suede or something?

• 3:45Rachel Cruze?

  It's what it feels like. Okay, all right, here's the reveal.

• 3:47Speaker 02

  You're incorrect.

• 3:49Rachel Cruze?

  What?

• 3:50Speaker 02

  You're incorrect.

• 3:52Speaker 03

  You are correct, Annie is more expensive today. Her outfit's over $3,000.

• 3:56Rachel Cruze?

  We were right, we were right, George.

• 3:57George Kamel?

  We were right. Okay, so I'm zooming in here.

• 3:59Rachel Cruze?

  Way to spot texture of outfits.

• 4:02George Kamel?

  And there was something about the design that just looked like a little different, not your run of the mill.

• 4:07Rachel Cruze?

  They do look similar, I'll give them that.

• 4:09George Kamel?

  3,600 pounds? That's crazy.

• 4:12Rachel Cruze?

  So much.

• 4:13George Kamel?

  3,616 pounds, dude. I mean, I know it's fairly close, but let's just see. That's $4,800 USD.

• 4:20Rachel Cruze?

  $4,800.

• 4:22George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 4:22Rachel Cruze?

  Good night. Versus what?

• 4:25George Kamel?

  She said 200 something?

• 4:27Rachel Cruze?

  200, yeah.

• 4:27George Kamel?

  Which is probably like 300 bucks USD somewhere around there.

• 4:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 4:31George Kamel?

  That's crazy. So what I'm learning is, nobody cares. Who's walking down the street going, oh, wow?

• 4:37Rachel Cruze?

  Stitching, let me look at the stitching.

• 4:38George Kamel?

  Look at the stitching on, if you're that close, you're a creep.

• 4:41Rachel Cruze?

  And if your friends care about that, get new friends. Let's be honest.

• 4:45George Kamel?

  So we were right.

• 4:46Rachel Cruze?

  All right, the next one, George, is she did, this lady did her makeup. Half of her face is drugstore makeup. Okay, so think like.

• 4:53George Kamel?

  Just generic brand.

• 4:54Rachel Cruze?

  L'Oréal, Maybelline, yeah, yeah, yeah. The other side, like YSL, Chanel, like very nice.

• 4:59George Kamel?

  Oh, higher end.

• 5:00Rachel Cruze?

  Designer, designer makeup, so.

• 5:02George Kamel?

  So not necessarily generic brand, but just a lower tier brand.

• 5:05Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 5:05George Kamel?

  That you'd get at like a CVS or a Walgreens.

• 5:07Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, it looks very similar. I mean, she did a fabulous job.

• 5:11George Kamel?

  Is she a makeup artist? Or are all women makeup artists?

• 5:14Rachel Cruze?

  I.

• 5:15George Kamel?

  I mean, it's like a Subway sandwich artist, like I've made a sandwich. I'm capable.

• 5:20Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, it literally looks the same.

• 5:21George Kamel?

  I'm not seeing much, the only thing I'm noticing different is a little slightly different color.

• 5:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, the pink, a little more pink versus.

• 5:27George Kamel?

  Orange shoes.

• 5:28Rachel Cruze?

  I'm with you. But her lips are literally this, the same.

• 5:32George Kamel?

  Oh, the lips too, I didn't think about that. There's some wizardry here.

• 5:36Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, I'm with you, George. The only big difference.

• 5:40George Kamel?

  Which one is drugstore, which one is high end?

• 5:43Rachel Cruze?

  I'm gonna say drugstore's left, high end's right.

• 5:45George Kamel?

  I'll go with you on that.

• 5:47Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 5:48Speaker 03

  So high end is on the left side. Drugstore is on the right.

• 5:53George Kamel?

  What? For real?

• 5:54Rachel Cruze?

  We got it wrong, George.

• 5:55George Kamel?

  You're not joshing me?

• 5:56Speaker 03

  Nope.

• 5:57Rachel Cruze?

  We got, I was looking at mascara too. Is any of them a little clumpier than the other? Yeah, her middle eyelash is on the bottom, a little clumpy on the right, so that may be drugstore. You see? See how they're together? They're together a little bit more.

• 6:09George Kamel?

  I wasn't looking for the clumps.

• 6:10Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, all right. You know what, though? Dope, caught it, got us off guard.

• 6:15George Kamel?

  How, what are your feelings on dupe for makeup?

• 6:18Rachel Cruze?

  I'm great with it.

• 6:19George Kamel?

  Do you have your go to brands? Or are you like, no, I know this one? How do you even get into it? You all influencers? Because how do you know what's?

• 6:26Rachel Cruze?

  My foundation came from Instagram. I kept seeing this brand. It's like ILM something, something, I don't even know.

• 6:33George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 6:33Rachel Cruze?

  But it's called Wake Up Like This. And I thought, that's, that's a great marketing foundation name. But I love it, it's the one I've used, and then I.

• 6:40George Kamel?

  It's supposed to look more natural?

• 6:41Rachel Cruze?

  And then I do wear MAC, like for camera.

• 6:43George Kamel?

  Mm hmm.

• 6:44Rachel Cruze?

  Because it's been around for freaking like ever, and it does show the best on camera. But all my mascara is like Thrive, I'll do drugstore mascara. Yeah, I'm not like a, I'm not.

• 6:56George Kamel?

  You don't have allegiance to one brand.

• 6:58Rachel Cruze?

  Now, NARS is great too.

• 6:59George Kamel?

  Oh, I've heard of NARS.

• 7:00Rachel Cruze?

  That's middle of the road, I would say. You're not quite like on the Chanel level there, but NARS is nice.

• 7:05George Kamel?

  I like NARS because it always sounds Australian. NARS.

• 7:08Rachel Cruze?

  NARS.

• 7:09George Kamel?

  Our NARS.

• 7:10Rachel Cruze?

  Our NARS.

• 7:11George Kamel?

  I like that.

• 7:12Rachel Cruze?

  So, yeah, I'm a middle of the road gal, I think is what I would say about all that.

• 7:17George Kamel?

  Well, I found out some fun facts here. L'Oréal owns Maybelline, NYX, Urban Decay, Lancome, YSL, and It Cosmetics.

• 7:26Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 7:26George Kamel?

  So you think in your head.

• 7:28Rachel Cruze?

  They're over the whole, yeah, the whole umbrella.

• 7:29George Kamel?

  Urban Decay's luxury, no, it's just the same company, different marketing.

• 7:32Rachel Cruze?

  Different marketing.

• 7:33George Kamel?

  That's crazy. Estee Lauder, is that how I say it?

• 7:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 7:36George Kamel?

  I don't want to offend Estee.

• 7:37Rachel Cruze?

  No, you got it.

• 7:37George Kamel?

  Owns Bobbi Brown, MAC, Clinique, Smashbox, and Tom Ford Beauty.

• 7:41Rachel Cruze?

  Mm hmm.

• 7:41George Kamel?

  That's wild. So a lot of these brands are made in the same factories, same packaging, as what you can find in your local drugstore. That's pretty wild.

• 7:50Rachel Cruze?

  And under just that same umbrella, so you think about the marketing, you think about it all, and it's all coming from.

• 7:54George Kamel?

  It's all a scam.

• 7:55Rachel Cruze?

  One, one ownership, for sure. I mean, each of those brands are run individually too.

• 7:59George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 8:00Rachel Cruze?

  But the mothership of it all.

• 8:01George Kamel?

  They own it all. So if you see two, it's like a false choice in the store. That's what bothers me.

• 8:06Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 8:07George Kamel?

  You think you have a choice. You don't.

• 8:09Rachel Cruze?

  It's all the same, yeah, you don't know.

• 8:10George Kamel?

  Just which product from P and G do you want today?

• 8:13Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 8:14George Kamel?

  All right, this next one, it's apparently a viral robe pajama pattern sold by a European influencer. Matilda Jirf. I don't know what DJRF sounds, but it sounds very like Norwegian.

• 8:26Rachel Cruze?

  Jirf.

• 8:27George Kamel?

  I don't know, Finnish, maybe?

• 8:29Rachel Cruze?

  But it's priced over $100 and remains sold out online for literally years.

• 8:35George Kamel?

  Until cheaper brands learn how to copy the design. Let's check it out.

• 8:38Speaker 05

  Guess the dupe for one or number two?

• 8:41Speaker 02

  On the bottom is probably.

• 8:43George Kamel?

  Okay. Check it out. Take a good look. Take a gander. Which one is the dupe?

• 8:49Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, from the way the pictures are, you would think the first, number one, is the real, and the second, because it's like lifestyle, but I'm gonna switch it. I'm gonna say number two is the real.

• 8:56George Kamel?

  You think it's a ruse?

• 8:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, I think they're, I think they're, they're pulling a fast one on us, George. I'm gonna say number two is the real one.

• 9:03George Kamel?

  All right, I'll go number one's the real one? Just to be different.

• 9:07Rachel Cruze?

  That's what the obvious says.

• 9:08George Kamel?

  Just to be different.

• 9:09Rachel Cruze?

  I think.

• 9:10Speaker 02

  Probably the original, and that was the dupe.

• 9:12Speaker 05

  So you think number one is the dupe?

• 9:14Speaker 02

  Probably, am I wrong?

• 9:16Speaker 05

  You're correct. How much do you think each of them are?

• 9:19Speaker 02

  Oh, my God, it's gonna be something horrific. I'm gonna say what I want them to be.

• 9:22Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah.

• 9:23Speaker 02

  I want that one to be like 40, and that one to be like 20 max.

• 9:27Speaker 05

  The dupe is 22 pounds, and the real one is 110 pounds.

• 9:32Rachel Cruze?

  All right.

• 9:33George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 9:34Rachel Cruze?

  $100 difference, I love her accent.

• 9:36George Kamel?

  I think just if you're European, you get a pass. Like, everything's more interesting.

• 9:40Rachel Cruze?

  You just sound classy.

• 9:42George Kamel?

  It's not fair. Can you imagine if I had a British accent?

• 9:45Rachel Cruze?

  What if you were just talking to me in Smart Money Happy Hour?

• 9:47George Kamel?

  The instant riz if I had a classy British, not a, you know, some British accents, rough.

• 9:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, no, but the classy, the Kate Middleton one.

• 9:55George Kamel?

  Yeah. That's the accent you went with? That's the example?

• 10:01Rachel Cruze?

  So dainty, so dainty. So dainty. Yeah. So elegant. Love it. Love it.

• 10:09George Kamel?

  We love an elegant?

• 10:10Rachel Cruze?

  I am, okay.

• 10:13George Kamel?

  All right.

• 10:13Rachel Cruze?

  So that's, that's the point, though, that you can, now, the quality, I'm gonna be honest, there, you'll have a quality difference.

• 10:20George Kamel?

  Hard to tell just based on the look.

• 10:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Now, some dupes, like, if you look at Lululemon, like, yoga pants and that kind of thing, someone's on Amazon, have very much the same percentage of material similar to.

• 10:30George Kamel?

  That's true.

• 10:31Rachel Cruze?

  So like, sometimes it's not always. Sometimes you will get more quality, sometimes not always.

• 10:35George Kamel?

  Which, that's a hack. If you see the ingredient list, you see the material it's made of, check both.

• 10:42Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 10:42George Kamel?

  And see if it's close.

• 10:43Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, now, you mentioned this earlier, but, um, medicine, right?

• 10:47George Kamel?

  This one is the biggest scam of all time.

• 10:48Rachel Cruze?

  Generic versus name brand, and I am a name brander, I don't know why.

• 10:52George Kamel?

  In your head, it's better. What's the marketing's working?

• 10:55Rachel Cruze?

  I'm gonna buy Tylenol Advil.

• 10:56George Kamel?

  Be honest, because you're scared that it says acetaminophen?

• 10:59Rachel Cruze?

  Acetaminophen.

• 11:00George Kamel?

  You're scared to grab that box, it's just too big of a word.

• 11:02Rachel Cruze?

  Well, I'm just like, do I, can I trust them? I don't know why I can trust Tylenol, but I can't trust that, I don't know, that brand.

• 11:11George Kamel?

  Wow. So you think Advil technically has higher quality ibuprofen in it?

• 11:15Rachel Cruze?

  I do, it's what my subconscious says.

• 11:18George Kamel?

  Well.

• 11:18Rachel Cruze?

  Stick with what you know, Rachel, stick with what you know. You go off-brand for medicine?

• 11:22George Kamel?

  Hundred percent.

• 11:22Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 11:23George Kamel?

  Yeah. Sometimes, I'm trying to think if there's one, I'm like, I know the name brand is slightly better.

• 11:28Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, well, what would that be?

• 11:29George Kamel?

  Now, Benadryl, for sure, go generic brand.

• 11:31Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man, really?

• 11:32George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 11:33Rachel Cruze?

  Makes me so nervous. Neosporin?

• 11:35George Kamel?

  It's just an antihistamine. Neosporin is no better than a different brand to me.

• 11:40Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, all right. Because those are my go-to. Now, Band-Aid, brand or off-brand?

• 11:46George Kamel?

  Oh. You know what? I only own Band-Aid brand, but I don't think it's on purpose.

• 11:51Rachel Cruze?

  Just happens, they just have market share.

• 11:53George Kamel?

  I bought Band-Aids 17 years ago, still have them.

• 11:58Rachel Cruze?

  Just me and I'll go through Band-Aids, my kids went, go through so.

• 12:01George Kamel?

  Like, injury-based?

• 12:03Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, yeah, and just like, they just would put Band-Aids on, like, we went through so many Band-Aids.

• 12:07George Kamel?

  Wow. Is that true? Amelia's in the room, I want to just get verification.

• 12:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 12:11Speaker 06

  My sister used it for her stuffed animal who, like, when it ripped. And then I had this, like, glass elephant thing that I got from Hobby Lobby, and it, it's leg-broke, so I used a Band-Aid to put it back.

• 12:22George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 12:22Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so we use it like tape, that's what we, that's basically what we do in our house.

• 12:26George Kamel?

  I was like, how injured are your children getting on a regular basis? You ever see kids, though, that are constantly covered in Band-Aids, and you're like, are they hurting you?

• 12:34Rachel Cruze?

  No, I think that means you're being a child and you're outside and playing and not playing video games.

• 12:39George Kamel?

  People can get hurt playing video games. Carpal tunnel is a real condition, Rachel.

• 12:43Rachel Cruze?

  It's a real thing, it's a real thing. Okay, yeah, the medicine thing, I know.

• 12:47George Kamel?

  But, yeah, growing up, I feel like in the house, we had name brand Advil.

• 12:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, growing up, yeah.

• 12:52George Kamel?

  And then as time went on, I think generic brands kind of got more popular.

• 12:55Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, because the 90s, the dupe thing wasn't big in the 90s.

• 12:58George Kamel?

  It was a different time.

• 12:59Rachel Cruze?

  It was, I mean, we liked to burn CDs and fake IDs, not that I ever did.

• 13:05George Kamel?

  You didn't do either of those?

• 13:07Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 13:08George Kamel?

  If I had to guess, you didn't know how to burn a CD?

• 13:11Rachel Cruze?

  I, oh no, I burned CDs all the time, and I got so many viruses on our home computer because of it. Because I downloaded LimeWire.

• 13:19George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 13:19Rachel Cruze?

  And, oh my gosh, it'd be like, virus, and Dad would be so mad at us, he's like, stop putting viruses on our computer! And I'm like, sorry, I just wanted to listen to Vitamin C graduation song again, you know what I mean? Illegally.

• 13:31George Kamel?

  That was a bop. Well, the longer the file name, the more you're like, this is probably a virus. They just kept adding to the file name.

• 13:38Rachel Cruze?

  I know, but like, Linkin Park, I don't know, I can go through probably all the bands that I, like, illegally downloaded.

• 13:43George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 13:44Rachel Cruze?

  I know, it's so bad.

• 13:46George Kamel?

  How did we all just do that and never have any ethical issue with it? Was because we were like, this is, the entire industry's a scam.

• 13:51Rachel Cruze?

  Well, in my head, I'm like, they, I have bought so many Mariah Carey CDs, that I deserve, like, some free songs.

• 13:57George Kamel?

  You deserve to rip it.

• 13:57Rachel Cruze?

  Some free songs, yeah.

• 13:59George Kamel?

  That's fair.

• 13:59Rachel Cruze?

  Not good, though, people, not good. And I also did, um, Chinatown, uh, fake designer purses, too.

• 14:06George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah, that's become a thing people are, intentionally, they want to have the Chinatown experience.

• 14:11Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, really?

• 14:12George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 14:12Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 14:13George Kamel?

  I've heard it's an event.

• 14:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you go, like, behind, like, a door.

• 14:16George Kamel?

  You like go into a van, and they take you down some stairs, and you're like.

• 14:19Rachel Cruze?

  We did that, yes, yes.

• 14:21George Kamel?

  Oh, this for a fake bag?

• 14:22Rachel Cruze?

  That was like 20 years ago, and my mom was like, all right, it's a good deal, let's go. Oh, it's my mom!

• 14:27George Kamel?

  That's amazing.

• 14:28Rachel Cruze?

  Full-on, yep, ripped it, so sad.

• 14:31George Kamel?

  All right, I needed a whole episode, me and Cher in New York City, Chinatown fake bag experience.

• 14:35Rachel Cruze?

  I know, I know.

• 14:36George Kamel?

  She's haggling in a basement somewhere.

• 14:38Rachel Cruze?

  That was more of our stuff, it's like, you just, I don't know, it wasn't as classy as the dupes today.

• 14:42George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 14:42Rachel Cruze?

  I would say, don't you think?

• 14:44George Kamel?

  Yeah, I think we've, we've come a long way in the dupe world, and I think there's more ethics now involved.

• 14:49Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, for sure.

• 14:50George Kamel?

  Wow. Uh, do you have any iconic dupe wins in your own life? Things you're like, man, I got this, it's not the name brand, but it does the job as good, if not better.

• 15:00Rachel Cruze?

  But it's great. Um, hmm.

• 15:04George Kamel?

  I think Amazon has conquered that. Because every brand I get on Amazon, it's a name I cannot pronounce.

• 15:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yeah, it's a lot of, I'd say a lot of my athleisure and stuff is Amazon. And I feel like they are probably knocking off some Lulu, some Aloe, if you will.

• 15:20George Kamel?

  I did this yesterday, I was looking for a spray mop, like, a little, you know, almost like a Swiffer. And instead of going with that brand, Swiffer, O-Cedar, I just found a generic one that was cheaper.

• 15:31Rachel Cruze?

  That was great.

• 15:32George Kamel?

  And it shipped the same day, you know, that's, I don't know how they do it. Where's it coming from?

• 15:37Rachel Cruze?

  We don't know.

• 15:38George Kamel?

  They have all of these items in a single warehouse? That's crazy.

• 15:41Rachel Cruze?

  That's what all, isn't that wild? To think that I need this random shirt that's in this crazy blue color, and I'm like, shirt be there at 3 o'clock.

• 15:48George Kamel?

  Do you ever feel bad when they deliver it and you see them? Like, you have an interaction with the delivery guy, and I'm like, I'm sorry?

• 15:53Rachel Cruze?

  I'm so sorry, I know!

• 15:55George Kamel?

  Because this is his fourth time coming by that day.

• 15:57Rachel Cruze?

  You feel bad.

• 15:57George Kamel?

  It was like, they're stacked on the front porch. But I apologized once, and he said, oh, don't apologize, I'm employed, thanks to you.

• 16:04Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 16:05George Kamel?

  And I went, you know what? You should be thanking me. I take it back.

• 16:08Rachel Cruze?

  I take it back. You're welcome, you're welcome.

• 16:10George Kamel?

  That's good. Well, uh, someone on our team, in the content meeting for this episode, they reverse image searched an $1,800 set of leather chairs, found them for 600 bucks, a version of them for 600 bucks at Home Depot.

• 16:22Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh, half off.

• 16:24George Kamel?

  Yeah, over, I mean, a third, that's pretty crazy.

• 16:27Rachel Cruze?

  Amazing, oh, yeah.

• 16:29George Kamel?

  And I've done this with furniture in our own house, is I'll do the reverse image search.

• 16:33Rachel Cruze?

  I've never done that.

• 16:34George Kamel?

  Whitney has this amazing thing, you probably experienced this, too. Whatever the thing she finds, she doesn't know the price, but she happens to find the most expensive version of that thing.

• 16:44Rachel Cruze?

  The lamp or the, or the rug.

• 16:46George Kamel?

  So then my job is to find a dupe that will satisfy.

• 16:49Rachel Cruze?

  That will look like it.

• 16:50George Kamel?

  Yeah, her taste.

• 16:50Rachel Cruze?

  You know what? That's fair.

• 16:51George Kamel?

  It's a fun game. So we did find that World Market had some chairs for a living room, that were just like the ones that we saw that were 10 times the cost.

• 17:01Rachel Cruze?

  Of somewhere else.

• 17:01George Kamel?

  Yeah, a couple hundred bucks at World Market, thousands.

• 17:04Rachel Cruze?

  And you found them because you searched, you did the reverse image?

• 17:07George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 17:07Rachel Cruze?

  So you knew it was at World Market? Well done, George.

• 17:10George Kamel?

  Who said, who said I have no skills?

• 17:12Rachel Cruze?

  I need to call you more.

• 17:13George Kamel?

  That would be a fun game. You call me, I'll help you find the dupe.

• 17:17Rachel Cruze?

  I know, why don't I do this more?

• 17:19George Kamel?

  Does Winston enjoy that, or not really?

• 17:21Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, yeah, he likes finding cheaper, yes, I'd say cheaper items. And he's okay with it, too, he's like, oh, yeah, this is great.

• 17:28George Kamel?

  He's a, he's a man of simplicity.

• 17:30Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, he likes to save the pennies, if you know what I mean? Um, well, you know, the fact that you're on the internet so much, George, looking at those dual images, you gotta make sure, gotta make sure that your information is protected, and that's why Delete Me is so big for today in 2026.

• 17:46George Kamel?

  It gives me confidence when I'm online.

• 17:48Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 17:48George Kamel?

  Entering all those forums, buying stuff, because they scour all these data broker sites who somehow have your information, who are about to package it and sell it to scammers and spammers, they remove it. And they do that all year long, behind the scenes.

• 18:00Rachel Cruze?

  And it's a team of real people.

• 18:01George Kamel?

  Real data privacy experts behind the scenes.

• 18:03Rachel Cruze?

  Going in there, doing it all.

• 18:04George Kamel?

  It's not just like AI doing its best. Real people are doing this, you can even submit your own, if you find it somewhere, you can just send them the link.

• 18:12Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 18:12George Kamel?

  And a real person handles it and sends you updates, it's great. They have a customer report they'll send you every couple months, showing you where they removed it, how much time they saved you, and, uh, it just gives me a little more peace when I'm on the internet, which is always.

• 18:24Rachel Cruze?

  So, you can get 20% off an annual plan if you go to joindelete.me/smartmoney. We will leave a link, so make sure to click on it, and, yeah, get this ASAP, you guys, so important.

• 18:36George Kamel?

  Taking control of your privacy.

• 18:37Rachel Cruze?

  So important.

• 18:38George Kamel?

  All right, so people love to throw shade on my, my Kirkland way of life, if you will.

• 18:43Rachel Cruze?

  Do they?

• 18:44George Kamel?

  Yeah, I don't know why.

• 18:45Rachel Cruze?

  You know, I was on the show with, uh, Dave, hosting Ramsey's show last week, he meant, and we were talking about a funeral, someone called about a funeral. Dave was like, Costco has, has caskets? And I said, did you learn that from George Kamel? Because you, you're making an impact, George.

• 19:00George Kamel?

  I taught Dave Ramsey something?

• 19:02Rachel Cruze?

  Whether you like it or not, you're making an impact.

• 19:04George Kamel?

  Do you think Dave would ever buy a Costco casket?

• 19:08Rachel Cruze?

  No, I don't think so.

• 19:09George Kamel?

  Does he have specific, like, wishes for that? I know you guys have the, like, annual family planning meetings.

• 19:14Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you know, for the funeral itself, not really, isn't that funny? Everything else is taken care of, but that.

• 19:20George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 19:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, he's very much the mindset of, we'll be dead anyway, who cares? Kind of feeling, you know what I mean?

• 19:26George Kamel?

  Sure. He's like, who cares who's on the invite list?

• 19:28Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, like, I mean, I'm, I'm gonna be gone, you know?

• 19:31George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 19:31Rachel Cruze?

  I feel like he doesn't care about that as much.

• 19:33George Kamel?

  I just thought, I know he likes, you know, to have as much control as he can, control the controllables. And who's on the invite list for the funeral, what the food is, what the music is, who's doing the eulogy?

• 19:41Rachel Cruze?

  I know, not as picky.

• 19:43George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 19:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, well, have you, do you have that stuff right now? I haven't thought about it.

• 19:46George Kamel?

  I haven't written it out explicitly, but I think about it a lot, it's all up here.

• 19:50Rachel Cruze?

  Really? Well, get it out before that shuts down, George.

• 19:53George Kamel?

  Well, people have ideas and go, ooh, that's a good idea, I want to do that.

• 19:56Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 19:56George Kamel?

  You know what I mean?

• 19:57Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, I like a color-themed.

• 19:59George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 19:59Rachel Cruze?

  Celebration of life.

• 20:00George Kamel?

  What does that mean?

• 20:01Rachel Cruze?

  Everybody wear blue and black or something, I don't know, and it's like, everyone's color-coordinated. Isn't that kind of fun?

• 20:09George Kamel?

  Okay, are you thinking of the Backstreet Boys album?

• 20:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that is a Backstreet Boys album! Blue and black, oh no, are they so in my subconscious that my funeral?

• 20:18George Kamel?

  Also, traditionally, people tend to wear black.

• 20:21Rachel Cruze?

  Or black and blue, what is there, no.

• 20:22George Kamel?

  They wear dark colors at funerals.

• 20:23Rachel Cruze?

  That sounds like a bruise. Black and blue?

• 20:26George Kamel?

  They have a different album.

• 20:27Rachel Cruze?

  The album is Blue and Black, Blue and Black, album title.

• 20:32George Kamel?

  Someone Google it, I thought it was Black and Blue, that just sounds better.

• 20:35Rachel Cruze?

  Black and Blue.

• 20:36George Kamel?

  Who's right?

• 20:37Rachel Cruze?

  I got it, I got my phone right here.

• 20:38George Kamel?

  Who's right?

• 20:39Rachel Cruze?

  Black and Blue.

• 20:40George Kamel?

  Neither of us?

• 20:43Rachel Cruze?

  Black and blue. Okay, man, it just that feels

• 20:45George Kamel?

  Black and blue.

• 20:46Rachel Cruze?

  That just feels like, like a bruise. I don't know why that feels not great. It is, looky here. All right.

• 20:52George Kamel?

  I know my backstreet.

• 20:53Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, will you please have everyone wear those colors?

• 20:56George Kamel?

  Uh, yours?

• 20:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, kinda like a blue and white, though.

• 20:58George Kamel?

  Why are you putting me in charge?

• 21:00Rachel Cruze?

  I don't, I don't, I don't know.

• 21:02George Kamel?

  Why am I responsible?

• 21:03Rachel Cruze?

  I'll text my husband.

• 21:05George Kamel?

  I'm gonna be busy grieving your loss. I can't also plan it. I'm too close. Okay.

• 21:10Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, but we're putting you in a Kirkland casket, George.

• 21:13George Kamel?

  Appreciate that.

• 21:14Rachel Cruze?

  We know that for sure. Yeah, but as of August 2025, Kirkland generated $90 billion in annual sales.

• 21:21George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 21:22Rachel Cruze?

  Across their groceries, household goods, clothing, electronics, with total sales around $270 billion. The brand accounts for about a third of Costco's total sales.

• 21:32George Kamel?

  I wonder how much of that I can account for.

• 21:34Rachel Cruze?

  I think it's great.

• 21:35George Kamel?

  I've rarely, there's with one exception, everything I've tried from Kirkland Signature is great.

• 21:40Rachel Cruze?

  I think I'm gonna say the same, or I'm thinking maybe more Amazon, not Kirkland, but batteries.

• 21:44George Kamel?

  Oh, well, for a while, like Duracell was making Costco's batteries.

• 21:48Rachel Cruze?

  You don't get as great of a, of a time.

• 21:50George Kamel?

  You've noticed that?

• 21:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. I think, but maybe I'm thinking Amazon batteries.

• 21:54George Kamel?

  You don't seem like the kind of person who's like tracking battery usage. No offense.

• 21:58Rachel Cruze?

  I know, I just feel like when we put them in remotes and stuff, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is like

• 22:01George Kamel?

  You have to change it and it's always like the Kirkland battery?

• 22:04Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 22:05George Kamel?

  Wow. I imagine Winston's the battery changer in the house.

• 22:07Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, I love, I know how to change batteries, George.

• 22:10George Kamel?

  It's not a matter of knowing how.

• 22:12Rachel Cruze?

  Do you think, do you think I am the helpless that if I'm home and the remote didn't work and I'm like, oh my gosh, I need my husband to come in and change my batteries? Plus and minus, what does this mean? I don't know, I guess I have to wait for my husband to come. I can change batteries, George.

• 22:28George Kamel?

  Again, it's not that you can't.

• 22:29Rachel Cruze?

  I even have screwdrivers.

• 22:30George Kamel?

  It's not that you're a damsel in distress. It's just that you'd be like, nah, I'm not gonna watch TV right now. I have Winston. Winston can deal with it.

• 22:37Rachel Cruze?

  Work ethic is basically what he's questioning. My effort level.

• 22:41George Kamel?

  That is strong. Here's what, can I give you a fun fact about Kirkland, though? When Kirkland, which is Costco's in-house brand, they drop a version of a high-end product. Sometimes the original product then has to drop its prices to stay competitive.

• 22:54Rachel Cruze?

  Because it's so popular, the Kirkland.

• 22:56George Kamel?

  Costco comes out with their own version of Lulus. Well, the Lulus are 70, Costco's selling it for 35. So Lulu goes, all right, we gotta drop the price down to 45 or 50, just to stay competitive.

• 23:07Rachel Cruze?

  Because they feel it, obviously, in the revenues.

• 23:10George Kamel?

  Costco's doing the Lord's work, is what I'm trying to say.

• 23:12Rachel Cruze?

  Now, one thing I will not get a dupe of, Cozy Earth.

• 23:14George Kamel?

  Hundred percent. It can't be replicated.

• 23:17Rachel Cruze?

  No, you gotta get the real thing because it feels so great. I'm thinking about the pajamas, my robes. I got two robes from Cozy Earth, by the way.

• 23:25George Kamel?

  Oh, so you got the kimono.

• 23:27Rachel Cruze?

  Did like a bamboo kimono, and then I did like a big terry cloth one that I wore this morning. It's wonderful. I love it. Our sheets, I mean, so the athleisure wear, all of it.

• 23:37George Kamel?

  The bath towels, use that today?

• 23:39Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, not great. The bath sheets, even bigger.

• 23:42George Kamel?

  Oh, that's the one I have.

• 23:44Rachel Cruze?

  So good.

• 23:44George Kamel?

  I mean, I'm a small guy, so it's not hard to like cover me total in it, but I'm, I'm cocooned.

• 23:51Rachel Cruze?

  Cocooned with that beach, with that, with that sheet. Yes. But yeah, Cozy Earth is amazing, and their products really are quality, and it is worth the price, for sure.

• 23:59George Kamel?

  Well, the other thing we didn't talk about with dupes is sometimes the name brand just has better service. They stand by their products, and this goes for Cozy Earth, for sure. It's a risk-free purchase. You get 100-night sleep trial with their bedding, 10-year warranty. That's pretty impressive.

• 24:15Rachel Cruze?

  Amazing. Absolutely incredible.

• 24:16George Kamel?

  So whether it's for you or someone you love, give the gift of everyday luxury. Go to cozylearth.com/smartmoney, and you can get up to 20% off.

• 24:25Rachel Cruze?

  All right, next up, George, grocery edition.

• 24:27George Kamel?

  Now we're talking.

• 24:28Rachel Cruze?

  One hill that I would die on is Honey Nut Cheerios.

• 24:33George Kamel?

  They have a hill?

• 24:33Rachel Cruze?

  Not going, yeah, that little, that little bumblebee.

• 24:36George Kamel?

  You will not buy generic brand Honey Nut Cheerios.

• 24:39Rachel Cruze?

  That is where I draw the line, when it comes to cereal. You can tell the difference.

• 24:43George Kamel?

  Well, I've, I've bought in some like healthy dupes that are clearly trying to be Honey Nut Cheerios.

• 24:49Rachel Cruze?

  Definitely not.

• 24:49George Kamel?

  Can I drop the name of one brand that I just tried? I think it's called Seven Sundays. They make a lot of like, sort of healthier cereals.

• 24:56Rachel Cruze?

  So magical.

• 24:57George Kamel?

  And it was the most flavorless, tough, little Cheerio I've ever experienced.

• 25:04Rachel Cruze?

  So terrible.

• 25:05George Kamel?

  Why even eat?

• 25:06Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 25:06George Kamel?

  I lost my appetite.

• 25:07Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 25:07George Kamel?

  I had to pour honey on top of it.

• 25:09Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh, you had to like do the work.

• 25:11George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 25:12Rachel Cruze?

  I'm so sorry.

• 25:12George Kamel?

  Where's the honey? They were just nut Cheerios.

• 25:16George Kamel?

  Where's the honey?

• 25:17Rachel Cruze?

  Where's honey? Okay, so our team put together a lot of food that we're gonna, we're gonna taste test, George, if we can find the dupe. So the name brands versus the generic brand, if we can tell the difference.

• 25:28George Kamel?

  Okay, I'm excited about this.

• 25:29Rachel Cruze?

  We're gonna break it up.

• 25:30George Kamel?

  Another competition.

• 25:31Rachel Cruze?

  All right, so first up, those, yeah, Frosted Flakes.

• 25:34George Kamel?

  So we're trying to figure out which one is the real Frosted Flakes.

• 25:37Rachel Cruze?

  Mmm, oh my gosh, these are so good. I haven't had Frosted Flakes in years.

• 25:40George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 25:42Rachel Cruze?

  Very good.

• 25:43George Kamel?

  Not bad.

• 25:45Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 25:45George Kamel?

  Now let's test the other one out.

• 25:47Rachel Cruze?

  Next up.

• 25:51George Kamel?

  Oh, that's Frosted Flakes. 1,000%.

• 25:53Rachel Cruze?

  Wait, really?

• 25:54George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 25:56Rachel Cruze?

  I was gonna say opposite, George. These are so thin.

• 25:59George Kamel?

  That's why, I think Frosted Flakes are thinner than you remember.

• 26:02Rachel Cruze?

  Mmm.

• 26:03George Kamel?

  The crunch on them, that one had a tougher crunch.

• 26:06Rachel Cruze?

  Very different texture. Flavor, very similar.

• 26:11George Kamel?

  You know what I realized? Frosted Flakes kinda tastes like a Rice Krispie treat.

• 26:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Okay, I'm gonna go with my gut, George, on this one. I may be different than you.

• 26:19George Kamel?

  All right. You're thinking the first one.

• 26:21Rachel Cruze?

  I think the first one.

• 26:21George Kamel?

  Is the real Tony the Tiger.

• 26:24Rachel Cruze?

  Man, maybe you are right. Maybe they are thinner.

• 26:27George Kamel?

  You don't have to agree with me.

• 26:28Rachel Cruze?

  You're such an influencer. Okay, I'm going with you. I do think, uh, I think, uh, first one.

• 26:34George Kamel?

  Number two is the real Frosted.

• 26:36Rachel Cruze?

  Number two's real Frosted. Oh my gosh. You know what, you know what it took me back to? When I'm like five years old with a bowl of Frosted Flakes in your, and you can just chew them so fast, like, and they go soggy pretty quick.

• 26:48George Kamel?

  Yes, you gotta go fast.

• 26:50Rachel Cruze?

  So I did context clues. Yep, all right.

• 26:53George Kamel?

  Wow, that brought me back. With ice cold milk?

• 26:55Rachel Cruze?

  Oh.

• 26:56George Kamel?

  Let's go.

• 26:57Rachel Cruze?

  Should we have more Frosted Flakes in our life?

• 26:58George Kamel?

  Yeah, can you, do you have a tiny amount of milk you can pour into these?

• 27:01Rachel Cruze?

  I know, just a little, have a little.

• 27:02George Kamel?

  All right.

• 27:02Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 27:03George Kamel?

  We're doing pretty good.

• 27:04Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. All right, next up, we're gonna do Lay's potato chips.

• 27:07George Kamel?

  Here we go, Lay's potato chip. We got the ridged edition, which is a good one.

• 27:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I love potato chips, too.

• 27:13George Kamel?

  Something is wildly off about this.

• 27:15Rachel Cruze?

  A little stale.

• 27:16George Kamel?

  But aren't they a new bag?

• 27:17Speaker 06

  They're new.

• 27:18George Kamel?

  How are they stale?

• 27:19Rachel Cruze?

  I know, but they just, the texture's a little stale.

• 27:21George Kamel?

  Agreed.

• 27:22Rachel Cruze?

  It's a little extra, the crunch is not as deep as I want it to be.

• 27:25George Kamel?

  I don't think it's stale. I just think it's a miller crunch to it.

• 27:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but the texture is stale-ish.

• 27:31George Kamel?

  All right.

• 27:32Rachel Cruze?

  Next one.

• 27:34George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 27:35Rachel Cruze?

  Crunch.

• 27:35George Kamel?

  This is like anti-ASMR right now, if you're listening at home. You gotta watch this one. It's at least a little more enjoyable.

• 27:42Rachel Cruze?

  Sorry, sorry, everyone.

• 27:43George Kamel?

  Two is real.

• 27:44Speaker 06

  Yep.

• 27:45Rachel Cruze?

  Mmm. Mm-hmm.

• 27:47George Kamel?

  I also noticed a little more salt content on the second one.

• 27:50Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, Frosted Flakes, you go either way. I wouldn't skip out on the potato chip. You gotta go real.

• 27:55George Kamel?

  Oh, way to go, Lay's.

• 27:56Rachel Cruze?

  Lay's knows.

• 27:57George Kamel?

  Way to make a brand that sticks.

• 27:58Rachel Cruze?

  I love a chip.

• 27:59George Kamel?

  Were you a Lay's family growing up?

• 28:02Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm.

• 28:03George Kamel?

  Were you classic yellow bag Lay's?

• 28:05Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but I also love the baked ones now.

• 28:08George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 28:09Rachel Cruze?

  So good.

• 28:10George Kamel?

  I like the barbecue ones and the salt and vinegar. You need some, some salt and venies?

• 28:15Rachel Cruze?

  I miss Vicky's salt and vinegar.

• 28:17George Kamel?

  Those really hit.

• 28:18Rachel Cruze?

  Amazing.

• 28:18George Kamel?

  I do like kettle-cooked.

• 28:20Rachel Cruze?

  All right, next up, we're gonna go, um, sweet here. We're gonna go Reese's Cups versus Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Cups.

• 28:26George Kamel?

  Okay, uh, can I tell you who the most annoying person is? The person says, you know it's not Reese's, right? It's Reese's.

• 28:32Rachel Cruze?

  Wait, what?

• 28:33George Kamel?

  Yeah, Reese's Pieces. It's not Reese's Pieces.

• 28:37Rachel Cruze?

  Reese's Pieces, Reese's Pieces. Reese's.

• 28:41George Kamel?

  But then every time I say, hey, can you hand me the old Reese's?

• 28:44Rachel Cruze?

  I like Reese's. I'm keeping my pronunciation.

• 28:48George Kamel?

  But it is Reese's.

• 28:48Rachel Cruze?

  Looking at it, I know.

• 28:49George Kamel?

  We know.

• 28:50Rachel Cruze?

  Are we mad about it? We're not mad about it, though.

• 28:52George Kamel?

  Well, I think the dupe is dark chocolate, to be fair, which I prefer anyways.

• 28:56Rachel Cruze?

  Can I say the Trader Joe's, these are two I'd die for.

• 28:59George Kamel?

  Are these the Trader Joe's ones?

• 29:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, the dark ones are.

• 29:01George Kamel?

  Okay, cuz I can, I can already tell. But that's also because...

• 29:04Rachel Cruze?

  You see this on top? A little.

• 29:07George Kamel?

  Oh, you're right.

• 29:07Rachel Cruze?

  It's not smooth.

• 29:09George Kamel?

  All right.

• 29:11Rachel Cruze?

  See, I don't like sugar.

• 29:12George Kamel?

  It's really good.

• 29:12Rachel Cruze?

  I like sugar as much as salt.

• 29:14George Kamel?

  Oh, you're salty.

• 29:15Rachel Cruze?

  I think I prefer, though, just a standard Reese's Cup.

• 29:19George Kamel?

  Well, milk chocolate tends to be a little softer. I'm curious how it'll hold up.

• 29:22Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm. Oh.

• 29:27Rachel Cruze?

  Five-second rule.

• 29:29George Kamel?

  Face down.

• 29:31Rachel Cruze?

  Here.

• 29:32George Kamel?

  It's fine.

• 29:36George Kamel?

  Oh, wow.

• 29:38Rachel Cruze?

  It's so good.

• 29:39George Kamel?

  The texture is-

• 29:40Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going milk chocolate. I'm going Reese's, Reese's. Sorry, Trader Joe's, but-

• 29:44George Kamel?

  All right, that for sure was the Reese's.

• 29:46Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm. Which one do you like better?

• 29:48George Kamel?

  Mm-mm. I want dark.

• 29:49Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 29:50George Kamel?

  It's a little gummier. It gets stuck to my teeth more.

• 29:52Rachel Cruze?

  I know. Isn't it great?

• 29:54George Kamel?

  That's how you get cavities. Can't risk it.

• 29:57Rachel Cruze?

  If you brush and use your electric toothbrush.

• 29:59George Kamel?

  Wow. All right, so we're three for three so far.

• 30:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. All right, next up is Swedish Fish versus Smart Sweets.

• 30:05George Kamel?

  Oh, this one's gonna be an easy tell. I wanna hold both up just for comparison here. Oh, yeah. You can really tell.

• 30:13Rachel Cruze?

  I am not a Swedish-

• 30:14George Kamel?

  You hold it up to the light.

• 30:15Rachel Cruze?

  Uh-huh. Ooh. Oh, shoot, it says it on it. George, we just cheated.

• 30:20George Kamel?

  They, why would they put the name on it?

• 30:23Rachel Cruze?

  They put the name on the candy.

• 30:24George Kamel?

  They're so proud of their brand?

• 30:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I will say Swedish Fish is like, um-

• 30:29George Kamel?

  These are difficult to eat.

• 30:31Rachel Cruze?

  Oh. I don't like this kind of stuff.

• 30:35George Kamel?

  Oh, she's spitting it out.

• 30:37Rachel Cruze?

  No, it's me. I just took a bite. It's like a gummy bear.

• 30:40George Kamel?

  It's so difficult to-

• 30:41Rachel Cruze?

  I'm not a, I'm not a Swedish Fish fan.

• 30:43George Kamel?

  All right, try the dupe.

• 30:45Rachel Cruze?

  It's like wax. I can't even spit that out. It's all disintegrated in my mouth.

• 30:49George Kamel?

  I much prefer the dupe, though.

• 30:50Rachel Cruze?

  I like the dupe better. Wow.

• 30:52George Kamel?

  It's got a sharp sweetness to it.

• 30:54Rachel Cruze?

  You ready for this?

• 30:55George Kamel?

  You're going for it.

• 30:55Rachel Cruze?

  Going for another bite. Uh-huh.

• 30:57George Kamel?

  Entire bag, entire bag is three grams of sugar, but also those bags have like 98% fiber, so be careful.

• 31:05Rachel Cruze?

  You're just saying words. I'm not like knowing.

• 31:09George Kamel?

  Have you ever looked at the back just to see?

• 31:13Rachel Cruze?

  Mm.

• 31:14George Kamel?

  Mostly for protein or calories, I'm guessing?

• 31:17Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 31:17George Kamel?

  Less so for sodium fiber?

• 31:19Rachel Cruze?

  If I'm like going for protein and I'm eating something that's not like chicken breast, I need it to tell me on the front, 20 grams of protein, 40 grams, I'm like, there we go. I don't need to be-

• 31:28George Kamel?

  So what, you eat protein bars?

• 31:30Rachel Cruze?

  That or like shakes, like Fairlife or something, yeah.

• 31:34George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 31:34Rachel Cruze?

  All right, so we, uh, we know which one is which, and we actually like the dupe better. So there you go.

• 31:38George Kamel?

  I like the dupe better.

• 31:39Rachel Cruze?

  Save, save your fiber.

• 31:40George Kamel?

  I forgot how difficult Swedish Fish are to just chew through.

• 31:43Rachel Cruze?

  That was terrible, like to the point that I spit it out. Okay, last but not least, oh, we got a little drinky-drink. We got a little cherry Ollie Pop. This'll be fun in a Cherry Coke. I love a Cherry Coke.

• 31:53George Kamel?

  We love a Cherry Coke moment.

• 31:55Rachel Cruze?

  Cannot wait. Okay, all right. I think I know just by the color. Is that bad? Okay, here we go. Get a little sippy sip.

• 32:01George Kamel?

  Which tells you something about the name brand Cherry Coke. What the heck is in it?

• 32:07Rachel Cruze?

  All right, I took a sip of the dark one.

• 32:09George Kamel?

  It's not great.

• 32:11Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, I know.

• 32:12George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 32:12Rachel Cruze?

  And for what it is?

• 32:14George Kamel?

  Say it.

• 32:15Rachel Cruze?

  I appreciate a Lollipop for what it is. Ollie Pop.

• 32:18George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah. I was like, we're not eating Lollipops.

• 32:20Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, I'm assuming Ollie Pop Cherry Coke. Yeah.

• 32:23George Kamel?

  100%.

• 32:23Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 32:24George Kamel?

  Now, this dupe is more expensive. Let me call that out. Ollie Pop is a-

• 32:28Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, okay.

• 32:29George Kamel?

  It's a luxury tier soda.

• 32:30Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 32:31George Kamel?

  They know their worth. They're charging, you know, two bucks a can out here.

• 32:34Rachel Cruze?

  Coke, though, I'm not mad at the syrupiness. It's thick.

• 32:37George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 32:38Rachel Cruze?

  Which I'm not mad at.

• 32:39George Kamel?

  When I moved to the South, I found out about diet sodas.

• 32:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 32:43George Kamel?

  And then I started drinking Diet Dr. Pepper.

• 32:45Rachel Cruze?

  What do you mean, you moved to the South and found out about diet?

• 32:47George Kamel?

  Well, in Boston, we didn't have, like, I never, I didn't grow up drinking diet sodas. I think it was bigger in the South.

• 32:52Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, really?

• 32:53George Kamel?

  Yeah, we had Fresca, which is technically a diet soda.

• 32:55Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, I love a Fresca.

• 32:56George Kamel?

  We had Fresca and V8s at the Camel House, and we were living large.

• 33:00Rachel Cruze?

  You were living big, yeah.

• 33:01George Kamel?

  But I just think the diet ones don't have the syrupiness, and I appreciate that. I think Ollie Pop has the better flavor and consistency.

• 33:08Rachel Cruze?

  I kinda do too. All right.

• 33:09George Kamel?

  There you go, Ollie Pop.

• 33:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, more expensive, though, but save your money on the Swedish Fish.

• 33:14George Kamel?

  Again, Smart Sweets wildly more expensive than Swedish Fish, but you get to-

• 33:18Rachel Cruze?

  They are?

• 33:19George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 33:19Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, shoot. Never mind. We're making the people spend more money, George.

• 33:23George Kamel?

  But here's the thing.

• 33:24Rachel Cruze?

  Ollie Pops and-

• 33:25George Kamel?

  We live in a very health-forward culture, and so you gotta know what you're putting in your body, look at the ingredients list, and go for the lower sugar, cleaner. That's just where we are in today's society.

• 33:36Rachel Cruze?

  You know?

• 33:36George Kamel?

  So I appreciate it. They gotta charge more for that.

• 33:38Rachel Cruze?

  I'm mad at it.

• 33:39George Kamel?

  The less ingredients, the more you charge. That's just kind of how it works in America. You notice that?

• 33:44Rachel Cruze?

  Isn't that funny?

• 33:45George Kamel?

  Yeah, the most processed foods have 48 ingredients.

• 33:47Rachel Cruze?

  100%, which, not ideal.

• 33:49George Kamel?

  Definitely not, but you know, science will study our bodies to figure out what happened.

• 33:55Rachel Cruze?

  Well, uh, you know, we, we saw the positives and negatives of the dupes, you know?

• 34:01George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 34:01Rachel Cruze?

  Like, some of it, it's like, yeah.

• 34:03George Kamel?

  I'm not anti-name brand, but I'm always curious, hey, is there a generic brand where I can save money and still get the same exact result?

• 34:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 34:11George Kamel?

  That's the thing to think through.

• 34:12Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, any horror stories that you heard?

• 34:14George Kamel?

  Horror dupe stories? I mean, it's tough to say in the, the food world, where it's just like, you try one, you're like, oh, that was rough.

• 34:21Rachel Cruze?

  Not good, yeah.

• 34:22George Kamel?

  Whatever it is, the store brand version of that thing does not hold up. That's where I think it happens the most.

• 34:27Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm.

• 34:28George Kamel?

  And so food, I do think, if you love that brand, you can always try the generic brand, you'll probably come running back for that name brand you know and love.

• 34:35Rachel Cruze?

  Like a mustard, for instance. Nope, that has a specific taste. It's what I like. A ranch dressing. You know what I mean? Like, there are syrup.

• 34:41George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah. Are you a Hidden Valley girl?

• 34:43Rachel Cruze?

  I am. I'm not as picky with ranch. I do find homemade ranch, though. That's a game changer.

• 34:48George Kamel?

  Oh, wow.

• 34:49Rachel Cruze?

  You can taste the difference.

• 34:50George Kamel?

  I didn't know you could make it at home.

• 34:51Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah. Homemade ranch? Mm-hmm. I mean, I don't.

• 34:56George Kamel?

  The disconcerting thing is to find out what's in it.

• 34:59Rachel Cruze?

  You taste it, and you're like, this is so good. And they're always like, yeah, we make it in-house. And you're like, I can tell. I can tell.

• 35:04George Kamel?

  I wanna know what the heck is in ranch now.

• 35:06Rachel Cruze?

  It got some dill in there. You got, I think it's mayonnaise-based ranch. Buttermilk? I don't know. I'm making up ingredients now.

• 35:13George Kamel?

  Sure, there's buttermilk. That's a flavor of ranch.

• 35:15Rachel Cruze?

  And maybe that's why, maybe that's why I self-consciously, yeah.

• 35:18George Kamel?

  But it is always interesting to see the marketing. When you walk into a store, where's the name brand place? Do they have the whole end cap? Is the generic brand sort of tucked away?

• 35:26Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 35:27George Kamel?

  Compare the prices. Go like, what's the price per unit or per ounce? And if it's wildly different, it's worth checking out the generic brand.

• 35:34Rachel Cruze?

  At least to try it, yeah.

• 35:35George Kamel?

  Give it a go.

• 35:36Rachel Cruze?

  Um, but also I would say dupes, when it comes to financial advice, George, I wouldn't go the dupe route.

• 35:42George Kamel?

  You gotta go the real deal.

• 35:43Rachel Cruze?

  I'd go the tried and true route when it comes to your money. So, yeah, don't try to have shortcuts. Think, oh, I'll just do this cheaper here, and it's fine. Like, make sure that what you're doing with your money, especially your habits, those are building blocks for your life. And so, um, any shortcuts usually don't take you where you wanna go financially, so. Think about your long-term investing, living on a budget, living on less than you make. It's kind of the old-school way of living with money overall. It's the way to do it. And you talk a lot about it in your book, Breaking Free from Broke.

• 36:13George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah. Well, I, I say in the book, if you follow the trends, you'll fall for the traps.

• 36:17Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm.

• 36:17George Kamel?

  And I talk about the marketing and how it affects us psychologically. I have a whole chapter called Spending is Self-Control, where I walk through all of that, so check it out. We'll drop a link in the description to Breaking Free from Broke, so that you're confident your purchases next time you go out.

• 36:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, so you know what you're doing.

• 36:33George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 36:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and also where you keep your money. You don't want that to be a dupe either. And some of these banks are just like-

• 36:39George Kamel?

  Sketchy bank.

• 36:40Rachel Cruze?

  Just sketchy banks. They're like, not good. The flavor, not good.

• 36:43George Kamel?

  Well, sometimes you go like, oh, they have a high APY in their savings account, but I've never even heard of them. You're like, well, if it's just a sketchy thing you saw online, maybe don't put your money there.

• 36:53Rachel Cruze?

  Don't do that, yes, but putting your money with someone you trust, like Fairwin's Credit Union, is worth it. So, Fairwin's is amazing. You can open up a smart bundle, so you have a no-fee checking account, up to 10 high-yield savings accounts, and the debt-as-normal-be-weird Blue Ramsey debit card, which I love.

• 37:11George Kamel?

  I love it. And they've been around for decades. That's one way to spot a dupe. If they just popped up out of nowhere, that's when your spidey senses should go off. So these are good people. They want you to win with money. They're huge fans of us here at Ramsey. They want their own team to become debt-free, and the product is wonderful. So go check out that smart bundle. Just go to fairwins.org/ramsey.

• 37:31Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, so make sure you check it out. We love it and use it, and so it is worth it. So, again, fairwins.org/ramsey. All right, before we spill the tea on our Guilty as Charged segment, George, let's share the details.

• 37:42George Kamel?

  This was a strawberry kiwi smash. I'm trying to figure out a rating that feels fair here.

• 37:47Rachel Cruze?

  I know, y'all. I might be a three on this one. I'm sorry.

• 37:51George Kamel?

  Yeah, I might go two. I might go two.

• 37:53Rachel Cruze?

  I can't.

• 37:53George Kamel?

  I'm not trying to dog the person who made the drink, because they're in the room.

• 37:58Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 37:58George Kamel?

  But you know what? I'm not getting flavor out of it.

• 38:01Rachel Cruze?

  It's, uh-

• 38:02George Kamel?

  It's too light. I want a little more punch.

• 38:04Rachel Cruze?

  Can I say a smash? I don't need food in my mouth when I'm drinking.

• 38:07George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 38:08Rachel Cruze?

  Getting some strawberry mush, and I'm like, not, not what I want.

• 38:12George Kamel?

  A muddled strawberry isn't doing it for you?

• 38:13Rachel Cruze?

  No, not what, again, not the person, not the muddler.

• 38:16George Kamel?

  She doesn't like, uh-

• 38:17Rachel Cruze?

  I'm just-

• 38:18George Kamel?

  I'm gonna call it floaters.

• 38:19Rachel Cruze?

  The ingredients.

• 38:20George Kamel?

  Also, is there a bug in there? Or no, it might be a speck from a kiwi.

• 38:23Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's a seed.

• 38:24George Kamel?

  I thought it was a bug.

• 38:25Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 38:26George Kamel?

  It's just a seed from the kiwi.

• 38:27Rachel Cruze?

  Fruit fly and seaweed, or my fruit fly and kiwi seed. Very similar. Seaweed, kiwi seed.

• 38:34George Kamel?

  Yeah. I mean, here's what's in it. Vodka, kiwi, strawberries, lime juice, simple syrup, club soda.

• 38:41Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, that sounds good.

• 38:42George Kamel?

  In theory, it should be good.

• 38:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we're going low on this one.

• 38:45George Kamel?

  But I think it needs a little bit more punch with the fruit, and maybe a little bit sweeter.

• 38:50Rachel Cruze?

  And maybe strained.

• 38:51George Kamel?

  It almost tastes like a mocktail.

• 38:53Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yes.

• 38:54George Kamel?

  I'm not really getting much of any of the ingredients. So it comes out to $1.32. If you wanna make it at home and perfect it, let us know what the new recipe is. We'll try it on a future episode. How's that?

• 39:04Rachel Cruze?

  Love it, love it.

• 39:05George Kamel?

  Get the recipe in the show notes.

• 39:07Rachel Cruze?

  All right, now it's time for Guilty as Charged. And this is where we ask each other a Guilty as Charged question every week, and if we're guilty, we take a sip. All right, George, have you ever bought a dupe that totally backfired?

• 39:20George Kamel?

  Oh, man.

• 39:21Rachel Cruze?

  Oh.

• 39:22George Kamel?

  The most famous one was for my wife.

• 39:25Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, what?

• 39:26George Kamel?

  She, she wants a designer purse.

• 39:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 39:28George Kamel?

  She's wanted one for years.

• 39:29Rachel Cruze?

  Sure.

• 39:30George Kamel?

  We'll eventually pull the trigger, but in the meantime-

• 39:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 39:33George Kamel?

  I went, hey, I found this one at Walmart, and it's a dupe. It's clearly a dupe. They're not trying to fake it, but it looks just like the Louis Vuitton purse, like the white and brown checker.

• 39:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 39:43George Kamel?

  You know that one? What it's called? You probably know the name.

• 39:45Rachel Cruze?

  No, I don't, but I know what you're talking about.

• 39:47George Kamel?

  And online, it was like, that is, that's, you could have fooled me.

• 39:51Rachel Cruze?

  Did it look so cheap when it arrived?

• 39:52George Kamel?

  Until it arrived.

• 39:55George Kamel?

  It was like I got catfished.

• 39:57Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no.

• 39:58George Kamel?

  It was so clearly fake. The leather looked terrible. Obviously, it wasn't real leather. The stitching was off, and it was an immediate return.

• 40:05Rachel Cruze?

  Aw, man.

• 40:06George Kamel?

  So I had to go back to Walmart, go to the customer service desk.

• 40:09Rachel Cruze?

  Say, here, tried to get this dupe, but it won't, can't, can't pull it against Whitney. She's gonna be like, nope.

• 40:14George Kamel?

  Whitney's no fool.

• 40:16Rachel Cruze?

  She, she knows, she knows.

• 40:18George Kamel?

  Now I have to get her a real designer purse one day.

• 40:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. Okay, so I bought, which I didn't know it was a dupe. So this may not be a true, this may not fit the story for the guilty as charged, but back, this would have been, man, 2011, I'm gonna say? When Tori Burch, if you remember, you may not.

• 40:38George Kamel?

  Oh, Tori Burch?

• 40:39Rachel Cruze?

  When Tori Burch had her flat ballerina shoes with the big silver Tori Burch symbol on the front, on the top. Those were like really big, like 2011-ish. Well, they were, I mean, those were like, what, $150, $200? I guess, I don't know, I can't remember, but like, they're, they're nice shoes. Maybe even more, but I was like, oh, my gosh, I could, I, yeah, I couldn't, I didn't, wasn't gonna spend that kind of money. And so I found online, it was like sale, and I was like, oh, my gosh. So maybe it's more of a scam story, but I clicked on it and I bought like six pairs for a hundred bucks or something. And I thought, I got a deal of a lifetime. I mean, this is unbelievable. They take for, it took like three or four months to get to me. Now, listen, I don't mean to be putting, what, I don't, I'm not trying to offend anybody.

• 41:23George Kamel?

  Don't offend the scammers.

• 41:24Rachel Cruze?

  But the label was all in Chinese.

• 41:27George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 41:28Rachel Cruze?

  On the package, on my box.

• 41:29George Kamel?

  Which is a tell.

• 41:29Rachel Cruze?

  And this is before Amazon, like, this is before you ordered stuff from China, like on, in Amazon, where you knew, like, oh, yeah, this is totally, this is before all that world, y'all.

• 41:36George Kamel?

  You're used to seeing like the name brand on there.

• 41:39Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, and I thought it was gonna be a beautiful box, you know, when you buy like something, like a brand like that, the packaging.

• 41:43George Kamel?

  That's what you're paying for.

• 41:44Rachel Cruze?

  Well, so I open it, and I will say, it smelled terrible.

• 41:49George Kamel?

  Like a chemical smell?

• 41:50Rachel Cruze?

  It had like a smell to it, and then the shoe, like you could hit, it was like a brick. It wasn't even like a real shoe, anyways, I guess it's more of a scam, but that was terrible. So I had to throw them away, and I was like, I can't even wear these, they're terrible. I know.

• 42:03George Kamel?

  Did you contact them?

• 42:04Rachel Cruze?

  It was sad. Uh, I think I tried, but I think the email address was like all these, like, letters and stuff, you know what I mean?

• 42:10George Kamel?

  I wanna know what website this was.

• 42:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but I think it said like sale, Tori Burch, I'm like, look at me, we're getting a good deal.

• 42:17George Kamel?

  An ad?

• 42:18Rachel Cruze?

  I don't remember, this was like over 10 years ago, 15 years ago. But anyways, that was, that was a bad dupe.

• 42:24George Kamel?

  I'm so sorry.

• 42:24Rachel Cruze?

  Not good, it's fine. Apparently, it still affects me, the fact that I remember it.

• 42:29George Kamel?

  That's trauma.

• 42:30Rachel Cruze?

  It was. They were like not real shoes, so I was like, this is so bad, so wrong.

• 42:35George Kamel?

  Bless it.

• 42:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, so maybe, I don't know, but that was unintentional duping, but.

• 42:40George Kamel?

  Sometimes you dupe yourself, that's the truth. Wow.

• 42:44Rachel Cruze?

  Well, if you have a guilty as charged question for us, make sure to DM us at Rachel Cruz and at George Kamel. We love them, we see them, we screenshot them and send them to our producer Jenna, so we appreciate you. Now, if you love this episode, you're gonna love our episode, Financial Experts Rank the Worst Spending Habits, we will link it for you, and make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.