This Is The Real City We See In Apple Cider Vinegar

Kaitlyn Dever’s Netflix drama has finally dropped, immersing us in the dark, cultish world of wellness. But where was Apple Cider Vinegar filmed? This is the real glitzy city we see on screen.

Kaitlyn Dever as Belle in Apple Cider Vinegar. (Courtesy of Netflix © 2024)

Where Was Apple Cider Vinegar Filmed?

Apple Cider Vinegar was filmed in Melbourne, Australia where much of the real action the series is based on went down. ‘We had so many locations that took us from far-flung parts of Melbourne one day to the Dandenong Ranges the next,’ series creator Samantha Strauss tells Netflix. ‘We wanted to show Melbourne as an aspirational place to be.’

Melbourne is the second most populous city in Australia with 5.2 million residents (around 20 percent of the country’s entire population), just behind Sydney’s 5.4 million population. The state capital of Victoria, Melbourne is an affluent waterside city, ranking 15th in the world for wealth in 2024, tallying 97,900 millionaires, 112 centi-millionaires and 10 billionaires in its local population – so Melbourne makes the perfect backdrop for Belle Gibson and her social climbing story.

Belle Gibson in Instagram’s Worst Con Artist. (© Wag Entertainment/ITVX)

The real Belle was born in Tasmania, Australia’s island state located to the south of Melbourne. Throughout her youth, she also lived in Brisbane and Perth before arriving in Melbourne in 2009, aged 18. This is where she finally started to settle down after her tumultuous upbringing, of which we only have conflicting stories from her mother, brother and Belle herself. Falling pregnant soon after, aged 18, Belle is thought to have integrated herself in the local skating community here. It is around this time Belle also started immersing herself in the world of online health forums where people would tell their cancer stories – and, despite being in full health, Belle would join in. Eventually, Belle’s stories would escape the forums and become part of her Instagram persona, and her following would start to build.

Just three years later, Belle launched The Whole Pantry, aged 21. Melbourne is a city of culture, entrepreneurs and technology, all balanced with a beachy, laidback lifestyle that lends itself to the wellness industry. Belle’s ideas thrived here, and she was surrounded by likeminded people – including app developers and her publishers at Penguin – in Melbourne. However, it would all soon start to unravel…

Read the full Belle Gibson story here – or tune into ITV’s documentary about the real woman here.

Kaitlyn Dever as Belle in Apple Cider Vinegar. (Courtesy of Netflix © 2024)

WATCH

All six episodes of Apple Cider Vinegar are streaming on Netflix now. netflix.com