Delighted though I am to hear that Stephen Mayne forked over $6.50 to buy his copy of Cleo , I’m afraid the conspiracy theory about Eddie McGuire and Brodie Holland is just that. Cleo has never paid a centrefold – Brodie was no exception.

Neither do we pay any male or female celeb or sportsperson who poses for Cleo or Cosmopolitan . When deciding to appear in these mags, it’s all about the cache not the cash. Celebrities recognise the boost it can give their profile to be seen by 700,00+ Cleo readers or 900,00+ Cosmo readers, so it’s a mutually beneficial situation. Often, they come to us. Sometimes we pursue talent who are attractive to our demographic. The latter was the case with Brodie Holland.

Had I been contacted by Crikey, I could have easily clarified this. Oh, and Crikey there’s no need to be sheepish about buying Cleo because you’re not alone – 25% of our readers are men.

Stephen Mayne writes:

I actually spent $13 buying two copies because I forgot to bring the first copy into the new office for scanning as promised yesterday morning. Fair point about Cleo’s policy not to pay centrefolds, but the question remains whether Eddie McGuire “encouraged” Brodie to embarrass himself?