An age-old question that has plagued generations of women - how often we should actually be washing our brassieres - has been answered: but it hasn't cleared up much for AM host Ryan Bridge.
Georgina Bibby, a lingerie expert at the British clothing retailer Next, has revealed that washing a bra after every two to three wears is "a good general rule to go by" - despite the topic often proving divisive due to differences in activity levels, climates, and jobs, such as sedentary versus more physically demanding roles.
Bibby also disclosed that the average age of a women's bra is 5.5 years, while a whopping one million women in the UK own a bra that's more than 20 years old.
Discussing the expert's verdict on Tuesday morning's AM, Bridge - who clearly has not been keeping abreast with women's health developments - appeared more than a little lost by the findings, first taking issue with the startling statistic that around one million women own a bra they bought in 2003.
"How would it still be holding them up?" he wondered, as his co-hosts Laura Tupou and Nicky Styris laughed. "You'd be kicking the things around on the ground, I imagine… It'd be like soccer. What support would a 20-year-old bra give you?"
Bridge then questioned why women wouldn't wash their bra after each use like they would with underwear, especially in the warmer months when wearers most often complain of "sweaty boobs".
"Is that not a legitimate question?" he asked as Tupou and Styris roared with laughter.
"I think if you're wearing one on a hot day, that's a different set of circumstances - but your underwear in the lower regions is likely to get more dirty than your upper regions," Styris responded matter-of-factly.
"Clammy boobs need a good bra wash, I'd think, every day? I knew there was something smelly at the desk," Bridge quipped as his co-hosts continued to cackle.
Later in the show, Tupou circled back to the topic after receiving an email from a viewer who joked that Bridge needed a sit-down "talk" with his female co-hosts.
But Bridge doubled-down on his hot take, arguing that "fundamentally" brassieres and underwear are guided by "the same principle - they go under your clothes".
"You would wash your T-shirt but not your bra, and the bra is sticking to your body? That doesn't make sense," he went on.
"But you sweat in your armpits, so your T-shirt would be gross," Tupou hit back.
The tit-for-tat continued, with Bridge arguing that women also complain of sweat in their underboob area, as well as their underarms.
"So then they would wash that bra that day," Tupou explained.
"So only on those occasions? See, I thought it was like a woman's armpit under [there], sweating," Bridge giggled, gesturing to said area. "Women have four armpits, men have two!"
It was then that Tupou declared what all viewers with boobs were likely thinking: "There's no hope for Ryan."
"We've spent enough time on this - more boob than I could ever ask for," Bridge said as the hosts prepared to move on, to which Styris interjected: "Or ever want."
The takeaway from this segment? Ryan Bridge should not be trusted with boob-related stories.
Watch the video above.
