[thxbb12]

At least Olympus paid the trip and offered gear obviously unconditionally, like everyone is doing

Your statement is totally false.
From the dpreview article:

"Back in 2018, which feels more like two decades ago instead of two years, I took the Olympus 12-100mm F4 on a vacation to Australia for three weeks as my main lens alongside a single bright prime. Mounted on an OM-D E-M1 Mark II, it seemed to me to fit the bill of a reasonably sized solution for just about everything I'd want to photograph. Plus, I knew from prior experience that the Olympus kit would stand up to just about anything mother nature could throw at me.

Full disclosure: I organized and paid for this personal trip on my own, and the choice to bring Olympus gear was my own as well."