February 27, 2025 • 15 mins
This week, and following my previous episode of this podcast, I've been investigating deeper into Channel Nine and EndemolShine Australia's duty of care towards the cast of Married At First Sight... and what I've uncovered is inexcusable on every level.
If you'd like to sign the petition urging the bosses of this show to reassess their practices, click here.
If you're struggling with any of the issues discussed in this podcast, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) — which is the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the Maths Serious Podcast, which I'm
renaming for this episode because things are indeed about to
get serious.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
As you all know.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
This week, I've been putting pressure on Channel nine and
Animal Shine Australia who produce Maths, questioning their duty of care,
which I personally believe they're failing with. And I've spent
the last forty eight hours digging a little deeper into
things and it gets worse, so much worse. What I've
uncovered is shocking, It's inexcusable, and in my opinion, it
(00:33):
proves that the level of negligence behind the scenes of
this show is bigger than.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I previously fought.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Before I get to that, though, just to kind of
recap what's happened this week and where we're at now,
Channel nine and ESA, that's how I'm going to refer
to Animal Shine throughout this episode. So Channel nine and
ESA are currently under fire for failing to remove Paul
from the show after he admitted to violently punching the
wall during a domestic dispute with partner Carena. Now, regardless
of what we may watch at Sunday's commitments money and
(01:00):
how the relationship experts will call Paul out and you know,
questioning his future on the show. Should he be allowed
to stay? That is nothing but TV theater. Those scenes
mean nothing, and that was filmed days after the incident
when he punched a wall, and by the time he
sat on that sofa, the producers I'd already decided that yes,
he will be remaining on the show. I reached out
to nine earlier this week as you guys no regarding
(01:21):
the incident, and they provided me this statement. Nine and
Earsay have treated this matter extremely seriously. Our first priority
at all times has been the well being and safety
of the participants, and after extensive consultation with Karna, she
wanted to remain in the experiment with Paul. We continue
to provide support for Karina and Paul. In the few
days since I shared that statement, things have just got
(01:43):
so much worse and everyone kind of agrees with me
that that decision about if Paul should have remained on
the show should never have been karinas to make the
bosses should have implemented their apparent duty of care and
set an example to Australia that violence like that is
not accepted, but instead that they used an act of
domestic violence for content and then tease, you know, Paul's
(02:05):
admission to domestic violence as part of a national ad
campaign like take a listen to this.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Speaking of nervous coming into the group now because I'm
gonna with me to everyone what I've done. I did
something that I absolutely regret.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
What shocking act.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
It's unacceptable, it's disgusting, and I was hiding myself for
doing this.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Threatens to tear apart one of the experiments strongest couples.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
I it's very serious, very.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Very very serious.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Is domestic violence something to trivialize like this and get
people guessing, Oh, what.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Could it be?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
What?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
What did Paul do?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
No, it isn't, And it's also a slap in the
face the victims of domestic violence having to watch this
play out on TV, as well as viewers. Form A
cast members have also since expressed their shock at Paul
being able to remain on the show, with Olivia Fraser
claiming that everyone on her season was told this at
the start of production by Taram McWilliams, who is the
(03:11):
show's former executive producer and he's now Essays director of Content.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
We were told before filming that anything violent would have
us removed from the program. To quote what executive producer
Taram Williams said to us on briefing day, so much
as a clenched fist and you were out the door.
But that didn't happen, did it, And it still hasn't
happened now.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
It isn't just the poor situation that's got viewers angry.
It's also how Athena and Adrian's relationship is playing out,
especially after earlier this week we watched as viewers allowed
his friends and family to ambush her in scenes that
most of us felt just crossed the line on the
subject of Athena and Adrian. Though, this is kind of
what I've been looking into over the last couple of days,
(03:53):
and what you're about to learn and what I've learned
is only going to infuriate you more.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
In order for all.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Of this to make sense that I'm about to talk
about and for you guys to follow it easily, I'm
going to present everything I've learned in a timeline of
how it all played out in real life last year
during production, So throughout April, May and June last year,
Adrian and Athena both went through their application process of
married at First Site, which includes so many interviews with producers,
(04:21):
with bosses. You know, there's a psych evaluation, there's a
medical like. This process is extensive. And then in July
they were both told you're in, you're on maths. And
then at the end of July, Adrian and Athena were
matched and they filmed their wedding as paparazzi. Pictures from
filming then started to make their way into the press.
Adrian was first identified as a participant by Daily Mail Australia.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
On August tenth.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Four days later, on August fourteenth, which is now approximately
two weeks since Adrian and Athena filmed their wedding, ESA
received an email from a concerned member of the public
who had seen in the press that Adrian was unmarried
at First Site, and in that email the flagged his
previous domestic violence charges from twenty twenty and again I
must clarify that Adriam was cleared of all three of
(05:07):
these charges including assault occasionally actual bodily harm, domestic violence,
common assault and resisting police charges. And as I've previously
said in this podcast, with these things, we can only
stick to the facts, and the facts here are that
Adriam was found not guilty with all.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Of these charges dismissed.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
He has also since said of these charges via his lawyer,
any suggestion of physical assault is categorically denied. I had
my day in court, I was found not guilty, and
the application for an avio was dismissed. Any allegation otherwise
is completely baseless than highly defamatory. Back to the timeline now, though,
So August fourteenth, ESA received an email from a concerned
(05:46):
member of the public who saw in the media that
Adroom was filming the show, and they flagged these previous
charges that he had dismissed. I have that email which
was sent to ESA, and in it the person who
sent it, who I won't name, they said, in what
your screening processes are that would allow someone with this
history to be cast on this show? A day after
that email was sent there, so now we're on August fifteenth,
(06:08):
the person who sent it received a reply that read,
thank you for contacting ESA. Your email has been forwarded
to the Married at First Sight team five days later,
now on August twenty If that person had no further
correspondence from Essay other than the acknowledgment of their first email,
and they were being told being forwarded to the Maths team.
So that person then sent another email saying what have
(06:30):
you done? And again what is your duty of care
to the women on your show? The following day, now
August twenty first, that person received another reply. This time
it wasn't from like a random office admin. It was
from someone whose signature says they work in a business
and legal affairs, and their reply read, dear name acknowledging
(06:51):
receipt of your email, which has been escalated within ESA,
and you won't believe what happened next. Approximately two days
after that email, which now takes us to August twenty third,
and three and a half weeks since Adrian and Athena's wedding,
And just for full transparency, I haven't been able to
verify this exact date here, but I've had multiple people
(07:14):
tell me that what I'm about to say happened just
after the second Dinner Party was filmed on August twentyeth
and around a week before the cast publicity shoot happened
on August thirtieth, so that puts us around August twenty third.
That morning, Athena woke up expecting just another day filming
alongside Adrian in their apartment like normal. Instead, she was
started Athena, the cameras aren't going to be rolling today.
(07:37):
Production has been halted, and she was taken downstairs and
she was putting a car instead, and she was then
driven to Channel nines head offices. Athena was then taken
through the Channel I'm building into a boardroom where she
was met by John Walsh, the network executive producer of
Married at First Site, and Alex Spurway essays, executive producer
(07:57):
of Married at First Site. I believe there could been
another one or two people in the room, but I
haven't been able to verify their identity if they were
there for this next part. As a confused Afena sat down,
she was then informed by the two bosses of this
show of Adrian's past domestic violence charges and how he'd
fronted cart and how he'd been found not guilty of
all three of those charges and his the mic drop
(08:21):
moment for me. Athena was also told by Alex and
John who are you know? The two bosses of this show,
that she'd uprooted her entire life for moved away from
her some far and put her whole trust in. She
was then told, yeah, sorry, we actually had no idea about.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Any of this in Adrian's past.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
She was then told that they had no idea because
he'd never mentioned it in his application forms. She was
essentially told that, Hey, despite all those months of interviews
we had you guys do to get on the show,
we never actually did any actual background checks on anyone. Athena,
whose head would rightfully be spinning at this point, was
then asked, hey, have you ever felt unsafe around Adrian?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
And you know, she said no, she had not.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
She was then asked would you like to remain on
the show, and she was like, uh, yeah, But my
question is, how the fuck did it even get to
this point, the point where bosses have to pull a
female cast member into a boardroom and say, hey, just wondering,
have you ever felt unsafe around that man we matched
you with? Like, how the fuck are the people behind
(09:21):
this show, this show which makes millions a year, not
doing even basic background checks before putting strangers in intimate situations.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Together like this?
Speaker 1 (09:31):
These days, you have to do a fucking national police
check for most jobs, and courtless things are public. Half
of this information is publicly available for anyone to find
where is the duty of care here?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Also?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Why did it take over a week since ESA confirmed
an August fifteenth that they were now aware of Adrian's
past after that first email, until they decided to pull
a Fena into a meeting to make her aware of
the situation. These are the questions I'm asking now. These
are also the questions I put to Channel nine at
eight oh four this morning. It's now twelve eleven, so
(10:06):
four hours and seven minutes is that has passed since
that email?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I have not head back.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
In the email, I also said they can clarify anything
that's inaccurate in the timeline I have put together, which
again they have not done. I tried phoning the publicist
at Channel nine half an hour ago again to see
if they would like to comment on any of this.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
She did not answer.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Back to the timeline now though. So during that meeting
on approximately August twenty third, we've established now that none
of the bosses, none of the producers, and no one
at nine were aware of Adrian's past. After EESA became
aware of Adrian's past domestic violence charges again which were dismissed,
you'd think that they then do their own little background
check for anything else they might have missed, right, because
(10:48):
I did this week and I also saw through publicly
available court records that on the ninth of October twenty seventeen,
Adrian was before Local Court Magistrate Hamilton at Sydney Downing
Center accused of a fray t one with the requirded
verdict of that which I personally confirmed with the New
South Wales Core and Tribunal's Media Unit on Thursday, being
(11:09):
and not guilty plea was entered on the fourteenth for
December twenty sixteen, but the offense was proven and they
quote the offender was ordered to pay a four hundred
dollars fine. Now, if you're in sure what a fray means,
the actual offense of a fray is found in section
ninety three c of the New South Wales Crime Act
nineteen hundred and this is the legal definition of it
(11:30):
on the government website. In summary, a person will be
guilty of a fray if the person uses our threatens
to use unlawful violence in a private or public place,
and the behavior of the person would cause a person
of reasonable firmness to fear for his or her personal safety.
I did reach out to Adrian today to ask if
you'd like to comment on any of this or provide
any context, as that is standard practice in journalism, and
(11:54):
he declined. Back to the timeline now though Athena had
that meeting on August twenty third, approximately. The person who
initially reached out to Animal Shine then sent them another
email on August twenty eighth. They wrote, can you please
confirm what action, if any, has been taken in relation
to this information and Adrian's participation on this year's season
(12:14):
and married at first sight. That email went unanswered until
the fourth of September. The response they received read acknowledging
receipt of your email dated twenty eighth of August, we
are currently completing our review of this matter. Still to
this day it's unclear what was in that review. On
September seventeenth, then Liam Mendez, a journalist at The Australian,
(12:35):
also found out about Adrian's format domestic violence charges that
had been dismissed. He reached out to Channel nine while
writing a story, again questioning their duty of care and
what background checks they do under participants. Liam Mendes never
received a reply. Any story went live that night. Now
my main issue here is firstly Channel nine and Animal
Shine Australia admitting to having no prior knowledge of Adrian's
(12:58):
previously dismissed the mess violence charges.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
He's just inexcusable.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Imagine you're a feena, right, and as I previously said,
you've given up your life and said goodbye to your
son and everyone you know and moved to the other
side of Australia in the hope of finding love. You
then marry a stranger, and hours after saying I do,
you're left alone with that stranger in a hotel room
once you know, the camera crew packed down for the day,
and the producers.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Say okay bye.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Then imagine a few weeks later you're told by the
people in charge of that show, the ones you've put
all of your trust and essentially your whole life in,
sorry about that. We didn't actually look into his past.
Do you want to stay on the show or go?
Were you ever feeling unsafe around him? As I've already
said this week and I will say again now, I
believe Channel nine and Animal Shane Australia are repeatedly failing
(13:42):
in their duty of care towards the participants have married
at first Sight, especially the female ones, and something needs
to change. Given everything I've learned this week and the
things we've watched happen on the show. I also believe
they're prioritizing ratings and profits ahead of their participants safety.
And I also believe that the behavior they're enabling on
this show is setting a dangerous precedent of what people
(14:04):
will see as acceptable in Australia at a time when
domestic violence against women and children has never been fucking higher.
Last night, with all of this in my mind, I
started a petition for Channel nine and an essay to
reassess their duty of care while making Maths and all
their other reality shows, which so far twelve hundred people
have signed overnight and agree with. Married at First Sight
(14:25):
is meant to be entertaining. It's meant to be chaotic
and yes, dramatic and a bit controversial. But with all
of those things, and like everything else in life, there
is a line, and this season, I believe they are
so far past that line that it's no longer visible.
And if they don't change how they operate and make
this show, one day, there isn't going to be a show,
because things are going to go too far, and they'll
(14:47):
be irreversible consequences. If you wish to sign that petition
as well, I'm going to put the link in the
descriptions of this podcast. And if you're struggling with any
of the issues discussed in this podcast, or if you
just feel like you need to speak to somebody, please
call one eight hundred RESPECT. That's one eight hundred seven
three seven seven three two, which is the National Sexual Assault,
Domestic and Family Violence Counseling Service.
Hello, and welcome to the Maths Serious Podcast, which I'm
renaming for this episode because things are indeed about to
get serious.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
As you all know.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
This week, I've been putting pressure on Channel nine and
Animal Shine Australia who produce Maths, questioning their duty of care,
which I personally believe they're failing with. And I've spent
the last forty eight hours digging a little deeper into
things and it gets worse, so much worse. What I've
uncovered is shocking, It's inexcusable, and in my opinion, it
(00:33):
proves that the level of negligence behind the scenes of
this show is bigger than.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I previously fought.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Before I get to that, though, just to kind of
recap what's happened this week and where we're at now,
Channel nine and ESA, that's how I'm going to refer
to Animal Shine throughout this episode. So Channel nine and
ESA are currently under fire for failing to remove Paul
from the show after he admitted to violently punching the
wall during a domestic dispute with partner Carena. Now, regardless
of what we may watch at Sunday's commitments money and
(01:00):
how the relationship experts will call Paul out and you know,
questioning his future on the show. Should he be allowed
to stay? That is nothing but TV theater. Those scenes
mean nothing, and that was filmed days after the incident
when he punched a wall, and by the time he
sat on that sofa, the producers I'd already decided that yes,
he will be remaining on the show. I reached out
to nine earlier this week as you guys no regarding
(01:21):
the incident, and they provided me this statement. Nine and
Earsay have treated this matter extremely seriously. Our first priority
at all times has been the well being and safety
of the participants, and after extensive consultation with Karna, she
wanted to remain in the experiment with Paul. We continue
to provide support for Karina and Paul. In the few
days since I shared that statement, things have just got
(01:43):
so much worse and everyone kind of agrees with me
that that decision about if Paul should have remained on
the show should never have been karinas to make the
bosses should have implemented their apparent duty of care and
set an example to Australia that violence like that is
not accepted, but instead that they used an act of
domestic violence for content and then tease, you know, Paul's
(02:05):
admission to domestic violence as part of a national ad
campaign like take a listen to this.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Speaking of nervous coming into the group now because I'm
gonna with me to everyone what I've done. I did
something that I absolutely regret.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
What shocking act.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
It's unacceptable, it's disgusting, and I was hiding myself for
doing this.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Threatens to tear apart one of the experiments strongest couples.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
I it's very serious, very.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Very very serious.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Is domestic violence something to trivialize like this and get
people guessing, Oh, what.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Could it be?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
What?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
What did Paul do?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
No, it isn't, And it's also a slap in the
face the victims of domestic violence having to watch this
play out on TV, as well as viewers. Form A
cast members have also since expressed their shock at Paul
being able to remain on the show, with Olivia Fraser
claiming that everyone on her season was told this at
the start of production by Taram McWilliams, who is the
(03:11):
show's former executive producer and he's now Essays director of Content.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
We were told before filming that anything violent would have
us removed from the program. To quote what executive producer
Taram Williams said to us on briefing day, so much
as a clenched fist and you were out the door.
But that didn't happen, did it, And it still hasn't
happened now.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
It isn't just the poor situation that's got viewers angry.
It's also how Athena and Adrian's relationship is playing out,
especially after earlier this week we watched as viewers allowed
his friends and family to ambush her in scenes that
most of us felt just crossed the line on the
subject of Athena and Adrian. Though, this is kind of
what I've been looking into over the last couple of days,
(03:53):
and what you're about to learn and what I've learned
is only going to infuriate you more.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
In order for all.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Of this to make sense that I'm about to talk
about and for you guys to follow it easily, I'm
going to present everything I've learned in a timeline of
how it all played out in real life last year
during production, So throughout April, May and June last year,
Adrian and Athena both went through their application process of
married at First Site, which includes so many interviews with producers,
(04:21):
with bosses. You know, there's a psych evaluation, there's a
medical like. This process is extensive. And then in July
they were both told you're in, you're on maths. And
then at the end of July, Adrian and Athena were
matched and they filmed their wedding as paparazzi. Pictures from
filming then started to make their way into the press.
Adrian was first identified as a participant by Daily Mail Australia.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
On August tenth.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Four days later, on August fourteenth, which is now approximately
two weeks since Adrian and Athena filmed their wedding, ESA
received an email from a concerned member of the public
who had seen in the press that Adrian was unmarried
at First Site, and in that email the flagged his
previous domestic violence charges from twenty twenty and again I
must clarify that Adriam was cleared of all three of
(05:07):
these charges including assault occasionally actual bodily harm, domestic violence,
common assault and resisting police charges. And as I've previously
said in this podcast, with these things, we can only
stick to the facts, and the facts here are that
Adriam was found not guilty with all.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Of these charges dismissed.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
He has also since said of these charges via his lawyer,
any suggestion of physical assault is categorically denied. I had
my day in court, I was found not guilty, and
the application for an avio was dismissed. Any allegation otherwise
is completely baseless than highly defamatory. Back to the timeline now, though,
So August fourteenth, ESA received an email from a concerned
(05:46):
member of the public who saw in the media that
Adroom was filming the show, and they flagged these previous
charges that he had dismissed. I have that email which
was sent to ESA, and in it the person who
sent it, who I won't name, they said, in what
your screening processes are that would allow someone with this
history to be cast on this show? A day after
that email was sent there, so now we're on August fifteenth,
(06:08):
the person who sent it received a reply that read,
thank you for contacting ESA. Your email has been forwarded
to the Married at First Sight team five days later,
now on August twenty If that person had no further
correspondence from Essay other than the acknowledgment of their first email,
and they were being told being forwarded to the Maths team.
So that person then sent another email saying what have
(06:30):
you done? And again what is your duty of care
to the women on your show? The following day, now
August twenty first, that person received another reply. This time
it wasn't from like a random office admin. It was
from someone whose signature says they work in a business
and legal affairs, and their reply read, dear name acknowledging
(06:51):
receipt of your email, which has been escalated within ESA,
and you won't believe what happened next. Approximately two days
after that email, which now takes us to August twenty third,
and three and a half weeks since Adrian and Athena's wedding,
And just for full transparency, I haven't been able to
verify this exact date here, but I've had multiple people
(07:14):
tell me that what I'm about to say happened just
after the second Dinner Party was filmed on August twentyeth
and around a week before the cast publicity shoot happened
on August thirtieth, so that puts us around August twenty third.
That morning, Athena woke up expecting just another day filming
alongside Adrian in their apartment like normal. Instead, she was
started Athena, the cameras aren't going to be rolling today.
(07:37):
Production has been halted, and she was taken downstairs and
she was putting a car instead, and she was then
driven to Channel nines head offices. Athena was then taken
through the Channel I'm building into a boardroom where she
was met by John Walsh, the network executive producer of
Married at First Site, and Alex Spurway essays, executive producer
(07:57):
of Married at First Site. I believe there could been
another one or two people in the room, but I
haven't been able to verify their identity if they were
there for this next part. As a confused Afena sat down,
she was then informed by the two bosses of this
show of Adrian's past domestic violence charges and how he'd
fronted cart and how he'd been found not guilty of
all three of those charges and his the mic drop
(08:21):
moment for me. Athena was also told by Alex and
John who are you know? The two bosses of this show,
that she'd uprooted her entire life for moved away from
her some far and put her whole trust in. She
was then told, yeah, sorry, we actually had no idea about.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Any of this in Adrian's past.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
She was then told that they had no idea because
he'd never mentioned it in his application forms. She was
essentially told that, Hey, despite all those months of interviews
we had you guys do to get on the show,
we never actually did any actual background checks on anyone. Athena,
whose head would rightfully be spinning at this point, was
then asked, hey, have you ever felt unsafe around Adrian?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
And you know, she said no, she had not.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
She was then asked would you like to remain on
the show, and she was like, uh, yeah, But my
question is, how the fuck did it even get to
this point, the point where bosses have to pull a
female cast member into a boardroom and say, hey, just wondering,
have you ever felt unsafe around that man we matched
you with? Like, how the fuck are the people behind
(09:21):
this show, this show which makes millions a year, not
doing even basic background checks before putting strangers in intimate situations.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Together like this?
Speaker 1 (09:31):
These days, you have to do a fucking national police
check for most jobs, and courtless things are public. Half
of this information is publicly available for anyone to find
where is the duty of care here?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Also?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Why did it take over a week since ESA confirmed
an August fifteenth that they were now aware of Adrian's
past after that first email, until they decided to pull
a Fena into a meeting to make her aware of
the situation. These are the questions I'm asking now. These
are also the questions I put to Channel nine at
eight oh four this morning. It's now twelve eleven, so
(10:06):
four hours and seven minutes is that has passed since
that email?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I have not head back.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
In the email, I also said they can clarify anything
that's inaccurate in the timeline I have put together, which
again they have not done. I tried phoning the publicist
at Channel nine half an hour ago again to see
if they would like to comment on any of this.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
She did not answer.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Back to the timeline now though. So during that meeting
on approximately August twenty third, we've established now that none
of the bosses, none of the producers, and no one
at nine were aware of Adrian's past. After EESA became
aware of Adrian's past domestic violence charges again which were dismissed,
you'd think that they then do their own little background
check for anything else they might have missed, right, because
(10:48):
I did this week and I also saw through publicly
available court records that on the ninth of October twenty seventeen,
Adrian was before Local Court Magistrate Hamilton at Sydney Downing
Center accused of a fray t one with the requirded
verdict of that which I personally confirmed with the New
South Wales Core and Tribunal's Media Unit on Thursday, being
(11:09):
and not guilty plea was entered on the fourteenth for
December twenty sixteen, but the offense was proven and they
quote the offender was ordered to pay a four hundred
dollars fine. Now, if you're in sure what a fray means,
the actual offense of a fray is found in section
ninety three c of the New South Wales Crime Act
nineteen hundred and this is the legal definition of it
(11:30):
on the government website. In summary, a person will be
guilty of a fray if the person uses our threatens
to use unlawful violence in a private or public place,
and the behavior of the person would cause a person
of reasonable firmness to fear for his or her personal safety.
I did reach out to Adrian today to ask if
you'd like to comment on any of this or provide
any context, as that is standard practice in journalism, and
(11:54):
he declined. Back to the timeline now though Athena had
that meeting on August twenty third, approximately. The person who
initially reached out to Animal Shine then sent them another
email on August twenty eighth. They wrote, can you please
confirm what action, if any, has been taken in relation
to this information and Adrian's participation on this year's season
(12:14):
and married at first sight. That email went unanswered until
the fourth of September. The response they received read acknowledging
receipt of your email dated twenty eighth of August, we
are currently completing our review of this matter. Still to
this day it's unclear what was in that review. On
September seventeenth, then Liam Mendez, a journalist at The Australian,
(12:35):
also found out about Adrian's format domestic violence charges that
had been dismissed. He reached out to Channel nine while
writing a story, again questioning their duty of care and
what background checks they do under participants. Liam Mendes never
received a reply. Any story went live that night. Now
my main issue here is firstly Channel nine and Animal
Shine Australia admitting to having no prior knowledge of Adrian's
(12:58):
previously dismissed the mess violence charges.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
He's just inexcusable.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Imagine you're a feena, right, and as I previously said,
you've given up your life and said goodbye to your
son and everyone you know and moved to the other
side of Australia in the hope of finding love. You
then marry a stranger, and hours after saying I do,
you're left alone with that stranger in a hotel room
once you know, the camera crew packed down for the day,
and the producers.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Say okay bye.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Then imagine a few weeks later you're told by the
people in charge of that show, the ones you've put
all of your trust and essentially your whole life in,
sorry about that. We didn't actually look into his past.
Do you want to stay on the show or go?
Were you ever feeling unsafe around him? As I've already
said this week and I will say again now, I
believe Channel nine and Animal Shane Australia are repeatedly failing
(13:42):
in their duty of care towards the participants have married
at first Sight, especially the female ones, and something needs
to change. Given everything I've learned this week and the
things we've watched happen on the show. I also believe
they're prioritizing ratings and profits ahead of their participants safety.
And I also believe that the behavior they're enabling on
this show is setting a dangerous precedent of what people
(14:04):
will see as acceptable in Australia at a time when
domestic violence against women and children has never been fucking higher.
Last night, with all of this in my mind, I
started a petition for Channel nine and an essay to
reassess their duty of care while making Maths and all
their other reality shows, which so far twelve hundred people
have signed overnight and agree with. Married at First Sight
(14:25):
is meant to be entertaining. It's meant to be chaotic
and yes, dramatic and a bit controversial. But with all
of those things, and like everything else in life, there
is a line, and this season, I believe they are
so far past that line that it's no longer visible.
And if they don't change how they operate and make
this show, one day, there isn't going to be a show,
because things are going to go too far, and they'll
(14:47):
be irreversible consequences. If you wish to sign that petition
as well, I'm going to put the link in the
descriptions of this podcast. And if you're struggling with any
of the issues discussed in this podcast, or if you
just feel like you need to speak to somebody, please
call one eight hundred RESPECT. That's one eight hundred seven
three seven seven three two, which is the National Sexual Assault,
Domestic and Family Violence Counseling Service.
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