Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to the Math twenty podcast with
me Joshua Fox. This weekend, Karina has been in Sydney
and I live in Sydney, so I went for a
little catch up with her, mostly just to see how
she's doing. Like as viewers were obviously all outraged by
what we're watching unfold on the show and this storyline
with Paul, and we all have our own opinions, and
(00:20):
we all have such strong opinions about it. And you know,
I've personally made no secret of the fact that I
think it was so reckless for producers to have put
the decision about if Paul remains on the show are
not solely on Karina.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I feel they massively.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Failed their duty of care there by not intervening and
removing him instantly. And the storyline has also led to
so many victims of domestic violence speaking out too and
saying how firstly they're triggered by this storyline and also
recalling how, like with their former partners and abusers, it
often started with them punching a war before overtime the
(00:56):
violence escalated by the way the grabs him about to
play for my the audio isn't great, like we caught
up outside of a restaurant. It was very last minute,
It was very informal, It was very casual, and this
wasn't like one of my usual videos and pods where
I kind of jump out and surprise the cast like
welcome to the mass Funny podcast. Like I checked with
Karina beforehand that she was okay to chat and record,
(01:18):
which she was. And also, remember, you know, I've met
her a couple of times now, we've briefly spoken online.
She listens to this podcast, so it's not like I'm
just a random stranger. Like we kind of know each other,
and we also know so many mutual people.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I just want to say, firstly, how are you doing.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I'm good.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It must be quite emotional watching all these scenes play out.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, I think I've had to sleep for maybe twenty
four hours.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
And just get a lot of rest. Yes, it's been Yeah, i.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Feel like I'm back in the experiment, if that makes sense,
Because you're reliving all these memories, everything that happened. You're
getting like you're getting it all. Yeah, it's like I
don't know how to explain it.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I can imagine that, I can imagine it's like overwhelming. Yeah,
because the experiment is so much pressure. And then given
how heavy this storyline is and the public response and
how it's kind of got you know, victims of domestic violence,
some of them are triggered by this since some of
them are reaching out.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
But it's good that it started a conversation and so many.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
People have DMed me and can tell me their story
and just how that episode has impacted them in so
many different ways. But I've also had girls message maybe
like run Run Run, like.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Red Flag Central.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I was living the experiment every It's like a pressure
cooking environment. You're out of your everyday routine. Like you
said in your podcast, it's a TV set, yes, a workplace.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Yes, a workplace.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
There's producers, there's crew, there's so many different cast members.
You're not with your family, you're not in your everyday routine.
So yes, it is absolutely a pressure cooker environment. We
all went out and had lots of fun that day,
and there's like a bit of backstory behind what actually happened.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
That led up to the incident.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have said what I said, and
that was all.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Off camera, so no, but still like nothing you did
I said would justify that reaction and that's kind of
the thing that's upsetting people seeing you almost trying to
justify it.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Yeah, I think I was just so overwhelmed. I was
still in shock.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
To be fully transparent with you here, I felt conflicted
from this point as we did chat, And firstly, it
made me sad here in Karina still questioning has help
that maybe she shouldn't have said what she said about
sleeping with the rapper the head on the radio. I
just wanted to be like Karina no, and just tried
to make her see that the only person to blame
for Paul punching the door like that is Paul.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
But I was also aware of the fact.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
That this wasn't really the time or place to do that,
and also who the fuck am I to do that.
I know this storyline has led to huge responses from
all of us, and many of those responses are fueled
by emotion and trauma for our own personal experience with
domestic violence and abuse. But as I was speaking to Karna,
I was very cautious of the fact that this incident
we're talking about it didn't happen to me, it happened
(04:14):
to her.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
So again, who am.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I to tell her? You know she should have felt
a different way or I should see things a different way.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
One thing I did want to ask about, though, is
production's duty of care, which is an issue I've been
bringing into question a lot on this podcast lately.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
But to be fair, like in the duty of care
of the production company, they they made like made made,
made it very aware and made me I was I
was okay.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
They checked they checked in on me.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
I can't even pronounce their words right now. It probably
shouldn't have.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Had upon reflection.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
And how we mentioned you know that is a workplace, yeah,
like you felt safe? Yes, but again there's so many
other cast members. Is a crew and do you feel
like they had a responsibility not to put his future
in your hands because they said to you, do you
wish to stay a go? Whereas what viewers are trying
to get to is that should never have been a
question to you. It should have been this is our show,
(05:09):
this is a workplace, this is an environment we're in
control of.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
They were very precautious. They sat both of us down
and they made sure like.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Are you both okay? Are you both safe? Like they
said to Paul, we can like throw.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You out right now.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
This has never happened.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
This has never come to light, and they just kept
making sure they gave us both the help that we
were requiring.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Obviously, he was banned from alcohol for the rest of
the series.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
They gave him therapy sessions every Saturday morning, so there
was a lot of things that had to come in
in the place for it to be a safe time.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
He didn't give me any signs like I'm sorry, like
he is a very good human.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I understand from every one's point of view, everyone will
always have their view, everyone will always have their opinion.
But at the end of the day, I felt safe
and it was up to me essentially because I was like,
we're in this together. I haven't seen any negative indication
for me to be like, all right, WHOA, let's fucking
(06:14):
run away.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Like there was none of that.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I know the audio went a bit up and down
there with fucking cars driving past, But on the subject
of duty of care, Arena basically told me how after
the incident, pol was then banned from drinking any alcohol
for the rest of the season and he had to
have therapy every Saturday morning, which is a day there's
never any film and it's the cast get weekends off.
Still on the subject of the duty of care, though
(06:38):
Karina did give me more context as to why she
and everyone in production felt it was okay for Paul
to remain in the experiment.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
There wasn't any prerequisites of Paul's showing that he had
any of this around, like we obviously signing up for
the experiment, you do all the medical testing, you go
and speak to the psychologist.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
So he had no indication of that. So I don't
think like the production team would have put Paul.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Himself in an environment or any of the other contestants
in the environment of unsafety. There was so much remorse, like, okay,
narcissism gas lighting is when you don't have that remorse,
so you're not sorry, or you are not apologetic, or
you don't take accountability. Like those were all amazing science
that I've experienced in the past. Of a partner not
(07:27):
taking accountability absolutely rolls reverse, like throwing everything.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Out to me and being like I'm the bad person.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
After New South Wales Please said in a statement on
Friday that they'll be investigating the incident, I then asked
Karina her thoughts on this as bear in mind, although
we're all reacting to this story now as if it's
just happened. It actually happened to Karina, you know, six
months ago during filming.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Yeah, I'm surprised. I'm surprised that like it's gotten to
this point.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, I think that they have have a duty of
care that they have to.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Uphold as well.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
It would they wouldn't be doing their job if they
didn't check in and make sure like some questions and
ask if I'm okay, and if we're in contact.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Absolutely, we're in contact.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Like he's a person at the end of the day,
and the fact that he's taken accountability on air and
in front of the cameras like that just shows that
the viewers should see that side of Paul, because you know,
people do have some mental health issues and like if
they're not in the right frame of mind, they could
do something.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
And that's what worries me.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Paul and I check in on each other every single
day and make sure that we're both okay.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
As said then, ask Karina or if she's glad they
remained on the show after the incident, she said that
even now given the media starlem and everything, that yeah,
she is, and she elaborated on that by saying this, this.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Is literally life situations.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Like we go through hurdles, you go through arguments or
whatever life has to bring, financial difficulty, family difficulty, personal difficulty,
mental health, all of that kind of thing, not happy
in your career, whatever it is.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
You go through that in relationships.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
So how are you going to move forward as a
relationship and not just you know, sweeper under the rug
or or throw the towel in. And that's what I
said on the show, like we are in this together
as a team.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
We work as a team. And that's what longevity is about.
My parents have been together for forty seven years.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Do you think that they've gone through hardships? Absolutely, they have.
You deal with it, you make up, you love each other,
You show up and you move on you and you compromise,
but you also communicate and you learn each other's boundaries.
And that's exactly what Paul and I were doing. We'll
learn each other's boundaries, what I can say, what I
(09:49):
can't say, what we both feel comfortable with. That's what
the experiment's all about. And the experts call us out,
they've done their job.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
It's good to hear from your point of because obviously
as a viewer, I'm not you. I was not there.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I can always see it that I've I see it
as something like a certain behavior's being enabled.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
But if you feel differently, then that's that's good to like.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
I will stand by that to the day, because I
was in it, and I was amongst it. I was
in the experiment, I know what it's like. I had
bags under my eyes, like I was. I felt like
I was a complete different person by the end of it.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
But it's because you're out of your comfort zone.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
You're doing something completely different that you're not used to
on a daily basis. I worked an office job all
works in the mind where routine was the most crucial
thing for him, waking up at five am, going to
the gym, then packing his breakfast, going to work like
a wellness advisor. So like, I'm sure you can understand that, yes,
you're going to hit melting point at some time in
(10:50):
the experiment, and many people did.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
We pretty much stoped requiring that, and as we spoke
for a few moments afterwards, Karina what mind me saying this?
But she explained how all of this is kind of
been a huge learning for her too, as domestic violence
isn't something she's had any experience with prior to the show,
and her now finding herself at the center of this
huge storyline that's impacting and triggering so many Australians must
(11:13):
be well, she said herself, overwhelming. Can you actually imagine
what it must be like for.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Karina right now?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
You're suddenly, you know, in the middle of this huge thing,
and everyone's got such a strong opinion about it, and
people are mad you didn't respond this way or that way,
and people think you should have done this in instead
of that, and you know, people are mad the producers
didn't respond in a different way. Like I do want
to thank Karina for her time there though and happily
chatting with me. It was great to see her again,
and it's also great to see her like out having
(11:40):
fun with her friends and not letting this consume her
too much when it is, as she said, overwhelming. That's
all and now thank you for listening, and I'll be
back tomorrow with a new episode. If you're struggling with
any of the issues discussed in this podcast, or you
just feel like you need to speak to somebody, please
call one eight hundred respect. That's one eight hundred seven
(12:03):
three seven seven three two, which is the National sexual assault,
Domestic and Family Violence Counseling Service,