Introducing - Accidental Celebrity

Imagine your trauma leads the news. Your private life is then public property. Your anonymity is lost. That’s what it’s like to become an accidental celebrity. Now, the spotlight is turned around. Each weekly episode offers rare media insights from an ordinary Australian who faced an extraordinary event. They expose the tricks of a competitive trade – the relentless pursuits, the manipulation and misrepresentation, the betrayals of truth and trust – with journalist Fiona Reynolds. Learn too why they participated in media coverage. This is the inside story on a shrewd industry that plucks unknowns from obscurity to feed our fascination with adversity and the strength of the human spirit.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
I'm Sally Eels, the writer and producer of Pendulum. I'd
like to introduce a new podcast that some of our
team has been working on. It's called Accidental Celebrity and
it's about ordinary people who were thrust into the spotlight
after a traumatic event that became big news in Australia
and internationally. Lindy Chamberlain, Creighton, Stuart Diver and Todd Russell

(00:24):
are among the household names who speak frankly about their
media experiences with journalists Fiona Reynolds. Accidental Celebrity it's available now,
be sure to subscribe.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
A young mother sets up camp with her family. A
ski instructor drifts off to sleep beside his wife. A
minor clocks on for a night shift underground. These ordinary
Australians were about to face extraordinary events, a full scale
that would be devastatingly traumatic and highly newsworthy.

Speaker 4 (01:03):
To have been taken by a dingo, all of.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Mud and water, buried two ski lodgers short just in
a rock fall has been reported at the Beakersfield Mind
not one anticipated danger and disaster, expected ongoing media and
public attention, or imagined becoming an accidental celebrity Lindy Chamberlain, Creighton,

(01:30):
James Scott, Stuart Diver, Bruce and Denise Morcombe, Todd Russell,
Rosy Batty, once anonymous individuals who suddenly found themselves household
names and familiar faces across Australia even internationally.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
I really go anywhere without being recognized. And often when
I think I'm not recognized, and you'll be in a
store or something, you think or nobody knows being here
and you may make a purchase, go to leave and
they say that than Mandy.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Now we turn the spotlight on the media, taking you
inside a shrewd industry that plucks unknowns from obscurity to
feed our fascination with the suffering and survival of strangers.
All we wanted to do was have our life back,
move on, spend as much time as you can with
the family, and enjoy life. Each episode delves into the

(02:24):
experiences of a media target, a first hand account of
wrestling for control while rising to prominence. I'm Fiona Reynolds.
After thirty years as a journalist and media executive. I
help expose the tricks of a competitive trade, the relentless pursuits,
the betrayals of truth and trust.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
It was really sad that for while there I wish
I hadn't been found, or wish I just died up
in the mountain but didn't have to come back and
face all these problems.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Stronger and far more media savvy today, these high profile
Australians provide rare insights into the price of fame.

Speaker 4 (03:04):
I'm firmly of the belief that if you're going to
make money out of someone else's tragedy, you have to
pay for that. It's just not a free service.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
Along the way, you'll hear why they participated in coverage,
whether to issue a warning update and thank the community,
or seek public support for a cause.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Yeah, the strongest ally or the biggest tool in our
arsenal is the media.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
I don't know whether Daniel's case would have been sold.

Speaker 4 (03:26):
I don't know. I'm doing this for the women and
children who are being murdered. That's why I do it.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Accidental celebrity listen on a cast, Apple, Spotify or wherever
you get your podcasts.