OK, so the title is a bit click-baity, but it’s hard to quickly summarise the situation. On the current series of ‘Married At First Sight’ Bronson is paired with Innes, who is so toxic she’s surely either a (bad) actress or mentally ill.
Upon meeting Bronson at the ceremony, her first words were to demand he get rid of his eyebrow ring. She has since called him “disgusting” (due to his stripper past), said she felt like punching him in the face when they first met, repeatedly yelled at him to “Shut the f*** up” offered to swap husbands with other wives and predicted that the contestants were likely to have an orgy.
After a week of playing nice in the face of such emotional abuse, Bronson finally snaps during the weekly “stay or go” commitment ceremony with the “experts.” He recounts a particular night when Innes was nice, but said the next day she was “back to being a c***.”
Despite what the online Aussie community would have the world believe, ‘c***’ is still a very offensive term in the greater population. So much so that a ‘parental warning’ appeared before the conversation was aired, even though the word was bleeped out.
One of the “experts”, psychologist Mel Schilling, immediately offered Bronson “…a tip from me to you: Don’t use language like that if you want any chance of a relationship.” Innes’ behaviour was not addressed at all (or, if so was edited out.)
The nation responded. ‘C***’ is indeed an extreme term to use, but Innes’ behaviour was also extreme. The charge was upheld. This is the second consecutive year that an emotionally abusive woman has been added to the show, because ratings. Australia has had enough of “experts” ignoring their duty of care, and a petition to remove Mel from the show has been signed by over 38 000 people.
EDIT: Quite a few of the comments are saying that people should just stop watching this shit and questioning how scripted it is. I agree that it's trashy TV, and whether it's real or not isn't really what interests me. The purpose of my post is not to wallow in the toxicity of the issue, but to acknowledge that it has begun discussions about domestic abuse perpetrated by women, a topic not often discussed. Often men are mocked in this situation. Mental health issues and suicide rates for men in this country are alarmingly high, and, I speculate not helped by the whole 'suck it up, be a man' mentality so prevalent in Australia.
I am glad to see that the community are supporting Bronson and sending the message that gender isn't a 'get out of jail free' card. There are consequences for bad behaviour, that should apply to everyone. I am glad to see that many of the protesters, like myself, are female. We won't accept abuse for ourselves, and nor will we accept it for men.
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