New house rules: landmark ruling could trigger other workers’ compensation claims from reality TV stars
A landmark ruling that ordered the Seven Network pay a reality TV star compensation could have far-reaching implications for other productions and workplaces, as Joellen Riley Munton reveals in this crossposting from The Conversation.
This week, the Seven Network was found liable to pay a workers’ compensation claim brought by Nicole Prince, one of the contestants on its renovation reality television show, House Rules.
Prince suffered a major depressive episode, and symptoms consistent with post traumatic stress disorder after she and her partner were cast as the “mean girls” in the 2017 season of the series.
She provided convincing evidence program directors manipulated series content to ensure the pair appeared to be hypercritical of other contestants, drawing not only their hostility, but also an avalanche of hateful social media comment. (Channel Seven refused to remove the offensive and often violent posts.)
The case before the New South Wales Compensation Commission concerned a statutory claim under the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) for medical expenses.
about time
Just DON’T apply to go on any reality shows if you have any mental issues – as it is obvious to blind freddy that you are going to be exposed to all sorts of tactics to make it more ‘viewable’..and that is what it is all about. So you either take the good with the bad if you persist in wanting to appear on reality TV.
Everyone had a brain and therefore can develop ‘mental issues’. No one is immune to mistreatment. And the duty of care is still with the television producers. Just because, as viewers, we can see that contestants are treated badly that doesn’t make it okay.
Why submit yourself to a reality show in the first place? For recognition and wanting to be a ‘celebrity’ for more than 15 mins if you’re lucky. So it is up to the individual to make that call and decide whether they are capable of any consequences – regardless of what any producer does.
The old folks used to say “You will play with the cat until it scratches”
Actors attend drama schools not just to learn about Shakespeare, Stanislavsky, and the craft of characterization. We also learned that Nothing within the craft of theatre is real, it is all makebelieve, and we must allow the audience to suspend disbelief and give them, via our craft, an appearance of truth.
So-called Reality Television is a crude manipulation of the theatrical craft, produced by and with the use of people who may have no understanding of characterization and the fictional nature of the product.
Mess around with things you do not understand, and you must face the consequences.
Hope Channel Seven burns – the more people that sue the better. Destroy them. Make them suffer. Money is all they care about so hit them hard.
Landmark ruling. I hope the MAFS contestants follow suit.
Channel 7 don’t give a sh*t about the people they ruin along the way to get the job done.
Where is the compensation for the staff that they have broken along the way also??? They have successfully swept all this stuff under the rug for years, hiding behind their legal teams.
It is about time they were made accountable.
The level of care and value given to loyal employees is akin to a handful of excrement smeared on a wall. Disgraceful.
The level of respect shown to loyal employees is akin to a handful for excrement smeared on a wall. Especially for a woman over 50! Disgraceful.