ABOVE VIDEO: The Feed discovers what happens to reality TV stars after the cameras stop rolling.
A legal expert has told The Feed that a landmark compensation decision in favour of a reality TV contestant could significantly disrupt the way the industry is run in Australia.
First reported by TV Blackbox The Workers Compensation Commission found that former House Rules contestant Nicole Prince was owed compensation for ‘psychological injury’ sustained on the show.
In her claim, Prince described feeling “harassed and bullied during the filming”. She alleged that this harassment was “not only condoned by the producer, but it was aggravated and even encouraged by them”, noting that when the show went to air, she was portrayed as a bully.
Following her appearance on House Rules, Prince developed an anxiety disorder, depression and PTSD.
“After my episode aired I wanted to kill myself and I started drinking more alcohol in an attempt to self-medicate my injury.”
“Since our episode and program aired I have not been able to obtain work and have been informed this was due to how I was portrayed as a bully,” Prince said.
While Channel Seven initially argued that as a show contestant, Prince was not entitled to workers' compensation, the Commission disagreed, finding that Prince was indeed an employee.
It’s that finding which could hugely disrupt industry in Australia: if contestants are technically employees, what else are they entitled to?
“This finding is quite significant,” said Shae McCrystal, a Professor of Labour Law at the University of Sydney.
McCrystal explained that while the decision was made by a tribunal, which is not as authoritative as a court, it ultimately found that under the common law definition of employment, Prince was an employee.
“There’s a whole lot of rights in Australia that rest on that concept [of common law],” McCrystal told The Feed. “We use that definition as the foundation for rights like annual leave, superannuation, and minimum wages.”
“What other rights does this potentially open up for reality TV contestants?”
That question is a fairly complicated one. Whether other contestants are found to be employees depends on their specific contracts and work conditions.
If other reality TV contestants are able to prove that they should be considered employees, however, McCrystal believes there would be potential for those contestants to push for certain rights.
“In the Big Brother example, where they’ve lived in that space for a length of time, are they now entitled to annual leave?” she asked. “Of course to find out, you’d have to apply for annual leave, be denied, and then argue that in a court.”
Regardless of whether reality TV contestants are considered employees, McCrystal told The Feed that reality TV shows that create hostile environments may still be in breach of work health and safety obligations.
“If we think in a work health and safety matrix here, the laws of work health and safety are not limited to employees. Volunteers or visitors to sites are still owed obligations.”
“If you run a show, you have an obligation towards everyone on that set. If you’re creating a hostile environment, if you’re creating an environment where there’s potential for sexual harassment or psychological harm, you could well be in breach of your work health and safety obligations.”
What happens to the ‘villain edit’ now?
Nicole Prince isn’t the only former reality TV contestant to emerge from the experience feeling unsupported. Just this month, The Feed’s Michelle Rimmer spoke to participants from some of Australia’s biggest reality TV shows, who described feeling inadequately supported both during and after filming.
Tracy Moores, a former contestant on Biggest Loser Australia, knows the feeling all too well.
“None of us were supported, to be honest” she told The Feed.
I always said I thought that one day someone was gonna die on that show.
Moores described the way contestants on early seasons of the show were fed huge amounts of caffeine, forced to keep to strict exercise schedules, and entirely cut off from support networks like family and friends. After her time on the show, she said members of her family received death threats.
Author and university lecturer Winnie Salamon, who wrote her thesis on reality TV participation, said that mental health concerns amongst former contestants were fairly common.
“Post-reality TV depression was quite a thing,” she said. “There isn't really a lot of support from the television networks because you know their job is to create a show and then move on and create another show. They're aware of the disposability of it.”
McCrystal said she hopes that Prince’s workers compensation decision will change how reality television operates going forward.
“I think that if you want to create a dramatic narrative and create villains, and create that kind of drama, script it. Hire actors and script it.”
