Last week, we were told that Married at First Sight season two alum, Clare Verrall, would appear on Channel 7’s Sunday Night.
What we weren’t told is that a slew of other reality stars were also making an appearance, ready to slam the shows that made them famous.
In four EXPLOSIVE interviews, Stu Laundy, winner of Sophie Monk’s season of The Bachelorette, Benjamin Norris – winner of Big Brother 2012 and MAFS’2019 Billy Vincent’s mother, Collene, also used the platform to share how their respective shows affected their lives after the cameras stopped rolling.
And what they had to say will SHOCK you.
The Bachelorette’s Stu Laundy
Stu Laundy was most famous for winning Aussie darling, Sophie Monk’s heart on The Bachelorette in 2017, and while they fell in love during filming, it was not meant to be as the pair ended their relationship in January 2018.
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During his interview on Seven’s Sunday Night, the 45-year-old publican slammed the show for its editing.
In fact, Laundy revealed that when he took Sophie to meet the family, the producer’s asked his sister Justine to question Sophie if she was “in it for the family fortune”.
“There was one really big example of this weird cut-and-paste editing, I think you’d call it,” he recalled.
“My sister didn’t ask the question but then when it got on, when it was actually on TV, somehow they cut and pasted words of my sister’s from the night and the question was asked.
Then added: “I remember, I actually watched the show, you know, the night it was on with Justine and she was very angry.”
Stu Laundy and Sophie Monk on the set of the Bachelorette.
(Network Ten)Stu said that he felt “like a caged rat in there not knowing what’s going on in society” and that alcohol played a huge part in his interactions with the Love Island star.
The most telling part of his interview, however, came when the father-of-four literally had to “flee Sydney” after the show had aired, mainly due to the trolling he received (which gave him “the sh–ts”) because they were questioning his parenting.
“Honestly, I went on The Bachelorette looking for love,” he admitted. “But you know, at the end of the day, I’m a publican and a businessman.
“And I [did consider] exposure to some of our hotels with the crowd that watches those shows, so I can’t lie. I had one eye on that as well.”
WATCH NEXT: Stu Laundy reveals heavy editing during his time on The Bachelorette.
Story continues after video…
Married at First Sight’s Clare Verrall
Clare Verrall has by far been the most outspoken former MAFS star, after her turbulent marriage to Jono Pitman.
And during the tell-all, she revealed that she was “so broken and scared” during the 2015 season, that she “wouldn’t go outside”.
“I stayed in bed. I just didn’t get up and… I just…I was having panic attacks. I mean, like, laying on the floor crying. Feeling like you’re going to die.”
The 35-year-old also revealed the constant trolling she had received since appearing on the show.
“I got a lot of death threats,” she said. “Just really specific threats like, ‘I hope she gets raped and then dies in a fire.'”
She then went on to say that she had reached out to Nine for psychological help.
WATCH NEXT: Clare Verrall reveals suicide attempts during MAFS
Story continues after video…
Taking to her Instagram on Sunday, after the interview aired, Clare shared a quote which read:
“It’s okay to judge me. Just remember to be perfect for the rest of your life.”
“The last three years have been a hell of a journey for me. One that had horrific lows, but allowed me to become the woman I am today,’ she captioned the post.
“Being honest about those horrific lows remains taboo, as it is confronting,’ she added. “Like my scars through, I have spent the last 18 months focused on healing, growing and moving forward.”
READ NEXT: EXCLUSIVE: Jono Pitman admits he’s frustrated Clare Verrall keeps dredging up their MAFS past
Married at First Sight’s Billy Vincent’s mother Colleen
After seeing the promos for Clare Verrall’s interview; Colleen Vincent, mother of MAFS Billy Vincent, approached the Channel Seven show to tell her story from a mum’s perspective.
And while the Nation sympathised with Billy during his tumultuous marriage to Susie Bradley, the man she saw on TV was not the son she had brought up.
“It was horrible. I wanted to reach into the television and grab some of the people and say ‘stop!'” she admitted through tears.
WATCH NEXT: Billy Vincent’s mum Coleen was ‘frightened’ for her son
Story continues after video…
Most concerning of all was watching her son become a “shell of himself”, breaking down on numerous occasions as he tried to make it work.
“I was frightened for my son, I was extremely worried about him during [the show], I couldn’t contact him [and] I know it hurt him deeply,” she said.
“For him to cry and not be able to stop I did not, nobody expected it. I think it would have got pretty dark.”
According to the single mother, the treatment of her son was unfair.
“I believe there should have been a duty of care and bullying is illegal,” she said. “Belittling people is the lowest form of entertainment.”
Big Brother’s Benjamin Norris
Benjamin Norris may not be a household name now, but when he was crowned the winner of 2012’s Big Brother, the former reality star was the most talked about person in the entire nation.
During his interview with Sunday Night, Benjamin revealed the mental health struggle that he has since gone through – even after winning a $250,000 cash prize and proposing to his partner on live television.
“It was one of the hardest times of my life,” Benjamin said about the aftermath of the hit show.
“I wasn’t prepared to deal with what I had to deal with by myself and no-one understood what I was going through… And I was really suffering.”
“I came off that show and it was Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and (I) read everything these people said about me. I can honestly tell you that I don’t think I was ever the same person again.”
WATCH NEXT: Big Brother’s Benjamin Norris wasn’t prepared for the aftermath of the show
Story continues after video…
During his stint on the show, it came out that his father had taken his own life in 2006.
“That story broke while I was on the show,” he said. “The week after I won the show, I think obviously people wanted a different contestant to win and someone said to me, ‘I know why your dad killed himself because he has a son like you!’ and I wasn’t prepared for that.”
“I don’t think anyone is.”
While still reeling from the experience seven years later, Norris recalled one of the most disturbing experiences he had encountered.
“I went out to dinner one night. And someone had taken a photo over the stall while I was going to the bathroom and put that photo on Instagram. This was not a flattering photo,” he revealed.
Then went on to reveal why he had gone on the show in the first place.
“I think it has a lot to do with validation and redemption. I think for me I wasn’t the popular person at school. I would love to have been. I wasn’t the popular person at work so the idea of going onto reality TV and having those people from my old school or the people that I worked with seeing me on TV was like a way of me being able to say to myself that I was okay and that’s, I think, validation.”
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