During Monday night’s finale of Married at First Sight, there was one noticeable absence: Scarlett.
The 28-year-old chose not to attend the final reunion after a heated fight with fellow contestant Cheryl the previous night.
When Cheryl challenged Scarlett about texting her then-experimental partner in the early stages of the show, Scarlett called Cheryl “the fakest person I’ve ever met,” and left the dinner.
Listen to The Recap – the podcast to listen to after you’ve watched the finale of Married at First Sight. Post continues after audio.
But it seems the response to the scene has had a serious impact on the aspiring writer, who shared an emotional post to Instagram just moments before the finale was due to air.
“Firstly if you DONT like me get off my page (sic)!!” she wrote.
“I’ve never ever felt so ashamed to be in Australia as I do now ! To see the hate, the bullying, the death threats towards myself and my fellow cast mates are absolutely disgusting !
“It honestly makes me so ashamed and breaks my heart to live in a country that people get off in hurting one another and shaming and saying hateful things!
"All of you involved in the malicious hate vomit of any MAFS cast should be ashamed."
Scarlett then turned to the issue of suicide, and the impact bullying can have on people's mental health.
"I'm just so embarrassed Australia is meant to be a welcoming amazing country that I love to tell my friends overseas about," she continued. "Yet now all I'm seeing is bullies I feel physically sick (sic)."
The post is an impassioned reminder that while reality TV might not be 'real,' the people within them are. And despite what you think, they read what you write about them.
If you or a loved one need help, please take a look at the following websites:
Lifeline Australia for crisis support and suicide prevention: https://www.lifeline.org.au/
Beyondblue, for depression and anxiety: http://www.beyondblue.org.au/
SANE, the national mental health charity: http://www.sane.org/
Top Comments
Cheryl is a bully. Why didn't the 'experts' call her out on this?
I think her chat with Scarlett was unnecessary and a bit
confrontational, given it was about an event that happened months ago, and she didn't even like the guy involved. But I don’t think this makes her a bully, raising an issue with someone and having an unpleasant conversation isn't being a bully.
She didn’t call her names or target her in front of others (well apart from the cameras) and form what we saw it lasted all of 2 minutes. Also it was probably the producer’s idea. I think people use the works bully a bit freely when a person is just not being very nice.
I disagree. I think Cheryl was trying to make the dinner party as unpleasant as possible for Scarlett. That 'confrontation' resulted in Scarlett leaving the dinner party and Scarlett was not present in the final episode because of that. If one of the boys had done that to Cheryl, it would have been considered bullying. For some reason Cheryl does not get criticised for bullying others but anyone who does the same to her is considered a bully.
This is hardly an issue peculiar to Australia. Not sure why she's framing her posts to suggest it is.