She was painted as the ‘villain’ of Channel Seven’s reality show Instant Hotel and was mercilessly trolled online by viewers as a direct consequence.
And Serena De Comarmond has now slammed the network for doing nothing to deal with online hate directed at her during the aired season.
The 38-year-old claimed in an interview with Daily Mail Australia ‘they couldn’t give a sh**’ when she begged Channel Seven to moderate comments online and did not act when she brought the vile posts to their attention.
EXCLUSIVE: ‘They couldn’t give a sh**!’ Instant Hotel star Serena De Comarmond SLAMS Channel Seven for doing nothing after she claims vile online trolling wasn’t taken seriously
Serena said she was slayed online on a Facebook page set up for the show, with comments labeling her a ‘sl*t’, ‘whore’ ‘stuck-up snob’ and ‘bit**’.
At the height of the trolling, Serena received a scary death threat at 3.11am via her business contact-us inbox, with the anonymous person claiming they were willing to pay $25,000 to have her killed by drowning.
The author described the situation: ‘I freaked out and called the cops and they did an IP search. They found out the person was in regional New South Wales, so because of that I was like “okay, forget it, it’s not like some random around the corner is coming around to kill me”. ‘
‘I freaked out and called the cops and they did an IP search. They found out the person was in regional New South Wales’
Serena claimed she fled with her family to Bali after the online trolling worsened
‘Their duty of care was ZERO… I can’t even explain the pain I went through,’ she said, admitting she fled to Bali to escape the online torment.
Serena claimed footage of her was edited and twisted to make her appear like a villain and was shocked to see how she was portrayed to the public when she viewed the premiere episode.
‘We were watching it, like “what the hell is this?” Serena said, claiming to watch the show’s debut with Instant Hotel partner Stuart at the same time as the public.
The pair decided to deal with whatever came next from viewers, but Serena claims she was left dumbstruck by how the network addressed the backlash.
‘Their duty of care was ZERO… I can’t even explain the pain I went through’: Serena even received a death threat, with the anonymous person claiming they were willing to pay $25, 000 to have her killed by drowning in a message sent at 3.11am (PICTURED)
Online hate: Serena said she was slayed online on a Facebook page set up for the show, with comments labeling her a ‘sl*t’, ‘whore’ ‘stuck-up snob’ and ‘bit**’
She slammed Channel Seven after she claimed they coined her ‘sneaky Serena’ in voice-overs without her permission and while Channel Seven did offer Serena counselling to help deal with the trolling, she said: ‘Their textbook response was “you’ve got the most airtime in the entire show”. But I said “that’s great, I got the most airtime, but I’m an a**hole!’ It was so NOT my brand.’
After a barrage of trolling online, some including graphic images of pigs, she claimed she pleaded with Channel Seven to moderate or remove the insults, but claimed ‘they couldn’t give a sh**.’
‘I rang Channel Seven and I’m crying and begging them: “Please, what is wrong with you people? How are you allowing this to happen? Why would you put up a forum where people can go online and insult you and threaten me?”‘
While Serena was offered counselling by Channel Seven, she alleged it took them a week-and-a-half to moderate the forum.
A Channel Seven spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: ‘All teams who participated in our recent production of Instant Hotel were treated with respect and great care.’
‘Their textbook response was “you’ve got the most airtime in the entire show”‘: Serena claimed she was upset when she found out she has been ‘edited’ into a villain by producers without her permission, with their defense being it gave her more airtime on the show
A Channel Seven spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: ‘All teams who participated in our recent production of Instant Hotel were treated with respect and great care’
The mother said while it was only two episodes where she was portrayed as a ‘villain’, it was edited in such a way even her close friends and family believed the portrayal and were angered by her portrayed behaviour on the show.
‘I wanted to use Instant Hotel to build my profile, but I’m going to pretend I never did it. It’s not going in my showreel,’ she added.
Trying to create a positive from her negative trolling experience, Serena has now launched the website outyourtroll.com.au.
The idea for the site began after a woman contacted her privately on Facebook to say: ‘I just want to tell you I think you’re a pig and a b****’. Serena then took the power back from the situation and chose to out her troll publicly via their own Facebook page.
‘If it’s okay for you to insult me privately and covertly, I’m going to out you as a troll and I’m going to show everyone what you say in private, because you can’t hide behind the keyboard anymore,’ she explained.
Serena is encouraging people to submit their own experiences with trolls on the new website, which they can then share publicly on their troll’s social media platforms.
‘I wanted to use Instant Hotel to build my profile, but I’m going to pretend I never did it. It’s not going in my showreel’: The mother said while it was only two episodes where she was portrayed as a ‘villain’, it was edited in such a way even her close friends and family believed the portrayal and were angered by her portrayed behaviour on the show
‘You can’t hide behind the keyboard anymore’: Trying to create a positive from her negative trolling experience, Serena has now launched the website outyourtroll.com.au to encourage people to out their trolls and tormentors online