Members of the public sign up for reality TV shows to get their ’15 minutes of fame’ – but the resulting notoriety is rarely what they expected.
And in a startling confession this week, one of Australia’s most well-known television producers has revealed the ‘talk of doom’ she delivers to potential contestants.
During an interview with ex-Big Brother star Tim Dormer on his Popsugar podcast, Marion ‘Maz’ Farrelly claimed she is ‘very up front’ with fame-seeking wannabes.
‘Everyone you’ve ever slept with will sell their story and you won’t have a job for two years’: The brutally honest speech reality TV producers give cast members about life after the show has been revealed. Pictured: Married At First Sight’s Dean Wells (left) and Tracey Jewel (right), who both suffered financial hardship and trolling after the show aired earlier this year
Maz, a TV producer since 2000, has worked on Australian versions of Big Brother, Dancing With the Stars, The X Factor and The Farmer Wants a Wife.
She explained that producers ‘vigorously psych test’ contestants to determine their suitability, but she insists on personally giving them a honest description of what D-list fame is actually like before any offers are made.
‘I’ll say to people: “You will be too famous to go back to your job, but you won’t be famous enough to be famous. You’re probably not going to work for two years”,’ Maz said.
She added that female participants will struggle to find men willing to date them after the show has aired, and male contestants may even be subjected to violence.
‘You will be too famous to go back to your job, but you won’t be famous enough to be famous’: Reality TV producer Marion ‘Maz’ Farrelly insists on telling applicants that their experience could end in disaster. Pictured: Female contestants on this year’s season of The Bachelor
‘The idiot from the tele!’ Maz claimed while people think they’ll become loved by the public, she tells them to expect the worse (PICTURED: Love Island’s Tayla Damir and Grant Crapp)
‘If you have a relationship in the house and you’re a girl your mother will probably get a brick through the window saying your daughter’s a (bleep),’ she said frankly.
‘You’ll be in the papers, everyone you’ve ever slept with come and sell their story.’
Maz also claimed that being ‘loved’ by the public is ‘very rare’ for reality TV stars and you are more likely to leave with a reputation as ‘that idiot from the telly’.
‘You’re probably not going to work for two years’: Mirroring the sentiments by Maz, former Married At First Sight stars have bemoaned about the struggle to find work after the series (Pictured: Goofy groom Troy Delmege on MAFS)
‘The deal with the devil that I wish I never made!’ Former Big Brother winner Tim Dormer (pictured in 2013) claimed he was never given the ‘dusty of care’ chat Maz described
Host Tim Dormer, who won his season of Big Brother five years ago and later went on to appear in other reality shows, was shocked what Maz told him.
‘I’m surprised that you do give people that chat,’ he said. ‘Because it is a part of the duty of care that I wasn’t given, and there was a naivety…’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine, which aired Big Brother 2013, for comment.
It makes for good TV! In the lengthy podcast, Maz admitted that while producers were ‘evil geniuses’, she was ‘actually extraordinarily lovely’ (PICTURED:My Kitchen Rules’ ‘Plastic Sisters’ Emma Byron and Jessica Alvial)
In recent months, several Australian reality TV stars have gone public with their post-show struggles.
Tracey Jewel has claimed that the public scrutiny she received after appearing on Married At First Sight sabotaged her business deals.
Fellow MAFS star Dean Wells’ career as a creative director also reportedly suffered as a result of his ‘villainous’ portrayal.
Meanwhile, Troy Delmege struggled to find a job in Melbourne after the show and was eventually dumped by his girlfriend Carly Bowyer.
In 2017, Bachelor contestants Simone Ormesher and Leah Costa were infamously exposed as former topless waitresses – both on the show and in the press.
And this year, My Kitchen Rules stars Sonya Mefaddi and Hadil Faiza were kicked off the show for ‘bullying’ the other contestants. Both women insisted the show was maliciously edited to portray them as ‘villains’ but were nonetheless subjected to relentless trolling on social media.
Grant Crapp’s past also came back to haunt him on Love Island Australia two months ago, when fans discovered he had a ‘secret girlfriend’ named Lucy Cartwright.
He ended up winning the series, but was eventually dumped by his on-screen partner Tayla Damir when she discovered he had been lying about his relationship status.
‘I wouldn’t wish fame on anyone’: She also warns female contestants that they will find it difficult to date for two years after their appearance on TV (Pictured: Cass Wood with Bachelor Nick Cummins)