The Seven Network’s SAS Australia (produced by Screentime) has come under fire from popular pop-culture podcast Shameless after it was announced that former AFL player, Wayne Carey, has been cast in the upcoming season.
Carey has a longstanding history with the network, as a panellist on Talking Footy (which has cancelled last year) and as a commentator for AFL games.
In the most recent episode of their podcast, hosts Zara McDonald and Michelle Andrews expressed their frustration at the decision to cast Carey after he had been accused of violence towards women.
“I am a bit tired and a bit lost for words when it comes to this story, like it is just the world’s most predictable headline when SAS Australia announces their new lineup and again, we have at least one male on there – last season it was like three – who have been accused of assaulting women,” McDonald said.
Andrews then posted a TikTok to the podcast’s account, outlining her disappointment.
In the video, she said: “Channel Seven, I don’t ever want to hear you guys speak about violence against women and how much you supposedly care ever again. Because for a television network who’s marquee show [is] SAS Australia, you continually seem to want to redeem men who have been accused or found guilty of bashing, harassing, stalking and intimidating women.”
In both the podcast and the TikTok, the hosts point out that Carey pled guilty to indecent assault in 1997, when he grabbed a woman’s breast on a Melbourne street and allegedly said to her: “Why don’t you get a bigger pair of tits?”.
While on holiday in Miami with his then partner, Carey was charged with resisting arrest with violence, assault of a public servant and aggravated battery over an incident with police. The police were responding to calls from Carey’s girlfriend at the time, who allegedly said he had smashed a wine glass in her face, cutting her neck and mouth. According to Police Lieutenant Bill Schwartz, Carey kicked a female police officer.
On the podcast, McDonald said, “We need to have a conversation about this rehab reality television that is offering a platform for all of these men, who have been accused of doing some really really terrible things, to just come back from it to prove themselves as macho…and traditionally masculine and win our hearts back. I’m f*cking over it.”
Andrews and McDonald also pointed to accusations of violence levelled against two cast members on the current season of the show, Sam Burgess and Dan Ewing.
In the TikTok video, McDonald points out that Burgess “has been accused of crushing his 116 kilogram body into his pregnant ex-wife.” Burgess has denied these charges.
Andrews and McDonald also pointed to two AVOs (apprehended violence order) taken out against Dan Ewing by his ex-wife over a dispute with Burgess’s ex-wife and her new husband. The AVOs were later dropped.
At the end of the segment, both Andrews and McDonald called for Australians to boycott the show.
B&T has reached out to the Seven Network for comment.
Featured Image: Some of the cast members of SAS Australia 2022
