EXCLUSIVE | SEVEN ordered to pay compensation to HOUSE RULES contestant for ‘psychological’ injury

A former contestant on HOUSE RULES has won a workers compensation case against the Seven Network that will have severe implications for reality TV shows produced in Australia.

The damning 27 page finding says season five contestant Nicole Prince suffered a psychological/psychiatric injury during the course of her employment with Channel 7, despite claims by the network there was no employment relationship established.

In what will ring alarm bells for the industry, the assertion by Seven’s defence Prince was not employed by the network was rejected by Arbitrator Cameron Burge. This comes despite Seven’s legal team adding this clause to Prince’s contract;

“You acknowledge that your participation in the program is not employment, does not create an employer/employee relationship between Seven and you and is not subject to any award or collective bargaining or workplace agreement and does not entitle you to any wages, salary, corporate benefits, superannuation, workers compensation benefits or any other compensation.”

The fact reality TV contestants must now be considered ‘workers’ could have a raft of ramifications for production companies, including liability for superannuation and payroll tax plus they will be subject to issues of workers compensation.

Prince, who along with her friend Fiona Taylor was the second team to be eliminated in the 2017 series, was paid $500 per week plus an additional $500 allowance. Despite the ‘allowance’ she was provided with breakfast, lunch and accommodation during her participation on the show.

READ MORE: Reality TV show contract reveals bizarre expectations of contestants

According to Prince’s statement she and Taylor were isolated from the other teams,

“I felt her harassed and bullied during the filming. This continued throughout all of the renovations. It was not only condoned by the producer, but it was aggravated even encouraged by them.

“During every camera interview both myself and Fiona complained on film that we were being subjected to isolation, bullying and harassment by the other teams.”

The Arbitrator agreed with Prince’s depiction of her working environment;

“There is little doubt the applicant was placed in a hostile and adversarial environment in the course of her employment with the respondent”

Prince also claims there was physical abuse on set;

“On one occasion I witnessed Fiona be physically assaulted. When I complained to Channel Seven, I was then threatened that Fiona and I would be portrayed negatively.

“True to their threatening words, Channel Seven portrayed Fiona and I as bullies in the episode (edited by Channel Seven) featuring our team which went to air on or around 17 April 2017. After our episode was aired I was subjected to online abuse on the Channel Seven Facebook page, including receiving threats of serious physical assault. I have been fearful for my safety ever since.”

The ‘villain edit’ is common practice within reality TV productions as it creates drama and headlines.

Prince alleged she was ordered by producers to say negative things about the other teams because it was a competition. Prince claims she was asked to find faults and not be so loving of the effort put in by other contestants;

“From the prompting and editing these negative comments were then shown to the other team members (who had already formed relationships and alliances). Knowing how much work had gone into my home and the fact Nicole and I were so ungrateful the exclusion and bullying commenced.”

According to Prince’s testimony the pressure to be mean escalated throughout the series;

“In Tasmania, I was once again told to go into the house and “give it to Harry like you did in New South Wales”. I ended up getting very emotional and asked to take the camera away but it was continually in my face. I broke down, as I couldn’t handle the constant pressure or bullying.”

This led to tensions on set when the couples were together for the scoring;

“From the prompting and editing these negative comments were then shown to the other team members (who had already formed relationships and alliances). Knowing how much work had gone into my home and the fact Nicole and I were so ungrateful the exclusion and bullying commenced.”

Executive Producer Evan Wilkes claimed the other contestants were shown unedited footage of the comments from Prince and Taylor but this was challenged by counsel for the applicant who said;

“The Commission would not accept Mr Wilkes’ evidence that the footage of the reveals which was shown to the other contestants was unedited.”

He noted;

“The evidence of both the applicant and Ms Taylor to the effect that the walkthroughs of the home after the work had been carried out took hours, but the other contestants were only shown the small snippets which were eventually aired “

In his statement to the NSW Workplace Commission, Wilkes referred to complaints by Price and Taylor about bullying on set;

“I vaguely remember them saying they felt bullied by another team, however this was aired to the best of my recollection (I do not recall the situation). If they did have any complaints it would have come to me through our reporting channels.”

It was noted by Prince’s counsel that, although he was the Executive Producer of the program, Wilkes’ “attendance on set was very limited “.

Things really began to unravel for Prince when the series aired with viewer reaction turning nasty in online forums. Her counsel Mr C Tanner said;

“The proliferation of social media comments which were nasty and vindictive towards the applicant and Ms Taylor is part of the respondent’s business model, even including those which contained threats of violence.”

Prince says her depiction in the series adversely affected her life;

“Since our episode and program aired I have not been able to obtain work and have been informed this was due to how I was portrayed as a bully. I am no longer offered interviews for jobs and work, which before my work injury I did not have any trouble obtaining interviews and successfully getting the work and job. I feel devastated and worthless about the loss of my career and working life.”

“After my episode aired I wanted to kill myself and I started drinking more alcohol in an attempt to self-medicate my injury.”

It was the lack of action on Seven’s part in regard to online comments that came in for the harshest criticism from Arbitrator Cameron Burge;

“I find it extraordinary, in circumstances where the respondent was made aware by the applicant of hateful comments posted on its social media platforms, that it did not take steps to either remove those comments or to close the comments on its own posts. The failure to do so represents, in my view, a factor to which the applicant has reacted and which has contributed to her injury.”

In his judgement not only did Burge rule that Prince was indeed an employee of Seven, but he also found she had suffered a psychological/psychiatric injury in the course of her employment with the network. As such, Seven has been ordered to pay compensation for cost of medical or hospital treatment and rehabilitation etc, a figure which is yet to be determined.

*Channel 7 has been approached for comment