When Married At First Sight gave viewers their first look at contestant Dean Wells, in a clip which showed him listing his sexist wishlist, there was instant outrage.
And, of course, once the show aired, the controversial groom was everything they’d made him out to be and more: trying to cheat on his bride within two weeks, talking about sleeping with other contestant’s wives, and famously saying his wife’s looks “weren’t exactly her best quality.”
Though there’s no denying Dean is, indeed, a pig, at least he hasn’t been convicted of assaulting a man so violently he didn’t think he’d ever walk again or been accused of attempted revenge porn and domestic abuse by an ex-girlfriend.
Yes, we’re talking about ex-Bachelorette contestant and your brand new Bachelor In Paradise star, Blake Colman.
Just last year, Colman pleaded guilty to a 2015 street attack which left his victim, Tristan Cooper, ‘unconscious, paralysed and bleeding from the head’.
“He just came running up and with all his body weight sort of grabbed me in the back of the head,” Cooper told Perth Now, before going on to say that he saw police-obtained footage of Colman laughing after the incident: “He was in the taxi laughing about how well he got me, to his friends.”
We should probably also mention that Colman fled the scene and was only identified when Crime Stoppers later released his photo.
After news broke, Colman, who had just been evicted from The Bachelorette, made his social media accounts private and Channel Ten released a statement on his behalf: “I am truly remorseful and accepted full responsibility for my actions.”
But wait, there’s more: Bachelor contestant Jen Hawke, who had a relationship with Colman prior to the show, accused him of revenge porn, for allegedly threatening to sell nude photos of her to the media.
Hawke later called her experience with Blake domestic abuse, saying, “The whole issue with Blake is, it is domestic abuse. It is violence against women. It is harassment against women.”
Prior to last night’s premiere, Channel Ten refused to confirm nor deny Colman’s casting in the dating show. Upon him entering, both his co-stars and the general public were shocked.
“When Blake walked in, I was like, ‘Ok that’s probably someone I don’t need to get to know,'” contestant Nina said before Florence goes on to say Colman “isn’t really my type.”
Giving Colman further airtime not only makes light of the millions of women all over the world who suffer domestic abuse at the hands of their partners (in Australia that’s one in three), it also shows a huge lack of regard for the families who have lost loved ones to the exact ‘one punch’ perpetrated by Colman just three years ago.
Let’s not forget Thomas Kelly, who was fatally hit by one punch in Sydney’s King’s Cross in 2012, and whose brother later ended his own life due to the bullying he faced over the lock out laws that were put in place in the years that followed.
Or Daniel Christie, who was killed in the same way in 2013. Or Raynor Manalad. Or Cole Miller. Or Jaiden Walker.
The list goes on, and it’s only going to continue if we continue putting the perpetrators on our television screens for entertainment.
Time’s Up on sexual assault and Time’s Up on this too.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
