Ex-Reality contestant in royal radio prank
One half of the 2DAY FM radio duo at the centre of the radio prank gone wrong is a former Reality TV contestant.
- Published by David Knox
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One half of the 2DAY FM radio duo at the centre of the radio prank gone wrong is a former Reality TV contestant.
Mel Greig (pictured, right) appeared in the first season of The Amazing Race Australia with her sister Alana.
It was Greig who impersonated Queen Elizabeth in what was intended as a harmless radio prank calling London’s King Edward VII Hospital. By yesterday one of the nurses who spoke to them, Jacintha Saldanha, had apparently taken her own life.
2DAY FM, which has previously been swept up in advertiser backlashes involving Kyle Sandilands, suspended the Greig and on-air partner Michael Christian and withdrawn all advertising from the station. Rhys Holleran, CEO of Southern Cross Austereo, described the nurse’s death as ‘‘a tragic event that could not have reasonably been foreseen … we are confident we haven’t done anything illegal’’.
In a statement the radio station said, “Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) and 2Day FM are deeply saddened by the tragic news of the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha from King Edward VII’s Hospital and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and all that have been affected by this situation around the world.
“Chief Executive Officer Rhys Holleran has spoken with the presenters, they are both deeply shocked and at this time we have agreed that they not comment about the circumstances. SCA and the hosts have decided that they will not return to their radio show until further notice out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy.”
Greig and her sister finished seventh on The Amazing Race after getting lost in South Africa.
“Anything from the first leg was honestly a bonus,” Mel told News Limited last year.
“We did not go in to win, we went in to help our relationship, so to get half way is a bloody miracle. We’re happy with that.”
The chairman of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, Chris Chapman, said in a statement ACMA, “does not propose to make any comments at this stage, but will be engaging with the licensee, Today FM Sydney, around the facts and issues surrounding the prank call”.
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36 Responses
I can understand how these particular circumstances could of been unexpected. Jeff Kennett, Chairman of Beyond Blue, and who suffered from depression himself has said “When they did this they had no intention to cause harm, it was a harmless prank.” He goes on further about them getting the help they need.
My concern that this could get even more tragic, and is appropriate that the Dj’s involved get help. This is something that they will have to kive with for the rest of their their lives. Its something many of us will never understand themselves.
Whos to blame? The DJ’s for deciding on making the call? The radio management for approving it? The program producer? The hospital management for putting a nurse on the switchboard without training? This was the nurse that originally answered the phone, not the one that gave out the information.
Even Prince Charles made a passing joke about the prank before this tragic outcome. Not to mention that prank calls have been done on radio stations throogh out the world for decades.
Its right for people to express their anger at what has happened. For those that want to call it bullying; growing up i was told it is wrong to fight bullying with bullying. It reinforces bullying behaviour and makes those that do it no different to the ones that started it. And could create an even more tragic outcome.
Also, no one knows what has happening in the nurses life. This particular case is being prepared for the coroner and it is up to them to make a determination. There should be no rush to judgement until all the facts are in.
Anytime there is an unexpected death it is a tragedy. My thoughts go out to the family of the nurse.
@ JoshS
Jacintha Saldanha was of Indian origin having lived and worked in the UK for 10 years. She will not have been experienced in this area and over the phone may not discern the accents.
If the prank had not been carried out and then broadcast, Jacintha would not be dead……very very simple
Why aren’t the producers at 2Day FM held accountable for these types of programs that continue to cross the line?
I thought it was against the law to record telephone conversations without the other persons consent.
There is lots of people to blame for this unfortunate outcome. The Djs in this case were the puppets of their producers & station management. The hospital should of put in a media plan to deal with the extra intrusions that come with having such a high profile patient.
$0.02
Two idiots decide to make a prank call.
They are the DJ’s, you reckon they are the only people who decide to do it? The accents were terrible, it was an obvious joke. No-one would expect to get so far.
The fact that a woman killed herself is unfortunate, but there is no way you can lay that blame on these two. The selfishness of one nurse shouldn’t see two people lose their job (and more than that, having known Mel for sometime, she is absolutely distraught. Yet no-one seems to be jumping up and down for their wellbeing).
I do think the djs should be responsible. they made a fatal assumption that they could so publicly humiliate someone and that there would be no repercussions. even if she did not take her life she would still have gone through a great deal of mental stress which would not have been any more ok.
That said i do think the two djs are copping an unfair amount of the backlash. they were beginners, management should have stepped in. for that i do have sympathy.
@Kenny That’s a Telecommunications Industry Guideline not applicable to the situation of a radio prank call and definitely not a law.
Remember when Matt Tilley and Jo Stanley released a whole CD of “Gotcha calls”? I don’t remember a lot of complaining about those prank calls although it was awhile ago so maybe I just forget.
Before this segment went ahead it probably wouldn’t have appeared to them as a terribly malicious prank, really. Hindsight is always 20/20. Maybe they just ought to have planned ahead better for what to do in the unlikely event they were transferred beyond the main desk.
The whole thing is terribly sad. You have to feel the most for the family of the woman who died, especially her children.
Isn’t it about time that 2Day stopped hiring airheads with the minds of 15 year olds (including K.Sandilands) and started hiring professionals?
@ JoshS
“Really? So a reasonable expectation of a prank call is that someone will kill themselves? Well that is amazing.”
No Sir, a reasonable expectation of a prank call is that there may be repercussions. Let’s do a test and see when the alarm bells should start ringing.
Two idiots decide to make a prank call (in my mind I hear ‘ding’). Let’s target a hospital… no, there’s no fun in pranking a block of concrete. Let’s target someone we don’t know or have never heard of, like a nurse (ding ding ding ding)… no, that’s no fun. Let’s target a pregnant woman suffering morning sickness (at this point my ‘wtf’ alarm has melted from exertion)… yeah, that’ll work.
Even better idea, says one of the ‘hosts’, let’s target the pregnant, sick wife of the man whose mother’s death was attributed (in part) to the relentless pursuit by the media. Woo hoo, the chase is on and our ratings will soar!
Whilst you might not reasonably expect someone to take their own life over this (and we don’t know what else was going in Ms Saldanha’s life), it is obvious to me that there was a very real risk that she could lose her job (be sacked / demoted / transferred).
Furthermore, I think that anyone who thought about this for five seconds, could foresee that the English press would ramp this up into a major furore and the poor nurse’s life would be made very uncomfortable, with the press camped outside her home and strangers abusing her in the street and on the phone.
Commercial radio needs to take a long hard look at itself but I suspect that in a few weeks it will be business as usual.
Southern Cross TEN (owned by same co. as 2Day) dropped their “Hot 30 Countdown” (a clone of Video Hits) today. Host was apparently one or both of the abobementioned.
6 Notification
6.1 Notification Requirements
6.1.1 Except for the extremely limited exceptions referred to in Clause 6.1.4 below, all parties to a telephone conversation must have actual knowledge that the conversation will be Monitored in order to avoid contravening the prohibition against interception set out in the TIA.
6.1.2 Parties seeking to Monitor Voice Communications must inform the parties to the Voice Communication of these activities prior to them being undertaken. This requirement applies to third parties and employees where they are participants in a Voice Communication that is being Monitored.
I am glad you are taking comment on this. My wife is a nurse.
This is very simple. If the prank call had not been made and then after consulting lawyers had not been broadcast, well Jacintha Saldanha would not be dead. Simple
Since you’re taking comment David, I hope this puts an end to prank calls – none of which are clever, smart, nor funny.
I have no sympathy for the hosts and do not accept for one minute that the consequences of their prank “could not reasonably been foreseen
Really? So a reasonable expectation of a prank call is that someone will kill themselves? Well that is amazing.
Was the prank tacky? Yep, but they didn’t expect it to go so far, no-one did.
Isn’t there something called the Telecommunications Act re the recording of phone conversations without the other party’s consent, or knowledge? Dodo remind me of it every time they call me trying to see mobiles/internet/phone/electricity, etc. etc.
The hosts are absolutely to blame as are their employers. There’s every expectation, when you compromise peoples integrity, who work in a position of exclusive service to others, and particularly in service to the royal family, that this will be seen as a major personal and career failure.
Apart from that, this show is based on the principle of bullying. Pranking is bullying, a behaviour that regularly sees mass executions of students in schools in America, and other such retaliatory behaviour against the bullies.
Bullying is a gang behaviour of weak, effete humans, to deliberately drag others down to their level, with the intention of isolating, humiliating and sadistically destroying the self-worth of their victims.
Notice how the bullies have gone into hiding, behind a wall of lawyers, and removed their twitter accounts. Real big of them.
The CEO’s comments, are typical of the same mentality. His major concern is that nothing can be proved against him legally.
They did not give the nurse the right of reply before airing, nor have they obtained her consent to use her as the victim of their “joke”.
Their behaviour doesn’t reflect any philosophic system of principles, neither Christian, “Do unto others …”, nor eastern philosophy, “Live life carefully”, nor Greek, “First, do no harm.”
These DJ’s and their organisation are despicable parasites, and the only value that they have added is their ignominious failure as members of the human race.
I agree it was meant as a harmless prank phone call, something lots of kids do every day. No one could have seen this coming. Can the hosts be held responsible? There are lots of questions to be answered. Could the hospital have done more to help the nurse? Was there any signs that something like this could have prevented?
Personally I don’t hold the hosts responsible, I blame the stations managers. They were only on the job a few days, wouldn’t something like this had to be approved before going live?
It’s bad for everyone involved.
I have no sympathy for the hosts and do not accept for one minute that the consequences of their prank “could not reasonably been foreseen’. Not when it comes to intruding into the lives of the Royals.
There is no shortage of history at Austereo in particular, and radio in general, of a blatant disregard for societal norms. ‘Celebrities’ such as Sandilands, Jones, Bolt, Negus, Stynes and now these two pratts are little more than ‘a mouth with a mic’ without regard for any consequences of their actions or words. If it’s ‘legal’ they can do it. They are supported in their crusade by an ACMA that would have difficulty extracting itself from a paper bag, yet alone uphold any standard of morality or responsibility.
I am not against pushing boundaries or wish to curtail political/social viewpoints. However, as individuals and as a society we have done a great job of duck shoving responsibility for our actions to anyone/everyone except ourselves. That is expressed nowhere more succinctly than on commercial radio.
It’s time for ACMA to be given the authority to suspend a media organization’s licence for a period of time. It’s time for these two ‘hosts’ to return to the obscurity from which they came, and it’s time for Austereo to be penalised.
So many lives shattered over what they thought was harmless fun. You could argue this may not have happened if it weren’t for the media build up overseas however the radio should have implemented a plan of attack if they got thru. At the very least they could have gotten the nurse fired… unfortunately nobody could have imagined the consequences in reality
The prank was very silly but I don’t think the hosts should be to blame or feel like its there fault. Plus from what I read yesterday they didn’t know the cause of death. I feel sorry for the nurses family more than anything.
How is this relevant?
It’s a shame. However, I don’t think the hosts are to blame for this one.. no one could of expected a result like this.
Are we actually sure she committed suicide over this incident, and not any other personal issues? I just find it so bizarre that she would go to the extreme of suicide over this.
This was really sad news. No one could have predicted this outcome. You’ve got to feel for the hosts too, I hope either don’t feel guilt over this.