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KAK recalls TV boss moment: “Zip it up or I will deck you.”

Kerri-Anne Kennerley opens up about chauvinism and harassment when she was first working in television.

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Last night on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Kerri-Anne Kennerley opened up about the “boys club” that existed when she first started in television; chauvinism and harassment, and hideous behaviour by executives hitting on young women while their male counterparts were off taking long lunch breaks.

Shockingly, KAK, had her own “me too” moment, when a station owner unzipped her dress at a work Christmas party. But she did not name the network or person invovled.

“It was a Christmas party for our show, and as I was standing there, the back of my dress the zip was being unzipped,” she revealed.

“So as I swung around to basically say stop it and deck said person, I realised it was the station owner. And I did say, “zip it up or I will deck you.'”

She also recalled how executives and producers were hitting on the younger girls in TV.

“You know, somebody hits on you and you just draw the line in the sand and everybody gets back to work, that was just the way it was.

“The women were all researchers, producers and the guys would sort of tick off yes, yes and then go to lunch for four hours.

“And the show would all get together because most of the women did all of the work. At the end of the day, you just want to make good TV.

“It has always been just about get a job, hang on to it as long as you can, do as well as you can, and when it is over, you get another one. You just keep doing it, keep turning up.”

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  1. Unfortunately KAK has described what used to happen back in the day with the boys club and it was not exclusive to television stations, it happened in all types of business. I was the only woman in the office of a sandblasting/industrial spray painting business in the 70/80s and I copied so much chauvinist behaviour I came home a lot of times when I first started in tears. One day my parents couldn’t stand to see me so distressed they sat me down and told me it was time to stand up and give as good as I got, but do it with dignity and above all make sure to dent their ego and pride in front of their “club” and there’s a good chance you’ll put them back in their box. I did exactly that when the time was right and the satisfaction I got and the look on the men’s faces was priceless. From that day on things were totally different. They would mow my lawn when I went on holidays and even spent 2 weekends (unpaid) spray painting a sports car I bought from silver to red. So always speak up.

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