Former Australian cricketing legend Merv Hughes has made a savagely violent and threatening remark towards a fellow contestant on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Why was our community so quick to excuse it?
On Monday night, cricketer-turned-commentator Merv Hughes made a threatening remark in which he alluded to decapitating lawyer and former The Bachelor contestant, Anna Heinrich.
The 53-year-old sporting legend was filming reality television show I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here when the incident happened. Contestants were discussing who would prepare dinner that evening, when Merv lashed out at 26-year-old barrister, Anna.
What could possibly have provoked it? Anna suggested that one of the men at camp might cook dinner that night.
That’s it.
Anna mentioned in passing that some of the male contestants on the show had offered to make a meal that night and was hoping to spur them into action. Merv was napping nearby but stirred to grumble: “Sit down and relax, woman.”
When Anna did not obey, Merv said: “Shut up or I’ll chop your head off with this machete”… the knife beside him on his camp bed.
The contestants present seemed too taken aback to challenge Merv directly for his strange, violent remark.
Former Hi-5 band member Lauren Brant, who was evicted from the jungle on Monday night, says that Merv spoke to her like this “all the time” on the show.
“What happened with Anna… For me, it was just another thing Merv said. He said so many of those things to me that never aired,” Laura tells me on the phone from South Africa.
Top Comments
It was very disappointing to see Julia Morris downplay it. She is hilarious and enjoyable to watch but it was just uncomfortable to hear her spring to his defence on that episode and previous ones with "he's of a different generation etc etc".
Different generation? Give us a break. My husband and I are both in our sixties. We are older than Merv Hughes. So are our friends. We, like many in our generation, were among the first women to embrace the 'having it all' philosophy and feminism. And our husbands did too! There was never any sexist demarcation line over household chores, etc. In fact, my friends firmly believed that men needed to be 'allowed' to have a choice about whether to work full-time, as their fathers and grandfathers had.
Mountains meet Molehills. Molehills, this is Mountains - I reckon you guys will get along... While I will freely admit that there are scum out there (of both sexes!!!) that don't think twice about treating their significant other with the disgusting regard that you describe, Merv is just mucking around and (in my eyes anyway) would never act on any of the nonsense that comes out of his mouth. Nobody is excusing his behaviour, we're just acknowledging that sometimes shits and giggles (no matter how harsh) really are nothing more than that.