If there’s anything to be said about 2023, it’s that it definitely delivered some of the biggest reality TV scandals to date.
Cheating scandals? Check. Secret partners? Check. Death hoaxes? Abso-f*cking-lutely.
We copped clanger after clanger, so we’ve compiled and recapped the most jaw-dropping scandals to close out the year that was.
Married at First Sight Australia‘s Harrison Boon and Bronte Schofield’s ongoing wedding day beef
Married at First Sight Australia kicked off 2023 and some of the spiciest drama of the year when Harrison Boon and Bronte Schofield tied the knot on TV.
After their nuptials, it was revealed by one of Bronte’s guests (and The Bachelors 2023 star), Jessica Tomlinson, that Harrison had been dating her co-star Abby Miller until the morning he left for MAFS.
She even helped him pack for the experiment!
This spiralled out of control behind the scenes, leading to beef between Harrison and his new wife’s sister, Kirra, and Bronte and her now-former pal, Jessica.
Kirra and Abby later locked horns on TV over this tension, when they both appeared on Love Island Australia 2023.
The Bachelors Australia 2023‘s Thomas Malucelli’s SHOCK dumping of final pick Leah Cummings
Thomas Malucelli and Leah Cummings seemed as loved up as ever when they got engaged during The Bachelors Australia 2023 finale.
However, a day after the last episode aired, we learned the couple was no longer together. Leah later revealed Thomas shockingly broke up with her two months after filming.
She also shared that she “risked [her] health” to be with the Bachie because the restauranteur “doesn’t believe in modern medicine”.
In July, she revealed all about her “weird” engagement to Thomas in an episode of the So Dramatic! podcast, including the time he went to America and didn’t disclose he was travelling with his ex.
Two Below Deck Down Under stars fired for sexual assault and misconduct
**TRIGGER WARNING: The following details sexual assault and harassment and may be triggering to some readers.
The second season of Below Deck Down Under was by no means smooth sailing. However, things came to a shocking head during the double episode that dropped on August 7, with production forced to step in on two separate occasions.
The first was when bosun Luke Jones entered drunk co-star Margot Sisson‘s room while completely naked and climbed onto her bed. Margot was essentially unconscious and unable to consent.
Second stew Laura Bileskalne was similarly sacked after she repeatedly made moves on an uncomfortable Adam Kodra the same evening.
Laura has since slammed the show for “manipulating” narratives, while Luke’s girlfriend alleged he was just “acting”.
FBOY Island Australia 2023‘s Vernon Lyon exposed by ex Brogen Laura during filming
FBOY Island Australia certainly was a surprise hit, and fans were LOVING when closeted f*ckboy Vernon Lyon was exposed for dumping his girlfriend to appear on the show.
The lady in question, Brogen Laura, even appeared in the finale to settle the he-said-she-said once and for all.
However, the beef didn’t stop there, because Vernon then appeared on the So Dramatic! podcast to give a full run-down of their relationship timeline, claiming they broke up months before FBOY Island.
It was VERY messy, with Brogen later alleging Vernon sent “personal” photos of her to an FBOY Island contestant group chat. Yikes!
Domenica Calarco and Kerri-Anne Kennerley’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! 2023 beef
Hooooboy, the I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! 2023 beef that kept on giving.
Domenica Calarco and TV veteran Kerri-Anne Kennerley famously locked horns in the jungle this year. However, the main drama occurred during a heated unaired fight in which Domenica called the Logies Hall of Famer a “c*nt”.
As reported in episode 279 of the So Dramatic! podcast, the verbal abuse from Domenica caused such a toll on Kerri-Anne’s mental health that she started seeing a trauma counsellor after leaving the show.
“Kerri-Anne is in therapy … because of Domenica,” the source said.
The MAFS bride later confessed she believed her stoush with Kerri-Anne was the reason why she wasn’t invited to the 2023 Logie Awards.
Love Triangle Season Two’s Sam Fisher’s secret girlfriend (and subsequent romance with his co-star)
Season Two of Love Triangle — otherwise known as the Sam Fisher social experiment — really brought the red flags out of the woodwork.
While the 35-year-old was allegedly looking for love in Stan’s dating series, So Dramatic! quickly uncovered Sam had a long-distance girlfriend named Hannah in the UK.
While he was barred from his personal social media accounts as the show aired, Hannah shared several TikToks detailing their romance and its timeline, which seemingly dates back to May 2023.
Their relationship was then exposed on the show when it aired footage of the root rat talking to his bae when he thought the cameras weren’t rolling.
An insider later told So Dramatic! that Sam also dated Caity Walker (Alan Wallace‘s match) after the show, further proving he was playing everyone all along!
Million Dollar Island Australia exposed for being an absolute SH*TSHOW
The hits just kept coming with Million Dollar Island Australia, starting with a contestant slapping the show with a lawsuit after they were badly injured.
Luke Calpis allegedly “ran into a sawn-off tree during a challenge”.
“[He] was knocked out, and then the medic team took forever to come to him,” they recalled. “They had to give him stitches with a fishing hook and no anesthetic.”
Insiders also told So Dramatic! that contestants resulted to eating termites because they weren’t provided sufficient food.
On top of this, “everyone was hooking up with everyone”. And we mean EVERYONE: single contestants, married contestants, “cameramen, chaperones and producers”.
The Block 2023‘s constant beef between contestants
For a renovation show, The Block 2023 sure showed very little renovating stacked up against the ongoing beef between the female contestants.
The season kicked off with Leah Milton and Kristy Beames forming an alliance and it was them against everybody else.
However, things between the pair became verrrrrry tense when Leah called Kristy out for nasty behaviour towards Eliza and Liberty Paschke (which many fans believed was a way for Leah to rid herself of the “mean girl” title she’d earned among viewers).
Leah also made waves with Leslie Cottone after claiming she and her husband Kyle were “playing dirty” during landscaping week.
However, all seems to be forgiven among all the ladies, with rumours that Leah and Kristy could be launching a podcast together. Win, win!
Real Housewives of Sydney‘s Victoria Montano’s Fur-gate scandal
Real Housewives of Sydney‘s reboot delivered on the drama, particularly regarding Victoria Montano‘s insistence on selling fur products.
Despite telling the other housewives she no longer sells fur amid her fur-gate scandal, Victoria was caught selling real fur items on her Sport Luxe website despite labelling them as faux fur in the product listings.
Victoria then claimed these listings were a “human error”, before being BUSTED for selling real fur on a secret Instagram account. Yikes!
The plot thickened (again), with it being revealed in episode 336 of the So Dramatic! podcast that the controversial housewife had been selling more animal products, including lamb leather jackets.
Claire Nomarhas and Adam Seed’s cheating scandal on Married at First Sight
Married at First Sight 2023‘s Claire Nomarhas and Jesse Burford‘s marriage was over before it began when it was exposed she and Adam Seed shared a smooch during a cast night out.
Jesse later alleged Claire was in her co-star’s DMs wanting more before Adam shared screenshots of the bride telling him she “enjoyed” their kiss.
“Clearly proves that Claire sent me the shut your mouth emoji and also proves that she’s a lying [redacted],” he wrote on May 23.
He later told So Dramatic! there were “other occasions” when Claire tried to initiate catch-ups with him.
Former MAFS bride Ella Ding shares medical misinformation
The internet imploded when Married at First Sight Australia bride Ella suggested that “mindfulness” can cure “terminal illness”, and referenced a friend’s mother who allegedly did a “four-month cleanse that actually did get rid of her breast cancer with no chemo”.
This, coupled with Ella’s source being Dr Joe Dispenza (who isn’t a qualified medical doctor), copped backlash en masse across social media.
While the 29-year-old doubled down on her comments in the Sit With Us Facebook group, she issued a formal statement in which she said her sentiments weren’t “meant as advice”.
Ella’s co-host, Domenica, and their podcast network, LiSTNR, also gave statements following the faux pas.
Bride and Prejudice‘s Dannii Erskine’s death hoax
In what may be the WILDEST saga to come out of reality TV, Bride and Prejudice Australia 2019‘s Dannii Erskine found herself amid a death hoax.
The former TV star found herself at the centre of headlines after she revealed herself to be alive after family members seemingly confirmed her death in a fatal car accident in April.
Several sources later claimed that Dannii is no stranger to “faking” her death, having attempted to con loved ones in 2022.
The 28-year-old also alleged that in the latest death hoax, several people had been taken into custody for “threatening” and “assaulting” her, as well as “hacking” her social media.
However, when So Dramatic! contacted Victoria Police to verify these claims, a spokesperson said they had “no reports of incidents matching the details provided”.
They also said the case number Dannii provided relating to the hoax was not a valid “incident number”.
The saga is still ongoing.
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