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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.

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up in advertiser backlashes involving Kyle Sandilands, suspended the Greig and on-air partner Michael Christian and withdrawn all advertising from the station.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

  1. Pranking someone over the phone may not be the right thing to do. But for a simple prank to cause someone to commit suicide? I find that difficult to understand.

  2. Whilst it has been argued that these sort of pranks have been going on for years on radio, one would of thought that a hospital would be out of bounds. Mel Grieg might be the face of this prank and has been copping a lot of the blame. what about the producers, lawyers and management who all payed a part.The British media should also look in the mirror. This was a prank for Aussie audiences but when they got hold of it they went into a frenzy and all aussie bashing. If they had put real news on the front page like natural disasters and third world problems, maybe this poor nurse maybe would not of been so under pressure. 2DAY FM and the British media both used The Royals for sensationalism. Maybe we haven’t learnt from the Diana tragedy yet.

  3. Kyle and Jackie O have done far worse and they’re number 1. As others have said, these kids are beginners and they’re just playing by the rules that they know. The reasons for the large backlash are the fact that the Royals are involved and the suicide of the nurse. Even though I find it abhorrent, this kind of stunt isn’t anything new.

  4. Agree with JBar. The producers are the ones responsible for this – not so much the presenters. They are getting off scott-free and should also be held accountable.

  5. Well getting things actually on topic for a TV site, did this woman get her radio job because of Amazing Race? I remember her being quite stupid, clearly having been cast purely for all the potential cleavage shots, so if that’s the sort of person who can get a major national radio gig then wow…..

  6. “Prank calls”, (no less intolerable for the fact that they have gone on for “decades”), are unquestionably a form of bullying. An innocent third party is called and lied to on air for the amusement of otherwise clueless DJs and their cretinous listeners. I have actually heard radio prank callers telling a shocked victim that a family member had died, all in the name of entertainment.

    Whether the unfortunate nurse had other issues is irrelevant, we finally have on display for the world to see what a sick and cruel thing these prank calls are.
    I do have fleeting sympathy (not much) for the DJs in this instance, as the shame and horror that is rightfully theirs could have so easily happened to any of the other lamebrain jocks who have resorted to this pitiful practice over the years. Wake up, radio clowns!
    Can anyone tell me why current generations derive so much pleasure from the humiliation of others? It doesn’t bode well for the future.

  7. This is of course a tragic event where most of the parties involved have questions to be answered but the biggest problem and the greatest injustice is being carried out by those who choose to behave in a black & white manner.
    Comments from those such as “Enriched” carry a much higher degree of malice and inflammatory neglect than anything the two key protagonist were responsible of in the first place.
    I agree prank phone calls are a blight on society and have privately discussed for years how it would only take someone who was a little unhinged and experiences severe depression to be tipped into the void by one of these events.
    Having said that these calls have been happening all over the world for years and on a scale of humiliation this one did not even rate compared to most.
    Gather some perspective here people get through the black & white and start to see some colours.
    Without the British media making up quotes such “The palace are outraged” when it it was quite obvious that Charles thought it was funny,the Nurse in question may not have felt as though she was a menace to society.
    If one of these Two DJ’s do something silly a lot more people(including many posting here) should be more ashamed of themselves than the original event ever warranted.

  8. JoshS,

    “Selfishness” has nothing to do with it. Suicide isn’t a selfish thing.

    I do however agree with the rest of what you say. The amount of crap on these two people right now is crazy – no one could of expected this. DJs prank people on a daily basis all around the world, how could of they expected this would happen.

    I saw a newspaper on the news vowing to kill the two people behind the prank. All of a sudden they’ve lost their carers, and are some of the most hated people in the world right now. I would be truly concerned for their wellbeing.

    I really believe this is perhaps the thing that made her cross the line. I don’t think she was an average woman in a normal mental state, then got a prank call and decided to kill herself.

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