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‘Pussy street’ scrap: TEN accuses Seven of ‘misleading’ viewers

TEN says Today Tonight implied that Biggest Loser trainer Michelle Bridges swore at contestants by bleeping her.

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vtblLast night Today Tonight featured a story on The Biggest Loser methodology and whether it humiliated contestants for entertainment.

That’s an ongoing criticism of the brand and, in my view, a valid question (which I also recently discussed with Michelle Bridges here).

On the back of a scandal about two contestants being dropped before the series premiered, TBL  was always going to be in media’s crosshairs.

But TEN isn’t happy that TT bleeped Michelle Bridges, saying it implied that she swore at a contestant.

“You can either go down pussy street, or man-up road!” she shouted at contestant Brett.

The word ‘pussy’ was bleeped out by Seven.

A TEN spokesperson told TV Tonight, “There is no way Michelle’s use of the word ‘pussy’ could be considered swearing or ‘bleep-worthy’. The Biggest Loser trainers do not, repeat not, swear at the contestants.

“Today Tonight was clearly presenting that scene in a deliberately misleading and dishonest way. Its viewers deserve better.”

But Seven defended the bleeping.

“There’s no implication she swore, only that some viewers may find the word offensive, and being school holidays we decided to play it safe,” a Seven spokesperson said.

However it’s bizarre that “pussy” was bleeped in a 6:30 timeslot when James Packer openly dropped the F-bomb twice in Sunday Night in the same timeslot in February.

The Biggest Loser screens with a PG classification but News and Current Affairs programmes have none.

24 Responses

  1. Riga I totally agree with you. Today Tonight is a pathetic show but The Biggest Loser isn’t really that much better. Used to watch TBL but cannot stomach the humiliation they put desperate people through. I have not watched one show on 7, 9 or 10 this year and feel so much better for it.

  2. I despair! Free-to-air TV is dying a not-so-slow death but meanwhile the networks cling to the hope that there are enough dumb people out there to lap up this sort of garbage and stay dumb enough to remain hooked on this mindless drivel.

    It’s a downward spiral and who knows where it will end?

  3. I’m sure Ch 7 know exactly what they were doing having a cheap shot at TBL- I hope TEN takes this further Ch 7 needs to learn their lesson & what a silly story to run think they need to change their production or not so creative team- didn’t they say TT was going to be different this year? well I think the viewers are still waiting! hopefully people will start to tune out and maybe this time they’ll reconsider having TT altogether.

  5. What a storm in a tea cup. However this is TT and they thrive on that stuff.

    @TVTim: My older brother listened to that song in high school, i was younger, i got in trouble!

    @DaveM: Yep, must be where Mrs Slocombe lives!

  7. To call an overweight person a pussy is not swearing but it is very degrading. The problem this show runs into is when they use a very serious subject like obesity as entertainment. I sometimes watch the show and it does has good qualities such as fitness and diet tips so not all is bad.

  10. TEN is correct how can “pussy” be classified as swearing and 7 got it wrong which they should be ashamed if themselves. Now I see what 7 are trying to do make people not watch TBL as it is a threat to them especially the grand final. I agree with you David and they manage to not bleep it out the F-bomb during James Packer interview and they do this. How crazy is that? They think its alright to say the f word not pussy. That doesn’t make sense to me at all

  11. TT continue to take cheap potshots. Seven is #1 in the ratings against Ten by a long shot – why not focus on actual journalism while they’re ahead? Oh that’s right – they pride themselves on not giving a flying one about integrity.

  12. What is particularly interesting and stupid… is that TT runs only an hour before Loser and when it’s their second to last story for the program… it’s only 35mins before… So essentially I see this as a promo for Biggest Loser no matter what 7 say. A bleeped out Michelle makes me wanna tune in and see how harsh she’s being. Any publicity is good publicity.
    I can’t see The Project airing an expose into The Voice or Celebrity Apprentice…. TT is tabloid trash for the braindeads of the western suburbs… refresh or no refresh.

  15. I hate it when shows like Today Tonight and A current Affair make The Biggest Loser look bad. I think Today Tonight also made X Factor look bad the other night which is stupid because they’re on the same channel.

  16. Didn’t they use those same lines in promos on TEN?

    I don’t want TBL or TT but this is just ch7 trying to whip up some viewers and I hate when one network does this kind of crap story on another network. Guess they ran out of crooked landlords and the latest in TV stories?

  20. this years promotion for TBL focussed on that they are curving australias obesity epidemic, and made some big claims about itself, so the ‘entertainment’ aspects of the format were always going to come under a greater scrutiny.

    i watched that report last night, it absolutely slammed the biggest loser to its foundations, and raised some questions that i think a lot of Australia has of the show. Issues that go well beyond the ‘was it staged’ or ‘why isn’t the ice-cream melting?’ that other shows are targeted over. The fact that ten only responds to this minor issue speaks volumes.

    If 7 were going to be equally as critical of ten they could have an absolute field day.

  23. What is really “pussy street” is that shows like Today Tonight feel the need to have a poke at shows that are performing well on rival stations. Man up!

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