Channel 10 has slammed claims that Abbie Chatfield was blacklisted by the network over the controversial hard-launch of new boyfriend, Konrad-Bien Stephen.
Abbie has copped some heat on social media by other Bachelor-franchise reality stars and fans over the past week, mostly because of her decision to confirm Konrad as her boyfriend via an Instagram post the day before Brooke Blurton‘s Bachelorette finale. The post is pretty fucking cute, but the backlash? Not so much.
This has all been brewing into a poisonous little stew over the past week, which caught my attention when So Dramatic! reported that Channel 10 had blacklisted Abbie over the Konrad post. Um, excuse me?? Whether you are invested in the Abbie/Brooke drama unfolding or not, that is pretty big fkn news.
We reached out to Abbie, who was pretty stunned by the news, telling PEDESTRIAN.TV: “I have an incredible relationship with Channel 10, both the staff and the network itself! So [the rumours] are definitely false.”
Channel Ten also vehemently denied the claims, slamming them as disingenuous.
“This claim is absolutely false and completely fabricated. Abbie is a friend of 10, and will always be a friend of 10. Those saying otherwise are just being mischievous,” a Network Ten spokesperson told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
To give you some context regarding this convoluted mess of reality TV beef and how we got here, let’s go over the drama that’s happened so far.
Konrad was a contestant on Brooke’s season of the Bachelorette and was booted after getting to the top five because of his lack of career aspirations. He wants to be free, she wants stability, it’s not gonna work out, etc.
But, a week before his departure from the show, Konrad was spotted pashing Abbie Chatfield in a pub in Byron Bay. Rumours published by So Dramatic! claimed that Brooke was mad Abbie spoiled her season, and then in Konrad’s departure interview, he confirmed a romance with Abbie.
And then came the official hard-launch. The day before Brooke’s finale, Abbie posted a photodump on Instagram confirming the pair’s status as a couple.
From someone who watched every single episode of Brooke’s Bachelorette season religiously, it didn’t even really occur to me that this could be problematic. I didn’t see it as taking away from the hype of the show. I mean, I loved Brooke’s season, and those of us that were invested and watching it weren’t going to change our minds after Abbie’s post.
But not everyone felt that way.
Former Bachelorette Angie Kent wrote in her Yahoo! column that the relationship launch “maybe could have waited so that the attention wasn’t taken away from the first ever woman of colour and pansexual Bachelorette.”
She clarified that she loves Abbie Chatfield but felt the post was “opportunistic” and like a “power move”.
Similar comments have been echoed, shared and liked on social media by other reality stars, according to So Dramatic!, and the Aussie reality TV Facebook groups I’m in have been alight with backlash and debate on both sides. Some viewers claim that Abbie was being selfish and petty, while others are saying she probably didn’t think about the repercussions of her post but that in itself is an issue.
The opposing side mostly argued that everyone needs to chill the fuck out, the season is over anyway, the ratings were already low (a hard truth even the biggest Bachelorette fans must accept) and at the end of the day it’s just an Instagram post confirming news that had already broken by Konrad, in violation of his contract. So it seems weird how much of the hate is directed at Abbie. There’s bigger fish to fry, people!
And now, here we are, with claims that Channel 10 apparently blacklisted Abbie, which isn’t true.
So here’s the golden question: what the fuck is going on here? Brooke told PEDESTRIAN.TV that she is still friends with Abbie and that people were just creating a “conflict”. This whole thing is looking less like a legitimate discussion on white feminism and more like an excuse to direct hate at someone people are annoyed at.
The season is over, Brooke is with the love of her life, she’s found her happy ending, and is probably unbothered and having a great time. It’s shitty that her season tanked in terms of ratings, but I don’t think that has anything to do with Brooke or Abbie. And regardless, her season was transformative for the franchise and created important conversations on topics like Aboriginal land and bi-erasure. Things we don’t normally see on TV. So to me, it was a success anyway.
Sure, Abbie Chatfield’s post had poor timing. But it’s happened! And she’s been called out for it! It should be over!
Maybe what’s really opportunistic is the way some have taken her post as an excuse to air out their general dislike for her, rather than to critique a legitimate issue of women of colour being overshadowed and undermined in the media.
At one point you have to ask: what is this drama really about? Because it doesn’t feel like a lot of it is coming from a genuine place.
