Former Gogglebox star Yvie Jones has taken aim at the popular Channel 10-Foxtel show, revealing a major flaw with its supposedly ‘diverse’ cast.
She said on the TV Blackbox podcast on Monday that while the participants have different racial and religious backgrounds, there isn’t a corresponding diversity of opinion.
Yvie claimed that ’90 per cent’ of the households have very similar opinions about the programs they watch – which causes a major headache for the editing team – and that the only cast members with differing views are art dealers Mick and Di Kershaw.
She’s not holding back! Former Gogglebox star Yvie Jones (pictured) has taken aim at the popular Channel 10-Foxtel show, revealing a major flaw with its supposedly ‘diverse’ cast
Yvie, 47, said that the Gogglebox team often find themselves struggling in post-production to present a broad range of perspectives, when in fact the households agree about ‘pretty much’ everything.
This will be an embarrassing revelation for Foxtel and Channel 10, as Gogglebox is billed as a cross section of Australian life where a variety of views are represented.
While Yvie acknowledged that the couch critics come from diverse backgrounds, she said ‘they are all quintessentially Australian’ from a cultural perspective.
Diverse? She said on the TV Blackbox podcast on Monday that while the participants have different racial and religious backgrounds, there isn’t a corresponding diversity of opinion
She explained: ‘I just think that had they really wanted to be diverse, there would have been some real differences [of opinion].
‘Everyone pretty much is the same on Gogglebox. We all pretty much agree with the same things; nine out of 10 people say the same thing every time.
‘They have to choose from the edit which one goes to air for that particular scene.’
Same views? While Yvie acknowledged that the participants come from diverse backgrounds, she said ‘they are all quintessentially Australian’ from a cultural perspective. Pictured: Jad Nehmetallah with Matty and Sarah Marie Fahd and their son, Malik
TV Blackbox host Rob McKnight asked Yvie to clarify what she meant, saying: ‘So despite the ethnic diversity, the personality traits were the same?’
‘Absolutely,’ Yvie replied. ‘I mean, you’ve got the Sri Lankan family and the Greeks and the Vietnamese – but they’re all really Australian, really Australian.’
She added: ‘The only diversity in that show as far as I’m concerned was Mick and Di, the old couple who disagreed with everyone! Everything they liked, no one else liked; everything they hated, we all liked.’
One note: Yvie claimed that ’90 per cent’ of the households have very similar opinions about the programs they watch – which causes a major headache for the editing team – and that the only cast members with differing views are art dealers Mick and Di Kershaw (pictured)
It may be a case of sour grapes for Yvie, however, as she and her flatmate Angie Kent were famously blacklisted by Foxtel after they signed up for Channel 10’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! early last year.
Foxtel’s Executive Director of Television, Brian Walsh, told TV Tonight in February 2019: ‘You will not see a review of [Yvie and Angie] on Gogglebox.’
‘From a promotional point of view the issue that upsets Foxtel is the exploitation of the Gogglebox brand to market and sell another program,’ he added.
In the doghouse: It may be a case of sour grapes for Yvie, however, as she and her flatmate Angie Kent (left) were famously blacklisted by Foxtel after they signed up for Channel 10’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! early last year
At the time, Walsh also said that Foxtel management was ‘incredibly disappointed’ that the two women had publicly criticised their appearance fees.
He was referring to a 2018 interview in which Angie claimed that ‘everyone [in the Gogglebox cast] still has to work’ because of their low salaries.
‘I was incredibly disappointed that they were critical of Foxtel and the appearance fee money we paid them to do Gogglebox. I thought that was unfair, unnecessary and unwarranted,’ Walsh said.
Yvie later hit back at the Foxtel boss, telling WHO magazine in October that Walsh’s comments were uncalled for.
‘Such a stupid comment to make. It’s not about you, it’s about your viewers! No one cares what you think, or what is happening to your brand,’ Yvie said.
‘Stupid’: Yvie later hit back at Foxtel’s Executive Director of Television, Brian Walsh, telling WHO magazine in October that his comments were uncalled for