"We’re not a nasty show." Why Fifi Box refused to interview The Bachelor’s Cat.

In case you missed it, this season’s series of The Bachelor has made Australian audiences outraged due to the behaviour of contestants Romy, Cat and Alisha. The three women, who have been dubbed the ‘mean girls’, have shamed, bullied and gaslighted the other women also vying for the Honey Badger’s love, as shown over a number of episodes.

So last night, when the ‘mean girls’ left the show, the nation was not-so-quietly cheering. And this morning, Cat Henesey-Smith was banned from appearing on FoxFM’s Fifi, Fev and Byron as a direct consequence of her behaviour.

Fifi Box reprimanded Cat on air explaining why they made the last-minute decision to cancel her appearance.

“I watched it last night and I really struggled with this, thinking, ‘But we haven’t really seen any endearing qualities in this person,” Box told listeners this morning.

“We’re a very welcoming show, we’re not a nasty show, we’re not a mean show, we don’t bring [guests] on here to humiliate them or to grill them … and I thought to myself, ‘I could not, in all good conscience, welcome her to the show’, and if you can’t welcome someone onto your show, why are they coming on?”

Box added that if they had allowed the interview to take place, they only would have been bullying her back, which didn’t feel right.

 

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A post shared by Fifi, Fev & Byron (@fififevbyron) on Aug 23, 2018 at 3:51pm PDT

“I think if we’d had her [on the show today], we’d have been bullying her, and I don’t think that’s the right message,” Box said. “We all decided we didn’t want to get her in here and give her a hard time because that’s endorsing and reciprocating the behaviour that she subjected other people to.”

Brendan Fevola agreed with his co-host, similarly rebuking the contestant. Fevola mentioned that the show received a plethora of messages from their listeners about Cat, which confirmed that the radio show made the right decision.

“I read some of the messages on [FoxFM’s social channels], and they were like, ‘We’re tuning out, she’s a bully, it’s sending the wrong message, I can’t believe you’re giving her airtime.’”

Box added that she hopes Cat has learned that her behaviour is unacceptable.

“I hope she’s watched the series back. The behaviour was mean and nasty.”