James Weir recaps the slew of Channel 7 stars going rogue

Something weird is going on over at Channel 7. A slew of unruly network stars are stepping out of line with reckless behaviour.

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What the hell’s going on over at Channel 7?

The once-family friendly network has reinvented itself as the free-to-air rebel and it’s not slowing down.

The days of non-offensive programming are long gone. No more Packed To The Rafters or other wholesome dramas. Now it’s all about rogue talent and inflammatory opinions. Finally, someone’s giving the people what we want.

It’s a win-win for the network. Even those uptight viewers who complain about bottom-of-the-barrel TV still watch it because they love nothing more than finding new things to self-righteously complain about.

Sam Frost was the latest Seven star to go rogue with that Instagram video she posted last week, calling for an end to the “segregation” of people who have chosen not to get vaccinated against Covid.

“I was really hesitant about doing a video or even speaking up about this sort of thing, but I feel like it’s getting to a point now in the world where there’s a lot of segregation,” the emotional Home And Away actor said in the now-deleted video that caused a days-long national uproar.

It was just one more fire for the network to put out. Days after the Summer Bay favourite bravely spoke out, reports surfaced that serial reality star Angie Kent was charged with drink driving after being busted at an RBT earlier this month. She’s currently filming the upcoming season of Channel 7’s Dancing With The Stars and, to cut her some slack, I’ll admit I can’t dance without drinking either.

All I’m saying is I’ve also won dance contests after consuming a four-pack of those tinned margaritas.

It must’ve been a shock for everyone over at Seven. They haven’t had to deal with a PR nightmare like this since … well … five weeks ago, when they were forced to nix news reporter Georgia Love from her on-air role following mass backlash for posting a video of a cat in the window of an Asian restaurant alongside the caption: “shop attendant or lunch?!”.

The outraged got kicked up a notch when an eight-year-old post from Love’s Instagram account resurfaced that showed the reporter joking about an animal hospital being next to a Chinese restaurant.

Coincidentally, all three of these ladies have starred as The Bachelorette. It’s upsetting how they’ve sullied the pristine reputation of the esteemed dating show. Osher must be disappointed and embarrassed.

Channel 7’s Kochie has also joined Georgia Love and Sam Frost in going rogue.

And it’s not just the Channel 7 girls getting in trouble. The downward spiral of Andrew O’Keefe continued this year with the now-former host of The Chase game show battling assault charges after a string of run-ins.

All this makes Channel 9’s troubles with Karl a few years ago seem like a walk in the park. Kerry Packer’s old empire used to be the rebellious network, where everyone worked hard and played harder. Now they’re practically a bunch of nerds.

Seven doesn’t need to worry. So, some chick on Dancing With The Stars is drunk? Excellent. The show might finally be interesting.

And with Sam Frost, there are silver linings. Maybe the Home And Away writers can work in a vaccination storyline, if they haven’t already done so. Probably not for Sam’s character – it’s a bit close to the bone. But what about Leah? 

Also, who knew Sam Frost was such a shock jock? Where were these abrasive opinions when she was hosting that radio show with Rove? Channel 7 execs should just book her onto Sunrise, toss her a newspaper and make her blurt out kneejerk opinions about the day’s hot topics.

SAS Australia’s Dan Ewing ... biting the hand that feeds him.

Speaking of Sunrise, even Kochie’s gone rogue.

“Dan Ewing comes across as a bit of a d**k. Is he really like that?” he commented on-air about the former Home And Away star’s appearance on the extreme reality series SAS Australia.

Koch didn’t even care he was talking about his own network stablemate – or that Ewing had himself gone rogue and embarked on somewhat of a national campaign to set the record straight about his unflattering portrayal on the reality show.

The furious star spoke out on several breakfast radio programs around the country, implying his own network and the production company behind the series had screwed him over in the editing process. He pledged to reveal the truth about what really happened on the show. Spoken like a true reality star.

Gosh. So many squeaky wheels over there at Seven. But execs shouldn’t be concerned. They need to lean into all this drama. They just announced My Kitchen Rules is coming back to screens next year. It seems like the perfect time for them to welcome Pete Evans back into their ragtag troupe of troubled misfits.

Twitter, Facebook: @hellojamesweir