‘Amazing Race Australia’ alum Mel Greig talks Kate Middleton prank, aftermath

For the first time since the incredibly-tragic news broke late last week about a suicide involving a woman who was front and center in a radio prank-call scandal, former “Amazing Race Australia” contestant Mel Greig (who we first detailed in terms of her TV past here) and her fellow DJ Michael Christian are speaking out.

This has been a sad and complicated case, since this started out as just two people thinking that they were going to have a bit of fun calling up a hospital in England pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles, and Greig and Christian did not believe in a million years that one of the nurses in Jacintha Saldanha would be so distraught over falling victim to their prank (and giving up information on a pregnant Kate Middleton) that she would take their own life.

Speaking on “A Current Affair” (basically Australia’s version of “60 Minutes”), Greig apologized for her role in what happened, though she also does not necessarily take as much responsibility as some out there may hope:

“There’s not a minute that goes by that we don’t think about the family and what they must be going through and the thought we might have played a part in that is discouraging … I wanted to just to reach out to them and give them a hug and say sorry, I actually do feel sorry, I really do.”

Perhaps the one thing sparing Greig and Christian at the moment is that not enough people tend to see emotional damage in the same way as physical damage. Did they mean to cause this woman to take her life? Of course not, as there is no reason not to believe their claim that they were out to just have some silly fun and were just being reckless. Compare this to an accidental car accident that ends up taking someone’s life; the intent was not there to kill, but there  was still reckless behavior. The only difference (and what may save them from prosecution) is that the victim still had a choice to take her own life, and that is the route she took.

2DayFM has reportedly canceled Greig and Christian’s radio show, and what this whole ordeal shows are the consequences of trivializing any stunts  We often see this on reality TV, as well: someone makes a tiny comment that they believe is no big deal, but it ends up having earth-shattering consequences.

Do you buy Greig’s apology? If you want to check out our review for “The Amazing Race 21” finale, you can do so over here.

Photo: Channel 7