Adelaide’s Highway pub apologises to ‘Jenny’ on behalf of all ‘Steves’ over her viral cheating ad

The mystery over the scorned Australian woman who posted a full page newspaper ad humiliating her boyfriend – or husband – for cheating has deepened with a pub coming forward to apologise.

Adelaide’s The Highway hotel posted a hilarious sorry response to ‘Jenny’ on its roadside sign after her full-page ad to ‘Steve’ became an international phenomenon.

Meanwhile, people are desperately trying to find out who is behind the brutal message.

‘Dear Steve, I hope you’re happy with her. Now the whole town will know what a filthy cheater you are,’ she said in a full page ad on page four of the Mackay & Whitsunday Life newspaper.

‘From Jenny. P.S. I bought this ad using your credit card.’

News of Steve’s smack-down in a Queensland regional newspaper went around the world, being reported in Asia, North America and Europe.

Scepticism over the brutal ad remained high, with many believing it was a hoax or PR stunt, perhaps for a new reality TV show.

The hype over Jenny’s trashing of her ex prompted the Adelaide pub’s duty manager, Steve Threlfo, to erect a giant sorry, on behalf of his apparently unfaithful namesake.

‘Dear Jenny, I’m sorry. From all the Steves,’ the street sign read, in effect answering Jenny’s ad that appeared in a regional Queensland newspaper on Friday.

The pub’s Facebook page explained further: ‘When your Duty Manager is named Steve, we thought we’d let him do the sign today.’ 

As of Saturday afternoon ‘Jenny’ had not come forward to claim the ad as hers in any media or in any local social media – despite many people tagging their friends by the same name.

Perhaps unsurprisingly ‘Steve’ had not come forward either – despite also being tagged by friends.

The hype over Jenny’s trashing of her ex prompted the Adelaide pub’s duty manager, Steve Threlfo, to erect a giant sorry, on behalf of his apparently unfaithful namesake

But on Saturday morning, the Mackay & Whitsunday Life’s advertising sales manager went on Weekend Today to play down claims of a hoax – at least not one by the paper itself.

He said the company received the online booking for the ad – worth between $1,500 and $2,000 – and published it it, but held off charging the credit card provided.

When they saw the artwork, they opted not to charge the card as it could technically have been a card fraud. 

Mike McCann, sales manager for the Mackay & Whitsunday Life, ‘urged’ the man named ‘Steve’ to come forward and ‘cover’ Jenny’s bill.

Mr McCann said staff thought the ad booking was ‘just crazy’ and the response was ‘phenomenal’.

The newspaper said it had been ‘inundated’ with dozens of messages about the ad, which was taken out on page 4 – premier newspaper real estate.

‘We do NOT know who Steve is, but apparently he’s been very bad,’ the news outlet said. ‘We won’t be revealing any details about Jenny,’ it said in a statement.

Mr McCann joked that he ‘might get in touch [with Jenny] and send a bottle of wine’ because of all the attention the local paper received.

Amused members of the public were torn between siding with Jenny, Steve, or writing the whole thing off as a yet-to-be-revealed ‘PR stunt’.

Although neither party had come forward, members of the public remained sceptical.

‘It’s probably just an ad made by TV producers for a new show coming up starring a Jenny and Steve,’ one woman posted on a Whitsundays social media page.