The Block: Sharon Johal says people of colour are treated ‘differently’ on the show
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Sharon Johal says people of color are treated ‘differently’ on The Block and that producers are not ‘protecting’ them from racist abuse
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Sharon Johal and Ankur Dogra have had a rough time as the “villains” of this year’s season of The Block.
After being torn apart by trolls for their mistakes on the show, Sharon opened up to Yahoo lifestyle on Friday about the lack of support from producers.
She pointed out that a person of color being labeled a “cheat” elicits a different reaction from viewers than a white person receiving the same criticism.
After being torn apart by trolls for their mistakes on The Block, Sharon Johal opened up on Friday about the lack of support she and her husband Ankur Dogra received from producers.
The former Neighbors star, 34, believes The Block’s producers lacked the ‘consciousness’ to ‘protect’ them from online racist abuse.
“When you attribute the word ‘impostor’ to a person of color it goes straight to, ‘Oh, these Indians are stealing our jobs, get out of our country,'” she said.
She went on to say that some viewers had been “ruthless” in “digging up” something from her past to slander her and Ankur.
‘These people come looking for you, they find your email address. They find your family’s email address. They try to dig dirt on you. They just don’t stop and it’s relentless,” she said.
Sharon, 34, pointed out that a person of color being labeled a “cheat” elicits a different reaction from viewers than when a white person is confronted with the same criticism. She believes the producers did not have the ‘awareness’ of this to ‘protect’ them from online racist abuse
She added: “[We were] in the spotlight, and the social media… when the show is over, we’ll still be carrying all those things with us.”
Sharon said the couple’s experience on The Block was “culturally unsafe” and that they went into it “naively” without understanding how “manipulative” reality TV can be.
The actress revealed that 15 former contestants had reached out to her with messages of support and warned them to “bracing themselves” for the inevitable abuse.
“When you attribute the word ‘impostor’ to a person of color it goes straight to, ‘Oh, these Indians are stealing our jobs, get out of our country,'” she said. (Pictured: An example of some of the racist abuse Sharon and Ankur received from viewers)
It echoes concerns that fellow contestants Omar and Oz have recently expressed with frontman Dan on The Block.
Western Sydney’s partners — the only other people of color on the Nine renovation show — were nicknamed “dodgy dealers” after scoring a baby grand piano for just $7,500, prompting the other teams to request a financial audit.
Omar explained that the word “dodgy” can trigger a different reaction from viewers at home when used to describe a person of color rather than a white Australian.
Sharon said the couple’s experience on The Block was “culturally unsafe” and that they went into it “naively” without understanding how “manipulative” reality TV can be.
He said: ‘It’s very easy to go to House 2 where Matty from Elevate is building and you say it’s unreliable and it probably won’t get anyone to watch it from home, but if you tell a Lebo or an Afghan or someone of completely different color and culture, it’s very different.’
The pair told foreman Dan they were worried they would look like ‘two wogs’ [doing] dodgy s**t on TV’.
They said it was “hurtful” because they wanted to change Australians’ perception of their community after experiencing racism growing up.
It echoes concerns that fellow contestants Omar and Oz have recently expressed with frontman Dan on The Block. Western Sydney’s partners were nicknamed ‘dodgy dealers’ after scoring a baby grand piano for just $7,500, prompting the other teams to request a financial audit