Ricci Guarnaccio says ‘Geordie Shore’ had no aftercare.
Ricci Guarnaccio
The 34-year-old reality star joined the cast of the MTV reality show in series two before departing in series five, and has said that although he isn’t sure on the programme’s current procedures, there was nothing in place to check up on the star’s mental health whilst he was on the show.
Chatting to Simon Gross on 'Get Gossy With Grossy', he said: “I don’t know the procedures and how they roll now, but when I was on it, that wasn’t there. I had a friend, I won’t say his name but he was on the show, and he really struggled afterwards. Like, really really struggled, and he wasn’t on for long.
“But certain people have got to realise that these are huge shows. ‘Geordie Shore’, ‘Big Brother’, they’re huge. People go on there to change their lives and enjoy themselves and have a new experience, but that can completely flip. You can come off [the show] and be like ‘Oh my god, I hate that.’ You don’t know what to do with your life because you’re a celebrity now and you can’t do normal stuff like normal people anymore. So you don’t know where to go with your life.”
Ricci also admitted his friend struggled to find work after his appearance on the show, and was left in financial difficulty because ‘Geordie Shore’ didn’t pay its cast much money per series.
He added: “My friend, he didn’t get a job for two years and he didn’t get any money from ‘Geordie Shore’.
“We made no money back in them days. We were getting paid like … I think in the second series we made about £1,500. We made all the money up from public appearances, that’s why we were going all around the UK. We were hammering PAs, I did about 12 PAs in seven days, I was knackered.”
And the ‘Ex on the Beach’ star believes more needs to be done to protect the mental health of those who appear on reality shows, especially following the deaths of ‘Love Island’ contestants Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis, as well as host Caroline Flack.
He explained: “I don’t know what the situation is now but it’s definitely … since a few people have taken their lives and passed away and that kind of stuff, it’s something that should be looked into.”
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