Tully Smyth has been a fixture on Australian reality TV for over a decade ever since her breakout moment on Big Brother in 2013.
And now, she’s added Faithful on The Traitors Australia to her resume. The writer and content creator maintained a cool exterior on the show without raising any suspicion that she could be a Traitor, which made her too dangerous to keep in the game.
Kirby Bentley and Rhys Nicholson plotted her murder just before the finale, where Kirby was named the winner. Despite the betrayal, Tully and Kirby have since gotten their friendship back on track, but away from the manor, the Big Brother alum has revealed her experience on the show wasn’t always a good one.
Earlier in the season in a post captioned “I said what I said,” Tully shared a clip of a challenge on The Traitors Australia.
In the challenge from episode 3, the team carried a heavy raft up a mountain, but many of the louder men’s voices dominated the scene. In the challenge, one contestant at a time would stop carrying the raft and be tied to a pole. At the first pole, Australian Survivor’s Henry Nicholson decided that it should be the “ladies first” who would leave the challenge and therefore lose their chance at getting a Shield.
“This mission is targeting people with a lot of strength,” Housewives star Krissy Marsh said in a confessional. “The Survivors and the men are more than likely going to get a Shield.”
In the episode, Tully could be heard saying that the entire group should agree on who gets the Shield, rather than the men — however, her (rather valid) concerns were ignored. After the episode, Tully wrote that this moment was her “top 5 horror movies,” before she listed “sexism” and “trying to get a word in” as examples.
The post received plenty of comments agreeing with Tully, with eliminee, Cosima De Vito, writing on the video: “Amen to all 5. What a messed-up day.”
Tully’s ex-partner, Tahlia Farrant, agreed that “this whole challenge was such a hard watch.”
Tully Smyth describes a ‘boys club’ environment on The Traitors Australia
In an exclusive interview with Chattr, Tully revealed that this particular challenge wasn’t an isolated instance of the ‘sexism’ she felt on set. “There were lots of instances where it was just assumed that the girls were not as strong, not as smart, and that they couldn’t carry the heavy thing,” she said.
“This annoyed me in particular because not only was it about having to carry this heavy load, but we also were told that the final people would get a Shield.”
The new mum said that this meant the men had effectively decided they were more worthy of the Shield than the women. “It was the women – it was the gays, the theys, and the gals – that were just getting booted. I was like, hang on a minute here. First of all, screw you guys!” Tully vented.
“I’m probably just as strong, if not stronger, than some other of you.”
Sadly, Tully reveals that she believed some of the sexist attitudes in the manor were simply holding a mirror up to how women are treated on the outside. “Same with Dicko and his little boys’ club… as always with reality TV shows, it’s a reflection of society, right? This happens to women every day. This happens in your office when you try to suggest an idea at a meeting, and the louder guy talks over you or shuts you down. It happens every day,” she said.
“I tried to speak up. I tried to have my say, but it also comes to a point where you’re like, it’s not worth my effort, my time or my energy.”
However, Tully added that women being underestimated by the men in the manor ended up being their superpower. “I think the fact that the final four are one non-binary person and three women, that says it all, right? You boys thought you were so smart and so clever and so strong — look at the finale.” Amen gal!
The Traitors Australia viewers agree with Tully’s ‘sexism’ claims
Further into Tully’s comments, plenty of Traitors viewers agreed with her stance. “Every Traitors show, the first ‘endurance’ challenge, the sexism from the men rears its head towards the women,” read one comment.
Other viewers vented that “this challenge made me so mad” and the way the men treated the women had “set us back 100 years!”
This isn’t the first time the franchise has faced sexism allegations. In a challenge on The Traitors US season three, contestants had to sacrifice players in order to increase the prize pot, so several of the Housewives initially volunteered themselves. The male contestants quickly embraced the idea that women should be sacrificed, prompting online discussion accusing the men of treating women as more expendable in Traitors.
On the latest US season, Selling Sunset’s Chrishell Stause publicly accused Wes Bergmann of displaying sexist behaviour during the game, which Wes disputed.
Summer House’s Ciara Miller later spoke about the gender biases she felt women encountered on Traitors. “I kind of think that people are always going to underestimate the girls… [watching] the inherent misogyny that females have to face,” Ciara told Decider.
“The women really had to fight for their voices to be heard.”
The Traitors Australia can be streamed on Network 10 and 10Play.
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