The Ten network was granted an injunction in the New South Wales supreme court on Thursday evening, forcing the Daily Mail to take down a story and photographs that gave away the ending of The Bachelorette Australia.
The Bachelorette has been a huge hit for the Ten network, attracting more than a million viewers to its penultimate episode on Wednesday night. The reality series is shot well in advance of screening and the identity of the man the Bachelorette chooses is a closely guarded secret, usually respected by the media.
But the Daily Mail bought a series of paparazzi shots, taken through a hotel window, of the Bachelorette, Sam Frost, kissing her chosen beau, Sasha Mielczarek.
The couple were posing for exclusive embargoed photographs for the Daily Telegraph when they were snapped in a hotel room in Sydney’s Darling Harbour.
The photos were published several hours before the Bachelorette finale went to air at 7.30pm on Ten.
The supreme court granted the injunction during the show but it was too late for many fans who had inadvertently seen the story or posts about it on social media.
The Daily Mail removed the offending story and the social media posts by about 8pm. The media and marketing website Mumbrella revealed the injunction had been granted just as the show was ending.
Furious readers condemned the publication’s action in comments on the story and on Twitter.
@kristian_silva They haven't even tried to hide it in the FB feed, it's there with pics and a big headline. Readers weren't given a choice.
— Penny Dahl (@Pennycopter) October 22, 2015
In the final episode of The Bachelorette, Sam took Sasha and Michael, the remaining two bachelors, to New Zealand’s North Island, where she made her final decision.
On Friday morning the Telegraph initially ran its story on the injunction under the headline: “‘Dear Daily Mail. F*** you. Sincerely. Everyone.’”
The Daily Mail was unapologetic, vowing to appeal the injunction “forcing us to remove an exclusive story and pictures about reality dating show The Bachelorette”.
A spokesman for Daily Mail Australia said: “We were served with an injunction by Network Ten but we have not had sight of the reasons for the judge’s decision.
“We swiftly abided by the terms of the injunction, however, but shall be challenging the terms of that injunction immediately as we do not consider that such a decision is either fair or right.”
Speaking to KIIS FM’s Kyle and Jackie O on Friday morning Frost said it was “awful” that someone had taken photos through the windows.
“Fans on my Instagram were like, ‘I don’t even want to watch the show, it’s spoiled,’ … I checked the Daily Mail and I’m like, ‘You’re joking.’ They’re not allowed to take photos inside, are they?”
“We were 10 floors up and they’re in a building opposite with a huge lens. It’s really scary.”
Despite the spoiler, the The Bachelorette finale topped Thursday night’s TV ratings with 1.52 million viewers watching the final decision. It outperformed the corresponding segment on The Bachelor, which drew 1.482 million viewers.
The build-up on the final episode was seen by 1.241 million viewers, well ahead of the third place show, Nine News at 6.30pm, which had 986,000.
On Friday afternoon Ten discharged the injunction. “Network Ten applauds the decision of the supreme court to grant the injunction last night,” a spokesman said. “At Ten’s initiative we have sought the injunction be discharged given that it has completely served its purpose.”
The lifting of the injunction led the Daily Mail to repost the pictures.
