Sadly, it wasn’t Alf Stewart mouthing off (how iconic would that be?) but apparently Nicholas Cartwright, who plays Cash Newman. And to be honest, if it was him who sent this spicy message, it was low-key deserved.
Daily Mail revealed that former Network Script Executive Dan Bennett poked the bear by sliding into Cartwright’s DMs.
After the star was busy promoting an upcoming storyline that sees the famed River Boys coming back to spice up Summer Bay, Bennett sent him a row of “zzz” emojis to tell him it was boring.
Bennett was the Network Script Exec from 2016 to 2017, so I’m not sure why he’s so invested in the show seven years later OR why he’s contacting actors, who famously have nothing to do with writing the storylines, to complain.
“The show’s trying to re-energise that whole crime tone – the drugs and the devilishness – and all I’ve done is send him a message saying, ‘zzz’ – as in, ‘that’s a bit boring, we’ve seen all that before’,” Bennett explained.
“That’s just my view, I’m just a fan these days. But next thing you know, I’ve got Nicholas Cartwright – one of the supposed stars of the show – sending me DMs and calling me a cunt.”
Bennett added that he hasn’t ever met or worked with Nicholas directly, so if this is how he’s treating fans, it’s “deeply concerning”.
What was said in the Home and Away ‘cunt’ convo?
Bennett showed the messages between him and what appears to be Cartwright’s account directly to Daily Mail, and ooft, it’s a doozy.
After the Network Script Executive kicked the convo off with his excessive amount of “zzz” emojis, Cartwright responded with a simple: “Rude response from someone in the industry Dan”.
In response, Bennett then sent Cartwright an essay which IMO, was pretty unnecessary.
“Or perhaps an informed response from someone who knows that show better than anyone else on the planet and is bereft to see it reverting to River Boy nonsense,” he said.
“The notion that we should support productions simply because we’re in the ‘industry’ as opposed to supporting them because the quality is A+, is nonsense. How does anyone fair [sic] by applauding mediocrity as opposed to excellence?”
The convo then seemed to come to an end when Cartright responded with: “Okay mate try not to be a cunt about it next time”, followed by the dreaded thumbs-up emoji.
In the ultimate snitch move, Bennett contacted his ex-colleagues at Seven Network to complain about Cartwright’s behaviour.
“I don’t want to piss on anyone’s career, or get anyone in trouble, but I’ve messaged his seniors and been told that it’s been dealt with and I’m happy with that,” he told Daily Mail.
“He was probably just having a bad day and pissed off about something else. But it wasn’t a nice experience and I would hate to think he’d message anyone else something like that.”
Home and Away has become somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy lately as the behind-the-scenes drama is beginning to mirror the outlandish storylines occurring in the episodes. Seeing as the soap stars’ salaries are causing controversy and Ada Nicodemou and James Stewart‘s relationship has been under scrutiny, this cunty message could not have come at a worse time.
I’m begging the writers to please incorporate Alf accidentally calling someone a cunt via message as part of an upcoming storyline. It would become an instant classic, I swear!