Selina Chaurr has shed more light on the racism she experienced while filming this year’s season of MAFS, and shared that she’s happy about the conversation the discrimination against her sparked.
The reality star made national headlines when her on-screen partner Cody Bromley admitted he wasn’t attracted to her partly because of her Asian ethnicity.
During the jarring scene, Selina asked Cody; “Is the lack of interest, attraction and affection due to my nationality and look?”
He responded, “I think it did honestly have something to play on it initially.”
“I’m not racist by any means but it’s not something I’m familiar with. To be honest… the short answer is it probably did.”
Cody then told producers, “Selina’s nationality, or ethnicity or however you want to phrase it, is not a big deal.”
“Selina typically isn’t my type, I do usually go for that blonde, surfy look, that’s just what I’m magnetised towards and what I’ve always gone for on the Northern Beaches.”
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While Selina largely avoided questions in the media surrounding Cody’s perceived prejudice, she’s now opened up about how the situation made her feel.
In an interview with Stellar, she said the scene made her feel “invisible and less-than. I pointed out to him, ‘Is it because I’m Asian?’ To which he answered, ‘Yes, you’re not something I’m used to,’ and ‘Your ethnicity did have something to play with that.’ He knew immediately how wrong and hurtful those words were.”
While Selina and Cody stayed together until the reunion dinner party, they abruptly split when Cody dumped her straight after filming wrapped for the night.
“It’s OK to know your worth enough to let go of something that’s not good for you,” Selina said of the breakup.
“My confidence got completely annihilated on that show. It brought back so much of my childhood trauma of feeling not good enough, and ugly.”
However, the 32-year-old added that while it was hard for her to deal with the remarks, she’s glad that they sparked a larger conversation.
“As painful as that initial experience was, it sparked conversation around a topic that we kind of tiptoe around. “[I’ve seen] people saying, ‘She’s insecure!’ Basically saying ‘[Bromley] is just not that into Asians, that doesn’t mean he’s racist.’
“What prompted me to ask the hard-hitting question, ‘Is it because I’m Asian that you’re just not interested?’ [was that] there was behaviour of prejudice, which is a feeling of unfair dislike directed at me because of my skin colour.”
“I was born and raised in Australia, but there wasn’t really much Asian representation in the beauty or fashion industry. I’d like to be part of that [diversity] movement. It is slowly happening. I’d love to have that little girl sitting in her room going, ‘Wow, Mum, that girl looks like me.’”
In the same Stellar interview, Cody denied accusations of racism.
“I always made a point to be as honest as I could with Selina. I couldn’t care less what her ethnicity – or nationality, as she phrased it – is.
“Having never dated an Asian girl, it was simply a bit unfamiliar to me, it wasn’t that it bothered me. The [initial] question orientated around attraction and I wish I’d said what I did at the following commitment ceremony [at which he told Chhaur her ethnicity is “not how I look at you”].
“Unfortunately getting hit with a sensitive question like that unexpectedly in front of the cameras is very confronting. I regretfully didn’t handle things well.”
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