Maia Dunphy has lashed out at a critique of her latest RTE2 series, The Truth About, deeming it a ‘personal attack’ towards herself and fellow presenter Angela Scanlon, whose new documentaries were also slated in the review.
A recent article branded her programmes, which deal with conversational topics such as Irish people making it in London and childbirth, as “lightweight, vacuous, self-absorbed guff where it’s not the subject matter, normally wafer-think anyway, that’s the most important thing, but the presenter.”
Maia felt the piece as a whole was an attack on her character rather than the show itself, and in an blog post wrote, “For the first time in my working life, I was taken aback by a review this week. It wasn’t objective, and it wasn’t a review.”
She continued, “I know this because it was clear when he referred to my recent programme on childbirth that he hadn’t even watched the show. To review a programme negatively is one thing; to do so when you haven’t watched it is unprofessional and reckless.”
“My role in all my observational documentaries is not to talk about myself for an hour, but as a lynchpin to encourage contributors to share their stories,” she added.
The reviewer then expressed that Maia “churns out one interchangeable documentary after another about puddle-deep supposed female obsessions: sex, shopping, beauty. fashion, fame, celebrity and blah, blah, blah.”
The presenter retorted, “I’m not one to bandy about accusations of misogyny because they can be as reckless and unhelpful as reviewing a show without having ever watched it, but if the cap fits.”
The critic also made it clear they are not a fan of Angela Scanlon’s work, and particularly dislike her use of social media.
During the article, they said her “website is practically a shrine to herself, full of admiring comments collected from various external sources and self-adoring photos”. Defending her fellow tv presenter, Maia brought up the point that Angela’s online activities have nothing to do with the show.
“You do understand that people who read Angela’s website do so by choice because they are interested in the content?” she wrote. “The second they lose interest or don’t like what they see, i would imagine they move on to something else or delete her from their bookmarks.
“And what on earth do the ‘self-adoring’ photos on her blog have to do with an objective critique of her series? It’s as futile a point as beginning a book review with details of what car the author drives.”
Meanwhile, Angela posted a short and sweet tweet on the matter, writing that she found the comments “personal & sexist”.
“The whole piece is borderline hysterical in every sense of the word,” she added.
