A reality TV star has sparked backlash after laughing while recounting her experience in the water during a terrifying shark attack at Sydney’s Coogee Beach.
Molly Paradice, known for appearing on Made in Chelsea and its Australian spin-off Made in Bondi, shared a video describing her shock after realising she had been in the water at Bondi Beach at the time of the incident.
In the now-deleted TikTok, the 25-year-old joined the ‘put a finger down’ trend, where participants lower a finger for each statement that applies to them.
‘Put a finger down if you were just in the middle of the ocean doing an ocean swim in Bondi, and you hear a noise, and you put your head above the water, and you think “That sounds like the f**king shark alarm”,’ she began.
Molly added that she ignored the shark alarm and continued to swim until she heard lifeguards over a loudspeaker urging beachgoers to return to shore.
‘So, you start swimming as fast as you can f**king swim. You’re hundreds of metres from any land because you’re too lazy to walk around to where you should swim, you just swim off a random rock. And then you think to yourself, “F**k, this actually could be how I go”,’ she added, laughing.
Reality TV star Molly Paradice (pictured) has sparked backlash after laughing while recounting her experience in the water during a terrifying shark attack at Sydney’s Coogee Beach
The blonde jewellery designer then revealed she was rescued by a fisherman couple who were on a boat and dropped her onto a rock.
‘You climb up on the rock. The couple next to you tells you that a lady was bitten in Coogee, which is like, a few beaches over this morning. She’s in critical condition in hospital, and now you’re just sitting on the rock, a little rattled about that, and reconsidering your life choices,’ she concluded her video through laughs.
‘Put a finger down if that was you. Oh my god, oh my god.’
The shark attack victim, a 35-year-old woman named Leah Stewart, is now in a critical but stable condition at St Vincent’s Hospital as of Monday.
Molly’s video drew criticism following the incident, with many branding the video as ‘tone deaf’ and ‘insensitive’.
‘Fascinating to see such a lack of social awareness,’ someone commented.
‘Respectfully girly with someone in a critical condition this is not it,’ a fan added.
‘How can I make this about me,’ someone jabbed, to which another agreed, ‘100% it’s not about you !!’
The Made in Chelsea star shared a video describing her shock after realising she had been in the water at Bondi Beach at the time of the incident
Molly’s video drew criticism following the incident, with many branding the video as ‘tone deaf’ and ‘insensitive’ while others urged her to delete the video
‘Mildly insensitive given the circumstances?’ one user asked.
Meanwhile, others slammed the television star for laughing during her recount.
‘What’s so funny?’ someone asked, while another said, ‘No need to laugh.’
‘The fact you’re laughing about this is wild,’ said another.
‘This is weird,’ another simply said, while several others urged Molly to delete the video.
Ms Stewart suffered devastating injuries to her arm and leg after being attacked just 30 metres from shore on Saturday morning.
She was airlifted to St Vincent’s Hospital after being brought from the water by an off-duty lifeguard, Charlie Verco, 24.
‘I’d like to think I did enough to get her in fast enough,’ he told 7NEWS.
The shark attack victim, a 35-year-old woman named Leah Stewart, is now in a critical but stable condition at St Vincent’s Hospital
‘Once I had her next to me, I was just going, “keep your head above water, keep breathing, you’re doing really well, we’re almost at the beach.”
‘Just anything, I guess, to fill the silence. It wasn’t conversational. She was not in a great way.’
Surf Life Saving NSW said she was semi-conscious and breathing when transported for treatment.
The incident has prompted renewed calls from NSW independent MP Rod Roberts for shark culls around heavily populated beaches.
‘We’re not talking about culling out on the Great Barrier Reef, just the popular swimming areas around Sydney,’ Mr Roberts said.
Marine experts and conservationists, however, have warned that culling is neither a sustainable nor scientifically supported solution to reducing shark attacks.
Footage captured by the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter showed a large shark swimming close to shore after the attack.
The animal is believed to have been between three and four metres long and may have been a great white shark, a protected species.
