Upset: 'Boozed-Up Irish Abroad'

A young Irish holidaymaker has accused TV3 of deliberately portraying him in a bad light after he was filmed in a drunken state on the first episode of new documentary Boozed-Up Irish Abroad.


Johnny Williams from Maynooth, who was part of a group which holidayed in Santa Ponsa for the show, said he was misled by the station and that the show was "edited a certain way".


"I did not see the show before it went to air, only the advertisements that everyone else saw. I was shocked when I saw it. Out of the six nights we were there, I only went out for two. The way that it was shown on the programme was not the way the actual holiday went at all.


"We were told it would be 'Irish Abroad', not 'Boozed- Up Irish Abroad' as it was later changed to after everything had been filmed. I know a lot of the cast were extremely upset about that."


He said he believes the show deliberately took his worst moments and did not show other parts of the holiday. He was shown drunk on the programme and calling some of his friends "sluts". He was described by other holidaymakers as "horrible".


"I feel let down. I don't mind them showing me drunk – that is part of what happened. But it's the fact nothing else was shown. I regret doing the show – I thought it would be balanced but it was not. People are now making snap judgements on my character."


Williams, who was joined on the holiday by his girlfriend, was recorded apparently flirting with other women.


"They showed me drunk and flirting with girls behind my girlfriend's back but it was not like that. Now her mother has got upset and she has fallen out with friends because they say we are not a good couple."


TV3 maintains it did not encourage any of the holidaymaker's comments or actions.


"When Johnny states that it was edited in a certain way, that is simply untrue. The show's basic premise was purely observational. For example, when Johnny says that a girl 'looks like she came out of a skip', these were his own words," said spokeswoman Maureen Catterson.


TV3 has admitted, however, that it changed the show's original title because the "majority of footage featured the participants drinking".


Catterson said Williams was informed by the station beforehand what nights he would be filmed on. "Johnny was responsible for his own actions on those nights and he was the one who chose to drink on both nights."