TV3 were forced to scrap footage from Sunday’s episode of Blind Date – after they discovered a contestant had a criminal history.
David Mulligan from Lucan, Co Dublin appeared on the first episode of the series where he secured a date with the first contestant.
The latest episode of the show was meant to air footage of his date, but TV3 took the decision to not screen the footage.
According to reports, David was previously convicted of assaulting a man in his 50s in Sydney, Australia.
He was originally given a 15-month suspended sentence, but the Court of Criminal Appeal decided his sentence was too lenient and was then ordered to spend a year in prison.
According to the Sunday World, a judge called for a harsher conviction after reviewing the CCTV footage, which showed him repeatedly punching a man in the face.
The assault left the victim with “a fractured eye socket, fractured jaw and a collapsed sinus that led to a lung infection”.
Apparently David’s parole was revoked in 2014, and he then fled the country, then starting a manhunt by New South Wales police.
“TV3 were shocked to learn of David Mulligan’s assault conviction, which was not declared to the production company,” a TV3 representative said.
“All applicants were quizzed on whether they had any previous convictions or ongoing criminal proceedings during the vetting process and signed a declaration that they did not.
“In light of this information, we have pulled the repeat of this episode from our schedule and edited Mr Mulligan from Sunday night’s episode.”
