Matthew Ridge didn't watch The Ridges, his partner Carly Binding has confirmed. Photo / Herald on Sunday
Matthew Ridge didn't watch The Ridges, his partner Carly Binding has confirmed. Photo / Herald on Sunday
Matthew Ridge didn't watch a single second of his daughter and his ex-wife's exploits on their controversial reality show The Ridges.
The former All Black and international league representative was seen in the first episode walking away from TV cameras on Ponsonby Road as they filmed an episode of TheRidges, starring his ex Sally Ridge and their daughter Jaime.
Jaime, 18, admitted in an episode of the TV3 show that she was estranged from her father, and Matthew's current partner Carly Binding - with whom he has a two-year-old son - has now confirmed that the couple didn't tune into The Ridges.
"We just didn't go there - we didn't watch it," Binding tells this week's edition of Woman's Weekly.
Binding, a former member of made-for-TV girl group TrueBliss who is now appearing in an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, also had a warning for Jaime.
"As a former reality star myself, I know that when you're young you have no idea what you're doing. You don't know that once you've done it, it will be forever how the public define you," Binding told WW.
"No matter who you are, or how you change, you will always be that girl from the show."
Binding, who turned down the opportunity to be part of the recent TrueBliss reunion, said the "stigma" of being a reality TV star had "changed me a lot".
"It took me a long time to get over doing it, and even now there's a stigma that stays with you forever. You have to bear that in mind when you decide to be in a reality show."
The Ridges followed Sally and Jaime as they moved into a new home, partied together and took on Rosanna Arkle in a celebrity boxing bout.
It screened for six episodes to middling reviews. Ratings dropped away after a strong start, but bounced back with the show's last episode. TV3 hasn't yet confirmed whether there will be a second season.
Another ex of Sally's, Adam Parore, used a lawyer to stop his children Astin, 9, and Mclane, 5, appearing in the show.
