Earl de Blonville has said and done some very sick things but the publication above (which Earl proudly claims both authorship and copyright for) is beyond the pale. That’s me, Kent Madin, in the inset photo above. The image is a goofy, fun shot that Earl scraped (copyright violation) from my Facebook page.
Earl and Susie dated for about 15 months before she threw him out of her house and life in 2009. According to Susie, her relationship with Earl had cost her 200k AUD in room, board, and loans to Earl for his various schemes, loans never repaid. Far more painful was the abuse, the gas lighting, the tantrums, the binges. Susie was the ONLY (and volunteer) editor of Earl’s 400-page book, Seventh Journey about the 1986 Australian Arctic Seakayak expedition, a job she did FOR FREE (and also designed the book covers). Seventh Journey was self-published by Earl because no publisher was interested and has subsequently sold in the hundreds. Earl touts the book as the bible of his philosophy of leadership and the cornerstone to his claim of being a “global leadership expert”. No one associated with that expedition has anything good to say about Earl or his leadership.
Earl acknowledged Susie in the first printing (“My deepest love and thanks to Susie Surtees for her faith, guidance, skill, and the tireless work that has allowed the story to truly shine.”) then dropped any reference to her in the second printing under a new title and cover as “Savage Coast” (and a new girlfriend). Earl also dropped the original dedication to “the people of East Greenland” and inserted his new girlfriend, Jennifer Gidley, who has no connection to Greenland or the story.
Susie Surtees LOATHED Earl, full stop. Susie responded to me, Kent Madin, when I was researching Earl’s dubious professional claims and offered information about Earl. I cautioned her that, however awful the personal details of their relationship might have been, my focus was on the truth/fiction of Earl’s professional claims. In that area, Susie was a goldmine including details of Earl’s failed schemes, failed effort to get a Ph.D. through an internet diploma mill, failed speaking career, his name change (he was born Earle Robert Bloomfield) and his purchase of the title “Viscount of Saxmundham”, etc. She also put me in touch with the girlfriend who directly preceded Susie, can corroborate these facts and whose story of abuse and threats and unpaid loans for failed schemes mirrored Susie’s.
Susie was an enthusiastic contributor to the research on Earl’s professional claims. Susie’s daughter knew all about Susie’s and my communications regarding Earl. I learned of Susie’s death when her daughter wrote to me to let me know and made it clear that Susie was pleased to have actively helped to expose Earl and his multiple frauds. The email archive of communications with Susie makes it clear she was a willing and proactive participant in documenting the story. Susie’s obituary is here. Not to put too fine a point on it..Susie loathed Earl.
But let’s parse this incredibly bizarre, borderline-insane article from Earl. The first two sentences are true. But then Earl goes straight to crazy town. I never “stalked her for months online” whatever that is supposed to mean. We spoke initially and at length on the phone and continued with email. Susie sent me, of her own initiative and volition, a lot of information and pictures including the “semi-nude” image that Earl is so incensed about. It was sent as an illustration (along with two other photos) of the hike up Mt. Feathertop they had taken and how the great explorer had failed to bring enough water and collapsed in fatigue while Susie did the cooking and chores. This entire document makes Susie sound like a gullible, manipulatable, weak woman, an absolutely false characterization and a window into Earl’s general misogyny (Earl’s mother abandoned him as a child, cut him out of her will as an adult and Earl has publicly declared it was the best start in life for him).
But let’s look at the TRULY delusional part of this document. “She had been cruelly manipulated into divulging private material on another man with whom Madin had been sexually obsessed for years”. Earl feverishly imagines that he is a compelling sex object. So Earl is claiming that I wanted to get sexy photos of Earl, a man I have never met and find entirely creepy and revolting in addition to being a fraud, narcissist, and liar? You can’t make this stuff up.. but apparently, Earl can.
And then we have the unintended reveal of the true Earl. “She finally realized she could be sued and was at risk of losing her home.” Who, we might ask, is going to sue Susie and take her home away because she sent photographs of Earl to me? The only person in the world who gives a shit about the picture, Earl de Blonville!
Suggesting that Susie committed suicide and blaming it on me because she was going to lose her home when Earl sued her is so sick, so irrational and so plain evil.. but pure Earl. And then we have the final, bizarre touch.. that the proof of this deranged theory is that I published the picture of Earl. So the logic is that Susie sent me that picture, then saw it published and imagined that Earl was going to sue her and she would lose her home. Except for one pesky fact. This picture of Earl was not published until AFTER Susie’s death. After she sent me the pictures, we joked about printing them and her response was (paraphrasing) “not until I am gone, I don’t want that creep to call or show up”.
As for the preposterous notion that I am sexually obsessed with Earl…well that’s another window into Earl’s twisted mind. Now, ask yourself.. would this picture turn anyone on? He’s flabby, bone white and wearing tighty-whiteys! After seeing this, most people would just want to take a shower.
I can prove in spades that this vile speculation is delusion writ large. And Earl’s document is defamatory on the face of it.. allegations that Earl KNOWS are false, intended to embarrass and harm me in the eyes of others.
If you are one of the shrinking group of Earl’s friends and acquaintances who have failed to see what a loathsome individual he is, now is your chance to reconsider. And if you want to fact-check this for yourself, contact me and I will provide you contact information for people who can independently confirm what I have said here.
Of all the responses to Earl’s bizarre claims about Susie Surtees, this one from a member of the 1986 kayak expedition stands out: “This is beyond comprehension. I feel embarrassed that a fellow Aussie has done this to you and a departed person/friend. He is truly evil and even I who claim to know how crazy he is feel numb. But I must admit I DID bust out laughing when I read his line on your sexual obsession of him. Especially followed by the photo of the washed-up dugong.”
Not one of Lismore or NSW or Australia’s finest regardless of how he pimps himself in print: https://5ea29e28ce692.site123.me/
Here’s a few news articles about Earl’s latest project:
Fri, Aug 5 at 10:32 AM
https://pdfhost.io/v/3lFIwp0bM_fyns_amts_courage_scrapped_July_3_2022_Earle_de_blonvile
https://pdfhost.io/v/vZkZIYP4M_Fyns_Amts_Main_article_Henrik
https://pdfhost.io/v/VFhBLCGnL_Fyns_kim_rasmussen_courage_carola_destroy_soren
https://pdfhost.io/v/Rk2f8WHCX_Henrik_fyns_la_boheme_earl_sue_shipyard
https://pdfhost.io/v/2KySkvobe_Soren_Fyns_hartvig_rudkobing_shipbuilder