Olivia Frazer has fast become one of the greatest “villains” Married At First Sight Australia has ever seen. Are her biting words and bitter facial expressions given an extra-dramatic-twist in the editing process? Of course.
There were no ominous violins playing when these events happened in real life. But, would we classify what’s happening here as a bad edit? Her groom, Jackson Lonie, certainly would.
WATCH: Olivia and Domenica get into a heated argument on MAFS
Olivia has been at the centre of what the Nine Network called a “nude photo scandal” this season, as it was revealed she – or her friends, she won’t be clear on which – used “Google” to find a naked image of Domenica Calarco.
She then showed the image to most other contestants, except for Domenica’s husband Jack Millar and Domenica’s friends Ella Ding and Mitch Eynaud. As such, viewers have been outraged by her behaviour and subsequent comments in the media.
Let’s take a step back, though. Is there such a thing as a “bad edit” on MAFS? Yes. Of course.
Reality TV stars like Abbie Chatfield on The Bachelor Australia and Locky Gilbert on SAS Australia could speak to the concept of a “bad edit” – where you’re painted as a villain without actually doing anything specifically wrong. They didn’t circulate a nude image of a fellow contestant, for instance, but received edits that pretty much exclusively cut together their more controversial moments.
On this season of MAFS, Ella and Mitch reveal their relationship is being portrayed as full of “bad moments” when Ella says it was mostly “super fun and positive” in reality.
“It’s definitely different to what I had expected. What they’re choosing to air and the narrative, it’s fine like I’m not crying over the so-called-edit or anything like that, but there’s so much stuff they haven’t shown,” Ella tells WHO.
Sure, that could be considered a bad edit.
Sourcing and sharing a nude image of another contestant, without their knowledge, and then claiming it’s public information? That is not a bad edit.
Saying you’re all about #supportingwomen in 2022 and therefore it’s not a big deal, because it meant nothing to you? Shutting the door in Domenica’s face when she came to ask about the photo? That is not a bad edit.
Those are arguably bad choices that have been made and repeatedly defended, which are now having negative repercussions.
Instead of owning up to it though, Olivia and her husband Jackson are doubling down and going with the well-worn “bad edit” defense in the face of intense backlash from fans.
In an interview with our sister site Now To Love, Jackson claimed the editing appeared to set “poor Liv” up to be a villain.
“To be perfectly honest, I’m watching this show and its like I didn’t live it. It’s been fairly flipped around a lot,” he says. “It’s kind of like they wanted to set this up from the start so poor Liv gets a reaming from everybody.”
He also brought up the glass incident as an example. Jackson’s claiming that the “editing” was to blame here, because viewers accused Olivia of “lying” about Domenica “waving a glass in my face.”
In the scenes viewers saw, she smashed the glass down on the table and wasn’t seen waving it in anyone’s face. In his notes on the glassing scandal, Jackson claims every girl he spoke to that night said the same thing as Olivia.
“As soon as I heard that whole thing the first person I spoke to was Ella because she’s always neutral, and she says ‘oh look it was in her fingers maybe a bit too long, it wasn’t meant as a weapon but it was in there’. Every girl I spoke to that night said the same thing but once again that edit is an amazing thing,” Jackson says.
But in the episode, we literally heard Ella claim Olivia was blowing things out of proportion and that her version of events was not what happened.
There’s absolutely a possibility this was edited as Jackson says… but, do we think if there was footage of a contestant waving a broken glass in the face of another that the producers would have cut that out? Seems unlikely, especially considering we’ve watched all manner of horrible things unfold this season.
To be clear though, if Domenica was “holding the stem for too long” as suggested, that still wouldn’t be a justifiable reason to go and source and distribute a naked image of another person without their consent.
That’s why the “bad edit” line is frustrating, because it belittles the seriousness of what’s happened here. Deliberate actions, not small edited remarks here or there, is what’s being condemned.
Jackson’s comments echo those of Olivia, who said it was “disgusting” that Domenica was receiving a “hero edit.”
But the thing is, Domenica has been shown on-screen to be divisive among contestants for her opinions. She hasn’t been shown to be beloved by all – it just turns out that viewers happen to agree with her on many of the big issues. If she’s become a “hero” to viewers, she did it all on her own.
You still have a choice with what you do or don’t do. What you say or don’t say. We all know producers will ask contestants to repeat a line or deliberately probe for the quote they want to hear – but the show is not scripted.
If you say or do something controversial, the reality of reality TV is that it will air and people will have plenty of opinions. As Domenica herself puts it, watching what happened on our screens was tough.
“It’s very confronting and I think it was also confronting for the public to watch also,” she tells WHO, adding the ongoing drama boils down to whether or not people are willing to own up to their actions.
“Still to this day, though, Olivia never apologised to me, Tamara never did, Samantha never did, so there’s a lot still that people aren’t owning up to and that’s their prerogative. Whatever. It says more about them.”
In an interview with Nova, Olivia said that some of her comments at that controversial Dinner Party were about things viewers haven’t seen yet.
“I’m actually sick of hearing and seeing Olivia trying to defend her behaviour,” Domenica hits back. “Well, I don’t know what she’s trying to say there. That in itself is showing lack of accountability, she literally just has this vendetta against me. And it’s absolutely despicable because [Jackson] is trying to make any kind of excuse for her and I will not bloody stand for that. I can’t handle fake people, I can’t handle lies, and they did something I will not stand for.”
Bad edit or not, one thing is clear in the eyes of many viewers and even the show’s resident experts: Olivia’s behaviour on the show has been unacceptable and some accountability is long overdue.
Married At First Sight Australia airs Monday to Wednesday, 7:30pm, and Sunday, 7pm, on Nine Network and 9Now.
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