Married at First Sight bride Bec Zacharia is under major fire after reportedly receiving $30,000+ worth of dresses for free from small business RESRVD and only providing just one tag on her “burner account” as a “quid pro quo” payment for the gown.
The dress hire scandal, which erupted during Australian Fashion Week (AFW), has resulted in all of Bec’s social media accounts being taken down over the weekend after she was mass reported by people outraged that she could seemingly take advantage of a small, female-owned business — one that would have hugely benefited from the exposure of being featured on the highest-rated reality show in the country.
The loss of access to her accounts comes after RESRVD posted a video in response to an interview Bec did with The Gloss Podcast during AFW.
In the video, the business owner, Savannah Lee, calls out Bec for not fulfilling the promises she made to the small business after receiving one of their dresses for free and wearing it to the Final Vows.
Speaking to WHO, Savannah said she sent multiple complimentary gowns for the MAFS bride to try, with the total hire price valued at more than “$9,450” and the “retail price for all the gowns being over $30,000″+ AUD”.
While Bec claims in an interview with Daily Mail that there was “no communication” between her and Savannah regarding the dress hire company’s “grievances”, Savannah told WHO a different story.
Bec’s $20,000 MAFS wardrobe claim comes out during AFW
During AFW, Bec did an interview with The Gloss Podcast, claiming that she spent almost $20,000 on her wardrobe for MAFS, that she had “no budget” for the clothes and accessories on the show, and she was the “only bride” to have bought her own dresses while everyone else hired.
However, Savannah took to Instagram and TikTok on Friday to explain that Bec actually reached out to her business to hire one of her dresses for free for Final Vows in exchange for exposure.
As a small business, Savannah explained she was honoured and excited by the opportunity, but while she was promised lots from Bec, she only received a tag on a post Bec made on her private “burner account”.
This account only boasted 10,000 followers as opposed to her main account with more than 76,000 followers.
The post received thousands of likes and comments from fans and media personalities sending their regards and support for the business, including 2022 MAFS participant Domenica Calarco who claimed that Bec “could have paid [her] considering she was given budget for that Final Vows dress.”
Even Gia Fleur from Bec’s MAFS season commented her support and posted a video promoting the business on her own account.
RESERVD owner hits back at Bec’s dress claims
Speaking to WHO, Savannah explained why she chose this moment to air her grievances publicly.
“This situation isn’t new to me as it’s been ongoing for quite some time,” Savannah said. “I have not mentioned anything about my experience until I saw the post about Bec at Fashion Week. I’d really like to mention that when I saw this video, I and many other people commented that she wore RESRVD for final vows. There were so many comments of support.
“This post which was collaborated between the podcast reporter and Bec herself then deleted all the comments and stopped any further comments. Just in the span of the evening with constant comments of support for my business, the post reached 700,000 views.
“I’d also like to add that I was even more motivated to communicate that Bec had worn rental clothing as @sustainably.dresshire commented on the Fashion Week post also letting the audience know she dressed Bec (and other brides) many times throughout the season. This means, even if Bec was talking ONLY about her dresses on the show and not bridal gowns, that what she said is still untruthful as she wore dresses from Sustainably Dress Hire.”
Following the video, Bec posted an apology on her main account, prior to her account being locked.
Bec responds to the backlash
However, after Bec was locked out of her social media accounts following the mass-reporting that erupted after Savannah’s video, the reality TV star told Daily Mail that she’s now facing financial ruin.
“This is my only form of income, and that has now been taken away from me,” Bec told the publication on Sunday. “I am a small business now. All of the deals that I’ve got going on rely on me having my Instagram, and the hate that I’m getting every five minutes, I’m getting abuse.
“I thought Savannah was happy, because she had commented saying I look beautiful… having seen that Savannah was commenting on all of the press and media saying they dressed me for Final Vows, I was under the impression she was happy with what I did.”
Bec then went on to tell the publication that the emotional trauma of being rejected by Danny at Final Vows clouded her judgement, saying that “seeing the dress is extremely triggering for [her].”
She also said that Savannah never communicated her grievances privately with her, and claimed that she wasn’t an “influencer” and didn’t know the full extent of how brand collaborations worked.
“I wish there had been communication where she could have told me her grievances… I would have done everything to fix that for her,’ she said to Daily Mail. “I’m not an influencer. I’m just a normal girl. I thought what I had done was satisfactory.”
“My small business is now completely gone. It’s my livelihood… I just need my Instagram back.”
While Bec claims Savannah never reached out to her, Savannah claims to WHO that she did.
Savannah from RESRVD responds to Bec’s claim that there was “no communication”
Savannah explained to WHO how a single tag on her “burner account” was nowhere near the deal agreed upon between the business and reality TV star.
“At the time I was communicating with Bec prior to final vows being filmed and up until MAFS took over her account, it was via her main Instagram account (which has 70K+ followers currently),” Savannah explained, describing how she had no knowledge of Bec’s “burner account”, if it even existed at that time.
“This means while we were communicating and she was promising to promote and share my small business on her page, it was to be her main page (the page we communicated on before final vows).”
Savannah also told WHO that she “contacted Bec multiple times via Instagram on her main account, burner account and via text message, “all to no avail”, before posting that video on Friday.
“It’s disappointing,” she said. “Both Bec and I know what was communicated and how many times my messages were ignored. It’s unfortunate that it took everything going viral for her to finally post about my small business on her account and to apologise but I appreciate her finally doing this.”
Rather than put the reality tv star’s “livelihood” in jeopardy by encouraging a mass-reporting, Savannah only intended to put a spotlight on the other dress hire businesses that dressed Bec and didn’t receive proper acknowledgement, like @sustainably.dresshire.
“As my business is small (less than 18 months old), this is my first influencer collaboration. Although, from all the comments from fellow small business owners across my video on both Instagram and TikTok; it seems to be a very prevalent issue for fellow small businesses,” she told WHO. “I’m so incredibly grateful for every single person who has taken the time to support my small business whether that is a like, follow or share.”
“I really want to highlight that I am honoured that other small business felt comfortable sharing their similar experiences on my video and took the time to write words of support too.”
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