BLAME GAME MAFS stars are already starting to blame their edit again. Now, a former post-producer has called them TF out
BY: Tahlia Pritchard
It’s a tale as old as time each Married At First Sight season. After some misbehaving that can range from throwing wine glasses, to cheating on your new spouse, you can almost guarantee a contestant will turn around and blame the edit faster than John Aiken can say, “I think we’ve seen enough here.”
As we eagerly await the day the contestants get their social media channels back and desperately try to convince an already disengaged Australia that they’re good people deep down, or alternatively take their newfound notoriety and run to OnlyFans with it, already a few rogue 2025 MAFS participants have sneakily used alt Instagram accounts to call out the edit they’re getting.
But an ex-MAFS post-producer has told So Sydney it’s not always the case, and dropped some spicy tea along the way. But first, let’s recap the messiness.
Which MAFS stars have already started blaming the edit?
Jake Luik
How could such a sweet looking guy have such a bad edit, you’re wondering? Image: Channel 9
I know what you’re thinking. Who the fuck is Jake? He was that man that was definitely there, and he wore glasses. He didn’t do much really until the photo ranking challenge. Then, he somehow found the goddam audacity to come in and slam every woman on the show in some way. Let’s be real, no good sentence ever starts with, “I’m not racist, but…”
Jake has left the show now, and it’s hard to imagine how it’ll go on without him (not). However, he’s already spoken to the Daily Mail, saying the full story wasn’t shown.
“A lot of things I said, a lot of things I brought up, just got completely cut from the footage,” he said.
Low-key shudder to think what else was said at this point tbh.
Jacqui Burfoot
This woman has superior intelligence to us all (apparently) | Image: Channel 9
Miss-Not-New-Zealand has also now said she thought she was signing up for something that was more like a documentary. Which feels like a cop out excuse, if we’re running with the narrative of her superior intelligence. Come on people, it’s Season 12. Are we really buying this?!
“I agree, my character makes no sense,” she posted on an Instagram story. “That’s not my fault, blame the editors!”
Also what I say after a night on the margs.
Morena Farina
This woman was just looking for a husband who wasn’t already married | Image: Channel 9
Who do you go to when you think you may be in a spot of trouble? If you answered Harrison Boon, you’d be… weirdly, correct. And that’s exactly what Morena Farina did for reasons we’ll never really understand. Harrison went on to leak the messages, where Morena alleges Tony is still married and hasn’t gotten over his ex-wife.
“He wants his wife, and he really thought he could come on the show and get his wife in the show,” Morena said. “It would make good TV. What the hell?”
Tim Gromie and Eliot Donovan
Ew! Not him again! | Image: Channel 9
Honestly, just lumping these two together made sense. Both these men have also blamed their edit, with Tim wanting nothing to do with the show and Eliot speaking to The Daily Mail about his stint.
“It’s so funny with the way that they can cherry-pick parts of my personality and then not show other parts,” he said. We assume he doesn’t mean “haha” kinda funny.
Eliot feels confused that a show like MAFS involves some editing. And yes, he did sign a contract acknowledging this prior to filming | Image: Channel 9
A MAFS post-producer speaks out about the whole edit saga
As ex-MAFS Post-Producer and co-host of That’s Showbiz, Baby! Alexandria Funnell told So Sydney, there’s “no universal truth” when it comes to that magic edit that participants love to blame.
“There have been times when I’ve post-produced a scene, only for the participant to later criticise the edit in the media, and I’ve vehemently disagreed with them. I’ve also worked on seasons where participants, in general, were unhappy with their portrayal, and we were all left perplexed because the way they were presented on screen genuinely reflected how they behaved during the experiment,” Alexandria said.
“That said, of course, there is sometimes more context to someone’s behaviour – everyone always has their reasons and justifications for why they did what they did, why they feel the way they do, and how the other person was the issue. These nuances are complex and not easily condensed into a 2.5-minute scene of television. Often, the participants who most fervently deny the edit are the exact ones who go on to fully behave in a way that is representative of their supposed ‘misleading edit.’ It happens every year.”
Alexandria said it’s important for those blaming the edit to be introspective but also to keep other participants in mind. For example, is their partner perhaps throwing them under the bus? Spicy!
“Before they blame the edit, I would first encourage them to take a deeper and more realistic look at themselves. Is there any chance the way they’re being perceived is actually a more accurate reflection of their behaviour than they’re willing to admit?
“Secondly, I’d ask them to think about the other participants. Something that I think happens is participants rat on each other and use bits of information to stir trouble and get more screen time. I’ve spoken to some “villains” who complain about the edit, but upon further explanation, it becomes apparent that it was their partner who misrepresented them on camera, thus leading to what they’re referring to as the ‘bad edit’.”
But ‘the edit’ appears to work both ways…
Alexandria also dropped that over the years, there have definitely been some participants who have reaped the benefits of a good edit. And that’s even if they didn’t particularly deserve one.
“I do believe there have been participants who were given a better edit,” she spilled. “Unsurprisingly, those ones generally stay quiet after the fact and bask in the glory. Lol!”
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