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Speaker 1: You're listening to a Muma Mea podcast.

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Speaker 2: Mumma Mea acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters

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Speaker 2: that this podcast is recorded on.

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Speaker 1: Hey, I'm Taylor Strano. This is Muma MEA's twice daily

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Speaker 1: news podcast, The Quickie. Just when you thought TV show

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Speaker 1: Married at First Sight couldn't get any more unhinged, it

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Speaker 1: seems the reality show did a hold my beer and

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Speaker 1: brought us a swag of quitters who will want out

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Speaker 1: of the program before it had even really begun. Is

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Speaker 1: this all part of the drama plan or our reality

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Speaker 1: contestants taking a bit more control from producers who've long

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Speaker 1: been held up as the epitome of all that is

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Speaker 1: wrong in the world of television with their scheming, tactics

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Speaker 1: and threatening techniques. Before we get into the Maths contestant

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Speaker 1: clapback of twenty twenty five, here's the latest from The

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Speaker 1: Quickie Newsroom with Kimberley Bradish for Friday, February twenty one.

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Speaker 3: The United Nations Rights Chief has condemned Hermas's public display

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Speaker 3: of four Israeli hostage body in Gaza as abhorrent and

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Speaker 3: a violation of international law. On Thursday, Hamas handed over

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Speaker 3: the remains of infant Kafir Bibas, his four year old

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Speaker 3: brother Ariel, their mother, Shiri Bibas, and oded lifshits to

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Speaker 3: the Red Cross in a provocative ceremony featuring armed guards

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Speaker 3: and propaganda posters. The Red Cross attempted to maintain dignity

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Speaker 3: during the transfer by shielding the coffins from onlookers with

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Speaker 3: white screens, later stating that such operations should be conducted

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Speaker 3: privately out of respect for the deceased and their families.

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Speaker 3: The Bibas children were the youngest captives taken during Harmas's

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Speaker 3: October seven, twenty twenty three attack, and their bodies were

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Speaker 3: returned as part of the ceasefire agreement reached last month.

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Speaker 3: These public ceremonies of hostage releases, which have become a

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Speaker 3: hallmark of Hamas's actions during the current ceasefire, have faced

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Speaker 3: mounting criticism from international organizations. A parliamentary committee is investigating

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Speaker 3: the societal impacts of pornography, including its effects on young people,

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Speaker 3: as studies showed the average age of first exposure is

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Speaker 3: just thirteen, with thirty percent encountering it unintentionally. Even earlier,

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Speaker 3: anti violence group our Watch has urged the new South

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Speaker 3: Wales based inquiry to address the negative influence of early

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Speaker 3: exposure on attitudes towards gender and relationships, while calling for

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Speaker 3: regulations on AI generated and deep fake pornography. The committee

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Speaker 3: will also examine the effects on children's body image, assess

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Speaker 3: education programs and evaluate support services, with advocates pushing for

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Speaker 3: better resources for parents to discuss these issues. Meanwhile, sex

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Speaker 3: worker organization Scarlet Alliance has warned against blanket anti pornography policies,

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Speaker 3: emphasizing the need for meaningful consultation with those in the

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Speaker 3: porn industry. Ronan Keating has expressed outrage after a twenty

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Speaker 3: two year old received only a suspended sentence for causing

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Speaker 3: the death of his brother Kieran in a car crash

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Speaker 3: near Swinford Island in July twenty twenty three, where Kieran's

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Speaker 3: wife Anne Marie was also seriously injured. The driver was

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Speaker 3: given a seventeen month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to

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Speaker 3: careless driving causing death, prompting Keating to condemn Ireland's justice

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Speaker 3: system as morally corrupt and a devastating example of systemic failure.

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Speaker 3: Taking to Instagram, Keating expressed his disbelief that someone could

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Speaker 3: kill a man and walk free without serving any prison time,

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Speaker 3: questioning why such behavior continues on Irish roads while families

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Speaker 3: like this are left without justice. The tragic incident occurred

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Speaker 3: while Kieran and his wife were traveling to watch their

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Speaker 3: son play football, with Ronan vowing that his family will

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Speaker 3: continue to fight for Kieran's justice while praying that other

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Speaker 3: families never find themselves in a similar position. And In

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Speaker 3: a monumental change for the iconic Spy series, Amazon MGM

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Speaker 3: Studios has taken creative control of the James Bond franchise,

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Speaker 3: with long term custodians Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli

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Speaker 3: stepping back from their leadership roles after nearly sixty years

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Speaker 3: of family oversight. The newly formed joint venture between Amazon

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Speaker 3: MGM Studios and the Bond family will maintain shared intellectual

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Speaker 3: property rights, though Amazon MGM will now lead creative decisions,

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Speaker 3: marking the first time in over five decades that a

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Speaker 3: Broccoli won't be greenlighting new James Bond films. Wilson, whose

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Speaker 3: career with Double O seven spans nearly sixty years, announced

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Speaker 3: he would focus on art and charitable projects acknowledging it

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Speaker 3: was time for Amazon MGM Studios to lead James Bond

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Speaker 3: into the future. The shift comes after Amazon's US six

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Speaker 3: point five billion dollar acquisition of MGM Studios in twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty two, with the studio now planning to expand the

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Speaker 3: franchise beyond traditional films, though financial terms of this latest

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Speaker 3: arrangement weren't disclosed.

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Speaker 1: That's your latest news headlines. Next Maths contestants are doing

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Speaker 1: something those who went before them didn't. Dare taking back

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Speaker 1: their own narrative and refusing to surrender their agency to

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Speaker 1: do so. Okay, So, with season twelve of Married at

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Speaker 1: First Sight well underway, here's the top line of what's

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Speaker 1: happened so far. Ten couples walk down the aisle when

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Speaker 1: the show premiered on January twenty seven, but let's just

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Speaker 1: say not all of them made it to the honeymoon.

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Speaker 4: Sweet.

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Speaker 1: First up, we had Elliott, who literally walked out on

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Speaker 1: his bride Lauren during their honeymoon. His reason, well, she

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Speaker 1: was too old at thirty seven and didn't want to

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Speaker 1: have multiple kids. Then there's Karina and Paul. Imagine turning

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Speaker 1: up to your TV wedding only to discover your groom

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Speaker 1: is the guy who ghosted you before the show. Then

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Speaker 1: the experts decided to throw in an intruder couple, big

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Speaker 1: brother Alum TJ and his bride Beth. Sounds normal enough,

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Speaker 1: but there's since been reports of TJ's recent fling, Jamie,

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Speaker 1: crashing their wedding to confess they just slept together. And

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Speaker 1: speaking of Jamie, she's been busy stirring up at the

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Speaker 1: dinner parties, particularly publicly calling out groom Tim, which ended

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Speaker 1: with him storming out. The experts have introduced something new

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Speaker 1: this year called Final Test Week, where they're forcing the

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Speaker 1: strongest couples to see if the grass really is green

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Speaker 1: up with other partners, with six couples already calling it quits,

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Speaker 1: and the show's historical success rates sitting at a whopping

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Speaker 1: six point six percent, it's safe to say this season

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Speaker 1: is shaping up to be exactly what we expected, pure chaos,

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Speaker 1: and maybe that's thanks to brides and grooms going off

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Speaker 1: script even more so than what's expected of reality TV contestants.

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Speaker 1: So what happens when Maths contestants go rogue or try

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Speaker 1: to reclaim their storyline? Mel Rawson was on the twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one season of maths with her husband Bryce. You

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Speaker 1: might remember them from this.

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Speaker 4: I think by me out there was any sign of

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Speaker 4: me having the girl you will people be the first think,

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Speaker 4: you know what you probably do, constant attack after attack, accusations,

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Speaker 4: lies brought up. I'm just I'm fed up with it,

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Speaker 4: and I'm being honest with you. I am leaving the

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Speaker 4: experiment today, and if you were like to come with me,

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Speaker 4: that'd be great. But if you don't want to, I

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Speaker 4: can understand that you have your own reasons to not

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Speaker 4: want to come with me.

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Speaker 5: I don't want to leave.

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Speaker 1: So after a lengthy recruitment process, Mel says she remembers

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Speaker 1: getting handed an extensive contract, but with limitations on who

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Speaker 1: she could speak to about it and not having a

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Speaker 1: lawyer on hand to look over it. It means that

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Speaker 1: Mel really didn't know exactly what she was signing up for.

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Speaker 5: I wish I had read my contract in depth.

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Speaker 2: I did read over it, but with all the legal jargon,

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Speaker 2: it did throw me a little bit, and I was

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Speaker 2: extremely naive. I didn't employ a lawyer to look over it.

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Speaker 2: I didn't have family look over it. Because of the

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Speaker 2: privacy and the confidentiality associated with that. None of my

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Speaker 2: family and nobody knew, so I was left to my

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Speaker 2: own devices to make a decision about this and the

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Speaker 2: legal jug and stating that they can use your image,

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Speaker 2: your words how they feel will suit the narrative of

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Speaker 2: the show. I thought nothing of it at the time

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Speaker 2: when I signed my life away, and there were keywords

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Speaker 2: in that contract that really.

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Speaker 5: I should have looked at that actually.

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Speaker 2: Framed me and what my marriage looked like on TV.

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Speaker 2: It was a very silly decision on my behalf. All

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Speaker 2: cast members were aware, and you sign it in your

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Speaker 2: contract that you do hand over your social media. It

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Speaker 2: is a difficult decision to make because social media is

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Speaker 2: almost as private as your identity, your driver license, passed,

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Speaker 2: what all that information. So handing that over was a

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Speaker 2: difficult decision, but a decision that we had no choice

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Speaker 2: in making. It was part of our contract, and we

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Speaker 2: did have discussions when we began filming. We had a

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Speaker 2: eating day where I met up with all of the

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Speaker 2: girls in the cast and we sat down with the

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Speaker 2: executive producers and they explained that they would be taking

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Speaker 2: over our social media, And looking back on it now,

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Speaker 2: I thought it was a wonderful opportunity. So of course

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Speaker 2: there was nothing for me to hide, but at the

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Speaker 2: time it didn't seem impactful, but now I feel like

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Speaker 2: I gave a little bit of my soul away.

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Speaker 1: So after signing the contract, Melanie there was little wiggle

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Speaker 1: room on pushing back on any of it, and she

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Speaker 1: felt like there wasn't a lot of opportunity to say

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Speaker 1: no to anything.

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Speaker 2: I personally don't like confrontation, and I find it very

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Speaker 2: difficult to say no.

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Speaker 5: Coming off Maps.

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Speaker 2: It's made me into a stronger person where I can now,

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Speaker 2: but during Maps, there was no way that I would

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Speaker 2: stand up to production, not until the end anyway. I

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Speaker 2: was very fearful of the repercussions. There was obviously a

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Speaker 2: lot of feedback, especially from heads of production and executive producers,

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Speaker 2: about what would happen to us if we didn't comply

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Speaker 2: and conform.

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Speaker 5: And I understand with filming the.

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Speaker 2: TV show that there was necessary requirements to abide by

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Speaker 2: the rules for keeping everybody safe and for keeping the

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Speaker 2: prime of the cast and what was being filmed under wraps.

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Speaker 2: That all makes sense, but I was fearful and it

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Speaker 2: was something that I wish that I'd stood up a

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Speaker 2: little bit more, and that could have potentially changed the

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Speaker 2: way that I personally was perceived.

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Speaker 1: As the series progressed over the years, mel says she

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Speaker 1: can see it changing from being about people finding a

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Speaker 1: significant other to being more about the reality side of

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Speaker 1: it all.

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Speaker 2: There's a show on one of the streaming services. It's

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Speaker 2: a reality TV show, but it's basically about the producers' lives,

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Speaker 2: and it did come out around the time that Brus

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Speaker 2: and I were on Maps.

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Speaker 5: We didn't watch it until the end of Maps, and.

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Speaker 2: Oh boy, we wish we watched it during because what

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Speaker 2: we're seeing now and I've only seen what I've seen online,

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Speaker 2: is the producers actually walking into frame, walking and shot

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Speaker 2: and speaking on camera, which is highly unusual back in

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Speaker 2: our season. And we're seeing it more and more, and

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Speaker 2: I definitely agree it's turning into a reality reality show.

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Speaker 5: I think it's good because at.

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Speaker 2: Least you're getting to see how production is involved and

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Speaker 2: the levels that they are going to either support or

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Speaker 2: potentially guide a cast member's experience.

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Speaker 5: On the show.

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Speaker 2: And it definitely feels like the show has pivoted from

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Speaker 2: Looking for Love to looking for Love on TV, where

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Speaker 2: you are now allowed to use the words TV. During

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Speaker 2: our time on Maps, we were never allowed to enunciate

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Speaker 2: those words.

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Speaker 5: It's a very stark.

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Speaker 2: Contrast from four years ago to now what we're seeing

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Speaker 2: and how it's being portrayed nationally.

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Speaker 1: So what about the villain edit? Is it a real

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Speaker 1: thing or our contestants just trying to explain away their

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Speaker 1: terrible behavior frank inbiting.

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Speaker 5: For me, it's very clear because we see it all

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Speaker 5: over social media.

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Speaker 2: You can hear the tone, even a background noise, you

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Speaker 2: can hear it changing, and it's usually when you've got

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Speaker 2: a shot of the contestant from the back, but there's

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Speaker 2: a voiceover over the top.

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Speaker 5: So you can generally tell when the commentary is not authentic.

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Speaker 2: And I feel that any production would only use that

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Speaker 2: where they haven't got the result that they're looking for.

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Speaker 2: So there were times where I was so stumped to words,

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Speaker 2: I couldn't articulate what I was saying.

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Speaker 5: Well, there were things that I didn't want to say.

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Speaker 2: I didn't want to be nasty or rude, or when

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Speaker 2: we were doing our box pops, I didn't want to

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Speaker 2: say anything controversial because it's just not me. And I

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Speaker 2: also just generally didn't want to be hated for being

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Speaker 2: someone I wasn't. But at times you are encouraged with

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Speaker 2: certain words or certain phrases to say something that is

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Speaker 2: out of character. But nine times out of ten, what

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Speaker 2: you're seeing, what you're hearing is actually what the contestants

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Speaker 2: say themselves. And for us and I both learned that

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Speaker 2: how we were perceived is generally the types of people

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Speaker 2: that we are, and you can't change your edits and

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Speaker 2: say that if it was all the edit. There's obviously

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Speaker 2: bad elements and pieces of the frame have been put

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Speaker 2: and a lot of the good things left on the

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Speaker 2: cunning room floor, but it's not as staged as people

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Speaker 2: would think it would be.

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Speaker 1: In the spirit of hearing from both sides, what does

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Speaker 1: the reality TV producer say to all of this? Hello?

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Speaker 1: Alexandria Finale is the co host of That Showbiz Baby,

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Speaker 1: a weekly podcast diving into all the behind the scenes

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Speaker 1: workings of Australian television. She's also an ex reality TV

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Speaker 1: producer working on Yep, You Guessed It? Mats Alexandria, When

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Speaker 1: someone signs up to be on reality TV, what are

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Speaker 1: they actually locking themselves into?

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Speaker 6: Essentially, what people are getting when they're signing up to

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Speaker 6: reality TV, It's varies based on the show. In a

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Speaker 6: show like Married at First Sight, it is intense and

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Speaker 6: so the contracts are iron clad and people are signing

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Speaker 6: away huge portions of control over their image and the

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Speaker 6: audio and anything like that. So it is a big risk,

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Speaker 6: I think. And that's why I say, like, you have

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Speaker 6: to be a certain kind of person who's going to

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Speaker 6: sign up to this, because who's willing to do that?

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Speaker 6: Only people who are desperate for a level of exposure

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Speaker 6: and same would be willing to risk that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 6: I think.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that that's the case for absolutely everybody

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Speaker 1: on reality TV? Because we always hear about people who

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Speaker 1: sign up for shows like Married at First Sight or

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Speaker 1: like The Bachelor with the genuine intention of finding love.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that's maybe not necessarily the truth.

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Speaker 6: Everybody wants to find love. Every human wants to find love.

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Speaker 6: I think it can be both. I think it's nuanced.

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Speaker 6: I guess there is an appeal about the experiment and

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Speaker 6: about The Bachelor because you do see those success stories.

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Speaker 6: You can't say that there's never been a successful couple

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Speaker 6: out of these shows. So you can find love in

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Speaker 6: those circumstances. You know, trauma bonds, So I think that

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Speaker 6: it's loss of all that people do sign up for love,

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Speaker 6: but at the same time, they still are going on

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Speaker 6: a television show and why are they doing that? It's

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Speaker 6: because they have other dreams and ambitions as well.

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Speaker 1: How does it work with the storylines for people on

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Speaker 1: reality TV? The producers pinpoint who's going to have what

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Speaker 1: kind of arc in a season before they even step

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Speaker 1: foot on set.

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Speaker 6: No, that is the biggest misconception I would say about

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Speaker 6: reality TV that people are cast or type casts from

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Speaker 6: the beginning. Most of the time, actually, the story arc

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Speaker 6: is led by the characters themselves, what they're doing, and

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Speaker 6: what their personality types are. They're not type casts necessarily,

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Speaker 6: And there's been many instances where people were cast and

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Speaker 6: it was presumed that they would be sort of a

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Speaker 6: knife in shining armor type character. Potentially they were meant

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Speaker 6: to be a good person, and then as the footage

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Speaker 6: starts rolling in, we were mortified at some of the

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Speaker 6: things this person was doing and it was just like,

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Speaker 6: this is shocking. It was a shocking to us as

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Speaker 6: post producers as it has been to the audience. There's

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Speaker 6: a disconnect, I think between post producers and the audience

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Speaker 6: where the audience thinks that post producers have just concocted

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Speaker 6: all of this. I'm just a woman sitting there watching

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Speaker 6: a man half the time doing shocking things and being like,

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Speaker 6: get a load of this guy, like can you believe

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Speaker 6: he did it? And every morning I'd wake up and

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Speaker 6: look at the notes from what happened the day before,

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Speaker 6: being like, I cannot believe they did it.

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Speaker 1: So when you're presented with that, then do you kind

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Speaker 1: of have to run with this guy's going to be

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Speaker 1: the villain? We have to put all this in.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, because that's often the story because when they are

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Speaker 6: behaving in that way, when they come on and they

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Speaker 6: start doing the behavior and saying the absurd things and

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Speaker 6: upsetting their partner, that always has a flow through effect

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Speaker 6: on the humans around them, the participants, And so that

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Speaker 6: is the story. It's very rare, and I'd say I've

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Speaker 6: never come across it where a person is just a

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Speaker 6: completely normal, lovely, reasonable person and the editors or the

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Speaker 6: producers and we're like, you know what, we're going to

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Speaker 6: make this person a villain.

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Speaker 1: Surely you've received some strongly worded dms or feedback once

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Speaker 1: the show's aired.

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Speaker 6: Well, I haven't posted for eighteen months now. I'm not

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Speaker 6: directly responsible for anything that's on air currently. I'm just

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Speaker 6: watching it as an audience member now. But in general

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Speaker 6: I have received a lot of hate, people finger pointing

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Speaker 6: for everything they hate about shows like Married at First Sight,

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Speaker 6: that's okay that she'll be sabe.

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Speaker 5: I like that.

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Speaker 1: You've told us that the villain edit may be the

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Speaker 1: responsibility solely of a contestant. But what about this idea

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Speaker 1: of frank and editing? Can you explain to us what

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Speaker 1: that actually is and why a lot of people lay

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Speaker 1: that as the blame for their edits.

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Speaker 7: Oh, it's so funny, isn't it. People think because they

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Speaker 7: can hear a frank and grab that that therefore refutes

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Speaker 7: anything that anyone's ever seen on screen. The vast majority

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Speaker 7: of times franke and.

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Speaker 6: Grabs are used to clarify the story. Contestants speak in circles,

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Speaker 6: they need to be tweaked sometimes to make it clearer.

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Speaker 6: It's the oldest editing trick in the book. Media has

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Speaker 6: been doing it in documentaries in TV shows forever. You

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Speaker 6: take half of a good shot and half of another

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Speaker 6: and you put it together. It happens in everything, and

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Speaker 6: so for the most part, it's just to clarify the

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Speaker 6: story or to clarify what these numpties are talking about.

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Speaker 6: Half the time, having frankengrab does not mean that the

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Speaker 6: entire thing is completely out of context. Of course, there

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Speaker 6: must be instances where that has happened to make a

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Speaker 6: more interesting story, to make a more compelling entertainment. Generally speaking,

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Speaker 6: it's like focusing on semantics rather than the whole picture

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Speaker 6: of the behavior and the general sentiment of what that

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Speaker 6: person was doing and implying.

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Speaker 1: Anyway, we've seen this season, if you like, contestants have

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Speaker 1: gone rogue, they've called it quits. Outside of the show,

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Speaker 1: they've been spoiling their endings and maybe not stuck to

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Speaker 1: the plan laid out for them. What happens then when

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Speaker 1: contestants do, I know that it's reality TV, but for

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Speaker 1: lack of a better word, go off script.

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Speaker 6: It's almost like part of Marriat at first sight now

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Speaker 6: is what's going on in real life, and part of

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Speaker 6: the audience what they enjoy is trying to decipher who's right,

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Speaker 6: that's part of the show right, whose perception is right?

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Speaker 6: And then you have now all this new information that's

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Speaker 6: coming out from the cast, and people are still trying

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Speaker 6: to filter through, trying to figure out who's right, what

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Speaker 6: side are we on. So it's just sort of added

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Speaker 6: another layer of excitement and entertainment. It's almost like the

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Speaker 6: show's unfolding in real time. It's similar to like taylor'swif right.

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Speaker 6: She writes her music, she has her art, and it's

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Speaker 6: always in conjunction with what's going on in her real life,

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Speaker 6: and audiences are always trying to connect the dots and

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Speaker 6: figure out what's really going on in her life. It's

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Speaker 6: sort of a similar vibe to that, So I think

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Speaker 6: it's actually great for the show. I think it's great

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Speaker 6: for television that it has a real response time element.

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Speaker 6: The show lives on long after it's been locked off.

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Speaker 6: In the added please if you.

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Speaker 1: Want more married first sight goodness. Tara Watson has been

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Speaker 1: recapping every single episode over on the Mamma Mea website.

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Speaker 1: There'll be a link in our show notes. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: taking some time to feed your mind with us today.

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Speaker 1: The Quikie is produced by me Taylor Strano along with

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Speaker 1: Claire Murphy and audio production by Lou Hill