This year, we have heard an unprecedented amount of complaining from the Married At First Sight contestants, whether it be about the producers, conditions on set, or editing… it’s been a constant string of complaints from the get-go.
WATCH: TV executive reveals why MAFS stars have no right to complain
However, a television executive has finally come out and slammed the contestants for their whingeing, saying that they have no right to complain.
Robert McKnight, who previously has worked for Channel Ten and the Nine Network has spoken about this topic on his podcast TV Blackbox earlier this week.
He admitted that it was clear Nine was really struggling to keep the contestants to stick to their contracts and be silent, however it didn’t stop them.
“This felt like the first year where it wasn’t just one or two contestants [complaining]. A lot of them came out having problems with the way they were treated,” he said.
“I felt like we were getting a true picture of what really goes on behind the scenes.”
“Of course the EP [executive producer Tara McWilliams] is using the fact [the participants] sign contracts to get them to do what they want, and yes they use tricks,” Robert added.
“The EPs can hold the power of, ‘Well, not only do I have a contract and I can sue your a**e, but I can also give you a bad edit, make you look bad, and you won’t appear in the show.'”
He continued on to say that most MAFS contestants just want to be famous anyway, and should just accept that the producers have the final say.
“People want fame and if they misbehave the fame will be taken away from them. And let’s be honest, everyone going on Married At First Sight is wanting fame,” he said.
Recently, Natasha Spencer spoke with Who.com.au exclusively, to expose the network for treating them like “animals“.
“It was f***ing putrid. They sit us on these hard plastic chairs in this dirty tent for hours and refuse to give us any reading material unless you ask. One time, I was wearing a white dress and I left with it literally being black,” Natasha said. “It’s not right. I live in a first world country and I’d like to at least sit on a comfortable chair.”
She added how the warehouse where the dinner parties and reunion special was filmed had no air-conditioning, with producers lighting fires in the room for ambiance, despite her and the others feeling dizzy and sick.
“It was 40 degrees in an uninsulated warehouse and it was so hot that Chris [Nicholls] got pulled off-set because he had sweated through his whole shirt and needed a dry one,” she revealed. “It was so f***ing hot I split the seam in my $1,000 dress because the beading and silk were literally wet from sweat.”
“I was screaming at them to get the fans. I was literally eating icy polls and trying to cool my body down in the freezer. It’s just absolutely f***ed and it’s not right.”
Even worse than the heat was the food situation, which Natasha explains was atrocious.
“They give you fried rice that has been sitting around for god knows how long. I am gluten-free and they never served gluten-free food so I used to have to go down and get chips from the vending machine,” she revealed. “There was even one night where Vanessa [Romito] got fed nothing because they had forgotten about her food intolerances.”
It comes after her fellow bride Mishel Karen said that they “didn’t have any human rights” while filming the show.
“We were sleep-deprived, we had everything we owned taken from us, we were spoken to like pieces of sh*t,” she said to The Daily Telegraph.
Natasha and her-husband Mikey Pembroke seemingly left the show on amicable terms, but it was later discovered that Natasha was asked to leave because of her mental health.
However, she revealed to WHO that they needed her back for the reunion episode because the show was lacking drama.
“They told me to leave the show because of my mental health and told me not to go to the girls’ night because of my mental health, but when they had absolutely nothing for the reunion except the Mikey and Stacey drama, I was suddenly allowed back.”