Jacqui Burfoot was a polarising figure on the twelfth season of Married At First Sight Australia, receiving a ‘villain edit’ on the screen while simultaneously speaking out against the happenings of the show on social media.
From being labelled ‘wacky Jacqui’ by her fellow contestants to being torn apart for her emotional outbursts regarding her TV husband Ryan Donnelly, the 29-year-old lawyer didn’t have an easy ride on the show.
And now, her father Doog Burfoot is lifting the lid on what really happens behind the scenes of the Aussie reality show, claiming that what you see on the screen is a heavily edited version of events.
Doog, who lives in Queenstown, spoke to New Zealand Herald’s Stephanie Holmes in April about the inner workings of the show and the editing that makes the popular series exciting television.
The proud dad revealed that the character invented on the screen is a far cry from the real Jacqui.
‘She is unrecognisable to us and a product of gross editing that uses “frankeinbiting” – splicing different answers to different questions, showing the bad one percent to create, in Jacqui’s case, the “crazy” narrative,’ he told the publication.
As an example, Doog went on to speak about a comment made by Jacqui in her introductory video, saying that there was ‘no one’ on her level.
The controversial moment, which cast Jacqui in a vain light for the rest of the season, was actually made in a monologue by the TV bride, who was explaining other people’s work ethics at one of her former jobs.
However, the comment was ‘twisted’ and taken out of context in order to create a certain persona on-screen that made for compelling TV and a laughable caricature.
What’s more, the dad further revealed that producers would purposefully wear down the contestants on the show in the hopes that they would create entertaining content, especially if the footage that was being captured on the day was boring.
He said producers would make the reality stars hungry, tired and grumpy during filming and then ask questions ‘to solicit answers that can then be spliced into other footage’, a tactic that was often used in Jacqui’s edit according to the dad.
Doog went on to say that it had been hard watching the show and witnessing Channel Nine tarnish his little girl’s image in order to up ratings.
‘I can only surmise that the executive producers don’t have children of their own, as no parent could intentionally do what they do to another parent’s child,’ he said.
In the past, Jacqui has openly spoken out against her ‘crazy’ edit on the show on social media.
The Married At First Sight bride unleashed on the show’s producers in a bombshell post in February, accusing them of misleading editing and twisting the truth about her portrayal on the hit reality series.
In the scathing statement, which she shared alongside a smiling selfie, the alleged former Miss New Zealand claimed her MAFS storyline was heavily fabricated, insisting she signed up for an ‘unfiltered, raw marriage experiment’ – not a scripted soap opera.
‘I agree – my character makes no sense, but that’s not my fault – blame the editors!’ Jacqui wrote.
‘More than happy to spill the tea so you can get to know the real me and my story!’
She didn’t hold back, hinting that she was fed up with being portrayed in a misleading way.
‘You’ve been fed a highly edited fictional storyline and I feel like you deserve to know the truth,’ she continued.
‘I can’t sit back and support misleading and deceptive stories.’