By Kate Rooney
With reality television storming our screens, there is never a lack of dramatic content. However, the fabrication of this drama due to unfair editing has been a recent cause of controversy.
Bachelor in Paradise Season 3 began airing on Chanel 10 on July 15 and received over 600,000 viewers in the first episode. Now over 8 episodes in, several contestants on the show have spoken out about the editing of the show and how reality has been skewed in order to steer a certain narrative that might get good ratings.
Contestant Cassandra Mamone recently posted to her Instagram a series of stories detailing how comments she made about fellow contestant Brittany Weldon were completely fabricated by producers in order to pit the two girls against each other.
“I own whatever comes out of my mouth directly, but I will not own pieces of different interviews at different times pieced together to steer a narrative” she stated in these posts.
Source: @cassandramam1
This was re-posted by co-star Keira Maguire who added “The real villains are the people that are behind the show creating their own narrative… and not caring at all who’s lives they destroy to get views”
This follows an announcement by Bachelor in Paradise star Jamie Doran who told his followers on Wednesday that he was beginning “legal proceedings against Network 10 and Warner Bros. Australia.” While he hasn’t commented on the details of the matter, fans of the show have speculated that this has been due to the negative way his actions have been portrayed on the show.
Last week, host Osher Gunsberg reassured viewers that the contestants had access to mental health support during and after the show due to concern around Doran’s and other contestant’s emotions during an episode of the show.
Bachelor in Paradise also received backlash from viewers about the way contestant Abbie Chatfield appeared in her edit. After being cast as the villain in her season of The Bachelor last year, fans were quick to jump to her defence as the show once again presented her in a negative portrayal. Many viewers noticed the obvious editing in the show, pointing out where sentences have been clipped together from different interviews.
Abbie has also spoken out on her Instagram about the bullying she received on both shows from her co-stars. In an emotional post, she commented how she was bullied throughout her time on The Bachelor and no one believed her. Now with new footage from Channel 10 showing contestants Mary and Cass making rude comments towards Abbie, she stated how she finally feels validated as people are able to see just some of what she went through during the show.
“I have been gaslit for a month by these girls and by this whole country, saying that I’m a bad person and I’m the villain, when all they do is this. This was my experience in the mansion, I literally feel so validated because for the first time you guys can see what I was saying when I said I was targeted,” she commented.
Video: Examples of the editing on the show as sentences can be seen to be cut together from different interviews. Footage courtesy of Channel 10