MAFS ‘villain’ Olivia Frazer claims she was ‘blindsided’ by producers

Olivia Frazer has lifted the lid on her controversial stint on the reality show, revealing she was “blindsided” by producers during filming.

Married At First Sight’s Olivia Frazer has spoken out about facing intense public backlash after being cast as this season’s villain, admitting she felt “blindsided” by producers when the show went to air.

As the uproar surrounding her behaviour on the controversial reality show became deafening in recent weeks, the former teaching assistant has largely stayed out of the spotlight, mostly remaining conspicuously absent as her castmates hit the publicity trail.

But in a new interview with Mamamia’s No Filter podcast, Frazer, 28, has finally opened up about her experience on the show, and how she is coping amid arguably the most extreme backlash ever faced by a MAFS contestant.

“I’m at the point now where I’m trying to get up off the floor … I’m at rock bottom, and I’m trying to get up,” she told podcast host Mia Freedman.

“And every time someone messages one of my loved ones something awful, I feel like I’m getting kicked back down. I’ve had death threats sent to my personal phone number … and I’ve had many on Facebook.

“It’s not just the show – if it was just the show, we could all just laugh and say, ‘Yeah that’s not Liv’s character, that’s a different story,’ but it’s the public believing it … it’s just the shock.”

Frazer opened up about being this season’s ‘villain’.

Frazer – who used to be a driving instructor – explained that as a result of her past career, many people had her phone number, which amplified the trolling.

“Not just kids I used to teach, but parents [messaged me] to call me a pig, a delusional t**t … I think that was the breaking point, when I started getting texts to my phone, because I’d removed myself from online,” she said.

“That was really, really breaking point – people that I know, saying I’m disgusting, and they’re mortified they let me teach their kids to drive.”

During the wide-ranging interview, Frazer also opened up for the first time about the moment during filming that left her unable to speak, and convulsed with “awful, guttural sobs”.

The incident unfolded during the commitment ceremony where Frazer was taken to task by the show’s three relationship experts over her apparent sharing of a nude photo of fellow “bride” Domenica Calarco, which had originally been posted to her private OnlyFans account.

Despite the drama with their castmates in the lead-up to the commitment ceremony, Frazer said she and “husband” Jackson Lonie were in a healthy place in their relationship – but that producers had “manipulated” them by telling the experts to point out that they looked “miserable”.

“I was just shocked and appalled and feeling so, not only threatened, but just like, ‘This is completely out of my control,’” she said.

“[The experts] would sort of stop and listen to their earpieces, and come back with another round. They’d be like, ‘There’s holes in your relationship.’ It got to the point where I could not speak, I was just like, those awful, guttural sobs. And other cast members were sticking up for me, because it was so hard to watch.”

Frazer added that her “husband” had pushed back, asking for advice from the experts on what they thought needed to be fixed, but claimed they had responded by simply “listening to their earpiece, and then come back with some other jab, or [they’d] try some other angle.”

“It was just such a clear manipulation, and it was the first time filming that I could tell they were just saying things so they could edit it later,” she said.

“[MAFS expert] Alessandra [Rampolla] had told me for five minutes straight all the reasons why I don’t have empathy, so I’m like, ‘Sure, OK, I don’t have empathy’ – and they cut it to ‘I don’t have empathy’ and people compare me to Ted Bundy, and I’m a psychopath.”

Lonie and Frazer are reportedly still together.

The nude photo scandal is one of the most talked-about controversies in MAFS history, and prompted the majority of the backlash against Frazer, who’s been accused of “sl*t-shaming”.

Opening up about how it had even come about, Frazer explained that she’d been having drinks “off-camera” with other cast members shortly after the couples’ retreat, during which Calarco infamously smashed a wine glass against the table during an argument between the pair.

“My girlfriends back home looked up [Domenica], just googled her, and there was all this stuff all over social media platforms,” she said.

“They sent me this information while I was drinking off-camera with a couple of other cast members, and the conversation that was had was, ‘I’m pretty sure we’re not supposed to have that platform,’ meaning OnlyFans … because we’re meant to have a massive social media sweep [prior to the show].

“The whole storyline looks like I’m out for revenge and a malicious person, and I’m not. I had the dumb luck of being the cast member who was sent the information. Everybody who was in the room has stuck up for me and said it wasn’t shared maliciously.

“I was just really naive … I didn’t think it was a big deal because it was so publicly accessible. I didn’t think it was a big secret; I didn’t think I was outing anybody.”

Frazer went on to admit she was therefore “blindsided” by the way the drama was portrayed on the show.

“I mentioned [the nude image] to my producer who didn’t think it was a big deal either, and didn’t think I thought it was a big deal … and I was just really blindsided by production because they were putting words in my mouth and saying I did it out of revenge,” she said.

“That ‘revenge’ word is such a massive trigger … like, they’ve got my face on the ad with the big red ‘revenge’ title above it … That’s a really serious accusation, and that’s not what happened.”

The feud between Calarco and Frazer intensified following the glass-smashing incident.

Speaking about the experience of being on the show, Frazer claimed she’d felt “comfortable” with filming until about halfway through – around the time of her infamous showdown with Calarco, involving the smashed wine glass.

“It was always very obvious that we were there to make a show, and Jackson and I got along from day dot so I felt very comfortable,” she said.

“It wasn’t until about halfway through that I started to feel unsafe … like there was something very not OK with this situation.”

She described “the incident” on the couples’ retreat as “violent and dangerous” and something she believed went against what they’d been told in their pre-production briefing.

“We were all told on our briefing day that any sort of violence won’t be tolerated, the boys were told that if they so much as clench their fists at each other, they’ll be removed from the show, no questions asked,” Frazer said, adding “that wasn’t backed up” after the confrontation.

While she admitted to being shocked at how her appearance on the show has played out, Frazer did take accountability for her “controversial” comments.

“I think I was very naive in that I sort of thought, ‘I won’t get myself into any trouble, I’ll be a good girl’. And I usually am – I’m usually the teacher’s pet,” she told the podcast.

“There are some quite controversial things I have said and I have to take accountability for that. I have a very sharp tongue and no filter, and that’s definitely gotten me into trouble in a couple of instances here.”

Married At First Sightcontinues tonight at 7.30pm on Nine