Hello, and welcome back to the Mass Funny Podcast with me Joshua Fox. Today we're doing something very special and potentially something that's never been done before. And I'm about to interview a former married at first site producer and they're going on the record. They're using their name and this this does not happen because these people usually like live in the shadows. Everything's so secretive. They never really want to talk about what happens behind the scenes, how
they make the show. The lady I'm going to talk to today is called Alex Fanel. She worked for two seasons on Mass as a post producer. And if you're wondering what a post producer does, I'll let her explain. Maybe one thing you guys didn't know is on shows like this, there's so many different types of producers. You've got like the casting producers, You've got day to day producers, you've got executive seniors, You've got so many different departments.
Each couple is even assigned their own producer, who's pretty much like a babysitter day to day. So Alex is going to come on and answer my question. She's going to answer some of the questions you guys have been sending. She no longer works in TV, which is why she's comfortable kind of coming on to do this. And she also has her own podcast that she does with her best friend Jordie Lucas, who you guys may know as
a former actress from Neighbors. Jordy is also now a host and presenter, and between them, they've basically worked on the biggest shows in this country, and that's what they talk about on their podcast. But today she's coming on here to tell me exactly how Married at First Sight is made.
Hello Ali speaking, Hello Alexis.
Josh, Oh, hi Josh, how are you?
I'm good? How are you doing?
Yeah? Good, good, little little nervous.
Actually, they're just giving the people the answers they want.
I'm trying the best I can to be honest and balanced and demystify it a little bit.
Okay, so we'll start off with you were a post producer for two seasons. Firstly, what the fuck does post producer even mean?
So post producers are essentially the equivalent of like the edit producer. So we're not on shit, we don't. We're not across what happens on production during filming. Really, we just get hours and hour's worth of footage. We get a very slight overview of what happened that day. We get assigned certain days or episodes or whatever, and then it's our job to comb through and watch the footage
from the very first bit to the very end. And so it will take us maybe two to three weeks to actually watch all the footage.
Okay, wait, so before we kind of jump into that, I just want to give more context to listeners. So when someone says, like a producer, I think people just assume there's one team of people that are doing everything, But in reality, you have like a team of casting producers. You've got day to day producers. Each couple is assigned a producer who's almost like a babysitter, and like, yes it, so, do you know what's.
Happening day to day?
Do you know like the maybe tactics they've used to get the footage that you're then sent, You.
Know, like no idea now, so you kind of.
Go into it blindly.
We just get a top line rundown of what each conversation was about once we've watched the footage. And so while we're watching it, we're transcribing it and taking notes like you know, X goes here. No, even the boring things,
it's all transcribed. We don't miss anything. Then we have story meetings and in that meeting we talk about what's been going on, and that's when you all talk about, well, what's been going on in the wider context of the show on set, and so you say, well, this happened, this happened, this happened, they had a fight about this, blah blah blah, got upset, blah blah. And then as a group you discuss what the angle is that we're going to hone in on. Because essentially you've got hours
and hour's worth of footage, seventy hours. Sometimes how you can't put it all on air. You have to put it into a two or three five minute scene. You have to decide which bits you're going to keep.
This is interesting because you know every year people come out and blame the idea. They go the EDDA, stitch me up, the this. But I'm now speaking to the person who does the edit.
Yeah, yeah, I always get a be in my bonnet when the season airs, and then they start blaming the edit, particularly if it's an edit that I did.
You're like this is my work.
Well, yeah, I'll be like, oh you are like that. I watched you. I watched you know you from morning tonight, I watched you at dinner. I know you. You don't know me. I know you, and that is what you're like.
Well, one example I think we can use hair that's kind of relevant like this season is Lauren's sister Tomara. She was the first person this year to kind of be branded a villain. You know, she was unhinged at that wedding. She made it all about herself. And then she came out and I'll read you this quote she says, I know how it looks. I watched the same episode as every else, and without context, I.
Totally get it.
But these over eighteen hours of footage you didn't see. I'll be sharing Gatello soon, so stay tuned. But just a little reminder, this is a reality TV show heavily edited to get the highest ratings.
I would ask Lauren herself that she think her sister was taken out of context. We saw what we saw. Sure we didn't have all the other scenes around it. But she did say most of those things right, she did do those things, She did behave in a certain way, I would presume they've spotted her. She was obviously being a certain way, a dickad probably, and then the producers have been like, this is somebody we should speak to. And maybe the more they spoke to her, the more
she acted out of thoughts. I highly doubt she was a wallflower and a lovely good person. And then the producers just out of no where plucked it out of thin air and thought, let's ruin this woman today, let's ruin her life. Like I just it doesn't work like that. It's the people's behavior leads the edit.
Okay, so well with this example we're using. So I was there Lauren and Elliott's wedding. I was outside and I was there. I kind of watched her and the lobby and producers were chasing her around. So how I think this has played out? As you know, as you said, she's rocked up at the wedding. She's a bit out there, she's a bit outspoken. Producers have gone, Okay, here we go, we've got a character. And then throughout the day they've probably kept going, how are you feeling?
God? That was a bit weird, wasn't it.
Oh?
Can you believe? She said?
That she probably hasn't realized this extra attention she's getting competitive of a guest is because they have this vision in mind that they are with their producers, they're producing her to create something that's entertaining. And then she's come out and says, you know, there's over eighteen hours of footage you didn't see, And then she probably didn't realize on the day that she was the only one getting this extra attention.
She probably felt all.
These eighteen hours of everyone. So then when she's watched the condensed what twenty minute package of the wedding, and she's like, fuck, I'm fifteen minutes of this.
But then you would have got the eighteen hours.
You would have just had these notes right from the producers on the day, being like this happened, this happened, this sister was a bit unhinged. The system maybe said this, So you maybe looked at those notes and you would then go into watching eighteen hours and is this true. You would then already maybe having your head that okay, I'm told this person's maybe the standout of this episode,
so correcked. But you would have had no wider context of the day, being like she was probably pushed into saying more than maybe she would have liked to.
No, we would not be no way. Do you do you think the production are gonna tell pos? Oh? Yeah, we chase it all right.
Yeah, we gave us six classes of.
Shout say this, no no. As post producers, it's our job to watch all the eighteen hours of footage, and even without any context or note source or instruction to look at her, we would spot that ourselves, okay, and then we would pitch that ourselves. I would say, even if there was no mention of the because we watch all the boxes that are done with the bride and groom's friends and family. That's just part of the workflow.
And so if I watched that and saw that, I would say, oh, and this here's one the bride's sister is pretty unhinged.
Okay, And then you have that meeting with the wider post producer team, and then you know you're the boss of that team, would then go, yeah.
That's the one. That's the that's the storyline.
And then is it your job to then when you make this edit, I supposed to make it mostly about her because you you guys have now Okay, that's the storyline.
Anything else is almost irrelevant.
The story's changed so much. There are so many versions of each wedding. And you know, I did a wedding one year and from the first scenes I cut to what ended up on air, there would have been maybe twelve or thirteen versions of the wedding. And so yeah, you might decide, oh, yeah, we're focusing on the unhinged character, and then we cut it and make her the focus. And then by the time you will, everybody watches it because you watch what you have screenings, you know, before
it goes air, six or seven screenings. Then it starts other people, other levels start to get involved, and they might be like, I'm not feeling that story. It just isn't working, or for some reason it just doesn't fit in with Lauren's wider story, like it just doesn't make sense,
So cut it. That happened a different angle. So that's why it's so laborious and tiring, and you just are constantly giving different versions of the same day because there's so much footage, and so that whatever ends up making it to where is what people have all watched and agreed is the most interesting angle because we could make the most boring wedding.
Ever, do you think they purposely look at like the every wedding as a hole and go, Okay, well, well there's too much drama here, so we need like a hero wants to keep some integrity.
So even I'm trying to think who had like.
A quite maybe Dave and Jamie, I don't I don't remember there being much drama there. You know, it was very sweet. He had a vulnerable moment, he got emotional talking about his family and yeah, yeah, we kind of instantly I was hooked on them, like, oh, that was such a beautiful day. They seem like a great couple of really nice people. But for all we know, they could have been Dave's best mind could have been like
doing boxes, going oh he's a fucking fuck boy. Yeah he loves getting girls, and like, they could have made that wedding we watched, So my interpretation of him could have been entirely different. Is that true? If they had that footage.
When we spot that someone is a dick, we usually are gonna opt for that angle. Like if I, as a woman, was watching that footage and his best man is saying all these things about him, I would go pretty hard to try and out him as a dickhead. I would not feel comfortable protecting him.
Say someone's kind of on the fence.
They're great in some aspects, but there are so our dickhead in others, and like they could be the villain or the hero, and like say a big boss decides, okay, we need this person as this year's hero. Would you then be instricted to kind of throw away any of their negative scenes because that would go against the storyline you're building.
Well, we don't use the hero and villain word. Actually, that's something that social media talks about, you know, behind the scenes is not they're referred to as their names. They're not referred to as heroes and villains because we don't really see them like that. If anything, sometimes I
think some participants get a good edit. I would be more inclined to say you got lucky with your good edit, because sometimes there are times when I guess some scene the cut because it doesn't play in with this person is a good person.
I think what you said that is interesting that I suppose that the main executives of the show as a whole would then like almost protect certain people because they know, okay, that scene wasn't great, and the audience might go, I'm not sure about her, but if they know she gets to the end or he and you know, they have the love story and they need them to almost keep some integrity to the show that you know.
We can produce a happy ending.
It's interesting that they would happily go, oh, you know what, throw that scene on the chopping room floor, like we'll just pretend that didn't happen to protect them.
There's also an instance where a villain and I'm using quotations, was copping a lot of flak by Australia, and towards the end they were just like cut cut all their scenes because they just didn't want to feed the fuel anymore. And so when that villain comes out blaming the edit, I'm like, you actually got protected because it could have been worse.
Are you kind of saying I didn't realize this, but like it's almost that you guys are re editing the show responsive to the public.
To the very the very end does a line and there is enough of a turnaround that so, for example, say in a couple of weeks when we get into the mid season and it's on air, some of those later episodes would still be getting edited and they could potentially be slightly impacted by audience, but generally it doesn't happen. But this was sort of a situation where that person was copying so much that the network execs were just like,
this has gone too far. We actually don't want this, and we need to just get rid of all their scenes because we don't want to feel the fire anymore.
I suppose it's a duty of care, right.
I honestly have I not across that whatsoever. I just get the footage and cut it. I don't know. Maybe they don't always know how far it's going to go. There was some there are some reactions that I don't think you can preempt necessarily. Sometimes the reaction is so hectic that it wasn't necessarily preempted.
No, well, that's interesting. It's like we're so in the bubble.
And the people that make the show that you often forget society and like examples of that, And to go back to the duty of care, I remember that I first realized the severity of this show was when I forget I think it was season six.
It was do you remember Matha and Inners?
Oh yeah, yeah, oh.
Yeah, when that it got to the point Reunion was airing. The hate and abuse and threats they were copying in real life was so extreme. I remember Channel nine put them in a safe house like it was in the middle of nowhere, like in an hour, out of nousa somewhere, and they essentially just went into hiding while it blew over. There was the season before that Divina Rankin, who was classed as the first villain. And it's funny because the prom reflection everyone caught it the first cheetah, but I
think she only ever tried to kiss Deine. It's not like fast forward to Jess Power and she's shagging down Web. But I remember it got so bad for Divina. I think she went to Fiji. Channel nine literally just gone her out of the country for a few weeks, and then even Olivia when that got to such an extreme that people were driving past her house shouting I want to kill you bitch, because her address leaked with the police.
Then involved in Australian If you met at the Australian public, everybody loves to get outraged and angry and have a common enemy, and that's what happens. And you know what about Abby Chatfield all those years ago. All she did was be really into Matt and be horny and she got hated by Australia because she said, I'm not here for to make friends, I'm here for Matt. And then Australia was like what we we hate her. But actually in the context of the show.
Was nothing.
You did nothing.
Yeah, the Bachelor's filmed over what is it, two free months, so of course you're going to be horny for the guy you Therefore, I shocked people on the first day. I'm honey for them after an hour, got for their two.
Months exactly, and Australia hated her. And it's like Australia gets so well. I don't think it's specific to Australia, just the Internet. Let's just say the Internet gets so outraged and angry that they'll hate on anything really, and then it feeds. They feed each other in the comments section as well, and they fight with each other and they get all worked up.
Yeah I get that.
Because you know, they making a show for they want people to respond. Then like I get outraging and I'll be like, you know, I'll see a friend the next thay, like, oh my god, can you believe that, But I'm not gonna then go I know where she lives.
Let's drive past and shout.
I'm like, kill you bitch, Like I'd never understand, Like what what person in society thinks, Oh, this is this is a normal response to someone who've just watched them to tell you like, it should never get to that extreme.
It's fucking ridiculous.
It's fucking ridiculous. And that is the That is the risk of putting yourself out there. You know, I have only been on TikTok putting things up on there for a couple of weeks, and people are starting to hate me, and I'm like, shit, imagine if I was faced with death threats and whatever, I'd get pretty I would be pretty worried about that. But that's showbiz. That's that's that's audiences, that's Australia. Baby.
Well, to get back to you as a producer, I want to bring up this topic which always comes out in the media every year called frank and biting.
It's actually called frank and grabs. Think when they say frank and bite, it's week all them frank and grabs.
Okay, So for the listeners to this who don't know what a frank and grab is. It's where you would essentially take maybe a few words from one sentence, a few words from a sentence a few days later of a participant, and you mash it all together to make a whole new sentence, which is often not what was said in the slightest Uh.
That is not what my definition of it is. But the technical side is correct, Yes it is.
Well, look before we let me play a couple of examples of this. So take a listen to these.
I guess for me, when I said I wanted to leave, it was because I was scared.
No matter what happens tonight, I think it's important for me to like Carolyn and know how I'm feeling. So to me, there I can hear that, you can hear the like different inflection in the words it goes. I do not like this about like you can tell this yeh fake?
Yeah?
Well but why did I do that?
Because to me that feels like a sloppy, desperate attempt to say, Okay, we have this storyline, we need to run with it. But they haven't said anything to keep that storyline going, So fuck do what you have to to just like it's it's not real. Once, psych Alex, I'm just gonna say before we jump into that, because it's a big topic, and before I ask you the big question of do you have any regrets and did you ever feel like a bad person, I'm gonna say, guys,
come back tomorrow for part two. You know what we call that in the industry, a cliffhanger and a hook. Now, I'm only doing this because, to be honest, I always said I wouldn't do a big, hour long episodes because I know people drop off after about twenty minutes. So let's so chill, Let's have a refresh and come back, and it's gonna get even juicier.