Several Married at First Sight Australia 2023 grooms reportedly voiced concerns that producers were “protecting” Claire Nomarhas amid her controversial stint on the show.
Claire still appeared to emerge from the experiment in everybody’s good books, despite the ultimate betrayal a MAFS‘ participant can commit… Cheating on your expert-appointed bae.
Sure, the early childhood educator made amends (after lying about the pub pash for weeks). But if past seasons have taught us anything, it’s that reality TV cheaters cop a barrage of criticism.
While this was the case for Adam Seed, Claire got off relatively scot-free, and her TV husband Jesse Burford seems to know why.
Chatting to Megan Pustetto in a two-part tell-all on the So Dramatic! podcast, the 30-year-old confessed “multiple grooms” felt that Claire had people on her side behind the scenes.
“Multiple grooms said this to me… They were like, ‘We just feel like production is looking after Claire’,” he recalled in episode 273 of the So Dramatic! podcast.
“The whole cheating thing, they never really grilled her on it. The experts never asked her to explain herself or [got her] to say what was she thinking in that moment.”
Expressing that there was “no accountability”, Jesse said he felt that Claire eventually owning up to her wrongdoing was a “tactic” to “lower everyone’s weapons”.
“Especially in contrast to Adam, who was trying to juggle the injustice of what was happening between him and Janelle [Han].”
Jesse Burford said Married at First Sight producers had already ‘established’ him as the villain
ICYMI: Jesse was dubbed the OG villain of MAFS 2023, especially after it emerged on his honeymoon that he had a habit of “shushing” his new wife. (Which, BTW, he debunked in part one of his tell-all.)
As such, he reckons this preconceived role as a bad guy made it difficult for the storyline to tip against Claire.
“They already pigeonholed me as a villain from the very get-go,” Jesse admitted. “Claire’s the angel and they had already begun editing the show like that.
“I think that the editing team was stuck… Like, ‘We can’t really do a one-eighty right now because we’ve already established these characters and we kinda [have] to stick with that.'”
The wedding celebrant also recalled Claire being “friendly” with producers, which sources previously told So Dramatic! was very much the case on-set.
Why was Claire Nomarhas being protected on Married at First Sight 2023?
According to MAFS insiders, Claire‘s on-screen behaviour was extremely watered down compared to what happened IRL.
“The edit Claire got is really soft compared to what it should have been, and what it could have been,” one source explained.
“The experts were all told by producers to go easy on her with their line of questioning.”
They added: “Claire boasted to other contestants about knowing one of the producers. She wasn’t trying to hide it.”
No wonder her role in the cheating scandal was swept under the rug so quickly! Those grooms might be onto something…
