‘MAFS’ Villain Davina Admits She’s Received Death Threats & Online Abuse

The prospect of putting yourself up to be a contestant on reality TV in 2018, whilst possibly leading to the luxuries of fame, wealth and job oppurtunities, is also inevitably saddled with an intense public scrutiny and attention which usually goes one of either two ways.

The phrase “you either love ’em or hate ’em” feels a particularly relevant adage in regards to the kind of exposure a primetime reality show bestows on an erstwhile regular Aussie, and in the case of Married At First Sight’s Davina Rankin, itis almost exlcusively been the latter.

The Instagram identity was almost immediately stamped with the villain role this season and although some of her actions could be seen as fairly unambiguously shithouse, the way the show has edited and marketed her time on the matchmaking-from-hell program has definitely fueled her status as “the most hated woman on Australian TV”.

Speaking to the ABC, Davina has today opened up for the first time on the kind of attention she has copped since the show started airing, admitting that the amount and severity of abusive messages and slurs she’s recieved on social media, has had a dramatic effect on her revaling she “barely got out of this whole ordeal alive”.

I’ve had people tell me they would punch me if they saw me on the street … death threats. I feel like if I go to the shops, all of those people that have commented on a meme about me are going to be there.

Whilst Davina admits she knew that volunteering for such a role in the public eye would come with its attention, some of it unwanted, she says that the way viewers voiced their opinions and thoughts on social media quickly became unacceptable:

We really do need to be more mindful about not letting enjoyable hate-watching turn into oppressive hate speech… The bottom line is they are all hurtful … they are all really gross behaviours that we don’t want to have online. We want to have stability and kindness online, just as we do offline.

The interview comes a couple of days after Rankin took to YouTube for an emotional vlog about the bombardment of online hate she’s received:

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