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Married at First Sight bride Poppy’s ‘distress’ after trolling raises red flags for Nine

Poppy (centre) with fellow <i>Married at First Sight</i> brides before her abrupt exit from the Nine hit.

Poppy (centre) with fellow Married at First Sight brides before her abrupt exit from the Nine hit. Photo: Instagram

The Nine Network and Married at First Sight producers Endemol Shine have “reached out” to runaway reality TV bride Poppy Jennings after she broke ranks by blasting the show and her ‘husband’ Luke Eglin in a lengthy Facebook rant.

“I’m not some whingeing little weak person that is going to be silenced,” Poppy wrote in the now-deleted post after her shock walkout on Monday caused fan backlash against her.

“I’m obviously being hammered by media and trolls right now.”

Nine and the production company, which have been in the gun before from contestants who said their participation on MAFS caused mental health problems, acted swiftly.

“We have seen Poppy’s post and note her distress,” they said in a joint statement on Tuesday to The New Daily.

“We have reached out to her to offer support and won’t be making any further public comment and will focus on doing our best to support both Poppy and Luke.”

Poppy Jennings

MAFS portrayed Poppy as a Stage-5 clinger mother to her twin boys. Photo: Getty

The network’s public show of care came after photographer Poppy went rogue on Monday night and turned her back on Adelaide single dad Luke without so much as a goodbye.

From the first episode, she has been portrayed as teary and unhappy, with her distress previously put down to her missing her twin boys.

It made her unpopular with viewers:

But Poppy came out guns blazing, claiming all is not as it seems with the reality TV show.

In a now-deleted Facebook post, she accused producers of heavily editing her scenes to make Luke appear more palatable and win viewer hearts.

“The experts never even met him!!!” she said in the post.

“He was fake on camera and a complete dickhead behind the scenes!

“It was infuriating!!! I was there, I was uncomfortable with all the things about this person I was matched with that didn’t add up!”

Poppy said she would “probably hate me too” for her TV portrayal.

“I understand people are reacting to what they see on TV, but they see 1 per cent of what actually goes on in the show.”

Poppy also alluded to an incident that wasn’t broadcast, which could explain her shock exit.

Poppy Jennings

Is there more to Luke than meets the eye? Photo: Facebook/Poppy Marie

“I couldn’t say what was happening behind the scenes as it was too controversial so let’s just play her ugly crying and whingeing over her kids,” she said.

“Why is Luke crying when I left??? What really happened that he was crying over! You don’t know because I wasn’t allowed to say!! It’s too controversial!”

The post was shared over 2300 times before it was quickly removed, with Married at First Sight fans unsure who to believe.

The 38-year-old received a deluge of social media hate during her brief time on the show, which only ramped up after after her shock exit.

Poppy was an early fan favourite and audiences quickly warmed to her as she joked about her ex-husband’s “terrible accident” where he “tripped and fell and landed in his co-worker’s vagina”.

However, the tide had shifted by the end of her first episode, with fans accusing her of weeping or sulking through every scene.

One fan theory? That Poppy was stage managed out so last year’s hoodwinked contestant Elizabeth Sobinoff can be introduced as a second ‘bride’ for Luke.

Elizabeth was at the heart of 2019’s love triangle, when her screen husband Sam Ball had an ‘affair’ with another bride, Ines Basic.

Despite that fiasco, she is reportedly returning for another crack at TV love – and so far, Luke is the only ‘single’ man available to be recycled as a second-time groom.

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