Every season has a villain – but not every Bachelor bad girl was brought up in a cult.

On Monday, Woman’s Day reported that Sydney real estate agent and ratings dynamo Keira Maguire was the daughter of cult leader, polygamist and convicted paedophile Alistah Laishkochav.

Maguire spent part of her childhood living in Bells Beach, Victoria with the abusive self-styled messiah, his nine wives and 63 children.

In a statement, Maguire told The New Daily her mother removed her from the cult when she was five years old and that Laishkochav – who reportedly died in jail – was “not relevant” to her life since.

The polygamist cult all came crashing down when Keira’s father was sent to jail. #9ACA https://t.co/NiOvrqtk1Z

— A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) August 9, 2016

“Although I have since met and reunited with my family, I have never had a relationship with Alistah Laishkochav,” she said.

Polygamist, paedophile, child abuser

In 2000, Alistah Laishkochav was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail for 21 child sex offences and one count of reckless injury after throwing a plank of wood at one of his children’s heads.

Born Ian Lowe, Laishkochav was a baker and briefly a police officer in New Zealand before changing his name and moving to Australia in 1969 after his first marriage broke down.

Laishkochav travelled around the country assembling a harem of wives and followers who believed his claim that he was Jesus Christ.

Eventually setting up a home in Bells Beach, Laishkochav’s 63 children were crammed into 15 bunk beds in each room.

By growing his brood, Laishkochav admitted to A Current Affair in 1992 that he was able to reap upwards of $225,000 a year in welfare payments.

Maguire was three at the time her father was molesting his victims. Photo: Channel Nine

Just months after the women let cameras into their “happy” lives, three wives had packed up their children and left after Laishkochav became physically abusive.

“Once the ego sets in, they think they can do anything,” one of them told Channel Nine.

“We got really sick of it.”

According to a policeman who investigated him, Laishkochav had so many children he mistakenly sexually abused one of his own daughters.

“I think it was a case of mistaken identity,” Detective Sergeant Doug Smith of Melbourne’s Sexual Crime Squad told the New Zealand Herald in 2000.

Laishkochav’s other three victims were daughters of his followers – all under the age of 12.

One of them, who said she was sexually abused hundreds of times, told the court that Laishkochav told her “God would punished her” if she spoke out.

From cult to reality show – Keira and Richie on The Bachelor. Photo: Channel Nine

Another victim was eight years old when Laishkochav would kiss her and tell her she would eventually become his wife.

Victims reported Laishkochav was known as “the controller” and managed to silence his victims so long through religion and fear.

Wives were rotated across a ‘sex roster’, with Laishkochav sleeping with two at a time while the other seven slept in the same room.

He kept the ‘food shed’ locked, punched his own children and preached a combination of Jewish, Hawaiian and Mormon faiths.

Laishkochav’s cult disbanded after the abuse was revealed. Photo: Facebook

The end

The cult leader managed to keep the abuse a secret for four years, until one of his daughters let slip to a friend at school in 1993.

Detective Sergeant Smith told the New Zealand Herald he believed most of Laishkachov’s wives had not known, but turned against their husband when the extent of the abuse was revealed.

By that time, Maguire had long left the cult and was living in Brisbane.

Maguire says she is “competitive” and “herself” on the show. Photo: Network Ten

“I had a wonderful childhood and I am extremely grateful to both my mother and grandmother for the upbringing which they provided me and my siblings,” Maguire said.

“Alistah Laishkochav is not relevant to who I am nor does he define me.”

Maguire now lives in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs and, thanks to a penchant for black active wear and a blonde bob, has been compared to model Lara Bingle.

It hasn’t been an easy ride for her on The Bachelor, however, with hurtful memes about her appearance and personality circulating on social media, and rumours swirling this week that fellow contestant Megan has walked out of the house because bachelor Richie is keeping McGuire on board for ratings.