The producers of Married At First Sight acted swiftly to remove all traces of Simon Blackburn from the upcoming season after discovering his twisted TikTok videos railing against women and calling gay men ‘filth’.
They took unprecedented steps to make it appear ‘like he was never there’ – despite the fact Blackburn, a FIFO worker and divorced father of two, had filmed his wedding and honeymoon before he was kicked off.
‘They hit the nuclear button,’ a source told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday. ‘They have scrubbed him completely, even though it meant wasting tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of footage.’
The insider also revealed Blackburn’s on-screen wife, Jessica Seracino, was whisked away to another hotel after he was booted from the show and partnered with another groom.
The producers of Married At First Sight acted swiftly to remove all traces of Simon Blackburn from the upcoming season after discovering his twisted TikTok videos railing against women and calling gay men ‘filth’
Ms Seracino, 27, was the one who alerted producers to Blackburn’s shocking rants, after asking her friends to ‘do some research’ on him after she noticed several ‘red flags’ during their wedding ceremony.
A quick Google search revealed his history of hateful videos and tweets, and he was ‘immediately’ asked to leave.
Producers assured Ms Seracino they’d had no knowledge of Blackburn’s past when they cast him on the show, and promised to find her a new groom.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal that Jessica Seracino, 27, (pictured) endured ‘about four weeks of hotel isolation’ as producers scrambled to find her a last-minute replacement groom
Is the the one? Seracino was then given a second chance at love when she was finally matched with Brisbane-based bodybuilder Daniel Holmes (pictured)
They told Ms Seracino her wedding to Blackburn would not air on TV and she would instead be introduced as an intruder alongside her replacement ‘husband’.
She is believed to have spent about ‘four weeks in hotel isolation’ waiting for the producers to find her a last-minute replacement groom.
Ms Seracino was then given a second chance at love when she was finally matched with bodybuilder Daniel Holmes.
The couple were seen arriving for their first dinner party in Sydney on October 18.
Seracino and Holmes were seen arriving for their first dinner party in Sydney on October 18
Secret: The insider went on to say that Jessica was instructed to keep her marriage to Simon a secret by producers, and not tell anyone that she had been married twice
Ms Seracino was instructed by producers to keep her ‘marriage’ to Blackburn a secret and not tell anyone she had been paired up twice.
However, her absence from the first two dinner parties was noticed by the other brides who had previously met her at the hen’s night.
‘They were just trying act like the first wedding never happened,’ a source said.
Blackburn will be ‘edited out like he was never there’, production insiders tell Daily Mail Australia, which includes cutting him from the buck’s party.
Goals: While his now-private Instagram boasts mostly gym selfies and footage of him working out, Daniel says that fitness is only a portion of his priorities
Something to hide? Producers were spotted going to extreme lengths to try and cover up Daniel on-set recently
Meanwhile, his replacement is tipped to be one of the breakout stars.
Mr Holmes’ now-private Instagram boasts mostly gym selfies, but he says fitness is only one of his many interests.
‘Helping others achieve their fitness goals is a much bigger chunk of where my time and energy gets invested, the remaining time gets put into my other passions,’ he writes on social media.
On Wednesday, Daily Mail Australia revealed that it was Jessica, who first alerted producers to the videos after she noticed ‘red flags’ about the divorced father of two within just 24 hours of tying the knot
Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed on Wednesday it was Ms Seracino who first alerted producers to Blackburn’s vile videos after she noticed ‘red flags’ about him within just 24 hours of tying the knot.
The story came to light after Blackburn was accidentally featured in an untelevised trailer for MAFS. A Nine spokesperson later confirmed he had been edited out of the program after the network was made aware of his behaviour.
‘When unacceptable social media content was discovered in relation to Simon Blackburn we immediately took steps to remove him from the program,’ they said.
‘We won’t be making further comment.’
Shocking: One shameful TikTok video showed Blackburn making misogynistic comments about a woman he previously dated. He claimed she would ‘sit on YouTube all day’ instead of making money and called her the C-word repeatedly
One shameful TikTok video showed Blackburn making misogynistic comments about a woman he previously dated.
He claimed she would ‘sit on YouTube all day’ instead of making money and called her the C-word repeatedly.
Another video saw him discussing how he matched with a woman on dating app Hinge, who later texted him to say she didn’t think she was his type.
He then boasted of not dating women ‘over 60 kilos’.
Endemol Shine Australia’s decision to axe Blackburn has set the show back tens of thousands of dollars, after producers were forced to cut all his scenes
Endemol Shine Australia’s decision to axe Blackburn is understood to have set production back tens of thousands of dollars.
‘There were wedding costs, food, hire cars, security, plus all the expenses of production – it all just went to waste,’ a source said.
Blackburn did not respond to Daily Mail Australia’s request for comment, but appeared to address his exit from the show on Tuesday by sharing a post on his private Instagram profile that was captioned: ‘Leave the past in the past.’
He also asked people to stop messaging him about the videos because he is suffering from Covid-19.
He said: ‘To clarify, I haven’t posted on TikTok in six months and all videos of me are reposts or screenshots of lives from last year! Not my current thoughts or mindset!
‘No further comment will be given! I’ve got Covid, let me rest!’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Nine for further comment.
Response: Blackburn did not respond to our request for comment, but appeared to address his exit from the show on Tuesday by sharing this post on his private Instagram profile. The father of two also asked people to stop messaging him about the videos because he has Covid-19