Austin Reed has been keeping a low profile on social media since his Married at First Sight debut, but he recently resurfaced for a live chat with castmate Michael Shiakallis.
The duo dished about their time on what many have dubbed the worst season in the show’s history and answered questions from curious viewers.
One thing that people wanted to know about was the mystery behind Austin’s reunion beard.
It became a major topic of conversation after viewers noticed that Austin had his thick, brown beard on display in one scene and was clean-shaven the next minute.
MAFS host Kevin Frazier asked the 32-year-old about it on camera, but his response didn’t offer viewers much clarity.
Now, Austin’s finally ready to share the truth about that, and it has much to do with his frustration with the producers and editors of the show.
Austin Reed talks about his mysterious beard situation at the MAFS reunion
Austin opened up for the first time since his marriage to Becca Haley crashed and burned on the show in an Instagram Live with Michael, and he spilled all the behind-the-scenes tea.
The duo answered several questions from MAFS fans, and someone was itching to learn more about Austin’s reunion beard.
“Explain the beard situation at the reunion,” said Michael.
Austin set the stage, noting that he was frustrated and “upset” after a tense sit-down with Becca and reunion host Kevin Frazier.
“They were wanting us to stay, do more stuff, and I basically told the producers that I’ve had it, this is not fair, this is not equal,” explained Austin, who dropped a little nugget that the reunion was filmed on two separate days.
After the first day of filming, “I leave in a very rushed manner,” said the MAFS start, who told producers, “I’m done, I’m not coming back tomorrow, goodbye, see ya, fulfilled my contract.”
Austin shaved his beard so that producers couldn’t manipulate his scenes
During his chat, Austin said that after he had made it clear he would not return to film the second day of the reunion, he later had another thought.
“I’m sorta thinking, ‘What can be done to the edits if I don’t show up?’ cause I’ve seen what they’ve been doing to it thus far, and I’m like, it’s probably not good.”
“The only way that I can make certain that they didn’t edit me leaving in an angered state from Day 1, is if I go back Day 2 and I don’t have a beard he added laughingly. “So I shaved my beard.”
Did you notice Austin’s altered appearance at the reunion? What did you think was going on with that?
Married at First Sight is currently on hiatus.