‘I’m A Celeb’ Eliminee Davina On ‘MAFS’ Feuds, Trolls & Taking Back Her Narrative
Davina Rankin’s appearance on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! may have been short-lived, but in her brief time she managed to drastically improve her public image that was tarnished from her stint on Married at First Sight.
Davina was eliminated last night after going head-to-head with David Subritzky and Maria Thattil, and failing to guess the correct number of rats in a hidden box. After arriving as an intruder, Davina spoke openly about her time on MAFS and how the trolling she received due to how she was portrayed had affected her mental state at the time.
In 2018, Davina got caught up in one hell of a scandal when she and Dean Wells started an affair — the first in the show’s history — behind their partner’s backs, resulting in both Davina and Dean receiving loads of hateful messages online. In particular, Davina received the most harsh criticism, from being labelled a homewrecker to people making nasty comments about her physical appearance and mannerisms. It got super ugly.
In the years since the reality show, Davina has become engaged to Jaxon Manuel and given birth to their daughter, Mila-Mae. Despite moving on from MAFS, during her time in the jungle, her ex-reality TV hubby Ryan Gallagher threw a few barbs Davina’s way. He said in an Instagram Story that “it’s a shame [the show] wasn’t filmed in South Africa… where cheetahs are native.” So what did Davina think of Ryan’s petty comment, her time on MAFS, and her chance at redemption in the jungle?
We spoke to Davina Rankin about her decision to return to reality TV on I’m A Celebrity and her past Married at First Sight experiences.
On why she decided to return to reality TV:
“It’s been four years and I kind of just sheltered myself a lot. I kept my circle really small and created just a beautiful and kind community on my own social media. Going back into it [reality TV], I thought this was a good time for people to see me — just me for me, no makeup, just Davina from Brissie. I felt like it was time for me to take myself out of my comfort bubble and do my thing. I’m really glad I did, I don’t think I could have done it earlier, just mentally. It was the perfect time.”
On why I’m A Celebrity was the show she chose to return to the spotlight in:
“If you have a conversation on I’m A Celebrity, they will play that conversation for the whole time. There’s no chopping and changing, there’s no clips to eye-rolls, there’s no dramatic music — it’s all very raw, real, and authentic, and that’s what I love about it.”
On how the support she received from production on I’m A Celebrity compared to MAFS:
“The support was really bad [on MAFS]. Even with this show [I’m A Celebrity] knowing that I had a chat about MAFS coming up on one episode, I had the publicity team, Channel 10, ITV and producers reach out to make sure I’m okay and my head’s in the right place.”
By comparison, Davina claims that when she was having to endure online abuse which triggered anxiety, she did not receive much support from the MAFS producers. “They offered for me to go away, like to go to Fiji or something by myself while the show was airing. But what’s the point in that? I couldn’t even leave my bed, let alone go on a holiday where they can still watch the show over there,” Davina said. “It was so ridiculous, I told them that I had anxiety and they were like, ‘Maybe you should talk to your doctor and get some medication?’ My dad was ropeable.”
On Ryan’s portrayal on MAFS:
“Without going too much into it, they had a story that they really wanted to go with. There was a lot of things that happened in between, but you only get to see one thing and one thing only: that Ryan was the doting, beautiful husband and I was the bitchy wife.”
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On her reaction to Ryan taking swipes at her on Instagram:
“Ryan has been dropping my name here, there and everywhere for the last four years. It doesn’t phase me what he has to say. If he needs to talk about something and get it off his chest, then more power to him,” she said. “I haven’t spoken to Ryan since the show, I don’t know too many people [among the cast] who have, to be honest.”
On what actually happened with her ‘affair’ with Dean:
“There was no kissing, no sex, no dry-humping,” she joked. “It was literally one single date that was filmed. It was just to talk about that we had both voted to ‘leave’ [the experiment] and we just wanted to talk about our position in the show. If we weren’t connecting with our partners, then instead of leaving was there potentially something there?
“I thought Dean was a great person, but I’d only met him a couple of times at the dinner parties. Even then, you don’t get to sit down and truly talk to someone. The idea was for him and I to both leave and come back together, but then that got turned on its head. Obviously we weren’t allowed to tell anyone what was going on — it would have been a lot easier if we could have, but there’s this whole secrecy around the show. You’re not allowed to talk to any of the contestants or tell them anything, as it all has to be on camera.”
On whether she still talks to Dean:
“We still chat every now and then, but not in-depth. It will just be like a ‘Congratulations on your new show!’ and things like that. Jaxon has met Dean and we’ve all had drinks back in the day, so there is no bad blood at all. There’s no bad blood between me and anyone from MAFS — only Ryan.”
On how her portrayal set the blueprint for future MAFS villains like Jessika Power and Ines Basic:
“After they saw the ratings and how crazy that went, they were just after more confident people to be able to play certain parts,” she said. When asked about Davina’s villain persona being formed by replaying the same facial reactions she made all the time, Davina joked, “That was just my face at the time, I had a lot of botox. It was just my resting bitch face.”
On how she handled online hate from MAFS trolls:
“Well, I didn’t. I turned off my phone, I didn’t leave the house, I just tried to put one foot in front of the other just to try to get through it. It was really really hard, I lent on my family and friends a lot. But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and I have very thick skin now.”
On whether she regrets doing MAFS:
“I don’t regret it. It has made me very strong and it taught me a lot of lessons. It wasn’t a pleasant time in my life, but those shitty times make you a stronger person. It’s got me here and I’m really happy right now — so I can’t hate MAFS too much, but it did suck at the time.”
On who she wants to win I’m A Celebrity:
“I would love to see Dylan Lewis win. I would love to see Maria win, I’d love to see Poh [Ling Yeow] win too. But someone who really tugged on my heart and who I thought was just an amazing human is Dylan. He’s incredible and his charity is beautiful, as well.”
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I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! returns tonight at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.