Virginia Coombs says she and Erik Lake thought they’d be MAFS favorites, blasts editing

Virginia Coombs is no stranger to clapping back at people within the MAFS franchise as well as viewers. 

When Virginia’s loyalty was curtly questioned on social media, she took the time to speak her piece and explain why she thinks her and Erik’s relationship got such a surprisingly bad reputation amongst viewers. 

Virginia Coombs goes back and forth with a harsh critic 

A critic brought into question a moment from MAFS Season 12 where Virginia revealed she sometimes sleeps on her guy friends’ couches after a long night of partying. Virginia’s statement didn’t sit well with Erik or Pastor Cal at the time, and it didn’t sit well with this viewer either. 

The commenter made the brutal statement that they too would have ended the marriage with Virginia if she had been engaging in those kinds of activities, alluding to Erik and Virginia’s recent divorce.

Virginia fired back by claiming that she never slept at her guy friends’ houses while she was married and had no plans to do so. Virginia explained that she only brought up her past sleeping on men’s couches to demonstrate her tight-knit friend group. 

Virginia also challenged the commenter’s willingness to believe that all the scenes from a reality show are true and untampered. 

The critic responded by recalling a clip of Virginia from the show that led them to believe Virginia’s controversial “sleepovers” couldn’t possibly be editing since the words were coming directly out of Virginia’s mouth. 

Virginia suggests Chris and Paige contributed to her marriage’s bad edit 

When the commenter wouldn’t back down, Virginia retorted with a lengthy response, expressing her frustrations. 

Virginia broke down reality television’s reality by stating that viewers only see short snippets of conversations, and she stated that her controversial comment was only two seconds from a longer discussion. 

She wrote, “You realize for every about 20 minutes you saw of each couple per episode, there was at least 40 hours of footage taken?” 

Interestingly, Virginia revealed that she and Erik had initially thought they would be the fan-favorite couple of their season because they had apparently filmed so many great conversations and scenes. 

Virginia believed that her and Erik’s relationship became the target of drama on the show once the hectic Chris and Paige drama had finally burned out. 

Virginia believes that the show hyped up her and Erik’s problems to make them the new messy couple and that the narrative became all about highlighting their negative reactions only. 

In the comment, Virginia pointed out that she and Erik would not have stayed together nearly as long as they did if their relationship had been as tumultuous as it appeared on the show. She vulnerably admitted that she and Erik were shaken up when the show aired because it was allegedly a false depiction of them and their relationship. 

A huge part of reality television is utilizing editing to conjure up drama and storylines that aren’t always 100% accurate which was shown when MAFS divorcees, Ryan and Clara, revealed they had actually been sleeping together throughout their entire marriage, despite a whole storyline centered around them not consummating the marriage. 

Many viewers agree that MAFS Season 12 featured some of the biggest train wreck couples of the franchise. However, Virginia is still heartbroken about the end of her marriage to Erik and the fact that the positives of their relationship didn’t get to shine on the show. 

Now, Virginia aims to move on with her life, and from the scrutinizing comments she receives on social media. 

Married at First Sight airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Lifetime.