Reality TV star launches behind-the-scenes book

Mount Gambier Library will host reality TV star Alisha Aitken-Radburn with her highly anticipated memoir The Villain Edit on Thursday, August 31, at 7pm.

Alisha is a former government staffer who appeared on both The Bachelor and The Bachelor in Paradise – twice. In 2018 Alisha was working as the media advisor for former Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill Shorten, when she applied for the Channel 10 reality show The Bachelor, competing for the affection of former Australian rugby star Nick Cummins, known as The Honey Badger.

“Working in the halls of Parliament House was good preparation for some of the drama that goes on in the Bachie mansion,” Alisha said. Although Alisha went into the experiment with hopes of finding love, things quickly turned south as did the aftermath of her time on the reality show.

“I was given the ‘villain edit’ on my first season of The Bachelor, although I wasn’t entirely surprised, after all, there are only a handful of character troupes producers can manipulate into storylines,” she said. “But the backlash on social media was unexpectedly intense and I found my sense of identity completely rocked – I was not a bad person! Determined to shake the villain label, Alisha returned to reality TV screens in The Bachelor in Paradise and was given a completely different edit. This time, she was met with praise and empathy, and her portrayal led to a third and final season, where she met the man she would marry.

The Villain Edit follows Alisha’s journey through the smoke-and-mirrors world of politics, reality TV and social media. Navigating the secrets, lies and hard truths that are laced through even the most fairy tale of endings, it reveals how the perception of others can rewrite the story of who we think we are, and how important it is to know when to go off script and take control of the narrative.