Is ‘Are You the One?’ Rigged? Season 5 Contestant Gianna Hammer Speaks Out
Are You the One? matches 20+ singles who are “bad at love” with their perfect matches using a dating algorithm. If the contestants are successful in finding their partners, they win the million-dollar prize. Is the dating reality series rigged? Season 5 contestant Gianna Hammer believes so.
‘Are You the One?’ 5 is currently the only season not all perfect matches were found
Filmed in Cabarete, Dominican Republic, the 2017 season featured two changes from the standard set up. For the first time, the house could choose if they wanted to see if a couple voted into the truth booth were a perfect match or forgo the results and earn $150,000.
Additionally, if the house blacked out at a match-up ceremony, they lost half of the million-dollar pot instead of the usual $250,000. They also had 11 perfect matches instead of the customary 10.
During the second episode, the house blacked out, decreasing their prize to $500,000, but took the trade offers for the final two episodes, leaving them with $800,000 to win.
However, the group failed to identify three matches correctly, and they left empty-handed. After eight seasons, they are the only group not to win.
‘Are You the One?’ 5 star Gianna Hammer had a previous friendship with another single
A contestant who competed in the season, Gianna Hammer, made a TikTok video nearly four years later, sharing her experiences and explaining why she believed the production team rigged the season.
In the Jan. 2021 video, she prefaced her statement by clarifying that she and contestant Shannon Duffy previously knew each other before appearing on the season, which she called a “huge no-no.”
The AYTO 5 star explained the two often spoke before flying out to film and found out that Duffy’s perfect match reportedly dropped out of the competition only a couple of weeks before.
According to Hammer, the producers told Duffy she would get dropped unless they found a replacement, which they did. At the beginning of the season, Hammer stated Osvaldo Romero talked about recently joining the cast before filming, so she thought he and Duffy are likely perfect matches.
After Hammer told him, she claims producers yelled at her until she revealed her past relationship with Duffy. As a result, the AYTO 5 star said they “banned” her and Duffy from strategizing with the other couples.
Additionally, Hammer pointed out that her friend and Romero ended up not being perfect matches and thought the producers changed it after revealing the information.
Hammer explains why she believes her season was rigged
According to the AYTO 5 star, everyone in the house came together around Week 8 and figured out the perfect matches except for three. She claims the group would’ve won by the finale, if not the following week, but accused the producers of meddling to guarantee their loss.
Hammer explained the contestants must write down their top three picks and speak to the producers about why they believe their choices would make a perfect match for them. The reality star claims she told a producer she planned on picking Ozzy Morales for the final matchup as agreed on by everyone else in the house.
However, according to Hammer, the producer told her she would look “stupid” if she went through with her choice because he wasn’t her match. After deciding to go along with the house, she claims the same producer pressured Duffy, one of the three wildcat matches, to change her pick.
Hammer believes Duffy gave in because she didn’t pick one of the two guys previously agreed upon, causing them to lose. While the AYTO 5 star noted she couldn’t definitively say if the show is rigged or not, she believes the producers meddled with their season to cause them to lose due to her previous relationship with Duffy or for ratings.
