One (or perhaps more than one) of the women said (paraphrasing) the men focused so much energy on the "optics" the fact they had just gotten married and were supposed to be developing a relationship with the women they were married to was practically forgotten.
I know a lot of viewers think reality TV is scripted, but I recall something I read a reality TV cast member said years ago: "If you don't do it or say it they can't use it."
So while shows like MAFS aren't scripted per se, at the end of each season production has hundreds of hours of film of each cast member. When reviewing the film, storylines will be suggested and the producers can certainly tell the editors to use the segments of each cast member's footage that will tell the story they've chosen for them.
Although I have no idea who was gaslighting who in the husbands vs wives face-off, I'm leaning towards the grooms' side. From what I understand, there were so few men who applied for this season production had to scout social media (and perhaps do some in-person scouting at venues that attract single men) to find men and invite them to participate.
I believe MAFS receiving more female applicants than male has been an issue from the show's inception, so they've always had to do this to increase their pool of available male candidates. But Denver's pool of bachelors was almost entirely* made up of men who were recruited by production.
My response to anyone who expresses surprise that optics were a bigger priority to the men than forming a relationship with their wives is: "Duh. Of course they were!"
Because of that this season was doomed to fail before it even began.
*or entirely. I can't find the article I read that said all the men were recruited.
ncG1vNJzZmien6fCrr%2BNqamipZWptq6x0WeaqKVfqbyxtcJoaG1tZWh9br%2BQcJxrbF2Zsq%2FCxKtkq52lo7awuoypmKusXWZ8sa3GnmZrZw%3D%3D