The Shady Side Of Francesca Farago

Francesca Farago has been a polarizing reality show diva ever since she appeared on Season 1 of the Netflix dating show "Too Hot to Handle" in 2020. The Vancouver native is best known for losing thousands of dollars from the cash prize on the show due to her and her cast mate Harry Jowsey's inability to keep their hands off each other. 

Though they earned most of the money back, Farago earned more of a reputation for her bad girl behavior than anything else. Her unapologetic demeanor and determination to go for who she wants has given her the reputation of a show villain, but it hasn't stopped the influencer from appearing on more Netflix reality dating shows. Farago appeared in "Love Is Blind" Season 1's "After The Altar" special, and she also took another shot at love on "Perfect Match." 

While her intoxicating looks and captivating personality draw plenty of suitors, the Canadian found her match offscreen with TikTok star Jesse Sullivan. The pair got engaged in 2023, so it's fair to say the infamous reality show villain won't be breaking any hearts on dating shows anytime soon. As for future career moves, the model hinted at the possibility of hosting a show when an Instagram user brought up her future in reality television. While she's no longer competing to find her "Perfect Match", there's no doubt that she will continue to keep fans on their toes. We're taking a look at the shady side of Francesca Farago.

Some stars join reality television shows to try and earn a cash prize — but Francesca Farago could care less about Netflix cutting her a check. The Canadian matched up with Harry Jowsey on "Too Hot To Handle" in 2019 and their intense romance led to several forbidden hookups. The concept of the show encourages couples to form a deep emotional connection before exploring a psychical one. If couples disobeyed the rules of the game and hooked up before they were granted the green light, money was deducted from the $100,000 prize fund. 

Farago and Jowsey ultimately lost nearly $30,000 dollars from the cash prize but earned most of it back after proving they could spend the night together without being intimate. The Instagram influencer has admitted that she has no remorse for her actions, however, telling TV Line, "I didn't come here expecting to win any money, and we don't even know how this money's going to be split," she admitted. "So if I felt like kissing someone, I was going to kiss someone. I didn't care how much money I lost, which is probably why I ended up losing the most out of everyone in the house." Farago went on to admit that she joined the dating show to enjoy herself, without knowing the rules beforehand. Season 1 ended with ten contestants splitting $75,000, which is a small token of their participation as far as cash prizes go. 

Francesca Farago made quite the entrance when she appeared on a reunion special of a Netflix series she wasn't even a part of. The Vancouver native surprised viewers when she was featured on Season 1 of "Love Is Blind: After The Altar" which was released in 2021. The special episodes showed former cast members reuniting after two years post-filming. Farago's friendship with "Love Is Blind" alum Damian Powers was a storyline, which got messy due to his on-and-off relationship with his former fiancé Giannina Gibelli. 

Powers fell in love with Gibelli during "Love Is Blind," but their relationship was tainted when he decided not to say "I Do" to his fiancé. Though the pair rekindled their romance off-screen, Farago was caught in the middle when viewers questioned the true nature of her friendship with Powers. He and Farago were spotted holding hands leaving a restaurant in Los Angeles, but Powers admitted to E! News they were just friends at the time.

While Gibelli and Powers were still dating, he decided to take Farago as his date to the cast party. "Me and Damian, we weren't in a good place," Gibelli told Us Weekly, "Maybe that's why he felt like he had to bring somebody along." She went on to reveal that she felt Powers was playing with Farago's feelings. The Venezuelan native ended up parting ways with her former fiancé in 2021. Farago and Powers explored their feelings for each other on Netflix's "Perfect Match" but Farago decided not to take their relationship to the next level. 

It seemed like all the men on Netflix's "Perfect Match" had one thing on their minds — Francesca Farago. The Vancouver native knows a thing or two about breaking hearts, especially when it came to her being a hot commodity on the show. The show centers around several single Netflix stars who must choose a partner to match up with and share a room with. After match-ups are decided each night, two remaining unselected singles are forced to leave the house if they are not chosen.

Farago matched up with her co-star and fellow Canadian Dom Gabriel, known for being featured on "The Mole." Though the two seemed to have a solid connection, things were shaken up when Farago's close friend Damian Powers joined the show mid-season. After winning a challenge alongside Gabriel, Farago selected Powers to join the cast and proceeded to match up with him instead of Gabriel. Left without a match, Gabriel broke down in tears over his former flame ditching him for Powers. 

Farago opened up to Newsweek about the switch up, admitting that her connection with Gabriel would have fizzled out regardless of Powers' arrival. "...I think, at the end of the day, there was something missing there in our relationship. I think whether it had [ended] when it ended, or a few days later, a few weeks later, it would have most likely ended," she revealed. Gabriel had plenty of reason to celebrate following the heartbreak, however, as he went on to win the show alongside his then-partner Georgia Hassarati.

Francesca Farago's quick-witted comments and shade-throwing didn't go unnoticed by fans on her season of "Perfect Match." Viewers took to Twitter to share their thoughts on Season 1, with several users dubbing her the villain. "My hatred of Francesca Farago that had subsided so much since S1 of THTH is renewed by her villain behavior on perfect match," one user wrote. The title came about after Farago feuded with her cast-mate Savannah Palacio for attempting to go after her then-match Dom Gabriel. She ultimately broke up with Gabriel for Powers, which added to her shady reputation on the show.

Farago admitted that she was less than pleased with her portrayal. "I was upset that they dehumanized me as much as they did," Farago told Insider. "There were so many amazing scenes that weren't shown. They focused on a very small part of my personality," she said. She also revealed that in the spirit of reality television, she played up the drama for the cameras. "I wanted to make sure I gave them a lot of content because, at the end of the day, I wanted to make an amazing show."

Farago also revealed on "The Viall Files" podcast that she was blindsided by production. She claimed she was never informed that the rules of the show required matches to share a room. "When the rules were dropped that we had to match up and go sleep in the same bed, I bawled my eyes out for a day. All that wasn't shown," she admitted.

While "Perfect Match" wrapped filming in 2022, the drama is far from over. Francesca Farago and her castmate Georgia Hassarati have different interpretations of how certain events went down while filming the show. The controversy stems from Hassarati matching up with Dom Gabriel after Farago left him for Damian Powers. 

The storyline on the show makes it seem like the Australian beauty blindsided Farago by matching with Gabriel, something she refutes. "The day that I picked Dom, she told me to do that," Hassarati said on "The Viall File"s podcast. "Looking at the bigger picture, Francesca was trying to get Chase out of the house and used me to do that." Farago denied that claim, however, commenting on the clip, "Lol this didn't happen but ok."

The drama continued further when Hassarati went on to date Farago's ex-boyfriend Harry Jowsey. Though Hassarati claims she broke up with Gabriel before meeting the fellow Australian, Farago refutes that timeline — claiming Hassarati cheated on Gabriel with Jowsey. Gabriel agrees with Farago, admitting in a clip posted by the official "Too Hot To Handle" Instagram account that they were reportedly still dating until she met Jowsey when she was featured on his podcast. Hassarati claimed on "The Viall Files" podcast that she stopped talking to Gabriel before meeting Jowsey, and that she didn't have sex with him the first day they met. Jowsey contradicted that, however, claiming that they slept together the same day of the podcast. The "Too Hot To Handle" star and Hassarati broke up in November 2022.

Georgia Hassarati isn't the only "Perfect Match" co-star Francesca Farago feuded with over. The "Too Hot To Handle" alum had beef with her co-star Savannah Palacio after she claims Palacio went after Dom Gabriel, who Farago was matched with at the time. Though Gabriel shut Palacio down, it ignited the growing tension between the co-stars. On "The Viall Files" podcast, Farago claimed Palacio was dishonest about her relationship status while filming the show. "...I knew she was going after Dom just to just spite me," she admitted, adding, "...I knew she didn't have good intentions and I knew she had a boyfriend."

In an interview with Distractify, Palacio claimed her drama with Farago started earlier on in the show. According to Palacio, she outperformed Farago during the first challenge on the show and she felt that her co-star was intimidated by her. "If someone like her is jealous of someone like me, I'm doing something right," said Palacio. "I think that's where the animosity really stems from," she continued. "From the fact that I am a beautiful, smart girl that knows her worth. And I think that she likes to center herself around people that don't feel that way about themselves."

Palacio also responded to Farago's claims that she had a boyfriend while filming "Perfect Match" in her own TikTok video. In the clip, she dances with the words "me not having a boyfriend but dating multiple men instead" posted above her. 

Francesca Farago and Damian Powers have a lot of history together — and if there's any truth behind the duo's portrayal on reality television, it's tumultuous. Following their "Love Is Blind" love triangle, things got even more complicated when they both starred in "Perfect Match." Farago was dubbed the villain after she left Don Gabriel, her then-match, mid-season for Damian Powers.

Despite seeing things through and exploring whether there was more to her friendship with Powers, Farago ultimately decided not to pursue a relationship with the "Love Is Blind" star outside the show. Powers asked Farago to be his girlfriend in Season 1 Episode 11, but she ultimately declined, admitting she didn't feel like Powers knew her on a deep level. "I don't know if we would work outside of this house," Farago said, questioning what Powers liked about her. She went on to add, "...We don't sit down and have like in-depth conversations about anything."

The two co-stars went their separate ways, and Farago told Today that her relationship with Powers is completely different after the show. "I'm definitely the least close to Damian now and I was probably the closest to him in the house with our friendship..." she admitted. As for Powers, viewers have chalked up Farago denying him as payback for his actions involving Gibelli on "Love Is Blind: After The Altar." On his Instagram post featuring a clip from "Perfect Match" one user commented, "Franchesca [sic] played with you that's KARMA!!!"

Francesca Farago and her former flame Harry Jowsey formed an instant connection while filming "Too Hot To Handle" in 2019. The pair ended up leaving the show with the intention to make things work off-screen, though Jowsey was living in Australia and Farago was living in Canada at the time. The two split briefly following filming before rekindling their romance again in 2020. They went on to get engaged, with Jowsey popping the question on the Season 1 reunion episode – with a candy Ring Pop of all things. 

The former co-star's on-and-off relationship ended again in June 2020, but the drama was far from over. Jowsey went on to threaten legal action against his former flame following their break up. As per The Courier Mail, the "Too Hot To Handle" alum claims that Farago hurt his social media brand, alleging he lost over 200,000 followers following their split. "'I can't believe it, it's damaging my brand. I've been nothing but nice to her and regarding the reason why we broke up, because of stuff she did," the Australian influencer said. 

The tumultuous couple tried to make things work again in May 2021, but Farago revealed on the "Domenick Nati Show" that their re-kindled romance was short-lived. "We were thinking about getting back together and we were getting to know each other slowly," Farago said, adding, "And then, he was just being extremely disrespectful to me online." Farago went on to reveal that she has since closed the chapter with him for good.