On Top of Everything, Olivia Jade Was Allegedly Part of a Rigged Game Show, Too
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Before she was embroiled in a college admissions scandal, Olivia Jade, the daughter of Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli, appeared on a Verizon Wireless-sponsored game show. That's all part of being a burgeoning influencer, but The Daily Mail notes that during her time on the show, she was awarded a $5,000 donation to the charity of her choice, even though fellow influencer Marissa Rachel was announced as the winner in front of the live audience.
Olivia Jade appeared on Tap That Awesome App, a now-obsolete show from Awesomeness TV that aired on Verizon mobile devices, back in 2016. On the trivia show, she was pitted against singer Rydel Lynch and Rachel, who explained that even though she earned a higher score at the end of the show, the production team instructed everyone to re-film everything as if Olivia actually won. Producers even had her repeat one of her incorrect answers. Rachel doesn't bear any ill will, though she says that things definitely didn't go as planned.
"I have nothing against Olivia, I've met her on several occasions and she's perfectly nice. But what happened just didn't seem right to me," Rachel told The Daily Mail. "I definitely won by a significant amount."
Rachel also explained that during the impromptu retake, producers told her and Lynch to avoid hitting their buzzers and allow Olivia to answer the questions. After the befuddling ordeal, Olivia was declared the winner and took home the prize. The audience was directed to cheer, clap, and pretend that Olivia was the actual winner. At the end of it all, Rachel says that she didn't get any of the prize money and that even though she didn't actually win, Olivia snagged the charitable donation. The final cut of the episode even edited out some of Rachel's correct answers, she added.
The news of Olivia's preferential treatment comes days after her parents were indicted as part of Operation Varsity Blues. In addition to being called out for getting into USC even though she didn't show any real interest in academics (and documenting that on her YouTube channel), reports have come in that Olivia's lost several endorsement deals and may not return to school.
InStyle has reached out to Rachel for comment.
