LOVE AISLE
Married At First Sight Australia… romps, revenge and happy endings that made show a TV sensation
IT’S the steamy show that makes Love Island look tame.
Married At First Sight Australia has become a smash hit here thanks to all the romances, rows and romping between contestants.
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While the UK version of the reality favourite has always been popular, series six of the Aussie show has become compulsive viewing for British audiences waiting for Love Island to return.
The show, which first aired Down Under in 2019 and is now screened on E4 and catch-up service All 4, sees a panel of experts match up 12 couples who have never met.
They then have to “marry” and move in together for the duration of the series, before deciding whether to stay together or separate.
Fans have been quick to praise the explosive series, which has also made stars of the cast, for getting them through lockdown.
Here, Emma Pietras tells you all you need to know about the must-see show.
Romps
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TEACHER Michael Brunell and make-up artist Martha Kalifatidis confirmed they had sex on their TV “honeymoon”.
Michael said: “I needed some distance to simmer down. It took us a few nights to figure each other out.”
Martha added: “Yeah, we did it.”
Electrician Mike Gunner and radio announcer Heidi Latcham have some serious sexual chemistry so it came as little surprise they reportedly had sex just hours after arriving on their honeymoon.
They may not have been husband and wife but that didn’t stop former tradesmen Sam Ball and legal assistant Ines Basic reportedly sleeping together.
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Their bedroom scene teasingly ended abruptly with the pair getting hot and heavy under the covers.
Ines later said: “I was keen to do a full-on porno. I’m a hoe, so I was down for that.”
Matches made in hell
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THE show’s panel of experts claim to have paired couples based on the old adage that opposites attract.
But this method does not seem to lead to love in most cases.
Even so, the mismatched couples certainly make for brilliant TV.
On seeing her groom at the altar, Ines cuttingly asked entrepreneur Bronson Norrish: “Can we get rid of your eyebrow ring please?”
Talent agent Melissa Lucarelli and meditation facilitator Dino Hira are best described as a match made in hell.
Melissa has since admitted she thought she had been paired with poetry fan Dino as “a joke”.
And administration officer Jessika Power and plasterer and farmer Mick Gould are definitely not each other’s type on paper. She is a city girl and a beauty fan whereas he is a laid-back country boy.
Game playing
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A REALITY TV show just wouldn’t be the same without a bit of game-playing.
And some of the cast are not afraid to get tactical – even if it means staying shacked up with a partner they do not like.
Couples are only permitted to leave the experiment if both consent to do so.
So if one partner chooses to stay while the other wants to leave, the couple are required to remain for another week.
At the weekly commitment ceremonies, they must write down “Stay” or “Leave” – and while Jessika clearly isn’t interested in husband Mick, she keeps choosing to stay so she can continue her romance with car broker Dan Webb.
Revenge
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FORMER tradesman Sam Ball and store manager Elizabeth Sobinoff have had their share of rows.
He even fat-shamed her on their big day, telling the camera crew he had “never dated a girl as big as her”.
His poor bride was horrified to hear Sam’s remarks after watching a recording of the show.
But Elizabeth has clearly got her revenge on Sam, who would later cheat on her with fellow contestant Ines.
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Since the show ended, Elizabeth has lost nearly 2st and has said: “It’s still very much me. I know people are going to say, ‘Well, you look completely different to how we saw you last year’.
“But don’t always focus on the outer shell. This has always been me. We grow, as people.
“I don’t glorify weight loss and be like, ‘I’m better now’.”
Happy endings
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BESIDES the bust-ups, some couples do appear to find true love.
The biggest success story of the series is former professional cricketer Cameron Merchant and business owner Jules Robinson, who were the first couple of the series to get “married”.
And viewers were delighted when they decided to marry for real in November 2019, with some of the TV cast invited to the ceremony as guests.
Unlike the show’s UK version, legal restrictions in Australia mean the couples do not have a legally binding marriage on the show.
Instead they have an unofficial commitment ceremony.
After walking down the aisle, the couples go on honeymoon before living together and then deciding whether to continue with the relationship.
Cameron and Jules have since had a baby, Ollie, who was born last October.
And while Martha and Michael might not have seemed like the perfect match at first, they too have gone the distance.
Martha recently said: “We’re more surprised than the rest of you guys, to be honest.”
The couple are said to be living together and sparked rumours they could be following in Cameron and Jules’ footsteps, when a video shared by Martha saw Michael perched behind her, patting her stomach.
Bust-ups
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THE couples meet in a series of dinner parties and weekly recommitment ceremonies, where much of the drama takes place.
Make-up artist Lauren Huntriss was paired with videographer Matthew Bennett and the couple initially hit it off – with shy Matthew even losing his virginity to his more sexually adventurous bride.
But after Lauren – known as Loz – revealed she was into swinging and threesomes, the romance quickly soured.
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And she was left humiliated after overhearing her husband at one of the dinner parties telling the other men: “I’m just not attracted to Loz.”
She later said: “Matt had never told me he wasn’t attracted to me before and I was really hurt. I felt he betrayed me, especially as I had always been by his side and respectful of him in social settings.”
But one of the biggest bust-ups of the series took place between nurse Susie Bradley and barista Billy Vincent – over artificial sweetener.
Susie reduced her sweet-natured husband to tears after flying into a rage after claiming Billy lied about having a supply of Splenda.
Wife-swapping
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WHILE couples in the UK version only meet the other pairings once, the Aussie contestants regularly see each other throughout the series – which can lead to temptation.
And in this series several cast members have brazenly pursued each other, despite being “married”.
Jessika and Dan became the villains of the series when they began an illicit affair, having a secret snog at one of the weekly dinner parties where the couples get together, just metres away from their respective partners.
The pair have since parted ways over accusations of their cheating, while Jessika’s “husband” Mick has been linked to Dan’s partner in the show, administrator Tamara Joy – as well as Lauren.
It is totally addictive car-crash telly.
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Celebrity fans
IT’S not just mere mortals who love “MAFSA”. The latest series of the outrageous show is a huge hit with celebrities, with many taking to social media to share their delight.
Singer Sam Smith has tweeted: “Married At First Sight Australia is incredible television.”
Pop star Ella Eyre tweeted: “New Married At First Sight Australia is getting me through this lockdown.”
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Blue singer Duncan James also took to Twitter to confess: “I have been fully gripped, obsessed and my mind has been blown from amazing TV from Australia with @MarriedAU Season 6!!!”
- Married At First Sight Australia is on E4 Monday to Friday until March 1.
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Married At First Sight Australia's Cyrell Paule throws wine in Jessika Power's face
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