Former MAFS ‘bad boy’ Dean Wells turns over a new leaf to help underprivileged children

Former Married At First Sight star, Dean Wells, is using his platform to help change lives. The Manly businessman has teamed up with Little Ripples wine to give underprivileged children access to clean water

Reality TV bad boy Dean Wells has come a long way since his controversial stint on Married At First Sight.

Two years after breaking hearts on the show, the Manly businessman is using his star power to change lives in developing countries.

While his charity work may come as a surprise to his critics, Wells says it’s true to who he really is and not the villain he was portrayed as on the reality TV show last year.

“MAFS gets edited and manipulated in a certain way so the public didn’t really get to see the real me,” he told Confidential.

“They get to see a very manipulated and sensationalised version of what actually happened. I like to think I’m a good person. I don’t look at myself as a bad boy. The way they portrayed me was not the real me.

“I’ve done quite a bit of charity work since MAFS. I try and do as much as I can.”

Wells has teamed up with Little Ripples for their Wine to Water campaign, which donates proceeds from every sale to building water wells in impoverished nations like Uganda.

“For every bottle of wine we sell, we donate a year worth of clean water to one person,” he said. “It’s been a really great start, we’ve only been around for two months and we’ve already raised enough for three water wells – around $12,000.

Dean Wells promotes his wine label Little Ripples. Picture: Toby Zerna

“There’s three or four men with a shovel, digging down to 70 feet today because of Little Ripples thanks to people in Australia buying bottles of wine.”

Wells was inspired to give back after hearing about the extremes that women and children go to for clean water.

“Some of the insane stories I heard about young women and girls trying to collect water in Africa inspired me to get involved,” he said.

“These little girls get attacked by alligators and lions and have people trying to abduct them. When I saw video and photos of the very first Little Ripples-sponsored well in Uganda … for me, that was a very big moment. I knew this was real and I knew it was something to be involved in – I literally welled up a little bit, no pun intended.”

While Wells’ philanthropic endeavours are thriving, he has had much less success in his love life.

The reality star, who was paired with Tracey Jewel on MAFS, remains unlucky in love more than a year after he appeared on the show.

“I went out with Emma Roche from The Bachelor recently. I don’t like to put labels on anything, I’d say we’re just friends,” he said. “I’m still looking in that department.”

Originally published as Former MAFS ‘bad boy’ Dean Wells turns over a new leaf to help underprivileged children