Married At First Sight: Queensland groom Mike Gunner details near-death experiences

Mike has been robbed at gunpoint, beaten in a bar fight, saved from drowning and almost fell off a cliff — and lived to go on Married At First Sight

HELD up at gunpoint and badly beaten in a bar fight, Married At First Sight groom Mike Gunner says it’s his series of near-death experiences that led him to taking the chance on love.

The 43-year-old Gold Coast electrician asked a girl to marry him when he was just 23, before “she said yes and promptly took off overseas and met someone else”.

Spending the years since travelling the globe, often solo, on various whims, Gunner was robbed at gunpoint while taking money out of an ATM in Nicaragua, broke his jaw in a bar fight in Thailand after seeing a woman get ripped off, almost fell off a cliff climbing and was saved from drowning in the surf in Mexico.

Gold Coast electrician Mike Gunner was an avid traveller before signing up for Married At First Sight. Photo: Channel 9

“I stepped in and trouble ensued,” he said of the bar fight when he was 27. “I was just trying to stick up for her and I got myself confronted by half a dozen locals and neither of us were prepared to back down.

“I lost a tooth, got a couple of black eyes, I broke my jaw. I was a bit worse for wear.”

Later Gunner was surfing at popular surf spot Puerto Escondido in Mexico when he was flung from his board and crashed into the sand.

“I folded myself in half and all my muscles kind of hyperextended and locked up and I wasn’t able to swim,” he said.

“Fortunately a young Mexican girl swam out and helped me on to my board and got me in. I have her to thank for being here today.”

Of the near-death experiences, he said: “You realise how fragile life is and at any moment you can have something catastrophic happen to you that can change the course of things and I think that changes your perspective.

“You want to be a better person and you want to make the most of your time and make more positive contributions. You want to be better than you were before that happened.”

Gunner married Sunshine Coast radio presenter Heidi Latcham on last night’s episode of the reality dating show, with sparks flying between the pair instantly.

Mike married Sunshine Coast radio presenter Heidi Latcham on Wednesday night’s episode of Married At First Sight. Photo: Channel 9

“It was beautiful. I’ll never forget it. When I turned around to see her — blonde hair, pretty green eyes, big smile, positive attitude — I couldn’t have been happier in the moment,” he said.

“Everyone who was there commented that it was one of the most romantic weddings they had seen — especially under the circumstances they didn’t expect that connection would exist.”