Before fame: Who are this year’s MAFS contestants?
From a stint on Ninja Warrior to peacekeeping in East Timor, the brides and grooms of Married At First Sight are almost unrecognisable in these previously unseen images.
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Just a few weeks in and Season Six of Married At First Sight is already shaping up to be the most controversial instalment of the hit reality show to date. But who are this year’s brides and grooms, and what did their lives look like before they walked down the aisle and into their 15 minutes of fame?
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Here is what they looked like before the series went to air:
She may be in one of the most explosive relationships of the season, but before being paired with runaway groom Sam Ball, Elizabeth Sobinoff’s white-blonde hair extensions and masses of stacked jewellery were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the retail worker opted for long black hair, but her liberal use of eyeliner appears to be something of a long-running trademark look.
Despite being MIA for the first week of marriage and missing his honeymoon, heavily tattooed 26-year-old tradie Sam Ball has loved the gym for a long time, and put his hard work into use as a part-time model.
When she’s not working as a legal assistant, 28-year-old Ines Basic likes to spend her time taking selfies and tanning by the pool. She didn’t have the most charmed start to life, though, having to flee her home country of Bosnia with her parents as a young child due to the ongoing conflict throughout the 1990s.
Before Married At First Sight there was stripping and fire performing for 34-year-old Bronson Norrich. The WA resident, who is now an entrepreneur, also made an appearance on the 2018 season of Ninja Warrior, but sadly didn’t make it past the first round.
As you’d expect from a hairdresser, 32-year-old Ning Surasiang has had many a hair colour change over the years, from red to pink and purple. For her wedding to Mark Scrivens, the mum-of-three chose a more traditional brunette look. Sadly, Ning has been spotted on dating apps in recent weeks, so it appears her marriage doesn’t go the distance.
Spending over a decade in the Australian Army, 41-year-old Mark Scrivens spent his early years known as Private Scrivens, with the now personal trainer serving time in East Timor alongside United Nations Peacekeepers.
Though he now plays cricket professionally, 34-year-old Cameron Merchant spent much of his earlier years travelling the world, and was in Phuket on Boxing Day in 2004 when the deadliest tsunami in recorded history hit South-East Asia and claimed an estimated 230,000 lives.
Sydneysider Jules Robinson has spent years building up her hair and beauty business, appearing to need no excuse to glam up. Months on from filming her marriage to Cameron, the 36-year-old is rumoured to still be happily in love.
One of this season’s oldest brides, 38-year-old Melissa Lucarelli told the panel of Married At First Sight experts that before entering the experiment it had been eight years since she last had sex. Since being paired with Dino, the talent agent has joked that her dry spell is no more.
Unlike many other contestants, sometimes actor Dino Hira is taking a spiritual approach to love, and has been trying to get his wife Melissa into meditation and yoga. Before turning to guru life, Dino underwent a weight and body transformation in recent years, and even entered the Cairns Man Hunt competition in 2017.
It seems that PE teaching isn’t just a vocation for Michael Brunelli , but rather a way of life. The intrepid traveller has played AFL for over a decade, and won the 2018 Best and Fairest Medal in the Northern Football League Division 1 awards for his efforts throughout last year’s Victorian season.
During her honeymoon, 30-year-old Martha Kalifatidis told her husband Michael that over the years she has indulged in fillers, Botox and multiple plastic surgeries to alter her look. The Kim K doppelganger and makeup artist said she has no regrets.
Fellow makeup artist Lauren Huntriss has also experimented over the years, but mostly with hair colour. The now blonde was once a dark redhead. The 31-year-old also joked that seeing Will Ferrell on the red carpet was one of the best moments of her life.
Things may look rosy on the outside for buff electrian Nic Jovanovic, but the 28-year-old actually spent the past four years battling and recovering from testicular cancer. The health scare, he says, changed his outlook and life and what he wants from it. Whether that’s his wife Cyrell is still to be determined.
Like many of the female contestants, 29-year-old Cyrell Paule’s biggest changing feature over the years has been her hair. While once a fan of brunette locks, the health care consultant — who was engaged once before — seems to be set on a natural black for now.
Radio presenter Heidi Latcham has certainly lived one hell of a life — travelling the world and maintaining an independent spirit since she left home as a teenager. But the bubbly 38-year-old seems ready to settle down after being married to Mike Gunner.
As is the case with many other men on Season 6, Mike Gunnar has dabbled in modelling, but works as a full-time electrician. The 43-year-old Queenslander is also an avid traveller, and says that after leaving a trail of broken hearts around the world he’s ready to find ‘the one’.
Making a life change of a different sort, 31-year-old Mick Gould recently gave up his old life to take up goat farming in Gympie. The plasterer says he wants to one day start a family and give the woman he loves a taste of country life.
WA administrative officer and model Jessika Power has been plagued with scandal since marrying Mick Gould, from being accused of taking part in the show for ‘Instagram fame’ by her husband to allegations of violence being lodged against her brother Rhyce Power, who attended her wedding — this 27-year-old bride is one bride we won’t forget soon. She’s also a fan of changing up her look, with red, blonde, black and brown hair all having been part of her beauty repertoire at one time or another.
Originally published as Before fame: Who are this year’s MAFS contestants?
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