How bigger and better MAFS will get Australia talking – again

Married At First Sight experts Mel Schilling and Alessandra Rampolla are bracing themselves for when the craziness really starts after a bigger and better season 11 starts on Monday.

They lived through the craziness of the latest season of Married At First Sight, but experts Mel Schilling and Alessandra Rampolla are still bracing themselves.

The polarising ratings-winner finished filming last year, but the experts know once the first episode airs on Monday, the craziness really starts with viewers, bloggers and podcasters breaking down every minute of the show.

“I am ready to watch the craziness unfold,” certified sexologist Rampolla says from her home in Puerto Rico. “(The experts) don’t see what happens during the week, so to watch the episodes is what gives me the full experience.”

With season 11, MAFS’s producers are promising a bigger and better show than ever before – this year includes the oldest contestant ever, with Richard, a 62-year-old motivational speaker from NSW – as well as a more culturally diverse cast and a same-sex couple.

But it’ll be the betrayals, the backstabbing and the drama which will get Australia talking. The reality TV juggernaut has polarised viewers in the past, who have called the show out for what they believe are scripted storylines, manufactured drama and contestants more interested in Instagram likes than finding true love.

MAFS sexologist Alessandra Rampolla.

Over 10 seasons, only four MAFS couples have stayed together.

“I don’t focus on that at all,” says Schilling, a relationship expert who has also appeared in the past four seasons of MAFS UK. “I think there are so many ways to measure success in this show … I personally tend to focus more on whether people have grown and developed and gained something out of this process.

MAFS relationship expert Mel Schilling.

“I stay in touch with some people, so hearing them say ‘I learnt such valuable lessons and skills from going through this process that I have now applied in this new relationship’ – I focus on that.”

Rampolla says even the biggest dramas can lead to lessons learned.

“It’s not about statistics and it’s not about how many couples we get right,” she says. “We’re showing Australia and the world what not to put up with and what not to do. It’s about learning about interactions and learning about being better partners and getting discussions going so we can all do better. And if love pops up, for me it’s a celebration.”

Whichever measure of success you use, it’s clear the show is a ratings winner both in Australia and overseas. The final episode of 2023 pulled in 1.066 million viewers, clearly winning the ratings race. And with MAFS Australia shown in 80 countries, it’s clearly a format that works for TV.

“Australia was the first country to have the MAFS franchise and we really super-sized it,” Schilling says. “Endemol Shine were really at the forefront of doing that, they introduced the dinner parties, the commitment ceremonies, the retreats.

“(The UK show) now pretty much identically follows the Aussie format. But the Aussie one is still more popular in the UK than the UK one.”

Married At First Sight premieres on January 29 at 7.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now