Why MAFS groom Tony's baby confession is just the tip of the iceberg

True or not, Tony's revelation is one that many women re-entering the dating world fear.

Morena and Tony, despite being one of the more uneventful couples at the beginning of this season of MAFS, have quickly become one of the most controversial, with the two starting some sort of fight in almost every episode.

However, most recently, what was once petty drama about Tony putting Morena in a headlock has become a little more serious, with Tony revealing that now, at the age of 53, he’d like to have kids of his own.

Though the situation itself may be unique, it’s a sentiment which many viewers are relating to.

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Image: Nine.

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“You were gutted”

In last night’s episode of MAFS, Tony and Morena reunited with Tony’s friends Danny and Georgia, and Morena’s friends Mikri and Josephine, for the first time since the wedding as part of friends and family week.

However, unlike the previous conversation between the loved up Jamie and Dave, this one hit viewers like a tonne of bricks, with Morena immediately going into a teared up rant about the couple’s struggles, which, by now, we all know all too well.

Aside from the regular stuff - like Tony’s inability to bond, his tendency to ‘shove things under the rug’, and his frequent trips alone back to Wollongong - Morena’s friends were sure there had been a change.

Then, Morena drops a bomb.

“You were gutted when you found out I was 57,” she says to the group.

Since the day of Tony and Morena’s wedding, they’ve been pinned as the couple to show that love has no age limit, bringing hope to others at home going through the same struggle of re-entering the dating world.

From the jump, both said that the age of the other was no issue - even after Tony’s cousin Steve said that he deserved younger.

And, in this conversation with friends, he continued to assert this point, instead blaming the problem solely on ‘her personality’. Still, ouch.

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Tony’s revelation

Seeing something deeper, Mikri and Josephine take Tony aside where he explains that though he likes Morena as a person, he still doesn’t see them going any further.

They then press further on the age topic, and finally, he opens up.

“You know what the thing is? When I came in, I wanted someone that was a bit younger than me, that still can have kids, and maybe had a kid,” he said.

Of course, this came as a shock to everyone. When this ‘baby’ plot point was advertised by MAFS, some people thought the idea that Jamie and David’s fish was pregnant was more likely than a confession from Tony.

The conversation continues with producers, with Tony saying it ‘would be nice’ - even though he’s never spoken about it with Morena, or anyone else, before.

“I’ve never probably spoken to Morena about that, because it took me a while to think about it all, and to register in my head what I really, really want. It’s just a Tony thing,” he said.

‘It’s just a Tony thing’. Right.

Of course, knowing their friend, the two women pushed Tony to tell Morena the truth, saying at least this she would understand.

“I want you to tell Morena you want to have kids, because she will appreciate you saying that,” Mikri said.

“This is where the honesty comes in. You’ve got to say to her, instead of her thinking that she’s old and decrepit, that’s how you’ve made her feel. But, if you’re honest, she’ll go, ‘Okay, fair enough, he wants kids, I can’t do that’,” she said.

Image: Nine.

“It doesn’t add up”

Next, we see the two back at the apartments, where Tony is about to break the news that the finger pointing, arguments and lack of intimacy are actually not the issue at all.

“I’ve never had a kid before, and I’ve always wanted to. You have that, you have two beautiful kids. I’ve never had that,” he says to Morena.

“That makes it hard for me to fall for somebody who’s older. That’s how I feel.”

Morena is shocked and confused over Tony’s delivery, questioning the legitimacy of the confession as a whole.

“Tony and I have been on this experiment for weeks and weeks and weeks, and he’s never uttered a word that he wants to have a baby. Where did it come from?” she said.

“He’s done everything to push me away, and now ‘Oh, I want to have a baby’. Are you serious? You’re 53. It’s very strange, it doesn’t add up.”

But, regardless, she now knows that their relationship is over.

“Clearly, I can’t reproduce. My stamp expired!” she said.

The bigger picture

Morena and Tony have had their fair share of issues over the course of the experiment.

Behind the scenes, all kinds of things have been accused about the two - like that Tony is still secretly married and in love with his wife, and that Morena is just plain crazy.

So, in light of that, it’s easy to think, like Morena and many fans do, that this baby revelation was some kind of ruse to break up the relationship sooner.

And, it may just be.

But, the reality of it is that age can play an extremely significant role in a relationship - whether you like it or not.

Even Eliot didn’t want to be with Lauren because of her age, and she’s 20 years younger than Morena. A similar thing also happened with Katie and Tim.

But, regardless, I don’t think they’ll be making it through another commitment ceremony.

Originally published as Why MAFS groom Tony's baby confession is just the tip of the iceberg