10 years of MAFS: what next for the game-changing reality show?

John Aiken has been overseeing the matchmaking on Married at First Sight for 10 years. And every season, he says, the job finds new ways to shock him. “The biggest surprise for me this season was the role of TikTok,” says Aiken, who serves as one of the show’s three expert hosts.

“People are developing their dating mindsets from social media, so what you’re going to see this year is some quite extreme views about men, women, relationships,” he says. “And it’s jaw dropping – when you hear it, see it, you’re gonna pull your hair out.”

Married at First Sight experts: dating coach Mel Schilling, relationship specialist John Aiken and sexologist Alessandra Rampolla.Credit: Channel Nine

Married at First Sight returns on January 27 for its 12th season, when it will take a new batch of Australian singles to the altar, ‘wed’ them to complete strangers, and task them with trying to build a functional relationship.

The marriages aren’t legally binding, which is a good thing, given most of the pairings spectacularly implode before the season’s end. But the resulting fireworks sure keep viewers hooked – for its most recent season finale, MAFS, as it’s better known, drew a timeslot-winning national audience of 2.7 million.

It’s also become a runaway hit in the UK and won over famous fans like singer Sam Smith and author Clementine Ford along the way.

Around 12,000 Australians apply to be part of the reality juggernaut each year, says Aiken. And with them, those applicants bring bold new ideas about the rules of dating – which this season included theories about ‘tradwives’ (women who take traditional gender roles in marriage), ‘warrior mindsets’ and dealbreakers so outrageous they’d halt any relationship in its tracks.

Happily ever after?Credit: Nine

Those controversial ideas, lifted straight from the internet, were something “I wasn’t prepared for and hadn’t heard in 12 seasons,” says Aiken. But they’re also part of what keeps the show fresh. “Whatever’s going on out there in the dating world every year will appear on our show,” Aiken says. “That’s why it’s always new, it’s always topical.”

But it’s not just the contestants who change every year. For its first four seasons, MAFS was a calmer, quieter affair, more akin to a documentary than a salacious reality show. Then in season five, the format was tweaked to add weekly dinner parties and commitment ceremonies where drama was stoked between couples, and the show became a hit.

Along the way, MAFS has found new and often dastardly ways to pressure test its matches – this year that includes a new Final Test Week, in which couples nearing the finale will be given the chance to ditch their match for someone new.

The role of the three experts has changed, too. In recent years, MAFS has seen contestants involved in everything from run-of-the-mill cheating scandals to explosive fights, shockingly sexist remarks and the very public outing of an OnlyFans account.

Last season saw Davina Rankin and Dean Wells cheating on their TV spouses.Credit: Nine

As the on-screen antics have become ever lewder, the experts, once there just to guide couples through their newfound unions and offer sage relationship advice, have had to step in and call out bad behaviour as it happens. It’s a job the expert panel, completed by Mel Schilling and Alessandra Rampolla, don’t shy away from.

“It’s really important that we are able to hold people accountable – because otherwise [the show] might as well be Big Brother,” says Shilling. And viewers can expect to see plenty of that signature MAFS chaos in season 12. “The dinner parties, I would say, are the loudest and rawest we’ve ever had – and that’s saying something,” says Aiken.

Which isn’t to say anyone wants its contestants to behave perfectly. The drama is key to the show’s watchability and the many water-cooler moments it sparks.

“This show is extremely raw and unfiltered,” says Aiken. “We have people who really are prepared to go there and lay their feelings out for the world to see – the good, the bad, the ugly. And that’s really what we want. We don’t want them guarded. We don’t want them trying to control their narrative or being aware of the cameras and how they might come across. What we want from our couples is to be authentic. And we have that this year.”

Dinner party drama on MAFS. Martha throws a glass of red wine over Cyrell.Credit: Nine

As the years have gone on, those working behind the scenes on MAFS have also had to contend with the shifting motivations of those putting their hand up for the show.

MAFS has launched some big careers – its most followed former contestants boast over 700,000 Instagram followers and now make a living as content creators – which means many applicants today see it as an easy path to fame.

“I mean, we’ve had to accept the fact that OnlyFans, social media, being an influencer, having a podcast, being on TV and, ultimately, wanting to leave the life you had before the show behind for fame and other trappings, that’s all there for them now – not just on our show, but on all reality shows,” says Aiken.

But while Rampolla agrees that it has become harder to find contestants who are genuinely looking for love, “that doesn’t mean that [contestants] don’t also really want someone in their life, and if they find someone they’re really compatible with, that they won’t really lean into it”.

Domenica Calarco (right) on MAFS.Credit: Nine

Not that their odds of finding a love match on MAFS are great – of the over 100 couples the show has matched across its decade-long run, just seven remain together today.

Whatever their drivers in applying for the show, Rampolla says, contestants are “giving us a peek into who they are as humans, their reactions, how they are in relationships, how they choose to speak and choose to react in certain situations, and that’s still fascinating for the audience.”

There are 20 contestants introduced in the early weeks of season 12, but Rampolla suggests keeping an eye on the key couple of Jackie and Ryan, as well as 28-year-old Melbourne girl Jamie, “who is very outspoken and very much a part of a lot of what happens in a lot of the different situations.”

And despite all the drama, there are still happy endings to be found. “We have a beautiful love story this year – more than one – but one in particular that just takes my heart,” says Rampolla. “But then in real life, after the experiment, a lot of things can go awry. So we’ll get a lot of that [drama] this season, and I think audiences will be shocked by it. It’ll give people a lot to talk about.”

Married at First Sight airs 7:30pm, Monday, January 27 on Nine and 9Now. Nine is the publisher of this masthead.