MAFS star Jamie Marinos lifts lid on life post-show

She’s the breakout star of the show but admits that she was so broke during filming she had to wear $13 dresses.

SA WEEKEND feature with Jamie from MAFS. COVER SHOT Picture: David Caird

At the start of the year, Jamie Marinos was a “full-blown average Joe”. She went to church every week, loved to “dag around” in her trackie daks and had barely 1000 followers on Instagram.

Today, she’s an overnight sensation and one of Australia’s most famous faces, with a fan base that stretches to Germany, England, America and South Africa and a social media following that’s now pushing 200,000.

The 29-year-old – who grew up in Adelaide, worked in her family’s IGA supermarket and went to Greek school every Saturday – is the latest everyday Aussie to hit the reality TV jackpot with instant, intense celebrity.

She’s the runaway success of this year’s season of Married At First Sight, the hit Channel 9 “experiment” that weds complete strangers and watches them try to make their marriages succeed.

“I was a no-one, a complete no-one,” says Marinos, who fell in love with her “gentle giant”, David Hand, only to have her heart broken when their relationship fell apart after filming ended.

“I wasn’t an influencer by any means, I was not that type of person. I was as normal as they get. It’s been astronomical, the growth on social media, because I’m almost on like 200,000. I had the least followers out of pretty much everyone because quite a few people already had a bit of a following. I’m very down to Earth, so I think you can kind of tell I came from 1000 followers.

“I feel like I’m almost like a fraud or something. When people come up to me and they’re like, ‘Jamie’, and they’re screaming and I’m like, ‘what’s going on? Am I Justin Bieber?’. I mean, I’m just a normal girl. I just put my bra on one boob at a time. I don’t know what’s going on here. I’m just living my life but I just happen to be on TV at the same time. I think it’s funny.”

Jamie got real about what MAFS was like. Picture: David Caird

The breakout star admits that it has been a whirlwind. Picture: David Caird

MAFS is the No. 1-rated show on Australian television and is also an overseas sensation, with a global audience in the millions.

Marinos was one of thousands upon thousands of wannabes to apply for the latest series, which wrapped last week.

Plucked from obscurity and catapulted into the white-hot spotlight, she brought her “main character” energy and passionate defence of her friends to Aussie prime time TV four nights of every week since the end of January.

In its wake, Marinos – who grew up in Myrtle Bank and went to St George College and Unley High School – is suddenly red hot.

She’s winning fans all over the world for her big heart, big personality and big lips. But she says the instant fame – which used to be the preserve of breakout Hollywood actors and teen singers – is not cheap. Its heavy price has been a barrage of abuse and nastiness, even for the darling of this year’s season.

Speaking fresh from her soapy photo shoot for SA Weekend at In The Brick Spa and Hotel in Melbourne’s St Kilda, Marinos says reality TV is “not for the faint-hearted”.

“I can’t express this enough, it is not an easy way,” says the faithful Greek Orthodox, who credits her religion for giving her the strength to deal with online attacks.

“I reckon there’s no harder job than when you have to go and deal with public scrutiny. It is like nothing you’ve ever experienced. When you’ve got 60-year-old men critiquing how ugly you are, or how sassy you look in that dress, or how they wish you would just shut up … it is insane. It is like you’re getting beaten every day with a bat.

“It’s not just an easy go, it’s not all glamorous. But, of course, it’s a huge opportunity. It can quantum leap you, literally quantum leap you into this next extraordinary life, but it does come at a price.”

Marinos’s story – “it isn’t interesting,” she claims – began in Myrtle Bank in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs, where she grew up in a big Greek family and went to St George College and then Unley High School.

A shy, timid child who was “scared of people and petrified of everything”, she burst into a loud, crazy, party-loving, extroverted teen.

“My aunty was like ‘we don’t know where the f--k you came from but then you just like didn’t shut up and then you were like the loudest, you wanted to dance at every family event’, there was this personality switch,” says Marinos, who dreamt of being famous and appearing on Neighbours or walking a red carpet.

“When I was 19, I was just in the club. I paid for HQ’s refurbishment just with entry money. I was there all the time.”

Married At First Sight 2025 finished recently, with Jamie later admitting she had split with her ‘husband’. Picture: Channel 9

Jamie went from having a 1000 followers to 200k. Picture: Nine Network

The moment that Jamie and Dave got married at Sydney's CarriageWorks. Picture: Nine Network

After school, Marinos graduated from marketing at the University of South Australia – “like a million other people in Adelaide” – but struggled to find work and shifted into childcare, working at Prospect Community Early Education and Care for nearly four years.

“I’m obsessed with children. That’s a big driving factor on why I wanted to go on MAFS, too. I was like, ‘I want to settle down and have babies’,” says Marinos, who still has close friends working at the centre.

“That was my fix, being in childcare, I loved the children in childcare.”

In 2022, Marinos moved to Melbourne to be with her younger sister, Georgia – “my other half” – and put her university degree to use. She found work with Shark Tank entrepreneur Nick Bell’s agency, First Page, flexing her creative side and personal skills as an account manager.

“It was so bloody stressful, I always missed being in childcare. I’d go back to childcare before I’d go back to marketing,” says Marinos, whose clients included Bae Juice, the Korean drink that purports to limit hangovers.

“I worked with everything, from Hummers to boutiques to dog trainers, I literally had 28 clients at one phase.”

A dating history chequered with red flags and a dream of “having it all – a husband, babies and a career” led her to apply for MAFS, taking on many thousands of other hopefuls for a spot on the hit series.

Producers loved her big, sassy personality – and she was thrust into prime time TV.

“I always felt like it was going to happen. I have had this amazing life in my head since I was a child. I was just obsessed with the idea of being in front of a camera,” she says.

“No one is surprised.”

But Marinos says fame is a happy byproduct of her reality TV journey. She says her driving factor for applying for MAFS was the elusive chance of finding love.

As unlikely as it has proved over the years – after 12 seasons, just 10 MAFS couples are still together, including ones who were not paired but hooked up through the series – the optimist believed it could happen for her.

She admits she is enjoying every moment of her new-found fame. Picture: David Caird

“I was like, ‘if I can be one out of 30,000 people that apply to get on this show, why can’t I be the one person that walks away with my man?’. I’m so optimistic, I’m a love bug kind of person, I believe in it and I think if it’s meant to be, the craziest story will happen,” she says.

“I wanted the fairytale ending. I did see an interview not long ago with the (MAFS) experts that said the probability is low but you are at least going to learn a lot from each other. I definitely learned a lot, which I’m happy about.”

Marinos’s runaway romance with her 200cm-tall TV husband – which seemed destined for the real world until she, her castmates and producers were “blindsided” by his change of heart – was beamed into Aussie homes four nights a week.

“He was so all in and he completely flipped. And that was concerning because this is someone I’ve shared my mind, soul, emotions and body with and there’s someone inside him that I don’t know,” says Marinos, who is no longer in touch with Hand.

“My skin broke out, I lost hair and was seriously ill with tonsillitis at the final vows. You’ve got to love your body’s reaction to men, it’s like ‘I would rather die off than that’.”

At the same time as she was giving her heart to Hand, a whole different love story was unfolding on screen as fans fell for Marinos’s zany antics, quick quips, loyalty to her friends and low maintenance.

The audience embraced her “boganic” style – a slur coined by her onscreen combatant, Lauren, in an attempt to belittle Marinos and her friends.

The 160cm pocket rocket appeared in the show with acne and no makeup. She dressed in tracksuit pants and wore budget dresses from online store Shein and second-hand website Depop to the weekly MAFS dinner parties, where all the couples dined together and scrutinised each other’s relationships.

“I did my own hair and makeup throughout the series. I was so broke, I couldn’t afford to get my hair and make-up done and my acne was the worst it’s ever been,” says Marinos, who had to supply all of her own outfits except her wedding and final commitment ceremony dresses.

“I spent $210 and I think I had 12 outfits for the dinner parties. I wore heaps of Shein because I wanted colour. The orange dress I wore was $13. I spent literally no money, I did everything myself.

“When I get dressed up, I’m very full glam, contour, it’s crazy, the big lips and everything. But day-to-day I’m not wearing make-up sitting around my house. Sometimes I didn’t even brush my hair, I was fresh from a wake up and everyone else was putting on their concealer and straightening their hair before the cameras came. But I was just like ‘let’s break unrealistic beauty standards and being so manicured all the time’.

“I’ve had a lot of like mums come up to me and be like ‘we love that you were barefaced, you were just yourself and you were in your trackies’. Who’s got the money for this, for one, and who can be bothered?”

But along with the love from fans has come intense public scrutiny of her looks and her loud style.

Social media comments even described her petite, size 6 frame as “looking pregnant”.

“I’m so blessed I’m not insecure about my body whatsoever and I can laugh it off. But I get ripped apart and I’m barely 50kg, I’m like ‘Jesus Christ, I feel sorry for anyone else then’,” she says.

Other cruel taunts slammed Marinos’s plastic and cosmetic procedures. Her lips were dissed as “botched”, “deformed” and “wonky”. A resurfaced news clip of a 19-year-old Marinos pre-lip filler prompted comments that she “looks almost completely different”.

“I was like, ‘great, we’re going back into the archives’,” says Marinos, who was being interviewed by Channel 9 after her family’s IGA was held up.

“I did age, it was 10 years ago, guys. They were like ‘she looks unrecognisable’, like it was so long ago. I got slammed for my lips, absolutely slammed.”

Jamie Marinos and Dave Hand on the show. Picture: Channel 9

Marinos is a little perplexed by the reaction. She says she has only had lip filler once, back in 2021, when she was still living in Adelaide.

She also had breast surgery in Norwood when she was 21. Apart from that, she is procedure-free.

“My lips are so old, I literally have only done my bottom lip once. I haven’t had Botox, nothing. I didn’t even have extensions. I probably had the least work done out of everyone (on MAFS), but I got slammed for my lips,” she says.

“The only other thing I’ve got is fake boobs. I remember when I was 21 I was like ‘boobs or nose, boobs or nose’ and I went for the boobs. I took pretty much all the money I got for my 21st and put it together with my savings – try explaining that to your dad.

“People are commenting ‘she’s got the worst boob jobs’, it’s like ‘I’ve got no meat on me’. The comments section loves it but I’m just like ‘sorry, my boobs have served me well all these years. I don’t have to wear a bra’.”

Since its debut in 2015, MAFS has chewed up and spat out scores of hopefuls. For most, their fame is fleeting, but each year one or two reality starlet leave a lasting mark.

Judging by the groundswell of love – online and in person – Marinos is shaping to be this year’s stayer.

It’s taken her by surprise.

“A lot of people on the cast used to refer to me as like the main character and I was like ‘don’t be silly, that’s not what’s going on here’,” says Marinos, who has even had her priest reach out to her on LinkedIn after his daughter saw her on TV.

“I’m controversial, I talk about my nipples, I’ll have a sulk if I don’t have tan on, I do get my nose involved in everything. But also what a boring f--king show it would have been if I didn’t get involved. Oh my gosh, I love the tea. You’re lucky I love the drama.

“I actually expected a lot more backlash because I am so controversial. There’s this amazing community of people that can get behind me no matter what I say, which is unreal, but I just didn’t expect it. I felt like I would sort of p--s a lot more people off.

“Those moments where it was hard, where I was vulnerable and I was crying and I’m in genuine pain, which I was dreading watching and reliving, were the moments I had such a huge response from the audience. I felt like I was getting a million hugs from people online.

“A lot of people who chose to be an altered version of themselves, I think the public saw through that … and they got the backlash for it. I was showing myself and people valued the authenticity and that was amazing. Imagine that – being liked for who you are!”

Marinos’s starpower may be shining bright, but the down-to-earth reality starlet is trying to maintain a normality. After filming ended on MAFS, she went straight back to work –

not in marketing but at a nightclub on super-stylish Chapel St, where she has worked part-time for a couple of years on top of her day job. She is now a supervisor for its VIP booths.

“I was working at the Emerson prior to MAFS but when I came back I moved into a new role. A couple of articles came out saying I earned a new job but I was always working there,” says Marinos, who is now living in Georgia’s western suburbs apartment but hopes to move closer to Prahran, where they both work every weekend.

“It’s so funny when people come up to me in the club and they’re like, ‘what are you doing here?’ I’m working here and they think I’m joking.”

With a brand new career in the spotlight unfolding before her, Marinos – who is being swamped by fans wherever she goes, “even when I’m buying toilet paper at the supermarket” – is contemplating her next move with great thought.

She’s not leaping into “quick wins”, like some of her castmates – including her former husband – who are on Cameo, where they sell personalised greetings to fans.

Instead, she wants to use her new-found fame to “inspire women”.

“I’m definitely business-minded. I’ve worked in marketing. And so my thought process is always longevity, for sure,” says Marinos.

“I want to do great things. I’ve got an amazing platform … and I want to do huge things, I don’t want to just say happy birthdays for 50 bucks and go to some influencer events, that doesn’t fulfil me. I’ve definitely been invited to so many influencer events, but I would rather just go to work than take a night off and sit with a bunch of people that just want to gain some followers taking a photo.”

“And I think that’s where I’m really different. I don’t really care about that stuff, I’m actually a lot more down to Earth. I like spending time with people I care about. Of course, like when really cool experiences come up, I love to be involved, but I’m just more looking at how can I further use my platform and form a community and inspire people, that’s where my mind goes. Authenticity is such a big value of mine and it seems to be for everyone else, too.”

Originally published as MAFS star Jamie Marinos lifts lid on life post-show