MAFS expert Mel Schilling has dished on the drama coming up on Married At First Sight 2024, and she certainly didn’t hold back.
Mel’s juicy recount of the upcoming season makes the previous instalments look like child’s play. She told Yahoo Lifestyle Australia that she was “literally gobsmacked” by some of the things that went down on MAFS Australia 2024.
“Sometimes I think I’ve heard it all and then one of these participants opens their mouth and something completely unexpected comes out and I think, ‘Wow, I didn’t think it could get any worse and there it is’,” she said.
“There’s a number of people who behave in ways that are absolutely abhorrent and inappropriate and cross boundaries that just should never happen in any social environment. You will have so many jaw-on-the-floor moments from a whole range of different people, and really from some people that you won’t expect.”
Mel Schilling on the main storylines of the season
Much of the drama from MAFS 2023 was focused on Bronte Schofield and Harrison Boon’s continuous bickering, and MAFS 2022 similarly focused on the feud between brides Olivia Frazer and Domenica Calarco.
However, Mel shared that the upcoming season would vary in the sense that there are “loads of little dramas” rather than one polarising storyline.
“In other seasons, I think we’ve had one really fascinating, interesting story running through where there’s been a couple of key players and everyone’s been really focused in on what’s going on in their dynamic,” she reaveled.
“But this time, it’s like there’s so many different little subplots going on. There are so many interesting dynamics that happen between people that you wouldn’t even expect. I think it’s much more interesting actually.”
The experts will be VERY involved
If you thought the experts were too involved last year, with their introduction of the partner swap, and their constant criticism of poor old Leighton, then buckle up. Apparently, relationship experts Mel Schilling, Alessandra Rampolla and John Aiken will be involved more than ever in MAFS 2024.
“Because there is so much going on within the dynamic and within the couples, you’re going to see us doing a lot more intervention,” she said. “A lot more pulling people up, holding up that mirror and calling people out.
“It’s probably less of the ‘Let’s all celebrate happy families’, and a lot more of the ‘The way you’re behaving right now is actually harming someone else, let’s talk about the impact of that’. So you’re going to see the three of us really stepping in in quite a firm way, and that felt quite different for us this time.”
There will be different social groups
Mel said that this year’s participants tend to hang out with other cast members who are a similar age to them, which leads to a divide in the group.
“We’ve actually got two different couples that are my age and older, which is a first,” she said.
“So it’s not only that interesting relationship between those couples, but we’ve now almost got the older group and the younger group. And what happens is there’s a beautiful sort of mentor-mentee relationship that develops that I absolutely love and some really unexpected role modelling and learning that happens between people. We’ve never really seen that before.”
Married at First Sight 2024 premieres at 7:30pm on January 29th on Channel Nine and 9Now.
Want to CHATTR with us? Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more entertainment news.