Jamie Marinos became a standout bride on the 2025 season of Married at First Sight (MAFS). Between her rocky relationship with (incoming Perfect Match contestant) Dave Hand and her iconic one-liners, Jamie was embraced as a fan favourite.
And naturally, her popularity translated to social media followers. These days, Jamie has over 340k Instagram and TikTok followers, which gives her a reach of 780k folks online. No biggie! Her high following ranks in the likes of earlier success stories. earlier success stories from MAFS, with former brides like Martha Kalifatidis, Jessika Power and Jules Robinson all finding huge careers as content creators off the back of MAFS.
But based on the 2026 season, those days of instant Insta-fame are numbered.
The cast have just gotten their Instagram accounts back from Nine’s production and they might not be too impressed with the follower count that’s greeting them. Despite appearing on the highest-rated show in Australia for the past three months and the most-watched MAFS season ever, most contestants have failed to crack 50,000 followers.
Gia Fleur has lured 128k followers, Alissa Fay has 103k and Stella Mickunaite gained a respectable 98k followers, but other season standouts like Bec Zacharia, Danny Hewitt and David Momoh have all failed to find the Instagram success they may have expected.
So what’s happening? Jamie told Chattr she ‘isn’t surprised’ that the 2026 cast have failed to win the social media following of previous contestants. “Every season, there are usually individuals or couples that viewers really connect with and get behind, but this year that strong likeability just wasn’t there,” she exclusively told Chattr.
“Australia doesn’t rally around villains.”
Jamie reckons this season gave much more airtime to ‘villains’ than the sorts of people that Australia would get behind. “There were participants who potentially could have built strong followings, but they just weren’t shown enough, so they naturally faded into the background,” she said.
“If you replayed seasons like Domenica’s or Cyrell’s, people would still rally behind the same personalities who went on to build careers from the show. At the end of the day, it comes down to the individuals. Audiences still gravitate towards authenticity, people who are genuine, relatable and can be a good role model.”
Jamie Marinos offers her predictions on the future of MAFS
If being a contestant on MAFS no longer guarantees a career as an influencer, Jamie believes that the kind of people being cast on the reality show could shift.
“It would limit the number of people going on purely for fame or to build a platform. This season did feel more image-conscious and more focused on clout. There was a lot happening behind the scenes, with people speaking to press, being present on social media throughout the season airing and trying to control narratives – it created an inauthentic feel at times.”
Jamie admits that if the show no longer guarantees social media success, this could actually be a ‘good thing’ for the series. “It might attract people who are there for the right reasons, which would hopefully lead to more genuine behaviour, more authentic relationships, and a better viewing experience overall.”
Jamie Marinos gives her unfiltered thoughts on the 2026 season of MAFS
With the MAFS reunion commitment ceremony wrapping up on Monday night, Jamie said it “wasn’t my favourite” season of the show.
“It felt really different to previous seasons because there was such a heavy focus on group dynamics and friendships rather than the actual relationships,” she said.
“The bullying/mean girl behaviour was horrendous.”
By comparison, Jamie said that her season of MAFS felt like a much safer space. “Our cast had a lot of genuine and authentic personalities, and I think that’s what audiences connected with,” she said.
“Of course, there was drama – that’s part of the show – but it felt more organic. It came from real emotions and real situations rather than feeling driven by image or perception, and I think audiences can tell the difference.”
Stream MAFS 2026 on 9Now.
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