Now in it’s twelfth season, the reality TV phenomenon that is Married at First Sight Australia continues to receive international praise for its immensely addictive episodes (which are raved about by silver screen stars including Saoirse Ronan, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Nicola Coughlan FYI).
With all the cheating, lying, gaslighting and scandal that goes into making the show as entertaining as it is, one would hope its stars are being compensated… with something other than love, ofc.
Some have begun to wonder: since the contestants give up three months of their lives while shooting the match-making experiment, how much are the MAFS contestants being paid by the network?
Lucky for you, we have the deets below!
How Much Do MAFS Contestants Get Paid?
Once the series wraps, some lucky contestants go on to reap the benefits of the show’s international viewership, making big bucks from leveraging their newfound social media following. But for others, reality TV money doesn’t come so easily.
Speaking to Women’s Day, an anonymous contestant recently shared that during filming, the MAFS contestants only make a pitiful $150 a day, with $125 as a grocery allowance to keep them afloat. In this economy, that’ll only buy you like, a carton of eggs and some salmon…
“I am broke after being on the show. I couldn’t even make my rent payments with what we were being paid,” the anonymous MAFS participant commented.
“We would film late, so I’d be ordering takeaway most nights. I spent a bomb on outfits, hair and makeup, and to top it off, they didn’t even let us wear what we wanted.”
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What Have Other Former MAFS Contestants Said Publicly?
MAFS 2023 groom Jesse Burford tolf Womans Day that the show’s contestants are paid roughly $1,175 per week.
Although just over $1k isn’t much, this is definitely an improvement on the more recently-reported base.
According to notoriously polarising Season 5 contestant, Nassar Sultan, some contestants get paid more than others. Nassar also said the base pay was $150 a day, but added that some couples would receive more money, like a merit based system.
“Sarah and a few others, like Davina, got more money,” he revealed. “They got $50 more a day. The more you did for the show, the more you got.”
So, after finding this out, now we’re really rooting for the couples to find love in the experiment—it might take the sting out of the less than liveable pay…
Check back here for updates.
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