‘The producers want mismatches for great TV!’ MELISSA:
She was one of the most memorable contestants from series six of MAFS Australia due to her bubbly, caring and loud personality – but Melissa is just as memorable for the doomed relationship she had with her “husband” Dino Hira, who – with his interests in yoga and spiritual healing – was not a match for her.
Melissa applied for the show – which aired in 2019 – with hopes of finding The One, after she’d been single and celibate for eight years.
But when the experts matched her up with Dino – who was her total opposite – her hope dissipated and the couple ended up clashing over their different interests and approaches to life.
And on MAFS UK, there seem to be similar mismatches. During Morag and Luke’s wedding, viewers were shocked when Morag said she didn’t want kids while partner Luke did – which he called a “deal-breaker”. Meanwhile, Nikita told the cameras at her wedding, “He’s not at all what I ordered.”
And Melissa now says that she believes the experts make mismatches on purpose, and while it’s frustrating for the contestants, it makes the show a great watch, so the UK version could well prove as popular as MAFS Australia. She says, “When I joined the show, I naively thought, ‘This is going to be it for me, I’m going to meet my Mr Right!’ But I was partnered up with a man who I had absolutely nothing in common with. I know some relationships often work based on the couple being opposites, but it was totally ridiculous. Looking back though, I can see the producers want mismatches because it makes great TV. They’ve got it right in the past with some couples – look at Jules [Robinson] and Cam [Merchant], who have a baby together now. But while it’s great to see some love stories, we want to see fights and fall-outs too, or we’re going to turn off the
TV. And I’m sure the experts have done the same in the UK version this year.”
While Melissa didn’t find love on the show – but has “broken her no sex drought” once with a man after a night out – she has had success in her career. After amassing 190k followers on Instagram, she now has a career as a social media influencer – something which a 2019 UK survey said that one in five teens want to be.
And this year, many of
the stars already have a large social media following, or have had brushes with fame before. Contestant Nikita – whose job is an influencer – already has a huge following on social media, and counts Geordie Shore stars Sophie Kasaei and Chloe Ferry as some of her best friends. Meanwhile, many of the other contestants have starred on
TV shows already – with Essex veterinary nurse Morag having been on Take Me Out in 2018 and model Ant appearing on quiz show Your Face Or Mine with his ex partner.
And so Melissa says that she hopes the contestants this year are on the show for the right reasons and are as authentic as they were on her season.
She adds, “In my series, we had normal people with normal jobs. We had some who were open to starting a career on social media, but the others were just authentically looking for love. I definitely didn’t go on it with the hope to become famous. I was definitely in it for love – I had been manless, sexless and dateless for eight years, and so I really wanted the experts to help.
“I think now, because the show’s become so popular, there will no doubt be people who go on it for fame. You can make a great career off the back of a show like
MAFS MAFS, and I have. But I hope the UK contestants aren’t more interested in fame than love love, or viewers won’t be as invested.”