Now that the latest series of Married At First Sight UK has come to an end, the 2023 cast are more than forthcoming with behind-the-scenes tea that we’ve been lapping up.
While they're more than willing to share who gives 'mean girl energy' or what happened after some on-camera bust ups, they're less willing to share how much they each got paid to appear.
However, previous MAFS UK season 16 contestant Clark Sherwood has confirmed that “there’s no financial gain from going on the show”.
So, maybe they do go on for love?
While the UK contestants have been tight-lipped on their appearance fees, the Married At First Sight Australia cast have been a bit more open with the amount on their MAFS cheques. That, as well as Melinda Willis revealing the scenes she REFUSED to film and Alyssa Barmonde speaking out on her ex Duncan James and his relationship with their co-star Evelyn Ellis. Basically, the Aussie cast loves to spill the tea.
During an Instagram Q&A, Jesse Burford let slip that the cast were paid $1,175 (£615.73) a week, which works out just over $150 (£78.56) a day. This checks out as season nine star Domenica Calerco, who is besties with Ella May Ding, previously revealed that she was paid $150 a day during her time on the show.
Given that MAFS Australia is one of the biggest shows on the telly box, this doesn’t seem like a lot of money and Domenica once hit out at the salary and claimed it was barely equivalent to “minimum wage”.
The cast’s earnings seem especially low when you factor in that they had to pay for their daily expenses like food, clothes, bills and haircuts while they were on the show. Season five groom Nasser Sultan previously told Now To Love, “None of our groceries were covered. They filmed us going shopping… but it was out of our own money.”
He also claimed that he and his ‘wife’ Gabrielle Bartlett would sometimes have to pay upwards of $70 (£36.63) on their expenses. However, some contestants have stated that they were reimbursed for “reasonable out-of-pocket” expenses.
While some brides and grooms were able to keep their day jobs in the earlier seasons of the show, the demands of the show increased over time meaning the cast either had to take annual leave, unpaid time off or even quit their jobs altogether. Not ideal considering they still have to contribute to their rent, mortgage and other bills from their normal lives while they’re filming.
While getting paid to look for love on TV may seem like a cushy job, season six legend Jessika Power once admitted that a lot of cast members were left out of pocket while they were taking part in the show.
"Mick wanted to go for a really long time," she said, referring to her on-screen husband Mick Gould. "He wanted to go back to his farm, back to his animals and he wanted to just go back to work."
Although she admitted the cast could make more money the longer they stay on the show, Jess told Metro, “We didn’t earn a lot of money doing the show at all."
The cast can’t even go back to their jobs until at least six months after filming ends as Jess explained, “You can’t work until the show finishes airing, and you’ve done all your publicity and that’s like a month. Probably about a six-seven month process [overall].”
According to So Dramatic!, the cast are paid around $3000 (£1570.20) for filming the reunion. Not bad for two days work. However, not all of the cast want to be reunited with their co-stars and it’s claimed that producers could offer more money to those that are reluctant to take part in the reunion. Back in 2018, it was reported that Davina Rankin was offered a whopping $40,000 (£20,936) after initially refusing to film the reunion. However, she still declined to appearing on the show again following her explosive affair with Dean Wells.
Even though the cast’s earnings are jaw-droppingly low while they’re filming, the post-show rewards can be MEGA if the stars secure brand deals, further TV appearances and Instagram ads. Plus, there’s the chance of find everlasting love. Worth it? We’re not quite sure, but we definitely wouldn’t sniff at the chance to appear on the show.