Over the 11 seasons of Married At First Sight Australia we have been lucky enough to watch, there has been lots of talk about how much the contestants are paid while participating in the experiment.
The stars give up three months of their lives to be part of the show, putting a hold on everything in their lives from work, to spending time with family and friends, holiday plans, and more.
With a low success rate in terms of relationships that have survived the experiment, and continued to thrive after filming wraps, many fans tuning in from home if signing up for MAFS really is worth it, especially considering our contestants are sacrificing so much to participate in the popular reality series.
How much do MAFS couples get paid?
Many contestants have spoken out over the years about their struggles paying rent with the budget provided to them.
In early 2024, an anonymous source from season 11 of MAFS spoke to The Daily Telegraph saying they were “broke” after the show wrapped up.
The publication reported that the contestants were paid $150 a day and given $125 for food.
“I am broke after having appeared on the show. I couldn’t even make my rent payments with what we were being paid,” the anonymous cast member shared with the publication.
“We would film late so I would be ordering takeaway most nights. I spent a bomb on outfits, hair, and make-up, and to top it off, they didn’t even let us wear what we wanted.
“If someone was wearing the same colour as someone else, they would make you change.”
“And anyone who runs a business on Instagram is struggling because they can’t post anything.”
MAFS 2023 groom Jesse Burford took to Instagram in May 2023, claiming participants were paid “$1,175 each week”. Curiously, this figure is slightly higher than claims made by other contestants in the past.
Former contestant Nasser Sultan previously told our sister publication Now to Love that the stars are paid “$150 for the day.”
“But on top of that, you have to pay expenses – your living expenses with the woman that you marry,” Nasser revealed.
“It’s not $150 clear. You still have to pay rent if you’re renting, you’ve gotta pay your rego and it’s 12-hour filming days.”
Nasser continued, revealing contestants were paid different amounts.
“Sarah [Roza] and a few others, like Davina [Rankin], got more money,” he also shared at the time.
“They got $50 more a day. Basically, the more you did for the show, the more you got.”
In 2023, season 9 bride, Olivia Frazer also spoke out, claiming they were paid “$1,100 per week” while Domenica Claraco went on TikTok live and claimed she was paid “$150 a day”.
“I still had bills, had to pay my rent, and I had to pay, you know, whatever,” Domenica said.
However, Season 7 groom Mikey Pembroke previously spoke on the I’ve Got News For You podcast shocking fans with the news that the participants didn’t earn anything.
“You don’t get paid at all – this is a thing that needs to change,” he said.
He shared that while they were provided money to “live off” during filming, the amount barely covered their day-to-day spending, adding that he came out the other end of the experiment with “about 1,000 bucks” profit.
Married At First Sight Australia airs Monday to Thursday, 7:30pm, and Sunday, 7pm, on Channel 9 and 9Now
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