Married At First Sight is getting a spin-off show, and new hosts Laura Byrne and Brittany Hockley are not holding back.
They will be grilling the contestants on all the on-screen drama during Stan’s new show, MAFS: After The Dinner Party, which will air from Wednesday, February 18.
With no shortage of controversy already having kicked off on the series, The Bachelor stars have promised to call out the contestants’ “terrible behaviour” while grilling them on all the dinner party showdowns.
Groom Chris has already been branded as a “villain” by viewers after making “fatphobic” comments during his audition tape, with former MAFS star Katie Johnston arguing he shouldn’t have been cast.
However, speaking exclusively to New Idea, Laura, 39, has actually defended casting such controversial personalities on the show, arguing that they all exist in the real-life dating world.
“They’re in the real world! They’re on Tinder, they’re everywhere! Yes, they’re big personalities, and they make for fascinating and funny TV, but this is real,” she said.
“That’s the thing for me, when I hear the argument of ‘they shouldn’t be on TV’, I’m like ‘there is worse in the dating world’. Have you been on Tinder? Have you been on a date? I have! I experienced it, and I know what it’s like.”
Of the struggles of the dating pool, Brittany added, “In the real world, you are sifting through turds, you are sifting through the bottom of a sewage pit, just trying to find one fish in there, but all there are are slugs!”
Laura argued that showing such shocking behaviour on TV sparks conversations around what is acceptable in relationships and actually draws issues into the mainstream.
“As much as it fills everyone with outrage, when these things happen, they are always really, really good moments for unpacking and moving the conversation dial further,” she continued.
“It’s always confronting to see this stuff on TV, but it happens in the real world, and it happens every day, and people say this stuff. The fact that it gets shown on a TV show means that we all go to work the next day and talk to our friends about it, and the media is talking about it.”
“It makes us feel something that’s not comfortable, and it’s supposed to, and that’s good,” she added.
However, she was far from defending Chris for his shocking comments, in which he outrageously said his turn-offs were “Fake tan, needy and fat people.”
Laura has vowed to grill Chris for his remarks, adding, “There’s no excuse for that!”
Her co-host, Britt, also admitted that his comments didn’t “sit right” with her, and said she immediately texted Laura to voice her frustrations and shock.
“The audacity and even the way the comment was said, it was so nonchalant, like ‘I’m not even saying anything bad, I’ve got an issue with fat people,” she said.
“The way he said it just didn’t sit right with me, just not even recognising how offensive that is. We’re not going to let that stuff slide, of course.”
On MAFS: After The Dinner Party, never-before-seen footage will air, and Laura and Britt will talk to the couples about all the latest drama to find out what really happens off-camera.
“There are 100 sides to a story, and we’re going to try and find them all,” Britt vowed.
They will also be putting feuding contestants and couples who have disagreed with one another back on the couch together to find out both sides of the story.
“Hopefully, with some of the terrible behaviour, there will be some level of remorse or some level of finding out what it was that spurred that on, and they will have had a moment to collect their thoughts about it,” Laura teased.
“It will also be cool to get – for example, if there’s a big blow-up with two people involved – them both there.”
As for the “bad edit” claims that do the rounds every year? As former reality TV stars themselves, Britt and Laura won’t be letting the MAFS stars use that as an excuse.
“There will never be a season of reality TV where there’s not an edit claim thrown around,” Britt said.
“People think it’s a bit of a get-out-of-jail-free card, but as people who have done reality TV, it’s just not. That’s what puts us in a good position to ask the questions, because we’ve lived the experience ourselves.”
“You can only make somebody look a certain way if there’s been some level of that provided by them, so that’s really important to remember,” she added. “But context is also really important, and understanding on a deeper level what that situation was.”
“If people think they have an alternate version of a story, sit down, tell us what you think happened,” Laura said.
While Britt added, “Maybe it will show someone in a better life or totally reinforce it!”
But it won’t all be doom and gloom, as Britt and Laura also want to showcase the successful relationships on the show, as well as the ones that aren’t going to plan.
Laura, who found love on The Bachelor with her now-husband Matty Johnson, said she believes that true love can flourish on MAFS, citing Jules Robinson and Cameron Merchant as a prime example.
“I am the sceptic that became a born-again believer,” she said.
“I went on to The Bachelor thinking, ‘there’s no way in hell that I’ll actually meet someone, it’s just a fun thing to do, and then I’ll go home single again and back to the pits’. But then it worked out!
“I always thought it wouldn’t be possible to fall in love on a show, and I know now that it is possible.”
After meeting on TV in 2022, Laura and Matty are now as loved-up as ever and share three children – Marlie-Mae, six, and Lola, four, and Poppy, four months.
They are adjusting to life as a family of five after welcoming Poppy in September, but Laura said it is going even better than she expected.
“[Poppy] is just the happiest and cutest little baby. Her sisters adore her,” she gushed.
“All the things that I was really worried about pre-having a baby haven’t come to fruition. I was really worried the girls would be jealous, but it’s just been really amazing. Our family is complete.”
And it’s also been a big year for her BFF Britt, who got married to Swiss footballer Ben Siegrist in June 2025 in Bali.
They are currently in a long-distance marriage while Ben continues his sporting career in Europe, but Britt insists that it has only made them stronger as a couple.
“It’s been really, really good. We have an unusual relationship in that we don’t live together, he’s in a different country,” she said.
“So, maybe that’s the key to a long, successful relationship,” she joked.
“Every few months, we’re together, but talking about going through the trenches to find something great, that’s what I feel like I did.”
So, will any of the 2026 MAFS cast find the same kind of lasting love? We will have to wait and see.
MAFS: After The Dinner Party, streaming exclusively on Stan, premieres February 18, immediately following the explosive Married at First Sight dinner party episode on Channel 9 and 9Now.
