In all thirteen seasons of Married At First Sight, we’ve only seen three other gay male couples say their ‘I dos’.
This week, Chris Robinson, 39, ties the knot with Sam Stanton, 34, and from the outside, signs are positive that this is a good match.
“When I first saw Sam, I was like ‘wow!’” Chris exclusively tells New Idea.
But in the back of his mind, also, was a conversation about his unique fatherhood plans that Chris needed to have with Sam – sooner rather than later.
“I’ve wanted kids since my early twenties,” Chris, who owns a farm on the south coast of NSW and the BodySkinSoul personal training studio in Sydney, explains.
“And going into MAFS, I had two deal breakers. One was that I couldn’t relocate for my husband, if our marriage succeeds, because I need to be close to my daughter. The other condition was that my husband had to be child-friendly because I had already begun a separate surrogacy journey.”
To explain, Chris became a sperm donor for a very close friend, and their daughter was born at the end of 2025.
“I am her father, but she lives with her mother full time, and she makes all the decisions,” he says.
“I see my daughter two or three times a week, and I’m very involved in her life.”
Chris was telling his friend about his separate surrogacy plan when she asked him to donate sperm for her.
“I jumped at the chance. We’ve been close friends for 17 years, so I knew we could make it work.”
Chris and his friend became pregnant, via IVF, on the first attempt.
“Which was unexpected but wonderful,” he says.
At the same time, he’d already begun a surrogacy journey, via an agency in Colombia.
“I hadn’t planned to be going through both parenthood with my friend and surrogacy at the same time, but that’s how it worked out.”
Chris chose the agency in Colombia, after exhaustive research, because an old friend was involved in the agency, and he felt that this particular agency “really looked after the surrogates,” he explains.
After two IVF attempts, his surrogate has yet to fall pregnant, but Chris will travel back to Colombia later this year to try again.
“Then, if the surrogate falls pregnant, I’ll travel back there four weeks before the baby is born. My mum and sister will come to help me as well.”
As for his daughter and new baby, “they will be siblings,” he explains.
Chris adds that, living on a 60acre far, with 40 cows, two horses, alpaca,s and sheep means his kids “are going to have the very best farm-based childhood imaginable.”
He adds, with a smile, “Both my kids are very much wanted and are already very much loved.”
If his TV marriage to Sam works out, that will be “the icing on the cake” for Chris, who’ll also celebrate his milestone 40th birthday later this year.
“It’s been a wild ride so far,” he says.
“But I wouldn’t change a thing.”
