Surely I’m not the only person who thought there was something wrong with this year’s Married At First Sight (MAFS) cast photos. At first glance, the 24 participants all look quite schmick in their wedding ‘fits, with the men in various coloured suits (only half wore black!) and women in stunning white dresses.
But upon closer inspection, you might realise there’s something slightly off about Tyson Gordon’s pic. Besides his general off-putting aura oozing through the photo, the lighting is completely different to the other participants, the edges are rough, and his corsage looks strangely Photoshopped.
The biggest red flag is that his couple photo with Stephanie Marshall looks identical to his solo shot, as if it was simply copied and pasted next to his bride.
So… what does this mean?
Let me remind you of last year’s season when controversial grooms Jake Luik and Tim Gromie both didn’t have a professional shot as their cast photo. This also happened in 2024 with runaway groom Simon Flocco, with his pic looking remarkably different to his co-stars’.
In case you didn’t already know, the MAFS cast all take part in a promo day during filming where they pose for professional solo and couple photos. So instead of taking their publicity shots on their wedding day, they put the same outfits back on in Sydney so the photos all look similar with identical lighting.
This usually happens around halfway through the experiment once the intruders have arrived, and any couples who had already called it quits before then are invited back to take part. However, some participants may refuse to return for the promo day if they had a bad experience or simply didn’t want to return, leaving the show’s marketing team to scramble and edit a promo shot using photos from their wedding or outfit try-on.
This is what happened with Jake, Tim and Simon, and I had a sneaking suspicion this was also the case for Tyson.
Former MAFS stars reveal what happens during the publicity shoot
Former bride Awhina Rutene explained on PEDESTRIAN.TV’s podcast Villain Edit that the publicity shoot takes place over a weekend at around the six-week mark.
“What we do is we re-wear our wedding dresses and we pick a few outfit choices to do some ad-like content, like green flags and red flags if they want us to do a couple of TikToks, and that goes for two days,” she said.
“There wasn’t really any continuity [rules] except for wearing the same outfit. So we get told to take off our jewellery and any accessories we wear for our wedding, we give it to production, and then six weeks later, they return it dry cleaned so we can re-wear it for publicity.”
Meanwhile, Katie Johnstone — who was paired with Tim on last year’s season for about three seconds before he quit — said on Villain Edit that she had to fly back to Sydney for the publicity shoot because her time in the experiment had already ended.
“It was so funny because, I don’t think they used this, but in the photography session they had me pose with my arm up so they could Photoshop Tim in,” she recalled.
She also pointed out that, because the photos are taken during the halfway point of the experiment, fans can often get a glimpse into the couple’s relationship dynamic based on how cosy they look in their professional shots.
Okay, but was Tyson’s photo edited?
Putting all the puzzle pieces together, it’s easy to assume Tyson skipped out on the promo shoot after he dramatically quit the show at the fourth Commitment Ceremony — which just so happened to be at the six-week mark of the experiment.
But, in the words of Oprah, what is the truth?
Well, P.TV straight-up asked Stephanie and she confirmed that Tyson refused to take part in the publicity activities following his exit.
“He didn’t actually [return]. He was gone by then and he wasn’t coming back, but he did take part in the promo day after the reunion,” she revealed.
“To be honest, I couldn’t have been happier. He doesn’t take a nice photo anyway and I don’t want to be seen with him or next to him ever again, so I couldn’t have been happier.”
Well, there you have it — mystery solved!
Honestly, props to the editing team for making Tyson’s promo photo look much better than Jake, Tim and Simon’s pics. But let this be a lesson to viewers for next year’s season: if a participant’s promo photo looks botched, chances are they quit the show before the halfway mark and refused to come back. It’s that simple.
The post An Investigation Into Why MAFS Groom Tyson Gordon’s Promo Photo Looks Completely Botched appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
