Married At First Sight star Gia Fleur has spilled on the application process behind the reality show, including what led her to be cast as a bride on the just-finished thirteenth season.
Gia, who made a splash during her whirlwind marriage to Scott McCristal, pulled back the curtain in a six-minute TikTok video shared this week, just as a bunch of aspiring castmates begin to apply for MAFS’ 2027 season.
So, if you’ve ever watched reality TV and thought, ‘where do they find these people?’, Gia just gave you the tea. At the start of her process, Gia revealed that some castmates, like herself, are approached via DMs by casting directors, who send through application forms filled with relationship-based questions.
After that, you’re popped on a Zoom call with the experts, who then begin a months-long process of finding you a match. Gia said she waited for a while for the experts to find Scott, but once they did, she was assigned her own producer and it was “go, go, go”.
Any would-be brides with dreams of the perfect dress should think again: Gia didn’t get to choose her MAFS wedding dress, since producers opted for sleeves to “cover [her] tattoos”. Applicants also have no say in the wedding location, and while all these details might seem straightforward, Gia also revealed a more intrusive aspect of the casting process.
“You go to the doctor’s and get a bunch of bloodwork done, a urine sample, and they check you for [STIs],” Gia revealed. “Just to see if you have any health conditions or what they need to account for”.
An extension of this, Gia said, is the psych and personality tests, which I guess is where producers find out whether applicants can withstand the clusterf**k that is MAFS. Which brought Gia to her advice for anyone hoping to join the show: “It’s nothing like what you think it’s going to be,” she said.
Between 16-hour filming days, no phones until the early hours of the morning, and curfews in those hallowed MAFS apartments, Gia said the challenges of filming the show are not for the faint of heart.
Breaking production rules, like interacting with castmates without cameras around, can mean you’re “told off” by producers for simply saying hi to a bride or groom in the hallway — and all that on a “very minimum wage”, Gia said.
“The worst parts of you are going to be amplified times 100, and that’s what they’re going to show,” Gia said of the MAFS filming process. “If you think you’re going to get the love of your life, you’re probably going to get the opposite of what you asked for.”
Gia also warned applicants of the experience beyond filming, when the show airs and you’re subject to the whims of the reality TV edit and fan reaction. “Be prepared to potentially lose your job, your reputation, [or] your family and friends reaching out to you,” she said.
Gia was one of three MAFS brides — along with Brook Compton and Bec Zacharia — who reportedly lost their real-life jobs this season (and they joined a long list), and she said that potential outcome is especially true for whoever’s unlucky enough to get the villain edit.
With that comes trolls, which Gia warned are an unavoidable aspect of reality TV stardom. “If you’re ready to have your life turned upside down, have only the worst parts of you shown… just keep that in mind,” Gia said.
Whether any of this seems doable is ultimately up to you, but with Gia’s advice, you now at least have a heads-up of what might happen if you apply to walk down the MAFS aisle. Or better yet, watch and scream at the TV with a glass of wine like the rest of us.
You’ve been warned!
Lead images: Channel 9 and TikTok
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