It’s not unusual for a Married At First Sight (MAFS) participant to have had some previous reality TV experience or notoriety before joining the experiment. Last year’s season featured ex-contestants from Big Brother, The Bachelor and The Real Love Boat Australia, as well as actors, influencers, models and even a Deal or No Deal audience member.
The 2026 season, however, features somewhat of a reality TV repeat offender. Business owner Scott McCristal, who boasts 26,000 Instagram followers, had appeared on three separate reality shows before tying the knot with Gia Fleur in Tuesday night’s episode.
The business owner was previously a contestant on Channel 10’s Blind Date in 2018, Channel 7’s Holey Moley in 2021, and Million Dollar Island in 2023 — and honestly, congrats if you watched any of these shows before they were axed.
MAFS‘ Scott speaks out about reality TV past
While viewers have (reasonably) questioned Scott’s intentions for going on MAFS and labelled him a “clout chaser” on social media, he told PEDESTRIAN.TV that he finds the criticism “hilarious”.
“It’s just funny, because obviously everyone just talks about what they’ve seen in the past. This was a long time ago I did these so-called reality shows, and to be honest, they were just fun games,” he said. “It’s not like I was going out dating someone. It’s completely different things, so I don’t really care what anyone says.”
He continued: “Everything I do, I do because I enjoy it, I think there’s an opportunity, or I could find my forever partner. There’s always something positive in it. So, for anyone who may say something bad, I think they’re either just jealous or they wish they were in my shoes.
Scott explained that he was actually approached by producers to appear on MAFS, and saying yes was “the best decision [he’s] ever made” because it taught him to compromise in relationships and prioritise time for a partner.
“I think there’s no better thing to do than MAFS because it’s like someone’s forcing me to commit to someone, in a way, and make myself give up time or else I’ll never find that forever partner,” he added. “I have tried dating people, and it just doesn’t work. I’ve met the wrong people too many times.”
Scott added that, despite his experience in the spotlight, he has always been afraid of public speaking, and MAFS helped him come out of his shell.
“It’s brought another personality out of me, it’s brought me more confidence, and it’s actually brought another part of me out,” he said. “Like, not caring as much about what people say or think and making me be myself more. You can’t let this stuff get to you, or it won’t be good.”
John Aiken weighs in on ex-reality stars joining MAFS
Relationship expert John Aiken previously told P.TV that he feels indifferent about having ex-reality stars on MAFS, as it doesn’t affect how they go through the experiment.
“What I found over the years is that while someone can hold it together for one or two weeks early on, once you get married, you then go on a honeymoon, and you then move in together in close quarters. What tends to happen is the masks come off, and the real person is exposed,” he said.
“And so we’re gonna see that person, the good, the bad, the ugly, on screen as the experiment starts to unfold. And so I just sit back, and I wait to see what that real person is like.”
Well, if that’s not an ominous teaser for what’s to come this season (and what we might expect from Scott’s journey), I don’t know what is.
MAFS airs Monday — Thursday at 7:30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
The post MAFS’ Scott McCristal Speaks Out After Reality TV Past Is Exposed: ‘Long Time Ago’ appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
