Warning: This article contains mentions of depression and self-harm.
It also includes major spoilers to this year’s ‘Married At First Sight Australia’ series.
‘Married At First Sight AU’ 2025 bride Morena Farina has dropped some huge bombshells on how she was treated and allegedly “held against her will” by producers in the behind-the-scenes of production.
The outspoken bride joined Joshua Fox, the man behind the popular MAFS fan Instagram page and podcast ‘’MAFS Funny’ to share all the tea, despite the show still airing in New Zealand and Australia.
The way Morena has been portrayed on the show in just the first couple of weeks has caused major backlash from fans where she is now receiving daily messages and comments of hate online.
Josh’s mission was to skip all the ‘he said, she said’ and dig deeper into the context we don’t see on our telly screens.
From producers' threats to finding out her TV hubby was allegedly still married during filming, Morena spilled it ALL.
The biggest BTS bombshells Morena shared from ‘MAFS AU’ 2025
Tony was already married with a wife overseas
Shockingly, Morena sided with Tony’s cousin Steve - the same guy who pulled Tony aside on their wedding day to voice his disapproval of Morena’s age.
She agrees that if Tony was after a woman in her 40s but got matched with someone in her late 50s, he had a right to call that out.
“He was hard done by,” she said, before adding that she was too.
Her non-negotiables included, no smokers, no cheaters - not because of the act itself, but because “not having the guts to leave a loveless marriage” was a deal breaker - and absolutely no one who was STILL MARRIED.
Morena claims he dropped that bombshell during their honeymoon, casually mentioning that his wife lives in America. Even wilder, she alleges that Tony had asked producers to reunite him and his wife on the show because of visa issues.
And in another moment not aired, Morena claims Tony admitted he still loved his wife… EEK.
According to Morena, Tony’s wife was brought up so much in those early days that their honeymoon footage didn’t even make the cut.
Morena claims experts and producers plotted against her
As we’ve seen time and time again with MAFS brides and grooms, many leave the show to say that they weren’t portrayed as themselves and many were given a ‘villain arc’.
Morena has now shared her side of the story, pointing to moments that convinced her she was being plotted against.
She claims that during a commitment ceremony, she overheard producers feeding lines into the experts’ earpieces, allegedly saying, “Give it to her, she’s gonna crack.”
In another instance, Morena recalls peering through a crack in the door “like a kid” and spotting the three experts recording generic one-liners to be inserted wherever producers needed to push a bad narrative.
She says these included lines like, “You should be ashamed of yourselves” and “That behaviour is not warranted on our watch.”
And when it comes to post-production? Morena alleges that editors spliced together different parts of her conversations to create a comment about Tony that she never actually said.
The comment in question was: “I wanted an alpha man, but I got Tony.” Morena says two separate parts of a larger conversation were edited to create the line.
Producers allegedly threatened Morena
Josh mentioned a clause he believes is in the MAFS contestant contract, stating that participants could be liable for up to $50K in damages if they leave without warning.
Morena added that she was threatened by staff, who allegedly told her she’d never be able to work in Australia again.
"That’s below the belt," she said. "They came heavy on me… I was scared."
She also explained the tactics she claims producers use to push contestants into aggression during filming.
While it’s known that contestants have alcohol limits at dinner parties, Morena alleges the aggression we see often comes from being held in tents for up to four hours before filming, while being fed sugar-loaded fizzy drinks and junk food - all which she claims “causes aggression”.
Morena recalls before another commitment ceremony, she was held against her will.
She says she threatened to call 000 - the Australian emergency services line - telling them: “This stops. This stops today.”
Though she never made the call, she says she wishes she had.
Morena alleges that producers lured her to the ceremony by promising they wouldn’t give her a hard time. The next day they led her to a lift, said “bye-bye,” and left her alone.
“Producers you should be ashamed of yourselves, but that’s okay, you’ve got to live with what you’ve done,” Morena says.
Morena won’t stop defending herself
Morena’s last message for Channel Nine is that she won’t stop until all of these moments including important context are shown to the public.
"They’re never going to destroy me. They’re trying to."
She also claims she wasn’t the only 2025 contestant who was mistreated by production.
"Besides myself, there were another two people in there who came close to hurting themselves."
Josh says that while he loves covering the show, his biggest fear is that it could go too far, and someone might take their own life.
Josh has seen the impacts of reality shows including ‘Love Island’ that have contributed to the decline of contestants' mental health and he believes a line needs to be drawn.
He hopes his conversation with Morena will make more fans and potentially producers aware of the impacts the show has and that changes need to be made to protect contestants.
With Morena’s bombshells out in the open, maybe we’ll start watching these upcoming episodes differently now that her side of the context has been given.
Are you or is someone you know struggling? Here are some resources available to support you, and remember, it's okay to talk.
