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While some contestants have gone on to find fame and fortune, some of the current contestants on Married At First Sight Australia are struggling with their own personal nightmares.
Melissa Sheppard has revealed that she had two men show up at her workplace, demanding to see the self-confessed “freak in the sheets”.
The 41-year-old Sydney hairdresser – who caused a stir when it came to the subject of sex with her on-screen husband Josh White, 40 – added that she feared for her life when the strangers showed up to her salon and yelled profanities at her staff.
“It shocked me because no one has ever said anything like that towards me before,” she said after reporting the incident to the police. “I know they were going from what they saw on MAFS, but that’s not who I am. I wanted sex with my husband, yes, but not with multiple random men. It was scary.”
Earlier this month, Woman’s Day revealed that the mum-of-one was “humiliated” after the show’s editing portrayed her as sex-obsessed, adding that she was afraid to leave the house.
But while Melissa is scared to even go to work, bride Caitlin McConville, 27, has no job to go to. A source close to the Brisbane influencer and make-up artist – who exited the experiment after her husband Shannon Adams, 30, told the experts he was still in love with his ex – said the show left her “heartbroken, insecure and with no money to her name” as she wasn’t allowed to work as a content creator while MAFS was on air.
Caitlin has struggled to find work since the show.
“As part of her contract, she had to stop her work online when filming, which started in August, until the show comes off air in Australia and in the UK, which is usually around May,” says our insider. “She also lost most of her casual club work because she was away for so long in Sydney.”
The source reveals that Caitlin had to “rely on her mum” when she exited the show, until fellow participant Melinda Willis, 32, offered her a job in her fashion and beauty business. “MAFS is the biggest regret of her life – and she didn’t even find love!”
When it was first announced Claire Normarhas, 31, would be joining the cast earlier this year, social media was already abuzz with bizarre chatter about her past.
Fan forums were flooded with vicious accusations that had the potential to ruin her reputation.
Claire has had to endure an onslaught of online hate.
“She genuinely doesn’t know any of these people or the stories they’re spinning,” says an insider close to Melbourne kindergarten assistant Claire, who’s currently at the centre of a cheating scandal. “She works in education and knows all too well the repercussions they might cause, regardless of whether they’re true or not.”
