Former Married At First Sight (MAFS) groom Mike Gunner is set to try his luck at another dating show as one of the leads in the next season of Love Triangle.
Mike first appeared on MAFS in 2019, in the sixth season of the show and was partnered with Heidi Latcham, with the couple breaking up after Final Vows.
Who is Love Triangle’s Mike Gunner?
Mike Gunner is a 50-year-old videographer from Queensland who has said he has “grown up and become more self-aware” since his first reality TV stint six years ago.
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new – Einstein,” Mike put on his Instagram following the announcement he’d be in Love Triangle. “I participated in another dating show. I won’t be contactable here for a while.”
What was Mike Gunner’s MAFS storyline?
Mike was married to Heidi on the 2019 series of MAFS and the pair had a turbulent relationship, although they did initially seem like they would be one of the experiment’s strongest couples to start with.
Heidi claimed Mike would speak to her aggressively and he was accused by fans of being sexist and misogynistic.
Mike and Heidi did commit to each other at the end of the show, but Mike said the pair split after they moved in together because he “couldn’t make Heidi happy”.
Heidi later addressed their split, telling 9Now’s Talking Married that she doesn’t look for someone to make her happy and that she and Mike split because they didn’t share the same values.
“I don’t ever look for someone to make me happy. That’s not why I go into a relationship. I make myself happy, and then I look for someone to enjoy my life with, so that’s not true.”
Why is Mike Gunner controversial?
MAFS fans didn’t love Mike due to the sexist nature of some of his comments, including when he weighed in on the fight between Cyrell Paule and Martha Kalifatidis.
“I think groups of women under pressure don’t cope as well as groups of men under pressure. We’re seeing these girls have fallen apart, and the men haven’t,” he said on the show. “Any group of women that are put in this same type of situation just doesn’t speak to their biology … there is actually some merit in that.”
Mike later went on to create a podcast, telling The Courier Mail that he wanted to “change the world”.
“I’m not on a crusade to win back the balance of power to men, but I’d like the scales to be in balance. Equality is what I’m striving for,” he said.
After facing significant backlash during his time on MAFS, Mike told the Sydney Morning Herald that there was a double standard as to how men and women were being treated.
“Unfortunately, that’s the double standard that seems to be occurring at the moment and I personally take umbrage to it, and I refuse to accept that I cannot use words (like ‘darling’) that were terms of endearment only a couple of years ago that now are suddenly seen as something offensive,” he said
“Are men now so emasculated that we can’t speak our minds? That we can’t be real? That we have to somehow fulfill the expectations of those around us? I simply refuse to do that and I am speaking on behalf of all men in this country.”
What is Love Triangle about?
Created by the same people who turned MAFS Into the smash hit it is now, Love Triangle follows five singles who are set up with two online dating matches – except, similar to Love Is Blind, it’s about creating a connection first before laying eyes on one another. After a period of online talking, they choose one match to move in with to see if they can make the romantic connection work in real life.
Along the way, the relationship is challenged by then bringing the other match into the living situation.
Is there a Love Triangle trailer?
You know it! And yes, it looks like Mike won’t be straying far from the drama, telling someone he doesn’t care about their opinion.
Love Triangle Season 3 will premiere on Stan on April 6.
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