Former Married At First Sight (MAFS) bride Vanessa Romito has called for the show to be taken off the air, amid investigations by NSW Police and Safework.
The investigations were raised after a confronting episode that showed MAFS 2025 participant Paul Antoine admitting to punching a wall after getting frustrated at his on-screen wife Carina Mirable.
MAFS 2020 bride Vanessa — who’s gone viral for her TikTok videos about the way she was treated while filming the show — told Chattr that filming the show was “the worst fucking time of my life”.
Vanessa doubled down that the show should be axed to protect contestants from “abusive” relationships.
Vanessa believes that producers purposely put participants in uncomfortable situations to generate drama
The former bride said that she believes producers actively search for “the worst men” to go on the show in the hope of generating drama and scandals.
“I think they find the men that are the most arrogant, egotistical and up themselves and think that they’re a really good person, and [they think] they’re going to manipulate the TV show, and everyone’s going to love them, and it’s going to get them heaps of girls and make them famous. That’s the guys that they literally scout for.
“Don’t get me wrong, there were a couple of nice people on my season, but a majority of them were fucked.”
Vanessa was paired with Chris Nicholls on her season of MAFS, and quit mid-way through. She remembered feeling uncomfortable when she had no female producers on her honeymoon.
“There’s no guarantee that you’re going to get a female producer,” she claimed. “I literally was on my honeymoon. I was by myself, all men, and they make you do bath scenes and shit like that.”
While Vanessa’s honeymoon appeared proactive to viewers, she told Chattr that it was “edited a lot” and she was “the only one who didn’t allow my husband to sleep in the same bed”.
Vanessa added that she requested to leave the show multiple times, and was offered a cheating storyline with one of the other Grooms.
“The producers asked me if I wanted to cheat with Dave or Josh because Dave and Josh both said that they fancied me more than they fancied their partner. And I was like, ‘No. I’d seriously I’d rather fucking go home,'” she alleged.
Why is Vanessa speaking out against MAFS now?
Vanessa told Chattr that she was “scared” to speak out against the reality show after her experience, but said seeing MAFS 2025’s Jacqui Burfoot‘s Instagram stories about the treatment of the participants encouraged her to use her platform.
“The only reason why I’m speaking out is because people are becoming so more vocal about it, and people are becoming more aware and stuff,” she began.
“[MAFS] is actually airing their own dirty laundry now, like with Paul hitting the wall. So, I feel like they’re digging their own grave, but I feel like they’re doing it just to push the boundaries because they know that they’re never going to get sued.
“So it’s like they’re laughing at every victim’s face. And I hate that.”
Vanessa said she and her fellow contestants were told that MAFS had been “signed up for seventeen seasons,” so she doesn’t think the show will be taken off air. However, she told Chattr that she believes the investigations should be taken seriously.
“They need to take it off the fucking air,” she said. “I do think that they need to be subpoenaed for their tapes.”
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