MAFS 2024: Stars worried as influencer careers fail to take off

It’s been five months since this year’s season of Married At First Sight wrapped, with the cast able to regain access to their social media accounts in May and launch themselves as media personalities and influencers.

But in a surprising twist, most of the participants appear to be losing thousands of followers a month, with their budding careers as influencers already uncertain.

In the last 30 days alone, Lucinda Light – who gained over 600,000 followers during her time on TV - has lost a staggering 3,870 fans on Instagram. Data obtained by social media analytics website Social Blade reveal Lauren Dunn has seen the second biggest monthly drop, losing 1,620 fans in August. Richard Sauerman, who lost 1,180 followers in July, even took to Instagram recently to vent that his account was “in a decline” whilst posting an embarrassed face emoji, followed by a laughing one.

MAFS stars losing followers 'inevitable'

However one 2024 MAFS star told Yahoo Lifestyle that despite most of the cast losing followers, it wasn't impacting brand deals as much as expected, saying they were earning more from social media sponsorships than what their full-time job provided them.

Although so many fans choosing to abandon the cast may seem odd, it’s inevitable for most reality television participants. As more time passes once a show ends on TV, passive viewers slowly move on and no longer want to see daily updates from the participants – especially as they start posting endless brand collaborations.

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Sadly for the cast though, this means it can make it much harder for them to attract new sponsorships for their posts once their follower count starts to consistently decline.

In a surprising twist, Jack Dunkley is the only cast member still gaining hundreds of new fans a month, with his Instagram jumping up by 540 followers to reach 100,000 in the last 30 days.

2024 MAFS stars say losing work is not the case, even despite follower decline

Yahoo Lifestyle has been told by one former MAFS star that business is booming and that it's "natural" to lose some followers as people who were only interested in the show eventually unsubscribe from future content. "I do think it’s natural to lose some following," they told us. "The people who only cared about the show will drop off, same with any show".

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Yahoo Lifestyle also previously reported Lucinda Light was set to become a millionaire this year thanks to media deals and endorsements, with her UK speaking tour in August generating up to $250,000 in ticket sales alone.

Influencer market remains 'saturated'

Last year Yahoo Lifestyle reported that the 2023 cast of MAFS also struggled to make a go of it in the influencer world, with a source telling us the market was "saturated".

"The [2023] cast has produced a couple of standout stars but mostly the public seem over the reality TV-to-influencer route and haven't engaged as much. The market is saturated, no one is really doing anything different anymore and with everyone feeling the cost of living crisis – the last thing people want to see spammed on their newsfeed is the Married At First Sight cast flaunting their lifestyle or bragging about how much they're making," the insider revealed.

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