What to expect from MAFS 2024: Cheating, revenge porn and walk outs

There's now less than one week until Married At First Sight returns to our screens with the show's eleventh season, which is tipped to be the most explosive offering to date with the “worst behaved” cast.

Ahead of Monday night’s must-see premiere, Yahoo Lifestyle can reveal exactly what fans can expect from the world’s most talked about social experiment.

Cheating scandal and revenge porn

Like every season of MAFS since 2018, fans will once again see one of the brides take a liking to someone else's husband this year.

Production was also “thrown into chaos” during filming when a “revenge porn” storyline unfolded, with one groom accused of sharing intimate photos of his ex-girlfriend at a gym.

According to Daily Mail, expert John Aiken called out the groom for his “disrespect” but it's yet to be decided if the scandal will air on TV.

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Abrupt exits

While longtime MAFS fans would remember season four’s Lauren Bran quitting the show immediately after her wedding, this year’s season will see a participant exit the experiment in record time.

Yahoo Lifestyle understands groom Simon Flocco decided to leave the series less than 48 hours after filming the bucks party, which left bosses scrambling to find a replacement for his match.

This also explains why Simon’s promotional image looks so different to his co-stars’ because he had already quit by the time the cast took part in the photoshoot.

Meanwhile, Yahoo Lifestyle obtained exclusive footage in September of Timothy Smith being chased down a street in Sydney by a camera crew as he appeared to walk out on his bride.

Ex-girlfriend scandal

Jack Dunkley's marriage is set to be rocked early into the season as the cast reacts to Yahoo Lifestyle's story from August where his ex-girlfriend Courtney claimed he had dumped her weeks before filming the show.

“Breaks up with me right after I met his family and he told me he loves me. Tells me it's for [a] 'work opportunity in America' only to find out he's on MAFS in Sydney,” Courtney claimed after seeing paparazzi pictures of Jack’s wedding.

Yahoo Lifestyle also understands Jack isn't the only participant this season who will be accused of ending their previous relationship to appear on the show.

Genuine matches

After the experts failed to match any long-lasting couples last season, Channel Nine bosses believe they’ve put more effort into pairing genuinely compatible participants this time around.

“We still give it all the drama that it needs, but we’ve tried to absolutely make sure all the relationships we see genuine potential in. This year what we have tried to do really carefully, exhaustively, is go, ‘Is this right?’,” Adrian Swift, Nine’s content, production and development head, told the Herald Sun.

“There will still be those moments when they take one look [at each other] and it all goes south, but we are hoping that there is a lot of love in this season.”

Memorable brides and grooms

This season will see a few familiar faces saying ‘I do', including former Home and Away actress Maddy Jevic who will enter the experiment as an intruder.

The cast also features season nine groom Mitch Eynaud’s brother and professional kickboxer Jayden Eynaud, First Dates star and professional weightlifter Ridge Barredo, and a handful of already well-known influencers.

It's up to viewers to decide whether they'll love them or hate them, but Jack Dunkley, Lauren Dunn and Sara Mesa are said to be the three names viewers won't be able to forget over the next couple of months.

Same-sex couple

Following pleas from fans for the show to be more inclusive, this season producers decided to feature its first same-sex couple in four years.

Yahoo Lifestyle obtained photos of gay grooms Mike Felix and Stephen Stewart arriving on set as intruders back in September.

Stephen, a Perth-based hairdresser, was brought onto the show to replace Simon Flocco after his early exit.

New location

While the past three seasons have been filmed in SKYE Suites in the CBD, producers decided to switch things up this year by moving all of the couples into SKYE Suites Green Square in Zetland.

An insider told Yahoo Lifestyle that the move was both “logistically easier” for production and helped stop the cast from going rogue while filming by removing the temptation.

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