The latest series of Married At First Sight UK has just begun, plunging the newlyweds into an emotional whirlwind, yet relationship expert Mel Schilling is already back in Australia.
The 52-year-old is already mentoring a new group of brave singles ready to marry at first sight and forge lasting relationships. She explained that returning to shoot the Aussie version this summer was emotionally complex.
Now based in the UK with her husband Gareth and daughter Maddie, she faced the challenge of being apart from them when Maddie needed to return to school. Mel, who was diagnosed with cancer in December 2023, opened up about the experience as reported in the Mirror.
“We managed it pretty well,” she said. “Filming began in August, so Gareth and Maddie came to Australia with me, and we based ourselves on the Gold Coast right next to the beach.”
Mel continued: “I had a lot of downtime and beautiful beach time with them. But they’ve gone home to the UK now, because school’s started again. So now I’ve just got a couple of months here by myself before I can get back to them again.”
The support system for Mel, especially after her colon cancer diagnosis last year, has been solid. Her family and the MAFS crew have been incredibly supportive, offering “wonderful” help as she underwent treatment amidst the filming of the current series earlier in the year.
Opening up about her ordeal with cancer during the filming of the UK series, she disclosed: “I was going through chemo the whole time we were filming the UK series,” acknowledging how tough it was but also how much the team supported her. “The team was just crowding around me to give me as much flexibility and support as they possibly could. They really cared for me. It wasn’t easy, but it was so wonderful to be able to work because it enabled me to still feel like me.”
Now post-treatment and feeling revitalised, Mel is enthusiastic: “I would say I have almost all my energy back, so I’m starting to feel like me again,” smiling broadly while teasing details about the new season of MAFS UK. She teases a season brimming with “a lot of love” and “very hot, sexy kind of attraction, which is so much fun to watch.”
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Portraying this batch of participants as down-to-earth, Mel suggests they’re “more like you and I.” Focusing on how she and the creators have diligently screened out the fame-seekers, aiming for authenticity in casting.
She continued: “There are people who see previous brides and grooms and what they’ve gone on to do career-wise and think, ‘I’ll have a bit of that.’ But that’s our job, to weed that out and make sure the people are genuine. It could be your next door neighbour, which is really nice.”
Married At First Sight’s veteran expert Mel has opened up about the challenging aspects of her role on the hit show, including receiving death threats during its sixth season in Australia. She faced backlash from viewers over the perceived involvement of the experts with the couples, prompting her to clarify their actual role: “Our audience now know that we don’t get to see what our couples are doing day by day. We don’t have hidden cameras.”
Despite these challenges, Mel remains passionate about her work on the series and speaks candidly about her emotional connection to the participants’ experiences.
Her growing comfort with the show over the years allows her to bring more authenticity to her role. “I find as I’ve become more experienced and more comfortable with the format, I bring more of my real self to the experiment,” she claims.
She also recounts a poignant incident where she empathised deeply with one of the participants, sharing: “I’ve been filming this week and had tears rolling down my face when one of the contributors was talking about missing their child, just like I am missing Maddie.”
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