There Are No Women Of Colour On MAFS, And I’m Slightly Relieved

As much as I'd like to leave the representation discourse behind in 2026, the truth is, Australia still has a long way to go. This year's Married At First Sight (MAFS) 2026 could almost be renamed to Married At First White, with zero brides of colour among the cast. When asking Alessandra Rampolla about this choice, she pointed out that there was other diversity — David Momoh is a Black man, and Julia Vogl is bisexual. This by no means makes up for the lack of diversity across the board (they're not interchangeable), and part of me is furious that there are no women of colour on MAFS. At the same time, I can't help but also feel relieved. As a Chinese-Kiwi who worked in the TV industry for over a decade, I know that there are very rarely people of colour behind the scenes. And while I want to see a multi-cultural Australia reflected on our screens, reality TV typically hasn't treated WOC with care in the past.

MAFS 2025 star Awhina Rutene, who is of Māori descent, tells Refinery29 Australia that there wasn't much diversity behind the scenes during filming, and this affects how stories about women of colour are told. "If someone is portrayed as the villain, that backlash can look very different for people of colour," she says. "I do think that representation behind the scenes matters, because it can influence how stories are framed and handled with sensitivity. I think proper behind-the-scenes support is essential, especially given the kind of backlash contestants can receive from the audience." Rutene's ethnicity was criticised on MAFS last year, after groom Jake Luik placed her lower during the photo ranking challenge, because he likes "Caucasian people mainly, mostly". The bride doesn't think this scene should have aired, as it didn't interrogate the situation clearly. "When comments like that are shown without clear accountability, it normalises behaviour that is racist, even if that wasn't the intention," the reality TV star explains.

Tahnee Cook, who is Thai-Australian, felt conflicted when watching that particular scene last year. While she believes it's important to showcase casual racism in Australia, the bride echoes Rutene's comments. "There needs to be some sort of follow-up and [education] on why [this behaviour] can be harmful. I think just brushing it under the rug is almost normalising the behaviour, and unfortunately, that will continue until there's more discourse around these topics," Cook says. The problem with having fewer people of colour in the editing rooms and producer bays is that there's simply less racial literacy in the room. Editors can play into harmful stereotypes, or remove storylines altogether, because they don't see it as interesting or perhaps, don't even understand them. "I found it a bit disheartening that anything I filmed that touched more on my Thai background, like conversations filmed with my mum in Thai wasn't really shown," Cook adds. "I [also called] out some comments by the men which I felt were racist in nature and microaggressive towards another bride [which] didn't make it to air."

The brides I spoke to all agreed that it wasn't just MAFS that had a diversity issue, but a broader problem Australian media has yet to rectify. "When they do cast people of colour, it sometimes feels like we get boxed into stereotypes. I can see why that would make a lot of people not even want to apply," Chinese-Cambodian bride Selina Chhaur says. "We haven't seen many people of colour get their fairytale ending from MAFS, and that says a lot." Cook agrees that people can be "tokenised", adding an extra layer of difficulty for diverse cast members. Rutene adds that it can sometimes appear that reality TV shows or media in general can use diversity as a tick box, without putting thought into how to tell their stories well. "Sometimes it seems like MAFS has a very specific blueprint of what they want, and it looks very copy and paste from the clips I've seen online. When POC are included — maybe it's my negativity coming through — it can come across like it's more about ticking a diversity box than real representation," Rutene says. "It's like either they'll represent one minority or the other at a time."

There's one MAFS moment surrounding race that I haven't been able to scrub from my brain. When Chhaur's husband Cody Bromley participated in the Season 9 photo ranking challenge, he told the bride he was put off by her ethnicity. "I'm not racist by any means, but [your ethnicity] is not something I'm familiar with," he said at the time. And while I've always had a suspicion these two were never paired for love but for ratings, Chhaur at least still tries to see the best in that experience. "I'd still like to believe the show didn't pair us together for ratings and drama. As confronting as it was to go through, I do think those racist remarks needed to be shown on TV because that's the reality for many people of colour. For those who've never experienced it, it was a chance to see that this kind of thing still happens every day," she says. "That experience, as painful as it was at the time, taught me a really valuable lesson in self-acceptance and self-love."

This problem isn't going to vanish overnight. It takes more than a recurring conversation about how we need more diversity — which pops up like clockwork every few months — but shoving women of colour on screen without support isn't necessarily the answer. It's time to let us into every space to tell our stories on our terms, safely and with care.