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MAFS Australia’s Rhi and Jeff shut down claims their marriage was ‘staged’

9 May 2025, 15:08

Rhi and Jeff responded to claims their wedding was 'staged'. Picture: Instagram

By Jenny Medlicott

Rhi and Jeff have hit back at claims from fans that their wedding was ‘staged’ on MAFS Australia.

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Rhi Disljenkovic and Jeff Gobbels had more of an unusual start to an already strange set up when they joined the cast of Married at First Sight Australia.

While the very premise of the show hinges on the married at ‘first sight’ part, Jeff and Rhi turned around on their wedding day to discover that not only did they already know each other, but they had actually previously dated.

Naturally, the pair were left totally blown away by the revelation, but thankfully it wasn't a completely unwelcome surprise. But not everyone was convinced by the freaky ‘coincidence’ and some have even accused the pair of having agreed to a set up.

Now, following allegations from MAFS fans that producers staged the couple’s love story, Rhi and Jeff have poured cold water on the claims.

Read more: MAFS Australia's Jacqui and Ryan's entire legal battle explained
Read more: MAFS Australia’s Carina claims Billy asked her to ‘fake being a couple’ at the reunion

Rhi and Jeff on their MAFS Australia wedding day. Picture: Nine

Speaking to Yahoo!, Rhi defended her relationship, as she said: “Jeff and I followed each other on Instagram, but I don’t know if they went in and had a look to see if we followed each other.

“Going off the looks of all the producers’ faces, it looked like no one had any freaking idea.

"I could hear everyone go, ‘What the f---?’. I think the producers were quite shocked as well, to be honest."

It turns out that about a year before Rhi and Jeff joined the experiment they had dated for a few weeks, but they decided to call it quits because they had both recently left long-term relationships.

When fans realised the pair knew each other on their wedding day, they were quick to voice their suspicions about how legitimate they thought the match was.

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A post shared by Rhi (@rhidisljenkovic)

One fan wrote: “They defo planted Jeff and Rhi to justify keeping the show running. Otherwise it's just a bunch of people traumatising each other for a few months!”

Another added: “You just KNOW the producers set up Rhi and Jeff to be this big 'in MAFS first' but got stitched up by Carina and Paul by total coincidence.”

And to only add another layer of suspicion to the couple’s match, a MAFS bride from a previous season also weighed in on the matter.

Tahnee Cook, who was paired up with Ollie Skelton when she was on the show in 2023, claimed that there was “no way” producers didn’t know Rhi and Jeff already knew each other.

She said on her podcast Back to Reality: “I know producers stalk. They would’ve seen that [they follow each other]. There’s no way producers do not know."

Rhi and Jeff are the only couple who were originally matched on MAFS to stay together. Picture: Instagram

Tahnee also revealed that the application process for MAFS requires participants to list recent exes, but Rhi shot this possibility down as she said that she left off Jeff from her list because they had only dated briefly.

She explained: “I can see how it could have happened, especially knowing that Jeff and I had no photos together and it was only a month.

"I definitely said nothing to them about Jeff at all."

While fans may never know for sure if producers secretly knew about Rhi and Jeff’s previous connection, one thing remains for sure - they’re the only OG couple to come out of the experiment with a stable relationship.