MAFS Australia's Tyson blames producers for 'submissive' wife comments
9 April 2026, 19:30
Married at First Sight Australia's Tyson Gordon has addressed backlash for saying he wanted a "submissive" wife.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Married at First Sight Australia's Tyson Gordon has become one of the most controversial grooms on the show. With his love of Donald Trump, right wing views and hate of 'wokeism', it's not surprising he's rubbed some viewers up the wrong way.
However his criticism of his wife Stephanie Marshall for not being "submissive" enough, went down like a led balloon with his fellow cast members and the experts, as well as viewers.
Since leaving the show, Tyson has conceded submissive wasn't the correct word to use and says he wished he'd instead said he was looking for a more "traditional" wife.
He's now also insisted that how he came across was actually manipulated by producers and they were the ones who first introduced the word "submissive" to him.
- Read more: MAFS Australia's Tyson claims he's had "support" from gay community after controversial comments
On the Dangerous Ideas with Deano podcast, Tyson said: "Obviously that word submissive does come up a lot in the show. I do feel like that was a word I shouldn't have used at the time.
"That word does get mixed up. I mean, there's so many different definitions of the word submissive. The Oxford Dictionary has one definition. AI has another definition. Google has another definition. You can look it up for yourself. A lot of different definitions there."
He explained: "For me, what I should have done is use the word traditional. Traditional is more what I'm after. I'm not after a certain "subservient dog"."
"Everyone keeps saying, I give 'DV tendencies', if you will. Which just isn't the case. I've never hit a woman before in my life. I never would hit a woman," he insisted before adding that he has a lot of respect for women, as his mum and sister are the most "loveable" people in his life.
He then claimed: "The word submissive actually got brought in by producers, not me...
"So they pulled me aside and they asked me how things were going with Steph and I at our wedding. And they said, 'Do you reckon she's submissive or do you reckon she's masculine?'."
"They introduced me to that word," he said. "And the same with when she walked down the aisle and I said, 'She's giving woke vibes'. I watched the first episode and I was like, 'Geez, why'd I say that?'
"But then I remembered it was the producer that said, 'Does she give you woke vibes? What kind of vibes? Does she give you woke vibes?'"
Tyson said he went along because he "thought it was funny".
He insisted that "a lot of what is said here is manipulated by the producers, and they love the rage bait", adding that he "unfortunately fell into that trap".
After the host pressed him, he claimed "submissive" isn't a word he used during the show and would instead refer to his ideal woman as being "traditional".
Read more MAFS news here:
- MAFS Australia's Julia Vogl just hard launched her girlfriend
- Are MAFS Australia's Alissa and David still together?
- MAFS Australia’s Chris shares update on surrogacy journey after show
- MAFS Australia insider claims Brook tried to issue legal threat to remove toxic scenes
- MAFS Australia's Bec addresses her 'deplorable' text messages about Alissa
