MAFS’ Richard Complains About Show’s Low Pay As He’s Left ‘Broke’

22 April 2024, 11:07

Married At First Sight Australia’s producers are under fire after contestant Richard Sauerman reportedly exposed the show for its extremely low pay that's left them ‘broke’ after filming.

Married At First Sight Australia is set to wrap up its broadcast in the UK as viewers head into the final episodes. However, fans of Richard Sauerman and Andrea Thompson were left brokenhearted last week after the couple called it quits with one another, unable to revive their initial spark.

The experts Alessandra Rampolla, Mel Schilling and John Aiken originally paired the couple because they shared the same giddy excitement for life and adventure despite their older age, however, it was not meant to be.

After filming had ended and broadcasting had wrapped Down Under, it seemed like Richard not only left the show without a wife but was left in a tough financial position after he claimed the wages provided for the cast were far too low.

• Read more: MAFS' Australia’s Eden Harper Announces Sudden Split From Jayden Eynaud
• Read more: What On Earth Did MAFS’ Australia’s Jack Mean By The Wind Emoji?

Speaking to the Behind The Edit podcast, Richard revealed he and his fellow castmates felt “ripped off” by the show.

After taking into account the need to take time off work, and spend money on outfits, makeup and food, most cast members reportedly found they had “lost” money after the show ended, as Richard claimed he “lost a lot of money being on MAFS, as we all did."

When asked by the hosts whether he and other cast members felt they should have been paid more for their time by production, Richard replied, “100%, and for how much money it makes Channel Nine, it’s a rip-off, $150 a day, that’s what you get!.”

MAFS Australia was one of the nation's top-performing shows with the 2024 finale reaching 2,752,000 in viewership according to BandT. In comparison to what live television has been drawing in over the last decade, this can be considered a healthy statistic.

Richard revealed the realities that came with joining the social experiment, “When you come out [of the show] it’s like October, then the reunion in November, and then it’s Christmas, New Year, January… I’ve got no work on, I had no work on for six months. And I need to work, I don’t have a whole lot of money that I sit one.”

At $150AUD (£78) a day, the cast members were only earning $750AUD ( £390) a week. With the average rental price in Australia sitting at $580AUD (£302) a week, the cast didn’t have a lot left to spend on food and activities.

Richard himself is a motivational speaker and revealed he expected his business to boom after appearing on the show, but it didn't worked out that way.

Whilst according to him, his website is getting more clicks, the reality is that those clicks aren’t“converting into anything."

This isn’t the first time these accusations have been through to the show’s production. Previously, a cast member who preferred to stay anonymous spoke to The Daily Telegraph, explaining how they weren’t able to pay rent because of the show.

“I am broke after having appeared on the show. I couldn’t even make my rent payments with what we were being paid.” “We would film late so I would be ordering takeaway most nights. I spent a bomb on outfits, hair and make-up, and to top it off, they didn’t even let us wear what we wanted.”

Ex-contestant Al Perkins who also appeared on Love Island Australia has also spoken to the Daily Mail about his time on MAFS and the low pay rate.

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“MAFS will pay you just over like a grand a week... But it's not until the endorsements afterwards, that's where you make your money,” the reality star revealed.

However, it seems like the 2024 cast hasn’t had as much luck as past contestants of the reality show when it comes to building a social media following.

With iconic ex-contestants like Martha Khalifatidis boasting over 706k followings on Instagram, this year it’s only been Lucinda Light who has seen a significant increase in followers as she also sits at half a million.

Eden Harper has also managed to build a strong following with just over 180k, but according to Yahoo Lifestyle, a majority of the cast are disappointed with their lack of social media engagement, as many of them had hoped to build a career off it post-show.

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