Featured Image Credit: Nine
Callum Jones
Married at First Sight (MAFS) is never short of drama, whether that's a couple constantly at each other's throats during the experiment or one-half of the couple already being in a relationship.
The latter is certainly fresh in MAFS fans' minds, as an explosive incident took place on the first episode of the new series of the Australian version of the show.
32-year-old builder Harrison Boon married 28-year-old beauty educator Bronte Schofield in the first episode, but it all ended rather sour as one of the bridesmaids recognised the groom.
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While it provides mad drama for viewers, many would have expected that the couples who took part in the experiment would leave their jobs after taking part.
MAFS is one of the most popular reality TV shows on the planet, so assuming the couples would have enough followers and earnings from the show to quit their day job would be fair, right?
But it appears that this year's crop of Married at First Sight Australia grooms and brides will have to keep their day jobs because their Instagram followers are not high enough, apparently.
In fact, this year's couples do not have enough followers on Instagram to be considered professional influencers, according to an influencer manager
The term influencer is thrown around a lot these days, and is often associated with people who have a large following on social media. But one influencer manager has told Yahoo Lifestyle that the 2023 cast do not have what it takes to make it big in the social media space.
"These days you can’t quit your day job with anything less than 300,000 followers and even then they have to be super engaged," they explained to the outlet. "The market is more saturated than ever."
This is against the usual trend, as contestants on MAFS usually end up becoming overnight celebrities, with many heading into advertising/selling products on Instagram and some being paid to go into clubs.
Quite the difference from standing in a never-ending queue for a club and having to pay to get in, eh?
But this year's cast has not had the jump in followers many would have expected, with bride Claire Nomarhas seeing the biggest increase from 2,800 followers to 64,000.
Melinda Willis has the biggest following on social media with 199,00 followers, while others boast below 10,000 on Instagram.
Compare that to last year, Domenica Calarco and Ella Ding left the show with over 500,000 followers each, so there is a real difference.