The emotional rollercoaster for the newlyweds on this year's Married At First Sight UK has just kicked off, but relationship guru Mel Schilling is already back in her homeland of Australia , guiding another batch of hopeful love-seekers as they courageously tie the knot with total strangers and strive to build successful marriages. For 52 year old Mel, returning to film the Australian version this summer was a mixed bag of emotions. She, along with her husband Gareth and daughter Maddie, now reside in the UK, and they were unable to stay with her in Australia when it was time for Maddie to go back to school.
"We managed it pretty well," shares Mel. "Filming began in August, so Gareth and Maddie came to Australia with me, and we based ourselves on the Gold Coast right next to the beach. I had a lot of downtime and beautiful beach time with them.
But they've gone home to the UK now, because school's started again. So now I've just got a couple of months here by myself before I can get back to them again." Gareth and Maddie have been a tremendous source of support for Mel following her colon cancer diagnosis in December 2023.
The MAFS team also rallied around her, providing "wonderful" support while she underwent treatment during the filming of the current series earlier this year. Opening up about her battle with cancer while filming the UK series, she shared: "I was going through chemo the whole time we were filming the UK series," admitting it was challenging yet supported by.