Amanda Micallef has made history as one of Married At First Sight Australia’s first gay brides. But the 34-year-old strength coach says her involvement in the reality TV show has come at a huge price.
“Since filming of Married At First Sight ended, some incidents have occurred and I’ve chosen to walk away from my immediate family,” Amanda has revealed to TV WEEK.
Amanda tries on her wedding dress as her mother (in blue) looks on.
This week Kiwi viewers witnessed Amanda and her bride, 31-year-old bar tender Tash Herz, tie the knot on the show and the couple shared an instant chemistry, despite Tash’s “protective” bridesmaids expressing concern about Amanda.
But one person was noticeably absent from the wedding and that was Amanda’s dad.
While Amanda’s mum didn’t go into detail about why had not come to the wedding, and Amanda was clearly heartbroken that he didn’t come, Amanda has since revealed that behind the scenes and away from the cameras there was more going on.
“I think my dad was very fearful of losing his job over it,” she says.
“I think he thought, ‘Do you really need to do this, Amanda? Because it’s going to affect me more than it’s going to affect you.’
“I said, ‘Look, first of all, you should support your daughter no matter what.’ I was so insulted.
“This whole MAFS thing was the beginning of the end to what I needed to sever in my life.”
Amanda says she applied for the show the same day she split from her most recent partner.
She said she had cheated on her partner because she’d found her behaviour “very confusing”.
“Good people do s**t things in the heat of the moment. The intimacy wasn’t there, so I went elsewhere for it. And that was that. Do I regret it? Yes.”
But after going through the audition process and not hearing anything for a while Amanda and her ex started talking again.
Then came the call to say she’d been chosen for the show.
At first, Amanda knocked it back.
“I said, ‘Look, I’m actually going to work things out with my ex.’ And then, in 24 hours, I said, ‘Amanda, you need to do this crazy thing that could open up so many doors for you.’
“I had to really break her heart, but I also had friends tell me, ‘She’s a great girl, but you’re just not right for each other.'”
