Married At First Sight Australia is facing a new controversy after it emerged that groom Tony Mojanovski was still legally married when he wed Morena Farina on the show. The 53-year-old charter captain tied the knot with the fitness instructor in episode five, but an insider has revealed he had not yet divorced his estranged ex-wife.
According to Daily Mail Australia, Tony was open about his marital status when signing up for the series, but producers are said to have proceeded with him as a groom despite knowing he was not legally single. The insider claimed the crew tried to keep the secret under wraps and encouraged Morena to stay silent on camera.
“From the first dinner party, they told her to stop talking about it. They kept saying it wouldn’t air, that it wasn’t a big deal,” the source said. “But Morena refused to be silenced. She was furious that they were trying to control the narrative.”
Tony reportedly believed the show would help him move on from his ex-wife, who lived in the US at the time, but the insider claimed he also asked the experts to facilitate bringing her onto the programme. Morena has since broken her silence in texts leaked by former MAFS groom Harrison Boon, stating that the real issue was not Tony's legal status, but his lingering feelings for his ex-wife.
“The issue is he loves his wife. He wants his wife and he really thought he could come on the show and get his wife in the show,” Morena said in the texts. She added that producers told her to “stop talking” about Tony’s secret, but she refused to let it go. The couple are now separated.
