Auditions are open for MAFS 2027. Stella has a word of advice to any applicants.
Stella Mickunaite and Filip Gregov have emerged as one of the rare, shining success stories of Married at First Sight. But even though Stella successfully found her happily ever after, she isn’t holding back on the deteriorating state of the show that brought them together.
In a season defined by explosive arguments and shifting loyalties, Stella has offered Mamamia a sobering reflection on why the experiment feels like it is spiralling into something unrecognisable.
Now on the other side of the experiment, Stella’s advice for future hopefuls is grounded in the heavy toll the show can take. Her advice comes at just the right time, as MAFS 2027 applications are now open.
She warns that unless someone is truly there to find love, the experience can be devastating.
“Only go if you’re there truly for the right reasons. Otherwise it can damage lives, it can damage careers, it can damage your sense of self,” she warns.
But, at the end of the day, Stella is living proof that if you can survive the noise, the right reasons might just lead you to the love of your life.
Watch: Stella and Filip getting engaged on MAFS 2026. Article continues after video.
For Stella, the experience was bittersweet, marked by finding the love of a lifetime and, in her opinion, the loss of the show’s integrity. She says a significant part of that shift is inextricably linked to the passing of expert Mel Schilling.
“The hardest bit [of watching the final episodes] would be seeing Mel there and thinking, ‘Wow, she was going through that personally’ and she was there, and she was sacrificing her family,” Stella told Mamamia. “It’s a bittersweet moment. We obviously have a beautiful love story, but we also lost a very beautiful person.”
Stella credits Mel with providing the emotional anchor she desperately needed during a difficult commitment ceremony, recalling how Mel told her to focus on the “emotional safety” Filip provided when she lacked clarity.
With the increased demand for drama, and without Mel’s grounding presence, Stella fears the show is heading in a disappointing direction.
“It’s not going to be the same. And to be honest, whatever is going to come after this, [the show] is probably not going to be driven for people to find love. It’s probably going to be driven by clicks and rage bait,” Stella said.
“I feel like Mel’s absence will completely flip it on its head,” she explained. “We’re losing the authenticity, we’re losing the purity, the soul, and we’re feeding the clickbait. It just seems like it’s going there, unfortunately.”
This shift toward toxicity was something Stella experienced firsthand through the girl-on-girl drama that dominated the season. She describes an environment rife with fakeness, noting that contestants like Gia, Juliette, and Brook often saved their vitriol for when the cameras were rolling.
“There was a lot of fakeness. A lot of ‘I’ll smile to your face, but I’ll be stabbing you in the back’ type of energy,” she revealed.
Stella claims nothing was said in private, if it could be better used as an intense storyline on-screen.
“That explosive first commitment ceremony when I pointed out that not everyone is happy for your happiness, and then all kinds of drama erupted there? Moments before that, I was in the bathroom with Brook. If she wanted to address anything with me, she could have addressed it there and then. There were moments where you could be human and address situation, but instead it was saved for the cameras,” Stella explained.
“You know that type of mentality? ‘If you’re not one of us, you’re against us.’ It’s a child’s game.”
Despite the noise of the group setting, Stella’s connection with Filip provided a necessary sanctuary. She reveals that the spark was almost instant, taking hold just three days into the honeymoon. However, she is quick to correct the misconception that their journey was effortless or that they never disagreed.
“I think people probably thought that everything was easy,” she said. “Like anyone, we did have our ups and downs, driven by conversations and disagreements on different topics. And you just have to navigate and find a way to seek a win-win situation.”
This solid foundation led to a proposal that Stella didn’t entirely see coming, despite a prophetic moment earlier in the season where she had literally manifested the exact outcome.
“There was one moment, I was half a bottle of red wine in, during intimacy week. I remember having an interview at the end of it and the producer asked me something, and I was like, ‘Yep, the feelings are really real. I could only dream of walking out with a proposal.’
“But that was a cheeky, drunken thought in my mind. I knew we’d be walking out together. I just didn’t know that we’d be walking out engaged,” she said.