MAFS 2027’s Most Unexpected Signing: The Sh0ck New Groom Is In — But His ‘Genuine’ Motive Has Everyone Talking
Married at First Sight has long specialised in recycling familiar faces from The Bachelor, Big Brother and First Dates. In 2027 the experiment is finally dipping into a different reality pool. For the first time, a Love Island Australia contestant has been cast.
Zac Nunns, the 28-year-old Kiwi who finished as runner-up on season five of Love Island Australia in 2023, has joined the fourteenth season of MAFS as an Intruder. The move marks a notable expansion of the show’s casting net and arrives with the usual mix of industry leaks, wedding drama and carefully curated “authenticity.”
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Daily Mail reports that Nunns married TikTok influencer Vanilla Milla (whether that is her real name remains unconfirmed) on Monday. His former Love Island co-star Trent Woolman stood as best man. The ceremony was not without incident: one couple reportedly walked out after an argument, and MAFS 2026 groom Chris Nield – a close friend of Nunns – was banned from attending. Producers, sources say, wanted to prevent current and former participants from comparing notes while cameras were still rolling on the new season.
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Nunns arrived on Love Island Australia with a ready-made “bad boy” reputation and left as runner-up alongside the show’s first British contestant, Lucinda Strafford. The pair dated for a few months before splitting. Nunns later claimed on his podcast that the relationship ended because Strafford had been texting another man. Strafford has since appeared on Love Island Games and Love Island: All Stars. Nunns’ return to reality television comes via the MAFS Intruder route – a role that typically demands immediate impact.
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A production insider described him to Daily Mail as ideally suited to the format: “outspoken, comfortable in front of the cameras and never afraid to involve himself in what’s happening with the other couples.” The same source added that he “won’t fade into the background or give them nothing in his interviews. He’ll talk, react and inevitably become involved in the wider group dynamic.” In other words, the producers expect drama on demand.
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His bride brings her own social-media credentials. Vanilla Milla has more than 16,000 TikTok followers and just under 10,000 on Instagram. The pairing of a recognisable reality alumnus with an emerging influencer invites the obvious question about motive. The original reporting framed the match with heavy irony: two people who have most likely joined the experiment to increase their follower count – “a match made in heaven.”
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The casting news arrives alongside another significant change. Brigitte Zonta, better known as Dr Lurve, has been confirmed as a new expert sitting alongside John Aiken and Alessandra Rampolla. She steps into the role previously held by Mel Schilling, who appeared on the series from 2016 until her death in March at the age of 54. Insiders stress that Zonta is not being asked to replace Schilling: “She has her own voice, her own energy and her own way of connecting with people.”
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Season 14 is scheduled to premiere in February 2027. The most recent experiment already delivered its own cautionary tale: 2026’s sole remaining couple, Stella Mickuanite and Filip Gregov, have since called it quits. Against that backdrop, Nunns’ arrival – and the carefully managed narrative of genuine intent – offers producers a fresh narrative thread and viewers a familiar face in an unfamiliar setting.
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Whether Nunns treats the experiment as a genuine search for connection or as the next logical step in a reality-television career will become clear once the Intruders arrive. For now, the only certainty is that MAFS has officially opened the door to Love Island, and the first person through it arrives with both a track record and a very public wedding.
