Dr Trish reveals ‘THE REAL REASON I QUIT'

The Kiwi relationships expert says MAFS was worse than any war zone!

- Cloe Willetts

Dr Trisha Stratford once worked as a war correspondent, so when the Kiwi star joined Married At First Sight Australia as a relationships expert, she understandably figured she had more than enough guts to deal with the drama of reality TV. But six years later, after leaving the show for good, she says it was worse than she ever imagined!

“I thought I had very strong resilience after everything I’ve done in my life, but MAFS took me to another level,” says the clinical neuro psychotherapist, chatting to Woman’s Day from a beach house in the Coromandel. “I run workshops on resilience here and in Australia, talking about things like conflict in war zones. Now I bring MAFS into it because it was a tough gig psychologically.”

Last year – after the controversial Three show’s seventh season, which featured yet more partner swapping and cheating – the Wellington-born matchmaker announced she was leaving. “By the end, I couldn’t compromise my professional and personal standards because there were participants on the show who I felt shouldn’t have been there,” says Trisha, explaining producers didn’t listen to her pre-casting assessments.

“If someone gets through the critical selection process when we say we don’t want them on the show because they’re quite fragile psychologically, they’re not going to do well during or after the show.”