Screen Forever 2024: Nine cool on MAFS spin-off

It’s the biggest show on television, but don’t expect any further incarnations of Married at First Sight.

Nine’s Head of Production & Development, Adrian Swift, was asked this week at Screen Forever if there were any plans for a Married at First Sight spin-off.

“No,” he replied.

“We talked about it, and we think about it. But I guess one of the things you’ve got to be really careful of in commercial television is if you have a goose that lays the golden egg, can I have two geese that lays the late golden eggs? You probably will end up with a goose cut in half and a dead goose that doesn’t lay anything.

“I do worry that every time we’ve tried to do spin offs or even two shows of something in a year, it’s utterly diminished the show. So my response to that is ‘Maybe but probably not.'”

But a Married at First Sight FAST channel is on the way.

Swift also said the show continues to kick goals having been format refreshed after its third season.

“It was the number one non UK produced show in the UK four weeks ago. So it’s extraordinary the kind of numbers it’s getting. Karl Malone who runs E4 said, ‘The show’s number one,’ and I said ‘Number one this week?’ and he said ‘Number one in the history of E4.’

“I think those kinds of things have opened doors for Australian producers. Things like Travel Guides, our little show that could, is sold all over the world. Parental Guidance which is a format we developed internally at Channel Nine, has sold to seven countries. The Summit, which we co-developed with ESA, sold to five countries now. I couldn’t get a meeting with E4 five years ago. Now I’m literally carried on a little chariot with rose petals scattered all the way!”