Nine network’s executive producer John Walsh has broken down how showrunners plan to make the upcoming season of MAFS as successful as last year’s rating bonanza.
Season nine of MAFS, which aired last year, and it’s season finale raked in 1.967m – making it a clear winner for it’s time slot. In comparison, The Bachelors, which is currently airing on Channel 10, is averaging around 350,000 viewers an episode.
However, with such a high viewership last year, it can pose a challenge to make this season as successful. Regardless, Walsh isn’t concerned and has told Variety Australia that the new season is packed full of different scandals from previous years.
“We have scandals again, but scandals that you haven’t seen. And that’s what I love about this, the reality Gods have really kind of smiled down on us… because it’s never a rinse and repeat. It’s not the same thing [as previous seasons],” he told the publication.
He added, “And we are absolutely going to get the country talking again. What I love about “MAFS” is it starts a lot of dialogue. Last year it was the Only Fans dialogue. It was the racism dialogue… This season does the same thing, and it’s going to have people divided about a lot of things, and it’s going to have people fired up about a lot of things.”
“It was a real challenge to come in with this. People’s expectations of “MAFS” are very high. And I used to get asked a lot ‘How are you going to top Season 9?’ And it’s a path fraught with danger to set out to try and top it,” he said.
Walsh told the publication that the production company Endemol Shine Australia focussed on recruiting different “characters” that ensure that the show won’t be a repeat of the drama that viewers saw in last year’s season.
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“So we’ve just set out to make another season of very, very compelling content, with different characters that you haven’t seen before [and] scandals – but not quite the scandals you’ve seen before.
“So there’s lots of great things that hit all the “MAFS” marks, but things play out in ways that you just won’t expect.”
Tara McWilliams, director of content at Endemol Shine Australia, agreed with Walsh, and hinted at the types of scandals that will play out in viewers’ living rooms this season.
“[Season 10] does not disappoint. It comes out punching from literally the first seconds on air and it continues to do that,” she said.
“This year we’re absolutely going to tackle more things. Gaslighting gets tackled again, but other things about the way people treat each other in relationships, which for us – we think we’ve seen it all – is shocking… If we’re being shocked still, then you know the content’s pretty ballsy.”
For more on this topic, follow the Reality TV Observer.
