MAFS Funny Podcast
The Problem With The New MAFS Spin-Off Show… Plus, Jess Power vs an Aussie Icon
29 Oct 2025
Chapter 1: What updates are there from the Married At First Sight world?
Hello and welcome back to the Maths Funny Podcast with me Joshua Fox and guys there has been an unlikely resurrection of former Married at First Sight cast members landing pretty big new TV shows that will soon see them returning to the spotlight not just in Australia but on a global scale for one bride in particular who's going to be flying the flag for Down Under internationally and
And I also have news of Jessica Power's bizarre new feud with one much-beloved Australian actor that I guarantee none of you saw coming. But before that, a week or so ago, Channel 9 announced a brand new math spin-off show that is coming this January to run alongside the upcoming 2026 season.
But what they didn't mention in their press release is the huge dilemma behind the scenes about this show and the past attempts to make it work and why they were cancelled. So over the last week or so, you may have seen some articles floating around online with this press release attached, and I'm going to read it to you now.
Nine today have announced it will continue the nation's biggest conversation with the groundbreaking new Stan original series, Maths After the Dinner Party. Maths After the Dinner Party is set to become the must-watch destination for every Maths fan. Firstly, side note, that's this podcast. Thank you very much. Anyway, back to this press release voice I'm doing.
Streaming exclusively on Stan, which I should point out here is owned by Channel 9, so don't expect anything. any rogue shit on there calling out the network or producers because, you know, the stand is on by nine. The series will air weekly immediately following each explosive Married at First Sight dinner party on Channel 9 and 9 Now.
Picking up right where the drama left off and delving into this week, this sounds like chat GTP, I'm not going to lie. Delving into the week's most talked about moments, this series is the ultimate hub for fans, providing an exclusive invitation into the maths inner circle.
The show will feature participation interviews, exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, expert analysis, and even fan commentary. Not the fan commentary fucking else, Stan. You're spoiling us. Nine managing director Amanda Leung said... Married at first sight is a cultural juggernaut and the conversation and obsession around it is part of the magic. Well, Amanda, you don't have to tell me.
I've built a whole podcast around that. This series will be the ultimate post... Can they stop saying this is the new place to go because it's this podcast? Thank you very much, Amanda. This series will be the ultimate post-dinner debrief offering our subscribers an exclusive...
unfiltered, unmissable and chat GTP written companion that extends the maths experience in a way that has never been done before. You will not want to miss it. Anyway, so the issue here is there's a few things. As Stan is owned by Channel 9, as I just pointed out, how unfiltered can we expect this to be?
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Chapter 2: What is the dilemma behind Channel 9's new MAFS spin-off show?
side channel to whatever the main channel is from 2018 to 2019 after the dinner parties each week. And this was hosted by Shelley Horton, who actually likes Shelley. She seems like a nice lady. I follow her on Instagram. Gives fans, and I'm quoting the bio from that show, behind the scenes footage, exclusive cast interviews and more.
which sounds like the description for the new show without all the big chat GTP words. Chat, chat, G, P, T. I always say it wrong. Anyway, sorry, I don't know why I'm going all AI this episode. But back then, Talking Married was seen as a success.
Like it rated well, it was popular, but it was then abruptly cancelled because, and I quote TV Black Box here, it was axed due to the concerns for the mental health of maths participants. And if you're wondering what that means, well, this is basically what happened back then with Talking Married and maths in general.
So as the show became bigger and bigger each season, Talking Married was like Nine's way to keep the drama going and also the ad revenue rolling in. By immediately after a big episode, you know, the dinner party every week, they'd have whoever was in the firing line that week doing a live interview.
And, like, reading viewer comments and stuff literally seconds after, you know, the big episode has aired when emotions are heightened and everyone is riled up. And, you know, that makes sense as a show. Like, everyone's talking about this. How can we squeeze more out of it? And, you know, it's what I do on this podcast. It's what every radio show does when they book the cast on.
Like, we all want to keep the conversations going. But the issue for Nine was... They were the ones kind of causing the backlash for these people in the first place with how, like, the show had been put together, how things had been edited, perhaps out of context. And, like, Nine always knew what was coming and who was going to be hated when.
Like, they basically have, like, a calendar and a storyboard of, okay, this week this person's going to be despised. This week this person should probably leave the country. So to then, like, be putting these people back in the firing line live...
in the minutes after like something huge has happened on screens and like those cast members are like reliving whatever while their phones are blowing up with hate comments and death threats and reactions like... That is a lot to put these people through. Because you've got to remember, I know they're Maths cast members, but they film this show.
They then go home and wait six months for it to air. Often in that six months, they think, oh, it wasn't that bad. I'm not going to be that hated. Like, surely it won't be edited too bad against me. Obviously, they're all very naive because it then is.
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Chapter 3: How does the new MAFS spin-off aim to engage viewers?
Anyway, yeah, next question.
Dan, I'm not a mind reader, but I think it's pretty clear to anyone looking at the body language at the moment, you seem like you are over this. You seem like you want out. Am I wrong?
Yeah, look, you are probably wrong. I definitely wouldn't say I want out. But then one little negative, like last night or tonight's episodes, can just raise so much doubt. And then articles here and articles there, it just creates so much negativity and toxicity in our relationship. It really does. Do you feel that?
Are you going to answer Dan's question, Jess?
I don't think this is a conversation we need to be having on air.
Now, don't get me wrong. The questions they were asking Jess and Dan were valid. You know, Shelley and the ones on the panel are journalists and every fan wanted these answers. But the moral question, I suppose, Channel 9 bosses faced themselves in the aftermath of that when Jess... was not doing very well, particularly.
I know that because, funnily enough, minutes after that interview aired, that night, when she was like, what the fuck has just happened? She just broke up with Dan live across the country. She was texting me like, whoa, that was a lot because I'd connected with Jess during that series. That was the series I launched, the Mass Funny Instagram page.
And yeah, like I suppose for Channel 9, in the aftermath of that, which was heavy and intense and a lot for Jess in particular to deal with, Channel 9 kind of had to ask themselves, like, how far can we, as a network, push these people? Like, whatever happens on the show is one thing, because that was all filmed.
But to then, like, be the ones facilitating moments that they know will cause even more distress, this is, like... when the decision, I believe, was made to axe Talking Married. And it did briefly return in 2020 as an online-only thing, and each episode was then pre-recorded way in advance, you know, to avoid pushing the cast too far or pressuring them or causing more distress and, like,
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