It was supposed to be an opportunity to find love.
Instead, Married At First Sight bride Morena Farina found herself in a reality television nightmare – one that included being matched with a legally married man, locked in a tent for hours, and threatened with career ruin if she dared to walked away.
Now, in an explosive tell-all with Daily Mail Australia’s Ali Daher, Morena is breaking her silence on the manipulation, gaslighting and betrayal she claimed to have endured during her time filming the Channel Nine show.
For Morena, 57, shooting the dinner parties and commitment ceremonies was by far the worst part of the experience.
Before these filming days, ‘they would lock us in tents for hours,’ she told me.
‘No phone, no proper food – just drinks and junk food to wind us up. They did it so we’d explode on camera.’
Married At First Sight’s Morena Farina is sharing her truth about what happened during filming
In an explosive tell-all with Daily Mail Australia’s Ali Daher , Morena is breaking her silence on the manipulation, gaslighting and betrayal she claimed to have endured on set
Morena described the conditions as ‘deliberate’ and ‘cruel’.
‘They either freeze you or overheat you, there’s no in-between. I was always in there the longest,’ she said.
‘You go in when it’s daytime, and when you come out, it’s pitch black. You don’t even realise how long you’ve been in there.’
According to Morena, the process was designed to manufacture drama and extreme emotions for better television ratings.
From the moment she discovered her groom, Tony Mojanovski, was married, Morena knew she had been set up.
Wanting to remove herself from the situation, she attempted to leave—only to be met with shocking threats.
Morena claims she was pressured into staying, as producers couldn’t afford to lose another couple.
She describes this level of manipulation as ‘mafia-like’, alleging that the production team bullied her into staying.
Morena claims her on-screen husband Tony’s ‘cheeky’ sense of humour was actually deeply annoying and crossed boundaries. (Morena and Tony are pictured at a commitment ceremony)
Tony’s games: ‘He headlocked me – they all laughed’
Morena claims her on-screen husband Tony’s ‘cheeky’ sense of humour was actually deeply annoying and crossed boundaries.
‘Everywhere we went, he would headlock me [as a joke]. I told him, “Stop touching me, we are not in a relationship”,’ she tells me.
Even worse, Morena says her concerns were dismissed on national TV; even the show’s relationship experts laughed at her discomfort.
‘I said, “This is not okay,” and the whole room burst out laughing. Even the experts thought it was funny.’
Threatened with career ruin if she walked away
From the moment she discovered Tony was legally married, Morena knew she had been set up to fail.
Wanting to remove herself from the situation, she attempted to leave the experiment – only to be met with shocking threats.
‘I wrote leave in the second week because I was done. But I was told, “If you leave, you will never work in Australia again.”‘
Morena claims she was pressured into staying, as producers couldn’t afford to lose another couple.
She describes this level of manipulation as ‘mafia-like’, alleging the production team ‘bullied’ her into staying.
Adding to her humiliation, Morena claims Tony used disrespectful language towards her in front of the entire cast, only for producers to shut her down when she tried to address it
Tony said the unthinkable. Producers told me to ‘Reset’
Adding to her humiliation, Morena claims Tony used disrespectful language towards her in front of the entire cast, only for producers to shut her down when she tried to address it.
‘He called me a sl**. Right in front of everyone. One of the younger brides turned to me and said, “Oh, Morena, you obviously don’t know what that means. It just means you’re hot.”
Rather than stepping in, producers instructed Morena to ignore it.
‘They literally told me, “Reset! Forget about it. Stop talking about it.”
Morena alleges Tony taunted her because of her age, and would point out how he used to be married to a 40-year-old. (Tony and Morena are pictured in a candid moment during filming)
Forced to compare herself to Tony’s estranged wife
As if being paired with a married man wasn’t enough, Morena alleges Tony taunted her by showing her photos of his wife – insisting she would never measure up.
‘He showed me a photo of his wife in a bikini and said, “Look at her. She’s 40, you’re 57. You’ll never look like her.”
Morena described this as psychological torment, saying she was constantly put down throughout filming.
‘I started to believe that I was nothing, that I was too old, that I was undesirable. And that’s exactly what they wanted.’
Tony’s bombshell: ‘I want a baby’ – but he’s sterile
In an astonishing last-minute twist, Tony suddenly claimed he wasn’t rejecting Morena because of her age – but because he wanted a child.
‘He sat on that couch and said, “It’s not that I don’t like Morena; it’s that I want a baby.” But Morena wasn’t buying it – because Tony’s own family had already confirmed he was infertile.
‘His cousin Liz had told me. So why go on national TV and lie about wanting a baby?’ Even the relationship experts were stunned.
‘John, Mel and Alessandra all looked at him and went, “Mate, you never told us that.’ Morena believes this was Tony’s desperate attempt to save face after weeks of publicly rejecting her.
‘At that moment, I realised: This was never about me. It was always about his ego.’
In an astonishing last-minute twist, Tony claimed he wasn’t rejecting Morena because of her age – but because he wanted a child. However, Morena heard from his family he was infertile
Morena’s last word: ‘I’ll cop being the villain’
Despite being pushed to her breaking point, Morena refuses to be broken.
‘I got the villain edit. And I’m wearing it. They didn’t break me. They tried. But I’m stronger than that,’ she tells me, defiantly.
And she slammed the producers for failing to show her real story.
‘They had a story: a married man, a real scandal. But because I didn’t react the way they wanted, they buried it.’
