Mel Schilling told E4 that it was her ‘wish to continue airing the programme’ following her death from cancer at the age of 54.
The Married At First Sight star died on Tuesday ‘surrounded by love’ just weeks after she publicly shared that she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The Australian TV personality first shared her colon cancer diagnosis in December 2023, but despite being given the all-clear after surgery, she discovered just two months later that the cancer had metastasised to her lungs before later spreading to her brain over Christmas 2025.
Prior to Tuesday night’s episode of Married At First Sight Australia, E4 paid a heartbreaking tribute to the the 54-year-old.
A statement read: ‘Everyone at Channel 4 is hugely saddened by the news we’ve lost Mel Schilling.
‘It was Mel and her family’s wish that we carry on showing Married At First Sight and celebrate her mission to help others find love and happiness.
‘Our thoughts are with Mel’s family and friends.’
This came after MAFS expert John Aiken broke down in tears remembering Schilling, admitting that he finds it ‘hard to breathe’ since the news of her death.
Speaking to 9News, Aiken said: ‘I feel like I’ve lost someone special today. MAFS for me won’t be the same. She’s a huge loss and sometimes it’s hard to breathe just thinking about her.
‘There’s no doubt that I’m struggling. It’s devastating to have someone that you’ve worked with for 10 years, who you’ve sat beside on a couch and got to know so well, to die in this way – so shockingly and so quickly.
‘I was very privileged to have 10 years with her. You get to know someone so well, so this is a very, very sad day.’
Yesterday, Schilling’s husband, Gareth Brisbane, poignantly revealed that she spent her ‘final moments’ sharing a last ‘message’ to their young daughter.
The MAFS star shared a 10-year-old daughter, Maddie, with her husband of six years, and he shared that it was for her that she used her ‘remaining strength’ just before her death.
‘In her final moments, when I thought cancer had taken away her ability to speak, she ushered me closer and whispered a message for Maddie and me that will sustain me for the rest of my life,’ he said.
‘It took all of her remaining strength, and that gesture summed up our wee Melsie perfectly. Even then, her only thought was for Maddie and me.’
Condolences have poured in from fans, former MAFS contestants and reality stars such as Vicky Pattison.
Schilling helmed the Australian version of MAFS for 12 seasons and the UK spin-off for five seasons, carving her place as the ‘matriarch of MAFS’.
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