UPDATE — 3/24/26, 7:45 a.m. ET: Married at First Sight UK relationship expert Mel Schilling has died at age 54, just weeks after announcing she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
“Melanie Jane Brisbane-Schilling passed away peacefully today, surrounded by love,” Schilling’s husband, Gareth, said in an Instagram post on Tuesday, March 24.
“In her final moments, when I believed cancer had taken away her ability to talk, she ushered me closer and whispered a message for [daughter] Maddie and me that can sustain me for the remainder of my life,” Gareth continued. “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.”
Original story:
Married at First Sight UK expert Mel Schilling has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The Australian relationship guru, a staple on each MAFS UK and MAFS Australia, revealed the news in an emotional Instagram post on Thursday, March 12. She wrote that after two years of treatment, “My oncology team have now told me there’s nothing further they will do.”
Schilling, 54, shared a photograph of herself holding her husband, Gareth, and daughter Maddie and wrote, “In December 2023 I used to be diagnosed with colon cancer after a tumor the dimensions of a lemon was discovered during a scan. ‘Terry,’ as I called him, was successfully removed and I used to be initially given the all clear — that much a lot of you already know.”
“Unfortunately, in late February 2024 during a routine scan, small nodules were discovered in my lungs. The cancer had metastasized and my world modified again immediately,” she continued. “Over the past two years, while filming MAFS, I underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy and was later told I used to be eligible for a groundbreaking clinical trial specific to my gene type, because of start in March 2026. Once more, my optimism soared that I’d beat this thing.”
Schilling wrote that she experienced “blinding headaches and numbness down my right side” over Christmas in December 2025 and received the news that her cancer was terminal.
“After many tests I used to be told the cancer had spread to the left side of my brain and, despite subsequent radiotherapy sessions, my oncology team have now told me there’s nothing further they will do,” she wrote.
“Hearing those words changes every part,” she continued.
Schilling went on, “In order that’s where I’m now. My light is beginning to fade — and quickly. But I’m still here, still fighting, and surrounded by essentially the most incredible love. Easy tasks have turn out to be incredibly difficult and I’m counting on my beautiful family to take care of me. I truthfully don’t know the way long I even have left, but I do know I’ll fight to my last breath and shall be surrounded by the love and support of my people.”
In the case of reality TV couples, it’s hard to make a relationship last – but many from Married at First Sight have proven that they might do exactly that. Thank You! You could have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to newsletters Enter your email Please enter a sound email. Subscribe By signing up, I conform to […]
Schilling ended her post with some advice for her followers.
“If I could leave you with one thing, it will simply be this: if something doesn’t feel right, please get it checked out. It would just save your life,” she wrote.
Schilling joined MAFS UK as an authority matchmaker in 2021 after previously appearing in the identical role for several seasons on MAFS Australia.
The U.K.’s Channel 4 said in a press release to BBC News, “Mel has turn out to be a hugely valued and much-loved a part of the Channel 4 family; to a lot of us, she is a friend in addition to a colleague.”
“Her wisdom, warmth, humor and kindness shine through, and these qualities mean that everybody involved in MAFS, from the producers and contributors, to the viewers, love and respect her as much as we do,” the network added.