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 thought cancer had taken away her ability to speak, she ushered me closer and whispered a message for [daughter] Maddie and me that will sustain me for the rest 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 both 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 is nothing further they can do.”
Schilling, 54, shared a photo of herself holding her husband, Gareth, and daughter Maddie and wrote, “In December 2023 I was diagnosed with colon cancer after a tumor the size of a lemon was discovered during a scan. ‘Terry,’ as I called him, was successfully removed and I was initially given the all clear — that much many 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 changed again in an instant,” she continued. “Over the past two years, while filming MAFS, I underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy and was later told I was eligible for a groundbreaking clinical trial specific to my gene type, due to start in March 2026. Once again, my optimism soared that I might 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 was 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 is nothing further they can do,” she wrote.
“Hearing those words changes everything,” she continued.
Schilling went on, “So that’s where I am now. My light is starting to fade — and quickly. But I am still here, still fighting, and surrounded by the most incredible love. Simple tasks have become incredibly difficult and I am relying on my beautiful family to look after me. I honestly don’t know how long I have left, but I do know I will fight to my last breath and will be surrounded by the love and support of my people.”
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Schilling ended her post with some advice for her followers.
“If I could leave you with one thing, it would simply be this: if something doesn’t feel right, please get it checked out. It might just save your life,” she wrote.
Schilling joined MAFS UK as an expert matchmaker in 2021 after previously appearing in the same role for several seasons on MAFS Australia.
The U.K.’s Channel 4 said in a statement to BBC News, “Mel has become a hugely valued and much-loved part of the Channel 4 family; to many of us, she is a friend as well as a colleague.”
“Her wisdom, warmth, humor and kindness shine through, and these qualities mean that everyone involved in MAFS, from the producers and contributors, to the viewers, love and respect her as much as we do,” the network added.
