Eden born and bred, 31-year-old Samantha Jayne has not been shy about her experience rising to celebrity status via reality television over the last six months.
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Close to 20,000 young single women across the country applied to star in the Channel 9 show Married at First Sight (MAFS) and Sam was one of nine who made the final cast for 2021 and the first participant from the ACT, through all eight seasons.
Sam said the audition process itself took roughly six months, with lots of psychological analysis and personality tests included.
The premise of the TV series, which is marketed as a controversial social experiment, is that singles are matched by relationship "experts", whereupon first meeting each other they wed and begin a new life together.
Filmed over nine weeks in Sydney, the newly married couples had the strength of their connections tested, all living on the same floor of the same building and attending dinner parties and commitment ceremonies with the rest of the cast, who Sam said had been selected with purposely clashing personalities.
Sam said she went into the experience "genuine" and stuck by her strong morals and values, remaining 100% herself throughout the journey from the first audition to the end of filming, and that it has been the "most amazing experience".
"The idea is for us to trust the experts they have matched me and my partner, based on personality, life goals and direction."
Sam said her parents, Sylvia and Michael Anderson, were "obviously shocked" by the concept but supported her fully and attended the wedding in Sydney at The Grounds of Alexandria last September.
"There were probably 20 cameras and 30 production crew in the room at the wedding," she said with a laugh.
Walking down the aisle to exchange vows and meet your husband for the first time must be a nerve-wracking time, but having her father by her side had made it easier.
"We both held it together really well... he didn't want to do it, but mum promised him he could have his new truck if he went through with it, we bribed him!
"Dad has been signing beer coasters at the pub, he thinks he's famous.
"Mum is a crane driver and you never see her out of her fluros, so seeing her in a dress was beautiful," Sam said.
Sam said once she reached the altar and laid eyes on her husband-to-be for the first time, he turned around and she felt a connection as soon as they smiled at one another.
Her motivation to apply for MAFS was a result of the difficulties presented by the modern dating world, after getting divorced four years ago.
Trying to balance work as a property developer, mothering her two young boys and dating was a big challenge.
Living in Canberra, but not fond of "city boys", she had set the search parameters on dating app Tinder as far afield as possible, trying to find a match in the surrounding areas, but wasn't having much success.
Sam relished the opportunity to participate in the show, which was filmed for 15-17 hours per day over the nine-week period.
There won't be any spoilers about the series in this article, but when ACM met with Samantha Jayne to have a chat, her wedding band was clearly visible.
"I got to do all these things I would never have otherwise, it was unreal," she said.
"I had a life before the show and I will have a life after the show.
"I am watching the show now with the rest of Australia, I haven't seen the final cuts until now.
"It's emotionally draining anticipating it and re-living through those moments again, but great to be in contact via text with friends I made and debrief," Sam said.
With plans to enter the upcoming fishing competition in Eden, Sam will be back again soon.
"I love that I can come home and it feels as though I never left," she said.
"I see familiar faces in the street and people genuinely want to know how I am... I do the drive every fortnight because I am addicted to my own town," she said.