Industry chatter rife that Married At First Sight is groom heading for The Bachelor after disaster marriage: 'Everyone loves him'

The Bachelor Australia could soon have its first gay star. 

Industry rumours are rife that Married At First Sight 2026 groom Sam Stanton could be heading to the dating show, after his marriage to Chris Robinson fell apart. 

Pop culture expert Bella Hodgman told Yahoo Lifestyle this week that the fitness studio owner from Adelaide is the perfect candidate to find love on The Bachelor. 

'I think [Sam's] very traditionally masculine, or stereotypically masculine,' Bella said.

'And I think that a lot of straight women really love that about him, like he's attractive to straight women, he's attractive to gay men.

'I think that he would be very palatable in a political sense. Then, in a more emotional sense, I think that he's come across really beautifully on TV'.

She added: 'Everyone loves him. Everyone supports him.' 

Sam is seemingly single after his romance with husband Chris fizzled in recent episodes of Married At First Sight.  

Speaking to Daily Mail, Sam described watching the series back as 'frustrating and confronting', admitting one unseen moment left him deeply hurt.

'But the biggest thing sitting with me now is the unseen footage… I'm pretty f***ing hurt by it,' he said.

The footage in question showed Chris making comments about Sam's finances and living situation – claims Sam insists are not only hurtful, but untrue.

'I never once used a coupon… I actually spent more money than him,' he said.

'I lived with my best friend – not in a share house like he made it out.'

Chris has since addressed the moment, admitting the remark was made in the heat of the moment.

'It was just a silly, b**chy comment,' he said.

But for Sam, the issue ran deeper than one offhand comment.

While the pair appeared to be getting along in the early stages of the experiment, Sam said problems were present from the beginning.

'I felt like I was being spoken over quite a lot,' he said.

'If you look back at our first commitment ceremony, he talks the whole time.'

For Sam, the relationship changed significantly at the commitment ceremony when Chris chose to write 'leave'.

'I thought we were both going to write stay and work on things,' he said.

'But as soon as I saw him write leave… I was like, what am I doing here?'

From that point, Sam said the emotional connection began to fade.