MAFS’ Madeleine Finally Explains *That* Bonkers Cow Scene

Intruder bride Madeleine Maxwell didn’t hang around for long on Married At First Sight (MAFS) after being matched with Ash Galati. 

Although she was only in a few episodes, she certainly made her mark on Season 11. Who could forget the time she had a psychic download or randomly started crying after seeing a cow? Television gold. And while most of the contestants returned for the MAFS reunion at the end of the show, Madeleine was nowhere to be found. 

The former Home and Away star has now made a surprise appearance on Yahoo! Lifestyle’s Behind The Edit podcast, and she’s come clean about *that* cow scene. 

According to the bride, there was some important context missing from CowGate. Madeleine told the hosts she’s followed a vegetarian and vegan diet “on and off” for the past six to seven years. Due to some health issues, she was eating meat at the time of filming. 

“We were driving down to Slaughterhouse Road. And it came up because, obviously, we’re talking about abattoirs… it was a topic of conversation that kind of had me also really aware that I was about to be like, with nature, with cows, and that connection would probably come back up again,” she said. 

“When we had dinner and there was just like a big slab of meat that came out, no potatoes, no nothing on the side… it was evident. It was just like, a pig on the spit. So it was one of those things where I had a lot of shame the next day going into that scene.”

The contestant added she was visibly emotional during the scene with the cows because producers had just asked her probing questions about a past relationship. 

“Not only did I do a voxxie before [the cow scene] that was completely unrelated to the cows, but it was about a relationship that already had me extremely emotional,” she said.

“I go into the paddock crying about that particular voxxie, and it just so happens that voxxie was about guilt, about shame, about this relationship.”

Viewers also saw Madeleine appear to call herself “fucking annoying”, with the implication she was mad at herself for eating meat. It turns out this was completely unrelated to cows. 

“It was about the [former] relationship once again, so it had nothing to do with me being upset I was eating meat, it was an explosion of like, they’re pushing on a relationship topic that I don’t want to go into,” she told the publication.

She continued: “So I’m aware I’m really emotional that day, and I’m aware of what it will look like on camera, so that’s why I’m saying ‘I’m so fucking annoying’, because I can’t stop crying about this other topic. 

Madeleine said people now think she’s a “batshit crazy bitch”, which is relatable. Reality TV stars, they’re just like us.