Unfiltered Chai with Alicia Vrajlal... and Ankita Karungalekar

Queensland-based sports reporter Ankita Karungalekar began filming for the 2026 season of Married At First Sight (MAFS), but her journey was cut short when some unrelated allegations about her MAFS groom, Micah Lomu, were made by others outside of the experiment. With the new season of MAFS about to air, Alicia caught up with Ankita, where she spoke about the importance of Indian and wider South Asian representation on MAFS. She also spills the chai on which brides and grooms to look out for, her reality TV and career plans, family and travel, code-switching as an international student, and wait for it… a new romance! Just a heads up. For legal reasons, we can’t say much more about the allegations about Micah, which he has reportedly denied. When Unfiltered Chai and Draw Your Box contacted Channel 9, the network declined to comment about Ankita’s involvement on MAFS. We also asked what sort of mental health support is provided to contestants during and after filming. They provided this statement:“Nine and Endemol Shine take their obligations in respect to the health and wellbeing of the participants of this program extremely seriously. All participants have access to the show psychologist and welfare resources during filming, during broadcast and once the program has ended. Nine also have an additional service for participants should they like or need further individual and confidential psychological support. This service gives participants access to clinicians to support those involved in the program in relation to their experiences. This service is available to all participants for as long as they need it, it does not end.”Enjoy this episode and for the MAFS fans out there, you can catch Married At First Sight when it premieres on the February 2 on Channel 9 and 9Now.Host: Alicia VrajlalProducer: Haresh Nair Follow Draw Your Box on social media: https://www.instagram.com/drawyourboxhttps://www.tiktok.com/@drawyourboxRead our coverage on our news website: https://drawyourbox.com/Subscribe to our newsletter:https://drawyourbox.substack.com/