He may be the oldest groom in the experiment, but young at-heart Tony Mojanovski, is hoping to find an everlasting love to last the rest of his life on Married at First Sight – could this be with his bride Morena Farina?
The self-described fire-cracker put her trust in the experts to match her with a man who matched her energy after spending 29 years in a “suffocating” and loveless marriage.
53-year-old charter captain Tony said he was looking for a woman who was “strong-minded, driven” and knew what she wanted.
Describing his fun-loving future wife without even realising it, experts Mel, John, and Alessandra were certain that 57-year-old DJ and fitness instructor Morena was the perfect woman for him.
Scroll on to find out if their relationship is working as well in real life, as it seemed like it would on paper.
Going around in circles
Despite making headway in recent weeks, things took a turn for the worst for the Tony and Morena following revelations at the family and friends lunch.
Tony revealed that he still may want to have children, which caused a deep rift with the couple.
At the fourth dinner party of the season, Morena told the other couples about Tony’s wish to still have children. She continued to list other failings in their marriage, which led to Tony finally having enough.
“You know how beautiful and pretty you are but your personality gives me the sh***,” he told her.
Following the dinner party, Morena disappeared and wasn’t seen until the following night’s commitment ceremony. She walked into the room while Tony had begun speaking to the experts alone on the couch.
“Did you really think I wasn’t going to come? Did you really think I was going to give him the last word?” She said.
Explaining his side, Tony said Morena was a strong woman, but had “a bit too much personality for me.”
Morena contested this, saying it was always about her age and the fact that he wanted children, which he had not shared with the experts.
“You’ve mocked the whole experiment. You’ve wasted everybody’s time,” Morena said.
Tony said they were “going around in circles”.
They both revealed their decisions, with Tony writing ‘Leave’ and Morena writing ‘Good riddance’.
“It’s really sad to see where to two of you have landed,” said expert Mel Schilling.
In the friend-zone
As he met with Morena’s friends and family, Tony made the shocking revelation that he couldn’t see his relationship with Morena growing beyond the friendship stage due to his desire to have children!
His admission came as a surprise to everyone, including himself!
“It’s taken me a while to think about it, to register in my head what I really, really want,” he acknowledged.
But for Morena, she thought his newfound baby fever was just an excuse, wishing he could just be honest about not being “into” her.
“Tony, you were gutted when you found out I was 57,” she vented, adding that her husband had “no clue” over how much he had hurt her.
In an exclusive interview with 9Entertainment, Tony defended his decision over not bringing up his desire to have children with Morea earlier.
“When I met Morena on the wedding day she had two beautiful kids, so in my eyes if something did happen between us then I would treat those kids like they were mine.”
“Happier than ever” in week three
After a horrible experience at the previous week’s dinner party, Tony and Morena were a united front at their third dinner party of the season having applied some of the feedback from the experts to their relationship.
“When you listen to the experts and do what they say it falls into place,” Tony shared, adding “We’ve listened, learned, and done the right thing.”
Morean shared this sentiment: “The experts gave the right advice, I’m really enjoying his company.”
But at Commitment Ceremony number three, Morena dropped a bombshell, telling the experts that despite Tony’s perspective that their relationship was “blossoming”, she was fed up with her husband’s immature behaviour.
“I just want him to be a gentleman. I’ve asked him, ‘Do not first bump me’ and he still does it, I’ve asked him, ‘Stop head locking me’ and he still does it,” she vented.
While Tony defended his actions, inferring that was his way of showing affection, ultimately he apologised and the pair decided to stay in the experiment for another week.
Intimacy week struggles
After struggling to be physical with one another at all following their wedding, Morena took the lead during an intimacy week challenge where expert Alessandra tasked her with creating her “ultimate fantasy.”
Despite being initially nervous about embarking on this new stage of their relationship, Tony quickly became comfortable as he “painted” his wife like Jack paints Rose in the beloved box office classic Titanic.
However, only a day later the couple had an explosive argument after Tony returned from an intimacy workshop with Alessandra.
As he walked into their shared apartment excited to tell Morena about his day, his wife ignored him, opting to read her book aloud to him instead.
A visibly frustrated Tony then begged his wife to “let him talk” but Morena wouldn’t hear it, getting upset over being told to stop talking.
“Nobody has the right to make me stop talking. I put up with that for 29 years. I’m not doing that now,” she proclaimed, adding that she “asked for an alpha man.”
“I didn’t ask for a child.”
Despite Tony’s best efforts to de-escalate the situation and give her some space from him, a furious Morena saw his walking away as the final straw, telling him she was “done” in the marriage.
Fast forward to the dinner party the following day and Morena was put on blast by the group after continuously speaking over Tony.
“At times she is very, very loud,” he told producers.
“I’m trying [in our relationship] but I’m scared to talk to you because you talk over me. I’ve been open to this experiment. I’ve been trying,” he then told his wife.
Curiously only hours prior to the episode being aired, Morena put her TV husband on blast in an interview with Abbie Chatfield on her It’s A Lot Podcast.
In her tell-all chat, the reality TV star said that several comments Tony had made about her had been not shown on screen.
“He told me the night before we left the wedding, he said, I ordered a 40-year-old.”
Morena also alleged that Tony had called her a s*** and that he rejected her because he wanted to have another child.
Ultimately their relationship struggles came to a head at their second commitment ceremony where Morena told the experts that she had no areas to improve on in her marriage, despite Tony admitting his own faults.
While Morena opted to leave, Tony reaffirmed his desire to making his marriage work, choosing to stay in the experiment for at least one more week.
A difficult first-week
After a romantic honeymoon, upon moving into their first apartment together and undergoing Confession Week tasks tensions did grow between the couple.
While both opted to stay in the experiment another week at their first Commitment Ceremony as a couple, it was clear that they had plenty to work on in their relationship – especially when it came to balancing light-hearted conversations with deep and meaningful ones.
Instant sparks at the altar
While Tony doesn’t have children of his own, Morena is a proud mum to two beautiful kids, a son Stefan, and a daughter Olivia. As a carer for Stefan due to his disability, Morena is looking for a partner who will not only open their heart to her but also to her children, describing them as a “package deal.”
“My kids are my best friends, my anchors, my world.”
As they prepared for their wedding day, groom Tony went back to his Macedonian roots, doing shots with his bridal party of 70-proof RAKIJA (which they describe as “rocket fuel”) to give the celebrations a kick, also partaking in the shaving of the groom to mark the transition from bachelorhood to married life.
At the same time, our bride-to-be was having her dream dress fitted by her friend Josephine. Lamenting over the woman she has become, it was an emotional and exciting moment for the mother-of-two as she nervously awaited meeting her groom for the first time.
“This dress means everything to me because the person I was with would never have allowed me to wear this dress because it’s showing too much.”
“For Mum to find her person would mean the world to us just because she’s been through so much and deserves to find love,” an emotional Olivia then shared with producers shortly after.
While both bride and groom had pre-wedding nerves, from the moment they locked eyes sparks flew, and the couple quickly learned that they shared the same values when it comes to family.
“Wow,” an enamoured Tony said aloud about his soon-to-be wife as she walked down the aisle.
“That smile just melted my heart. Those eyes, the way he looked at me, wow,” an equally shell-shocked, Morena shared with producers shortly after.
Despite Tony’s cousin Stephen voicing his concerns about Morena’s age at the reception, the groom was quick to shut him down, revealing he believed there was something worth exploring in their new relationship
While Morena is based in Victoria and Tony in Wollongong, something tells us this marriage has what it takes to make it in the real world. But only time will tell!
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