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MAFS Australia's Tim faces further backlash as his former students' parents speak out

17 March 2025, 19:30

MAFS Australia’s Tim has faced further backlash from the parents of his former students. Picture: Nine

By Jenny Medlicott

MAFS Australia’s Tim has faced even more backlash now that the parents of his former students have spoken out.

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Married at First Sight Australia’s Tim Gromie has been no stranger to controversy since he joined the experiment and was paired up with bride Katie Johnston.

From the opening ceremony he made his lack of attraction to Katie abundantly clear, which was followed by a series of uncomfortable exchanges between the two as Katie stuck around in the hope he would give her a chance.

Primary school teacher Tim was hit by a torrent of backlash over his behaviour and even faced criticism from his own groomsmen for his treatment of Katie. And now after two weeks of uncomfortable viewing, the couple have finally called it quits at the first commitment ceremony.

But while the backlash against Tim was initially borne out of his treatment of Katie, new information has now come to light about his personality and career as a teacher.

In a recent episode of the So Dramatic! podcast, host Megan spoke to some of Tim’s former students, the parents of his former students and even some old colleagues.

Read more: MAFS Australia’s Jacqui reveals she has filed police report against Ryan

Tim Gromie on MAFS Australia. Picture: Nine

One student who got in touch with the podcast claimed: “He was my grade three teacher and left after a year since his contract wasn’t renewed because of multiple complaints about his teaching from parents, so I guess he’s been fired at least twice”.

Another source on the podcast alleged that Tim had given some students inappropriate nicknames, such as "pencil case licker".

One unspecified source also alleged that Tim had ‘bullied’ their 7-year-old niece, a claim which was reiterated by a separate source on the podcast.

And unfortunately for Tim, the allegations didn't end there, as another individual suggested that Tim also bullied some of the parents of his students.

Tim even refused to pose with or put an arm around Katie during their wedding photos. Picture: Nine/E4

And one source insisted that Tim just simply wasn’t a good teacher, as they said: “I don’t have huge updates since the show, I do know he’s been fired from our school, and he’s not here for this year that’s for sure.

“I’m a parent at the school Mr Andrews was teaching at before MAFS. He was my two boys’ sports teacher last year and he wasn’t a good teacher.”

The podcast even heard from some former colleagues of the MAFS groom, as one said their friend "used to work with Tim” who described him as an “absolute d---head” who was ”up himself, arrogant and rude”.

“He is not a nice human and it’s definitely not the edit,” they finally added.

Tim and Katie on MAFS Australia. Picture: Nine

It comes after it was revealed that Tim had deleted his social media following his stint on the show and has reportedly been refusing to do interviews due to the intensity of the backlash, according to Yahoo.

"Tim is really fearful the show is going to affect his employment as a primary school teacher, that's why he's deleted all socials, is refusing to do interviews and wants nothing to do with it," a source exclusively told the outlet.

"He feels he was stitched up from the start and is now just trying to get through it with minimal damage to his career and reputation."