MAFS Australia's Ridge: His Reality TV Past, Age, Job And More

21 March 2024, 16:30

MAFS Australia’s Ridge Barredo joined the show as an intruder. He’s been dubbed a rascal, but we want to know more! From his job, age and ethnicity to his first stint on reality TV. Here’s what we know.

Ridge Barredo and his on-screen wife Jade Pywell joined Married At First Sight Australia as intruders alongside two other couples.

The experts Alessandra Rampolla, Mel Schilling and John Aiken paired the two together and whilst fans initially thought they were mismatched, it became obvious quite quickly how much chemistry there was between them

Whilst Jade had a few slight improvements she made to her husband, like his overuse of ‘Deece’ a shortened slang form of the word ‘decent’, overall Ridge seemed like a perfect match for her.

• Read more: Who’s Still Together From MAFS Australia 2024?
• Read more: MAFS Australia's Tim: How He Became A Secret Millionaire, Age, Ex-Girlfriend And More

But outside of his ‘naughty boy’ personality, what else can we find out about Ridge? From his age, job and ethnicity, to his past experience on a different reality dating show. Here’s what you need to know.

How old is Ridge from MAFS?

Married At First Sight Australia’s Ridge is 27 years old. This is one year older than his on-screen wife, Jade, who turned 27 during filming for the show.

The pair both posted on Instagram on the 10th of March with Ridge showing balloons he’d bought to surprise Jade and Jade posting the pair out for a birthday dinner before heading to film a commitment ceremony later that night.

What ethnicity is Ridge from MAFS?

Ridge is Australian, however, his ethnicity is Filipino and he is proud of it!

The ex-weightlighter posted a photo on Instagram showing off a new tattoo he had inked onto his arm.

The reality star captioned the image “Sticking true to my culture with a filo tribal sleeve” and used the hashtag #pinoyboy alongside two Philipino flags.

The term Pinoy refers to anyone who has Filipino origin or descent.

Where does Ridge from MAFS work? What’s his job?

MAFS’ Ridge worked as a qualified psychiatric nurse. He graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing from Western Sydney University in 2019 and it seemed like he’d followed the steps of his mother, who also worked as a nurse.

When viewers found this out, they doubted Ridge’s ability to be a professional nurse due to his silly behaviour on the reality TV show.

However, several anonymous people have commented on a Reddit thread online claiming to have been treated by him in the past, and they have nothing but good things to say.

“I've said this before but I'll just pop it here: he was my supervising psych nurse a while ago. It was the best experience I've ever had with the mental health system in this country and completely restored my faith in it,” one Reddit user posted, going on to say, “The way he is portrayed may be one facet of his personality, but when it comes to his job he is incredible and should be in no way discredited. Weirdly enough, I owe a lot to that man.”

Another validated this by adding, “Couple [people] came here and said they knew him and he was a fantastic nurse apparently, just a funny sense of humour.”

Not only was Ridge a great nurse but he had also, mind-blowingly, competed in two Commonwealth Games as a weightlifter. The young man participated in the 2018 Gold Coast Games placing 8th and the 2022 Birmingham Games where he placed 5th.

Has Ridge been on reality TV before?

Ridge has been on a reality dating show before. The 27-year-old appeared in First Dates Australia all the way back in 2020 when he was just 23 years old.

He had no luck finding love on that show, but if things keep going the way they have been with his MAFS bride Jade, then it might be a different story this time around.

If you’re now looking at Ridge suspiciously, don’t be too harsh, he’s not the first and he certainly won’t be the last contestant to have a little bit of on-screen or acting experience.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ridge (@ridgebarredo)

Just in the 2024 season alone, Collins acted in a hair transplant advert, Jack had a Star Now profile, and fellow intruder Madeleine had a long history acting, starring in big shows like Home & Away and Wentworth!

In comparison, Ridge’s attempt at finding love on First Dates just shows how much he has to give!

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