Channel Nine/Star Now/Media Mode
She’s the outspoken bride who has already ruffled feathers on the 2026 season of Married at First Sight. But there’s a lot to Victorian disability support worker Gia Fleur that you haven’t seen on TV.
The 35-year-old blonde bombshell was matched with business owner Scott McCristal, 33, by MAFS experts John Aitken, Mel Schilling and Alessandra Rampolla, and while their wedding day has already yielded surprises, there’s more than a few secrets yet to be spilled.
Who is Gia Fleur?
Woman’s Day can reveal that the MAFS bride hasn’t always gone by the exotic name Gia Fleur. Rather, she was once known as Cassandra, with a business registered in the Gold Coast, Queensland.
Friends say she went by the nickname “Cassie,” before reinventing herself several times as she chased a career in modelling, acting and entertainment.
One source said Gia – who has appeared in a music video for Nicki Minaj, also previously had a “rap name” – Goldie Volpe.
“Gia always wanted to be famous. She has been trying to crack it for years, trying her hand at everything from acting, modelling, singing, pageants, dancer, and even pursuing a rap career at one point,” one insider told Woman’s Day.
“So it’s no surprise to me that she ended up on MAFS.”
Indeed, a profile, once created by the reality star on online casting platform Star Now, shows her posing provocatively under the name Cassandra lee Gallo.
“I’m an eccentric and outgoing 19 year old girl who’s dream since the fresh age of five is to be at the top of this industry in modelling all areas wheather [sic] they be catwalk or photographic genre’s,” she wrote on her profile at the time.
“I’m an extremely reliable person and am very keen for work you will not have to worry about me being late or unprofessional. I bring a fresh and happy smile with me wherever I go. I am passionate about what I do.”
In the same profile the reality star expressed a desire to one day be a Victoria’s Secret angel “strutting my stuff down the catwalk and working up a storm”.
“I can do anything from glamorous lingerie shoots to bikini shoots or high fashion,” she wrote. “More experience and variety the better In my point of view.”
Of course, Gia has amped up her credentials to the other brides on the show – revealing she spent time in the Playboy mansion partying with Hugh Hefner.
A quick look at her Instagram profile these days shows a plethora of pouting selfies and bikini shots, but the outspoken bride has also revealed a more vulnerable side.
“I think people perceive me as just a bimbo given how I look and everything, but beneath the fake lips, fake teeth, fake t*ts, is the realest girl,” the reality star told expert John Aitken in episode two of the series.
“There’s so much more to me than that.”
Away from the cameras, Gia is mum to a little girl who she describes as “the love of my life”.
“She’s the most amazing, kind girl,” she told John emotionally.
“I put everything into being a mum . Everything. She’s my reason for living. I’m so proud that she is who she is.”
Gia said it was important to show her daughter that it’s ok to “shine”, explaining to the expert that the reason was because she was “very bullied in school” herself.
“Very, very bullied and it went all the way through high school,” she said.
Certainly, images of Gia taken many years ago show just how much she has changed.
Snaps show her looking virtually unrecognisable, with ebony hair and a noticeably different physique.
“Boys would say things like ‘why don’t you grow some t*ts surfboard and ‘have you ever had a boyfriend?’ and obviously I didn’t. I never dated boys… didn’t have a boyfriend until I was like 20,” Gia told the expert of her previous life.
“I didn’t really have many friends. I didn’t fit in with the other girls. I was kind of a weird loner, so I feel like it shaped me to be who I am.”
And it seems while Gia now talks a big talk in front of the cameras, she may be going through a secret struggle since filming wrapped.
New photos show the star displaying a noticeably slimmer frame than she showed off on screens.
A source told Daily Mail that, rather than being driven by vanity, Gia’s weight loss was a result of concern about how she would be edited on the show.
“She was constantly warned about how she was coming across,” the insider said.
“It played on her mind a lot. She knew she was being positioned a certain way and it made her very anxious.”
“She didn’t want to be misunderstood or torn apart online,” the mole added. “She felt the pressure massively and it affected her confidence.”
