Married At First Sight’s villain groom Tim Gromie has been using a fake name on the show – and one viewer has discovered his real identity.
An employee of Venus Investigations, a Sunshine Coast-based private investigation firm, shared a clip to social media on Monday in which she revealed how she discovered Tim’s real identity.
‘I just did a deep dive on Tim on MAFS and there is something really weird going on. Before the show began Channel Nine put up contestant bios for everyone featured,’ she said.
‘Tim was there, but he was listed as Tim Andrews. Nine updated the bios and we can see the difference in the lingering Google data.
‘He is now referred to as Tim Gromie and the media is referring to him as that which is a little odd, right?’
The employee added that Tim’s career in teaching would mean he would be registered on the Victorian Teachers Registry.
However, no Tim Gromie was listed, but a Timothy Andrews was.
‘He must be registered, but I looked it up and no Tim Gromie appears. But when I put in Timothy Andrews someone does appear! Weird, right? It’s all just a bit off, like what is this guy trying to hide?’ she added.
A production insider told Daily Mail Australia that Tim chose to use an alias on the show to protect his job.
‘He was really concerned about how being on the show would affect his career,’ the source said.
‘He saw what happened to past participants like Olivia Frazer and Alyssa Barmonde. He didn’t want to be in a situation where his professional life was ruined because of a reality TV edit.
‘He was already warned that being linked to MAFS could make it hard for him to get hired again, so he pushed for a name change to keep some distance between his TV persona and real-life profession.
‘Tim has seen how brutal the MAFS audience can be. Contestants can go in thinking they’ll be portrayed fairly, but if they’re given a bad edit their whole life can be derailed.
‘He didn’t want to risk being typecast as the villain and then struggle to rebuild his career once the cameras stopped rolling.’
Daily Mail Australia has confirmed that Gromie is one of Tim’s middle names.
Meanwhile, an Australian influencer called Bella has revealed she once turned down a date with Tim after she matched with him on an app.
‘I almost went on a date with one of the most hated men in Australia. I matched with this guy and I was watching MAFS the other night and I see Tim… I have matched with him before,’ Bella in a TikTok video.
Bella said she refused to go on a date with Tim after some of his chat messages gave her a bad feeling.
‘I stopped replying to him because he had this general a***oleness about him. He got cranky because he said I didn’t reply fast enough and he told me he wasn’t after pen pals,’ Bella said.
‘He also had some other red flags in his text messages about going fifty-fifty [on dates]. I have a problem with men who don’t want to provide or look after a woman. If you don’t want to look after me before we go on a date you’re giving me the ick.’
Bella finished by saying she was glad she had trusted her ‘spider senses’ by not going on a date with Tim given how he was behaving on MAFS.
Tim’s behaviour has been a major point of contention throughout the season, with his reluctance to embrace his match with wife Katie Johnston leaving fans outraged.
He previously expressed disappointment in their pairing, stating she didn’t match his ‘usual type’ of ‘blonde and petite’ and that he had no physical attraction to her.
The latest controversy follows a string of cringe-worthy moments, including his awkward attempt to justify why he wasn’t interested in Katie.
‘I’m trying to get there, but I can’t force it,’ he said in a previous episode, further frustrating viewers who believe he was never genuinely invested in the experiment.
Married At First Sight continues Tuesday at 7.30pm on Channel Nine and 9Now
