Gia had some very cutting remarks for Joel (and his teddy bear) during the fourth MAFS Australia 2026 dinner party. But why was Gia so anti-Joel? Did she just wake up one morning and decide to hate him? Joel’s theory about Gia on MAFS explains why she seemed to loathe him.

Basically, Joel reckons that Gia‘s feelings towards him had less to do with disliking him, and more to do with wanting Juliette to like her.

Joel shared on MAFS Unleashed: “As soon as the wedding speeches finished, Gia and Mel ran over to Juliette and proclaimed themselves her best friends. You don’t know each other yet! You can’t! That’s not how friendships work!”

“Gia and Juliette formed an alliance from day one at the wedding,” he told the Daily Mail Australia, “Gia ran up to her and said, ‘We’re your besties, we’ve got your back.’ But in truth Gia is looking for a useful idiot – and that’s Juliette. I’ve said Gia is the puppet master behind the shadows.”

Another happy dinner party…
(Image via Channel 4)

He also accused Gia of “manipulative” behaviour. “She would come up to me and say things like ‘Bec and Danny were colluding in the kitchen’, trying to get more airtime. It’s absolute b*llocks. She’s just creating stories.”

Gia has said that she and Juliette formed a very close bond at this point in the experiment. On MAFS Unleashed, Gia admitted Juliette was not “an angel”. However she said: “She did ride or die for me and she was a very loyal friend.”

Gia does apologise to Joel’s teddy bear for her comments during the retreat on MAFS Australia. Gia hasn’t addressed his other comments about her since the show, though. On MAFS Unleashed, she said: “I’m not going to engage in the back and forth. I’m trying to grow from the show … I wish Joel all the best with Teddy.”