Exclusive: Olivia opens up on becoming her dad's carer when he was diagnosed with cancer

It was clear on their Married At First Sight wedding day that family means everything for both Olivia and Jackson.

But as their relationship has blossomed in the experiment, there's one big thing she's missing: her dad.

The 28-year-old lost her father to terminal cancer in June 2020 and was his primary carer for seven years.

During the virtual meet the parents she once again got emotional, wishing there was an overlap of time she had with her dad and Jackson so they could meet.

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When her dad first got sick, she was living in the UK at the time but moved home immediately to be with him and then became his full-time carer. While taking on that role wasn't something she came home to do, she said it was a "no-brainer" in an interview with 9Entertainment.

"Mum was semi-retired and Dad was going to be the one to continue working, so when he got sick they sort of had to swap," Olivia recalled.

"Mum had to go back to teaching and Dad had to retire, and at the time we were hoping to recover."

The decision for her mum to go back to work meant her dad was by himself. "It was kind of like a no-brainer, it was quite an organic move," she said.

"Like, 'OK, Liv will stay with Dad, make sure he's OK, and Mum will make the money'.

"I don't think there was ever really a discussion, it was just as a family unit it was what needed to be done."

Olivia's dad developed two primary cancers at the same time, bowel and prostate, although when they found the prostate cancer it was too far gone.

Becoming his carer meant she put a lot of her 20s on hold, although looking back on it now she's so grateful she did.

"It was precious, precious time and I'm so glad I spent like every second that I could with Dad," she said.

Olivia admitted that she did have a lot of different responsibilities to her friends and people her age when she was looking after her dad.

"Being that age, my friends were pretty carefree," she said.

"So having the responsibility of my dad being sick at home was very, very different, but I was quite lucky in that he was pretty self-sufficient for as long as he possibly could be. He did encourage me to get out there and enjoy my life as much as possible."

She said he would always encourage her to be "a little bit naughty" at the time.

"Whatever it was he was like, 'Go do it, go out, go have an extra beer for me,' or something like that," Olivia said.

Taking the leap to apply for MAFS was a huge thing for Olivia, although it looks like it's paying off.

"It was definitely a big big step for me to do that, it was kind of perfect timing though," she said.

"After Dad passed away I was by myself, my brother moved out, my mum moved out, so it was just me at home with the dogs. So I was like, why not?"

Married At First Sight airs Sunday at 7pm and Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now. Catch up on 9Now.