Rainbow Crew is an ongoing interview series that celebrates the best LGBTQ+ representation on screen. Each instalment showcases talent working on both sides of the camera, including queer creatives and allies to the community.
Next up, we're speaking to Married at First Sight UK's new bride Ella.
Ella Morgan Clark is everything you want from a reality contestant: bright, bubbly and warm, with a quick wit that defies you to smile. She is the type of person who leaves you feeling like fame was always just a phone call away, and now that call is incoming.
Ella is about to make history on one of the UK's biggest reality shows, becoming the very first trans contestant to take part in Channel 4's Married at First Sight. Unlike some other dating formats, which have dragged their heels when it comes to LGBTQ+ inclusivity, MAFS UK has propelled itself forward, welcoming the show's first gay couple in 2021 and the first lesbian couple the following year.
While Ella describes herself as both "honoured and proud" to bring trans representation to our screens, she has also spoken of the pressure of being seen as a spokesperson for a whole community.
"I can't wait for you to meet Ella and see there is more to me," she said, after her introduction on the lineup.
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But before her journey on the show, which will see her marry a total stranger, plays out for all to see, we caught up with Ella to talk about her dream come true, the response to the 2023 cast announcement and changing perceptions just by being herself.
[The interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
How has your week been? How does it feel to finally have the news out there?
Do you know what? I feel like, at the minute, my life is a bit of a rollercoaster. I've always had all these aspirations and dreams and everything – you know, from, obviously, becoming the person that I am today, to getting married, to finding someone, to even silly dreams that I never thought would happen, like being in [a] magazine, or being at a press launch and representing a community. So I feel like it's been a whirlwind....
But I think the biggest thing for me is – I expected to get support, but I didn't expect to get as much as I have from random strangers and people that I don't know. And it just feels amazing that I'm not being ridiculed.
I mean, I am being a bit ridiculed online, and being called 'a man' and stuff. But I was expecting to get that anyway.
It's probably been one of the best weeks of my life. It really has. This year has turned out to be amazing.
We're sorry you've had some negative reactions online, but hopefully the positivity is overshadowing that.
I would be very naïve and stupid if I really went into this expecting to not get any kind of backlash or hate. It's the first time Channel 4 or anyone has really done this, and we've had very limited representation in the media at all, especially in the UK.
And I mean, when it comes to reality shows, apart from Nadia [Almada] on Big Brother, I feel like there's not really been that much representation. So it feels amazing.
I knew I was going to get hate from very uneducated, one-minded people... People are saying things like 'You're a man' or 'You're this, you're that'. And it's like, it's not like I haven't heard it before. But I know that hopefully a lot of those people might change their minds, and change their perception of trans people once they watch the show...
I look at all the positives rather than all the negatives. I think the good support outweighs massively the negative stuff.
And I want people to feel that they can come out, and that they can be open and stuff. So if I just harp on about all the bad stuff all the time, people are going to be petrified to come out.
When someone from the community is cast in a reality dating show, there's sometimes that perception that they represent an entire community and it feels like there's a higher bar that's set for them. Is that something that you felt conscious of or experienced?
Yeah. I mean, I'll say now, and I've said it before – I'm not an activist. I don't claim to be an activist. I wouldn't say that I'm a role model – because, again, that's a lot of pressure.
But going into this, I got the hate because of the label that I had. No one else really experienced that. So it was like, from the get-go I've had to have thick skin, and know that I'm going to get the most hate during the show, and also as soon as I got announced that I was on it, because of the label that I have...
Most people in life haven't met someone trans, or they haven't really seen them on shows. And the media does portray us, I think, in a very negative light a lot of the time. So people's perception is quite negative.
So then you, as a trans person, being put on that pedestal, feel like you have to represent because there's such a small minority of people that get to be a voice for the community that, when we do, suddenly the limelight's on. And I have to make sure that I'm relatable to not only cisgendered and straight women but also the trans community and the queer community.
I feel like you have to please everybody, but you're never going to please everybody. But as long as I make my community proud, and I show that we are relatable, and that we are good people, and that we're not these horrible monsters that we're portrayed to be – that's all I can do.
With that in mind, what are you most excited for people to see or learn about you, Ella, on the show?
I want people to know that trans is a big part of me, but there's so much more to me than being trans. I am a girl. I am a person. I am so much more than just that label.
To me, it's a positive label, even though a lot of people will see it as a negative. But I'm hoping that they'll just get to see that I am funny, and I've just got these crazy sides to me. And I'm relatable, and I wear the most amazing clothes...
And this is my experience. And other trans people's experience may be different, but I'm hoping that my experience in life, and what I talk about on the show, and how I am as a person in general, will just show that: 'Oh, do you know what? She's just like Sally down the road. She's so relatable. She's so normal. And all these preconceived conceptions that we had aren't at all what she is like.'
I hope to change people's minds. But I think people always see that I have an amazing personality, and I don't just talk about being trans all the time.
Also I'm aware that most people on the show – in fact, everyone on the show – hadn't really met someone trans before. So instead of me trying to educate them, or being aggressive about it, or trying to debate everything all the time – if anyone said anything negative, I would just stay calm, and just answer in a polite way.
Because I feel like if I'd gone on and been all defensive, and screaming and shouting if someone said something that I didn't like – again, I'm going to look like an idiot, and I'm also not going to make my community look good.
I want people to feel they can openly talk about things. I'm happy to talk about things and answer questions – but I'm aware that other people don't. I'm happy to talk about my gender reassignment surgery, but I'm aware that other trans people don't. So this is my experience.
But I had the most amazing support from the get-go from all of the other brides and grooms. Yes, you'll see there's confrontations and things that come out, but I think I handle myself very well.
I think people will just watch me like… I am absolutely hilarious. I'm a real hoot. I'm really caring and nice. I'm quite clever, even though I don't look or sometimes sound it.
You've spoken about the special relationship and bond you have with your nan. Will she be watching the show with you?
She certainly will be, yeah. She's very excited...
For a 90-year-old woman, I think she's an inspiration. And I think my family as well – my dad, especially – is an inspiration. So when people watch, they will see that families can support you.
And, yes, you go through hard times when you come out, but my dad was, at first, so against it, and then he became my biggest advocate. I feel like he's my role model, as well as my brother Ross, who's gay, because he kind of understands being in a minority and in the queer community more than anyone else in my family...
[Me and my nan have] got that silly relationship where we can joke around, and I'll call her the village bicycle, even though she's not. She'll call me silly names.
But she's really educated. Most people think: 'Oh, what were your grandparents like? Did they take it really badly because they're from a different generation?'
I think that excuse is so old now. My nan's proof that, yeah, you can be in the older generation, but you can still be accepting – and she's accepted me.
My family, without realising it, are probably going to show that trans people can be accepted. We don't need to be disowned. And, yes, it is hard, but you've got to stand by each other. And that's the message that they're putting across, without realising it, probably. I don't think they realise how good what they've done is.
And can you tell me a bit about the bond that you received with the cast as a whole?
Ros [Rosaline], Jay, and Tasha are my absolute world. So we talk every day. We've got a group chat. I spend a lot of time with them.
It's all well and good speaking to, you know, welfare. We had the most amazing welfare, and the team behind the scenes all looked after us amazingly. But it's also nice to speak to other people going through it at the same time.
You're not only working on yourself – you're working on your relationship with someone that you've just met. You're also working on a relationship with your fellow brides and grooms, who you've not really met before, and you have to pretty much live with them, and spend all your time with them. And the girls supported me so much.
And also a lot of the grooms, at the end, they may not have been open to the idea at first of dating someone trans... but I had eventually changed their minds, and they would now be more open if they weren't in their marriages.
Which was amazing for me to hear, because I didn't go on there to try to preach things. I just went on being me, to find someone to fall in love with, and to get loads of sausage dogs, and move in together, and just have the best life, pretty much.
But then so much more than that happened. But that was an amazing thing to hear from straight, cisgendered guys who aren't really around the queer community.
Is there a moment from the show that stands out to you, that you're really excited for everyone to see?
There's a scene where I tell everyone at the dinner party, all the brides and grooms. And it was incredible. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done.
I was thinking this the other day. I essentially was kind of forced to come out as a gay male when I was about 15, because at the time the trans issue wasn't really as kind of big or spoken about as it is now.
Then I obviously came out as my true self, and said: "I'm a female. I've always been a girl, but I was just born in the wrong body. I've always felt trapped. And now I just need my outside to match my inside."
I told my parents: "I'm a transgender female." And that was a coming out.
And then I feel like this is my third coming out... It was the best coming-out party ever – telling everyone, and knowing that I essentially have come out now to the whole world... It's going to be on the show. It's in all the articles. So everyone knows...
I feel really proud of myself that I've done this. And that scene, for me, was amazing. It was really hard because it was probably as hard as coming out to my parents. I didn't know these people. I didn't know what they were going to say or do – whether they had religious beliefs, whether they were transphobic, or if they've met someone who's trans before.
And there was another thing in the show, I'm only going to allude to it, where, to me, history is being made, and it's the most amazing story of probably my life, actually, so far. I can't wait for people to see it. It's incredible.
It will do my community so much good. But I won't say what it is. But it's a big thing for me, and it's a huge thing for trans people.
Married at First Sight UK's 2023 series starts on Monday, September 18 at 9pm on E4, and will be available to stream on Channel 4.
TV Editor, Digital Spy Laura has been watching television for over 30 years and professionally writing about entertainment for almost 10 of those. Previously at LOOK and now heading up the TV desk at the UK's biggest TV and movies site Digital Spy, Laura has helped steer conversations around some of the most popular shows on the box. Laura has appeared on Channel 5 News and radio to talk viewing habits and TV recommendations. As well as putting her nerd-level Buffy knowledge to good use during an IRL meet with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laura also once had afternoon tea with One Direction, has sat around the fire pit of the Love Island villa, spoken to Sir David Attenborough about the world's oceans and even interviewed Rylan from inside the Big Brother house (housemate status, forever pending).
