A Melbourne man who woke from a coma speaking fluent Mandarin has found love on a Chinese dating show.

Ben McMahon met Sydney lawyer Feng Guo on If You Are The One during one of two special episodes featuring Australian contestants.

The show is a cultural phenomenon in China, where each episode is watched by up to 50 million people.

Mr McMahon was one of 10 men and 16 women who travelled to China for the Australian specials.

"I thought I'd put myself out there and find out if I was the one," Mr McMahon told 774 ABC Melbourne's Rafael Epstein.

The episodes, filmed in the Chinese city of Nanjing, will go to air on SBS2 over two Sunday nights, starting this Valentine's Day.

Post-coma language change 'a big fright'

Mr McMahon learned Mandarin in high school and after graduating spent time backpacking in China and studied Chinese in Beijing.

Shortly after returning to Australia in 2012 he was in a serious car accident and fell into a week-long coma.

"When I came out of that coma, the first words to come out of my mouth were in fluent Mandarin," he said.

He said he opened his eyes to see a nurse of Asian appearance and spoke to her in Mandarin, saying: "Hi, it really hurts here ... what happened to me?"

Sydney woman Feng Guo on Chinese dating show If You Are The One. ( Supplied )

For some time after the accident he would think and dream in Mandarin, he said, and sometimes would lapse into Mandarin when conversing with his English-speaking friends and family.

He said for a short while his parents thought they might have to learn Mandarin.

"It was a big fright for them at the time," he said.

Mr McMahon said the experience made him realise that Chinese was going to play a large part in his life.

"In Chinese there is an idiom that goes along the line of, 'from a tragedy comes something great'," he said.

"I really want to dedicate my life to forging better cultural communication and understanding between China, Australia and the rest of the world."

Show offers insight into Chinese culture

Mr McMahon said he had been following If You Are The One since the show began five years ago.

"I've always wanted to go on this show but it's never seemed to be the right time," he said.

If You Are The One is based on the format of Australian show Taken Out, which aired on the Ten Network in the late noughties.

Each episode of the hit Chinese show starts with presenter Meng Fei welcoming "24 beautiful girls" who walk onstage two-by-two to the sound of upbeat pop music.

The women each stand behind a podium equipped with a button and a light before the first of the male "candidates" descends onstage by means of a circular elevator.

The candidate attempts to impress the 24 women, who can register their disinterest in him at any time by turning off the light on their podium.

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The man is introduced to the women in a series of up to three videos, interspersed with onstage conversations mediated by the host.

The women and the candidate are often brutal in their assessments of each other, making sometimes hurtful comments about each other's appearance and personality.

"It's a good insight into Chinese culture and just some of the crazy things that go on and the requirements [Chinese people have] for relationships," Mr McMahon said.

The honest dialogue has made the show popular on Twitter, where screen captures of the English-subtitled show are shared as memes.

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The candidate can choose any woman who still has her light on at the end of the round — if he gets that far.

"You get around 45 minutes onstage with 24 girls ... to sell yourself," Mr McMahon said.

Mr McMahon's sales pitch obviously worked, as he walked off-stage with Ms Guo and the two are attempting a long-distance relationship.

He said he would be interested in appearing on Chinese television again but is hopeful that his relationship with Ms Guo would rule out at least one genre.

"I probably don't need to do another date show," he said.