Married at First Sight is often hit by accusations that it is scripted, and now a former producer has spilt all the secrets from filming.
Alex Funnell, who previously worked on the Channel Nine show, appeared in a video on former MAFS star Evelyn Ellis’ YouTube to discuss what really happens behind the scenes.
From how often producers intervene in the drama to what she really thinks about the experts’ advice, Alex spilt all the gossip from her time working on the smash hit reality TV show.
While she didn’t meet the cast on set, instead working in post-production, Alex revealed she had heard of instances where producers would be forced to intervene to stop scenes escalating.
“They definitely intervene to stop things from going too far. At the end of the day, health and safety and that stuff is part of it,” she explained.
When asked if producers would ever see the contestants have sexual intercourse during filming, Alex firmly shut down the rumours.
“Absolutely not, they’re not going to let people actually have sex [on camera],” she said. “They wouldn’t film it, I think producers would potentially intervene in that.”
As for the advice given by the experts? Alex admitted she often questioned their judgement while watching the raw scenes play out in post-production.
“I have questioned their advice, to be honest, I have really questioned their advice,” she confessed.
“I’ve also questioned why John [Aiken] often falls asleep when he’s on the couch!” she added.
Evelyn backed her claims, adding, “John does fall asleep a lot on the couch.”
Every year, viewers question whether the drama on MAFS is real or fake, and how much the contestants are steered towards certain actions.
Though she didn’t address the speculation, Alex did talk about the success rate of MAFS, insisting it is similar to setting people up on a dating app, hinting that the drama is as it would be in real life.
Former show boss John Walsh has also shared similar sentiments, insisting the cast are not “outliers” but behave as “any of us” might on a reality TV show.
“The participants in this social experiment aren’t drawn from a pool of outliers,” he told 9Honey.
“They don’t always conduct themselves as we’d like, they don’t deal with things in the way we’d prefer, they behave as any of us might thrust into a situation that is both hugely personal and monumentally public.”
John, who was the executive producer for MAFS for nine years until 2023, called the program a “reality check” as he argued it reflects people’s real-life behaviour.
