And what do you mean reality TV is fake?

Nine

We’ve unearthed some sneaking Married at First Sight Australia editing tricks and behind-the-scenes production tea that will make us watch the show even more closely.

During So Dramatic! EXTRA podcast‘s 2024 AFTERMAFS series, a number of former participants have pointed out some cheeky behind-the-scenes tidbits that have our minds blown!

For example, 2023 bride Alyssa Barmonde spilled the tea about some of the editing tactics she’d noticed whilst watching the 2024 season play out.
We’ve unearthed some sneaking Married at First Sight Australia editing tricks and behind-the-scenes production tea. Source: Nine
Some of you may have noticed that the contestants often sound a bit disjointed when they’re speaking.

According to Alyssa, this is because of “frankenbiting“, where producers “stitch sentences together to make new sentences”.

She explained that contestants have five to six 30-minute interviews per day, and producers will take “a sentence or two” and “place it wherever they want”.

“I’ve also heard that they’re all transcribed. So they can [easily] find certain words to use and place them in other spots,” she told host Megan Pustetto. Yikes.

Former bride Alyssa Barmonde has exposed some of Married at First Sight Australia’s editing tricks. Source: Nine

Alyssa then explained that when you can hear a person speak but see another person’s reaction at the same time, the reaction is usually taken from a different scene and used out of context.

“We have to film scenes a few times. They’ll take wide angles and close-up shots.

“Producers will say: ‘Nod your head. Look concerned. Shake your head,’ and then they’ll use those reactions for something completely different,” she said. And the more you know!

Alyssa Barmonde explains the role music plays in the Married at First Sight editing process

The 2023 bride also explained the music’s pivotal role in manipulating the viewers’ emotions.

“There’s a TikTok trend where they’d put happy music over scary movies, and they wouldn’t be scary anymore,” Alyssa said, explaining that producers employed the same tactic on MAFS.

Alyssa said music plays a role in how the audience feels and used Natalie Parham and Collins Christian’s Photo Ranking scene as an example. Source: Nine
“During the Photo Ranking challenge with Collins [Christian] and Natalie [Parham], they were playing this really sad, sombre, dramatic music [whilst Collins was talking].

“What he was saying was quite nice, but I felt a type of way about it because of the music being played,” she said. And now that she’s mentioned it…

Alyssa Barmonde says the Married at First Sight experts ‘AREN’T REAL’

The reality star later took to her Instagram Story to expose the MAFS experts Alessandra Rampolla, John Aiken and Mel Schilling.

“News flash, the experts aren’t real,” she wrote. “They’re wearing earpieces the whole time and are being fed what to say by production.

“On the couch, they ask a question, you answer. Then they sit, nod and smile, and you can HEAR the voices from the earpiece telling them what to say next.”

Alyssa said the experts “aren’t real”, and they’re fed their lines by producers through earpieces. Source: Supplied/Instagram

She added: “I never held anything against them because they’re wonderful people IRL and are just hired to do a job.”

2021 bride Beck Zemek also spilled similar tea, explaining that the experts are “fed storylines” before the couch sessions.

“The experts are the actors in the entire production,” she told So Dramatic!. “They’re leading the way. They’re saying what’s right and wrong, and they’re like God on the show.”

Melinda Willis reveals producers have KEYS to their rooms

2023 fan-fave bride Melinda Willis revealed to AFTERMAFS host Megan that producers have 24/7 access to participants’ rooms.

2023 bride Melinda Willis said producers have 24/7 access to participants’ rooms. Source: Nine

“[Producers] can knock on your door at any time — literally they have swipe keycards into your room,” she revealed.

“There was one time [Layton Mills and I] were having a big fight and it was after filming hours, and our producer came running in with her work iPhone.

“She just barges in and she starts filming us, and we’re now turned on her instead of each other and we tried to get her out. And she was just like, ‘Sorry guys, this is what you signed up for’.”

Luckily, producers “do a little knock” before opening the door, so there’s a slim chance of getting caught in the nuddy!

Producers made it seem like Lauren Dunn was late to her MAFS wedding

As revealed in episode 354 of the So Dramatic! podcast, producers construct storylines out of thin air.

Many of you will remember Lauren Dunn‘s ICONIC wedding, where she arrived SUPER late and brought a handful of twigs because she’d forgotten her bouquet.

However, sources told So Dramatic! that this isn’t entirely how things went down IRL!

Producers made Lauren Dunn’s wedding seem more chaotic than it actually was. Source: Nine

“Lauren wasn’t actually late. She was told her call time was 10 am but they rocked up at 5 am without notice,” one insider told So Dramatic!.

“Lauren had no way of controlling the production schedule. She had hair and makeup booked and a car booked for her, which was all out of her control.” Interesting…

They added: “Production held her up multiple times. It was all on their end, but in the editing, they made it look like she was late and a hot mess.

“She was suss that the limo just pretended to break down to make her even later for dramatic effect.

“She was also told that she would get her bouquet at the wedding, but they made it look like she forgot it.” And that’s showbiz, baby!