Several Married at First Sight Australia participants have dished what really goes down behind the scenes at the chaotic dinner parties and commitment ceremonies.
From producer intervention to strict rules when drinking alcohol, there are a lot of elements fans don’t get to see on-screen.
In an exclusive interview in the So Dramatic! podcast’s AFTERMAFS series, 2021 bride Beck Zemek lifted the lid on all we need to know about the show’s group events.
What really happens during the Married at First Sight dinner parties?
No doubt one of the most controversial and drama-filled episodes of MAFS are the infamous dinner parties.
And while couples seemingly have zero idea about what’s been going on, Beck revealed this is not the case!
“You need to remember going into the dinner parties, they’re pretending that they don’t know things that have happened,” Beck revealed.
“We all live on the same floor. We all talk to each other. We’re all sitting [together] ten minutes before we go into the pre-party whispering to each other, like, it’s not as if we have never seen each other and we don’t know what’s going on.” Que scusi?
Beck also revealed that the other couples can also see what’s unfolding during a commitment ceremony, so really, everyone knows errythang!
Do the experts watch the dinner parties live?
In no surprise to anyone, the experts actually don’t watch the dinner parties live. Obviously, there would be waaay too much to focus on.
Instead, they are given “key moments and storyline bites” and record later.
“Then they will actually watch a little TV and react to certain things,” Beck said. “
So, if they need more, I guess more information on something that’s going on in the storyline, they will then sit there and actually put the pieces together.”
MAFS dinner parties are a huge production behind the scenes
During a MAFS dinner party, there is a room out the back with about “20 people” watching the screens. Some of them have the volume up and others are just muted. And this is where the storylines begin to unfold.
“[They’ll be] writing down next script things or things that they’re looking for,” Beck said. “It’s insanely cool how they do it.”
What really happens in the cars on the way to the dinner parties?
“Everyone will have a car that will come and pick them up,” Beck said. “They need to make sure everyone’s going to get to the warehouse on time — traffic pending, all those things.
“What people don’t see is that aircon messes with your microphone, so you actually have to sit in the hot car and drive around until they get enough shots and answer some questions before you actually get to the warehouse.
Once they arrive at the warehouse, the contestants are ushered into separate tents.
“No one actually goes into the room until absolutely everyone is in a tent,” she said. “Tara [the executive producer] is very good at planning who will go from first to last.
“Sometimes you wait and wait like 20 to 30 minutes behind that door before you go in.”
2023 bride Alyssa Barmonde backed this up in a tea-filled comment in the So Dramatic! Communi-TEA Facebook group.
“It usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get [to the dinner party] as they drive around to get ‘car content’,” she explained.
She added that the participants can then be “waiting around for another hour or two” before they actually enter the warehouse for the dinner party.
From there, the cocktail party portion of the evening “doesn’t last more than 45 minutes, even if you’re first couple in”.
How much alcohol is provided to the cast during the dinner parties?
During Alyssa’s season of MAFS, the participants were only provided “two bottles of rosé, red and white” wine, plus “some beers” at the cocktail party.
“Depending when you come in, you might only be able to grab one drink, max three,” she said.
“Then at the dinner table, they have two carafes each of red wine and white wine. And when it’s out, that’s it.”
The TV bride said producers don’t allow the cast to “get too drunk” because “they can’t use the footage”.
“But we are tired, hungry and on edge so that’s why it’s usually so chaotic.”
The Commitment Ceremonies on Married at First Sight run for HOURS
While we only get a condensed version, the former bride revealed that the cast begin filming the MAFS Commitment Ceremonies at 12:00 pm.
“Sometimes they’ll drive us all the way to the warehouse to do arrivals and then we’ll do our breakout sessions afterwards, and they’ll drive everyone back to sky suites to do other shots in the room.
“It’s a long day. Literally, by the time you’re sitting there waiting for that couch, you don’t care anymore, you just want your bed.”
Each couple then sits on the couch for 40 minutes each and five to 10 per cent of that is shown! WUT?!
The experts have an earpiece during the Married at First Sight Commitment Ceremony
Even though the experts have real degrees in their field, getting a story may not actually be something they can do on their own.
“When you are on the couch, you can actually be in the moment, like in the heat of a discussion and if something really relevant to the storyline gets said, the experts will actually cut you off,” Beck said.
This is because someone is in their earpieces and told them to! They will then go back and reiterate points or ask them to say something again and explore that.
“It’s only because that’s exactly what they need for the storyline,” she added, before saying: “The experts are the actors in the entire production.
“They’re leading the way,” she said. “They’re saying, what’s right and wrong and they’re like God on the show.”
In fact, the experts are also fed the storylines prior.
“You’d have to know what’s going on with each couple to be able to even sit there on the couch confidently and quiz people,” she said.
Writing “Leave” or “Stay” before the Commitment Ceremony is fake
“You have to write a fake leave or stay so they can get different angles,” Beck admitted about writing those pesky words.
“So, you literally fake write three times before you actually write what you’re going to write.”
In the case of 2022 groom Andrew Davis (a.k.a Bryce Ruthven 2.0), writing leave and crossing it out was actually a play by the producers.
According to Beck, they would have told him to change it to “stay” because they knew what Holly was going to write. MIND-BLOWN.
“And that would have literally just been a few conversations around how you’re [Andrew] going to be maybe portrayed or that you’re going to have to stay anyway.”
“The producers changed it for him and obviously, that’s why he walked out.”
The couples aren’t filmed the entire Commitment Ceremony
While some of the cast have epic facial expressions (see below), the contestants are not actually filmed for the entire time.
In fact, Beck admitted, that some of the cast even fall asleep and need to be nudged awake!
“They don’t have cameras on everyone at all times,” she explained. “So, they’ve got good six hours of everyone’s facial expressions. What they’ll do is, they’ll find those facial expressions in the six hours that they will use.”
“By halftime, everyone’s falling asleep,” she added. “They’ll call everyone to the couch without actually doing the commitment ceremony part and then you actually don’t know what audio is going in after that.” Juicy!
What do participants eat during the Married at First Sight Commitment Ceremony?
As for feeding time at the MAFS zoo, contestants are given food to eat during filming, however, on the way home, the first stop was always Maccas!
“It’s good food,” she said of the production catering.
“But at that time, you’re just like, ‘I’m so hungry.’ Give me anything you got!”
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