Married at First Sight Australia 2023‘s Alyssa Barmonde has left no stone unturned after spilling bulk tea about the experiment, her TV hubby Duncan James AND his new relo.
Fans of the series will know that while we all initially thought Alyssa and Duncan were going to be Jules Robinson and Cam Merchant 2.0, their marriage quickly fell into tumultuous territory.
Once the show wrapped, Duncan and co-star Evelyn Ellis hard-launched their relationship, and Alyssa, for the most part, remained mum on the new coupling.
However, since Duncan appeared on Ollie Skelton‘s TOSSER podcast in early August, the mum-of-one has come out swinging on social media. dropping truth bombs left, right and centre.
Alyssa Barmonde addresses Duncan James’ appearance on the TOSSER podcast
In the episode, Duncan revealed that Josh White had given him a heads-up that he and Alyssa were going on a date.
On Instagram, Alyssa questioned whether it was “weird” for her ex-hubby to bring this up on the podcast “to deflect the fact neither him nor Evelyn didn’t give me ‘respect’ to tell [her] about their relationship”.
“I had to hear from someone else,” she alleged. “Like why even bring it up… When it actually just proved that Josh had enough respect for him (and me) to tell him. But he couldn’t reciprocate.”
She later explained that Duncan may not have told her about him and Evelyn because they weren’t on speaking terms following the very last Commitment Ceremony.
She later added that she doesn’t “expect any ex” to inform her that they’re “moving on with someone else”.
“That would be absurd,” she said. However, given Duncan moved on with Evelyn, who she considered a friend from the show, she did expect more.
“They had enough ‘respect’ for [Rupert Bugden] to tell him. Doesn’t make sense to me.”
Married at First Sight 2023‘s Alyssa Barmonde says she’s ‘done being silent’
In an Instagram Story on August 9, Alyssa confessed she was “done being silent”.
“I’m done… hiding away my thoughts and feelings in fear of being trolled and called a ‘victim’,” she penned. “So much went on in that experiment that was never shown. There were multiple reasons I was reacting the way I was reacting.
“It wasn’t over nothing.”
She then outlined how she felt producers manipulated her while she was at “peak vulnerability”.
“A reminder that MAFS had a perfect opportunity to talk about how a partner can support you when you’re having a panic attack and bring awareness to anxiety and mental illness,” she began.
“Instead, they edited me as a ‘psycho’… not to mention the endless manipulation from production and on-set ‘support’ to learn my triggers to use against me and to talk me down from the ledge and get back into filming at my peak vulnerability.
She added: “They should have said, ‘Alyssa you’re not well enough to continue in this experiment we are granting your wish to go home.'”
But it’s MAFS. Of course, they’re not going to let you go that easy…
Alyssa Barmonde shares text messages from during filming where she raised concern for Duncan James’ intentions
Alyssa also shared a screenshot she’d sent a friend during the experiment, in which she said she felt like Duncan was trying to “protect his image”.
“I am prob blowing it out of proportion but he’s also being super filtered on camera and I’m just over it,” she wrote at the time.
This coincides with previous claims that he was a different person on camera than he was off.
Alyssa continued: “If you’re not going to be genuine and authentic I have no time for you.
“I am never any different in any part of this and I kinda hoped my partner would be the same.”
She also said they were yet to speak about “life outside the experiment”.
“We live so close to each other but like our lives are actually so different,” she told her friend. “We spoke about it last night when we got home but I still just have my guard up a bit coz [sic] part of me thinks he’s being filtered to protect his image.”
Alyssa Barmonde shares diary entries written while filming Married at First Sight 2023
Doubling down on her tense experience on the show, Alyssa then shared diary entries she had written while filming the experiment.
In some entries from the early days, Alyssa expressed that she was going to be “authentic”. She later criticised Duncan’s Confessions Week secret, which was that he has “high expectations”, while Alyssa shared that she was involved in an extramarital affair.
In subsequent entries, she expressed that Duncan was “obsessed with the show”.
“Had our first commitment ceremony… My brain is rattled right now [with] Duncan,” she penned. “I honestly think I’m going to call it quits.
“A part of me thinks he is doing it all for show and stringing me along. He is so obsessed [with] the show. I feel like he is strategically saying the right things to make him seem like the hero.
“I just get that gut feeling.”
Alyssa Barmonde alleges that the experts ‘yelled’ at Duncan James during a Commitment Ceremony
In another diary entry, Alyssa said the fallout from Adam Seed and Claire Nomarhas‘ cheating scandal was “wild”.
“I went off at Adam for hours while he tried to backpedal the whole time,” she wrote. “Duncan sat there and said nothing.
“Which is fine. But then he went off at Claire at the [Commitment Ceremony] and even John [Aiken] yelled at him.”
She continued: “Duncan is really worried about how that’s going to make him look.” And where was all this in the final edit?!
She concluded by admitting she’s “not ready to share all” of her experience yet.
“Always trust your gut,” Alyssa told her followers, adding that it was the first time since the show she was reading these entries.
“Trust your gut, that’s all I can say.”
Want even more goss? Listen to the So Dramatic! podcast with Megan Pustetto below!
Know something that we don’t? Spill the tea here!
Get the tea first! Follow So Dramatic! on Instagram and tune in on Mondays to get your reality tea fix with the So Dramatic! podcast with Megan Pustetto.
