‘Why was I leaving my child at home just to get my heart broken?’

“But they tricked me. The producers only wanted me to say yes because they knew Duncan would say no in the final vows,” MAFS bride Alyssa Barmonde reveals in a video.

It’s been two months since the Married At First Sight finale, and bride Alyssa Barmonde has revealed what was going on behind the scenes in her seemingly doomed-from-the-start relationship with Duncan James.

Alyssa took to Instagram stories to share her side of the story, saying that she felt Duncan led her on and that producers manipulated her.

Divisive reality show characters often go public with their own behind-the-scenes take, but Alyssa also revealed something we didn't expect: that she and Duncan actually had a lovely time together, it just wasn’t portrayed that way on camera.

“Duncan is a great guy,” she said.

“I really did fall for him. He made me feel like he wanted the relationship to continue in the outside world.

And that’s why she said she felt so blindsided in final vows when Duncan’s answer was no.

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Duncan and Alyssa's relationship started all roses, but ended in disaster. Photo: Nine

Alyssa was blindsided by Duncan

Alyssa said that the couple’s relationship was painted in a negative light to fulfil one of the show's many story arcs.

“You guys didn’t see the good parts of our relationship. It was more good than bad,” she said.

“It was crazy, we got along so well at the beginning, and then slowly there started to be little things that broke down our relationship. We didn’t know if they were experiment-related or if they’d continue in the real world.”

RELATED: ‘I do regret a lot’: Alyssa apologises to Duncan in emotional finale

Alyssa said at first Duncan led her to believe he wanted to try to make it work in the real world, but as the show wore on, she began to doubt his commitment.

“I worried he’d dump me. Then when we moved out of our apartment, we weren’t supposed to contact each other during the four days until final vows.”

RELATED: Pic proof that MAFS sweethearts Duncan and Alyssa split

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The mum-of-one responded to Q&A about the MAFS final vows. Photo: Instagram

But Alyssa broke the rules.

“I wrote him this really long message, saying I really liked him and reminding him of the good times. I spilled my heart out in this message, and he didn’t respond.”

Instead, Duncan showed the message to producers who asked Alyssa to stop contacting him.

She thought it was over, but a producer convinced her otherwise.

“On the morning of final vows, I had two answers: yes and no.

“My producer pushed me to say yes. They said we live so close, it would be easy to continue on the outside.

“But I realised she was pushing me so much because she knew his answer was no, and it would tie into the storyline they were creating.”Alyssa said she felt tricked, and like Duncan led her on to the end.

“I thought, ‘Why am I leaving my child just to get my heart broken?’”

Originally published as ‘Why was I leaving my child at home just to get my heart broken?’