Michael Goonan reveals why MAFS production shut down for two weeks

Married At First Sight has been rocked by rumours the cast’s wild partying led to production having to be shut down for two weeks.

In keeping with the rest of this year’s loose-lipped MAFS contestant pool, resident pot-stirrer Michael Goonan has spilled on one of the biggest rumours of the season.

Speaking on Nova 100’s Chrissie, Sam & Browny, Michael confirmed season-long whispers that production was forced to shut down for two weeks due to unruly contestants.

He further revealed that the cast was so wild off-camera, the production team were forced to stage several meetings to decide which off-camera high jinks would actually be aired on the show.

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Michael Goonan is paired with law graduate Stacey Hampton. Picture: Instagram

“There was that much stuff that happened off-camera that wasn’t captured in the moment so production had to have multiple meetings and work out where everyone’s storyline is, because a lot of storylines had deviated or gone off the rails,” Michael said when asked if he was behind the halt.

“Like what stuff?,” Browny probed.

“People being in each other’s rooms, people going out together, people going out to bars together. You’ve got all these storylines of people being with other groups interacting with each other, mostly just as friends.

“(But) remember, it’s like being in a jail cell for three months, you’re gonna want to knock on Bubba’s room next door and go out for a few.”

Michael said the contestants would often fraternise away from the camera. Picture: Channel 9.

Earlier this year, another swirling rumour surrounding the halt was that one of the contestants was sent to a rehab facility halfway through production, Hit106.9 breakfast host Nick Gill claimed.

“They’ve just gone so loose on the show that they were worried about their mental wellbeing,” Gill said about the contestant. “Somebody was just losing it on the set so much that they had to check them in.”

MAFS boss John Walsh, however, dismissed Gill’s claims, insisting the pause was instead due to “production reasons”.

“We did postpone for a while,” Mr Walsh told news.com.au earlier this month.

“Dates change and things change in the schedule, but we’ve never stopped the show because of drama,” Mr Walsh told news.com.au. “In fact if there’s drama, we’d want to keep filming.”

When asked if a contestant was admitted to a rehab facility of some kind, Mr Walsh denied that was the case.

“No, that’s not right,” he said.

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Michael’s radio interview today comes amid rumours he kissed David’s partner Hayley behind “wife” Stacey’s back, in one of several cheating scandals this season.

Speaking on Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa this morning, however, he denied the claims.

“I don’t think Hayley is attractive, I think Hayley has a wonderful personality,” he said, telling listeners to they “need to watch” to see what happens in the coming weeks.

“It’s going to be a hell of a show.”

He also went on to say he is “100 per cent still seeing someone from the show.”

“I only chat to one person on that show who is amazing,” he said.

Married At First Sight continues at 7.30pm tonight on Channel 9.

Watch Not Here To Make Friends live every Sunday and Wednesday straight after MAFS, when James Weir is joined by guests live on Facebook and news.com.au, discussing the couples’ ups, downs, sideways, pimples, pashing and misjudged PDAs.

The podcast will be available on news.com.au, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all the usual suspects straight after the live stream.

Originally published as Michael Goonan reveals why MAFS production shut down for two weeks