Former MAFS producer lifts lid on the show’s secrets

A former Married At First Sight producer has revealed the one question she “always” gets asked about the controversial show.

A former Married At First Sight producer has revealed exactly how the controversial show works behind the scenes – including answering the one question she “always” gets asked.

As MAFS season 12 landed on TV screens across Australia last week, former producer Alexandria Funnell took to TikTok to spill some of the show’s secrets.

She revealed that the big question on everyone’s minds about how the magic of MAFS really works is always related to casting.

“The question I get asked the most is ‘where do they find these people?’” she explained.

“But the answer isn’t as salacious as you think. They start out with a pretty big pool of people.

“A lot of people put their hat in the ring. Some think they’ll find love, others think it will be good for their career.”

Funnell went on to explain that while they have a large number of applicants, many actually end up getting turned off when it comes to signing contracts with the network.

“The problem is when it comes down to the final stages of the casting process, a lot of regular people, when faced with contracts that basically say they have to sign away their rights … most people retreat at that point,” she revealed.

Former producer Alexandria has spilt secrets from the show. Picture: TikTok / @alexandriafunnell

She explained that those with "unstable" personalities often get through. Picture: TikTok / @alexandriafunnell

“A lot of people are like ‘it’s not worth it’. Often the ones that are left, the dangling nugget of fame is more important to them than preserving their self-worth or protecting their image.

“It’s worth signing their life away, essentially. The sort of people that think that it is worth it … it takes a certain type of personality trait, let’s just say that.”

She delved further into this, claiming that many of the contestants usually are dealing with “mental health issues” or have an “instability” of some kind.

“It is a high proportion of people who would be leaning more towards an unstable personality trait,” Funnell said.

“Whether it be a narcissist, people with borderline (personality disorder) or people with genuine mental health issues of sorts.

“An instability. Something is missing in them.”

Katie and Tim from MAFS 2025. Picture: Nine

She said that while she no longer works on the show, it was “kind of a known thing” that this was how the casting process worked.

However, she claimed that it was a “misconception” that the network itself wanted these types of people on MAFS.

“The misconception is that the network wants this drama, this chaos, these a**holes on screen, but they would actually probably prefer to have a big bunch of couples that actually do work out.,” she added.

“It does make me question though when audiences are like ‘how dare channel 9 put these people on screen’ but whatever is on screen on MAFS is a reflection of society.

“Married At First Sight highlights a dynamic that already exists. That is why it is so triggering.”

The MAFS dinner parties often bring drama. Picture: Channel 9

She said the show just “reflects society”. Picture: Supplied

Funnell added that she did not believe it was the network’s responsibility to shield people from seeing the reality of what “men can be like” and the way “women talk to each other”.

“Just because you don’t like what you’re seeing on TV, doesn’t mean it is an inaccurate reflection of society,” she said.

“They just show you what exists. They’re not glorifying this bad behaviour.”

In a follow up video, she responds to a question about why the show has so many “edits and cuts” to which she explained the inner workings of this process.

“I cannot begin to tell you how boring you would find the straight, unedited scenes,” she said.

“As a post-producer, our main job is to sit there, go through all the footage and review it.

“It is not just a couple of hours of footage, it is 50-70 hours of footage per episode.

“We have to condense hours of footage. That is just how television works.”

Originally published as Former MAFS producer lifts lid on the show’s secrets