Married At First Sight bride Tayla Winter reveals behind the scenes secrets

Divisive MAFS bride Tayla Winter has opened up about her time on the show, blasting the relationship experts and giving a juicy update on her relationship with Darwin tradie and sexting buddy Cam Woods.

Tassie nurse and controversial Married At First Sight bride Tayla Winter has opened up about her time on the show, blasting the relationship experts and giving a juicy update on her relationship with sexting buddy Cam Woods.

The outspoken bride chaotically quit the reality show midway through the experiment, packing her bags and heading back home to Tasmania after a confrontational commitment ceremony.

The move apparently blindsided her ‘husband’ Hugo, despite the pair appearing to not get along through most of their time on the show.

Speaking to the Mercury over Easter, she reflected on her “mostly negative” experience.

“It was not what I expected,” Tayla said. “I feel like I was quite naive going into the show.

“I didn’t realise how controlling the environment was going to be and I didn’t realise how manipulative production were for reality TV.

“I also didn’t expect to be woken with male film crew in my room with a camera in my face because they had 24/7 access to the room.”

After her dramatic exit, Tayla attracted more controversy when, during the reunion dinner party, bride Lyndall Grace revealed her ex Cam Woods had been “exchanging [explicit] photos” with the Tassie nurse.

Tayla Winter speaks out after her time on Married At First Sight. Photo: Channel 9

Tayla said it was “so different” in real life compared to the final product audiences see.

“What you see is around 5% of what actually happened and even that 5% that is shown to the public is so heavily fabricated,” Tayla said.

“Hugo and I weren’t even allowed to talk away from cameras. The extent of editing is insane, I didn’t realise they could create conversations through taking bits and pieces of audio and putting them together.”

This behind-the-scenes tidbit made headlines when a video recorded by Tayla and Hugo was leaked, revealing the couple actually got on fine in contrast to what was portrayed on screen — Hugo even saying “Tayla is not as mean as everybody makes her out to be”.

“After seeing (the leaked videos) a lot of people realised what had been shown was so fake,” she said.

“The whole not sharing a bed scenario was portrayed in such a different light to what actually went down. I slept on the couch the entire time and gave Hugo the bed throughout the experiment.”

Tayla also blasted the MAFS relationship experts — John Aiken, Mel Schilling and Alessandra Rampolla — for being “dismissive” about her not being comfortable being intimate with Hugo.

“They continuously challenged my values and made me look like a villain for not wanting to cross boundaries I had spoken to Hugo about,” Tayla said.

“I am a strong advocate for consent, and I felt like they did not accept no for an answer. There was a lot of pressure surrounding lack of intimacy from Hugo and production.”

Tayla Winter was an intruder bride on MAFS.

While the Tassie ‘intruder bride’ left the experiment early, she has revealed she and other contestants wanted to pull the pin sooner.

“I was trying to leave as soon as I started,” she said.

“From what I’ve heard a lot of us were and were not allowed to leave.

“I left in the end because I could see the effect it was having on myself and the other cast members. I’m lucky to have their support, because I don’t think I would have got through all of this without them.”

She continued heaping on the praise for her “favourites” in the cast, and sparked rumours of a re-coupling with her sexting partner in crime, FIFO worker Cam Woods.

“Believe it or not Harrison was the one who picked me up when I was not coping from the show and we talk every day,” Tayla said.

Cam Woods. Picture: Supplied/Channel 9

“Tahni and Ollie are my favourites. I still regularly chat with almost everyone from the show. “I know a lot of people have been asking and making assumptions about my friendship with Cam. We are very close and I am planning on flying up to Darwin soon.”

Since filming ended, Tayla said she is throwing herself into work “as a distraction” from the dreaded “villain edit” narrative.

“I am really lucky to have amazing family and friends who have been continuously reminding me of who I am and that I am not the person I was portrayed to be,” she said.

“They have reminded me not to listen to the trolls and block out that background noise. I acknowledge how I signed the contract and went into the show of my own free will, so I understand I should be taking some of the backlash on my stride.”