MAFS star spills on how retreat week is really filmed: 'It's hectic'

A former Married At First Sight star has lifted the lid on how filming the retreat week episodes differs from the usual day-to-day production of the show, calling the process "full-on".

Alyssa Barmonde, who was married to Duncan James during the 2023 season of MAFS, had a memorable retreat week when her season aired, as tensions with Duncan rose to an all-time high.

Now Alyssa has sat down for a tell-all interview with Yahoo Lifestyle's Behind The Edit podcast, explaining how the regular episodes differed from filming retreat week.

MAFS' Alyssa on retreat week: 'It's just 24/7'

"In the regular episodes they come in, they wake you up, and then they say 'OK we're going to film wake-ups' so you have to pretend like you're going back to bed, even if it's 10 in the morning, you get a call time of when they're going to come in," Alyssa said.

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"And then you film for a few hours, you might take a break, you film for a few more hours, but at the retreat, because there's so much going on, all of the camera crew is there, all the sound guys are there, all the producers are there, it's just 24/7," she explained.

"It's really full-on because there's so much going on, and if there are little chats happening here and there or someone's crying, you can just see people running around, it's hectic.

"You get used to it in a sense, there's always something going on, but I do feel like the experiment is.. it's almost like a Twilight Zone. I saw one of Jack's comments where he said 'Stick to your own relationship' and it's almost like, in this environment, you can't," Alyssa continued.

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"You are with these people, you are literally trauma bonded in their relationship, you unpack everything that's happening in their relationship together, it's almost impossible not to be involved in other people's relationships. You do care about them and you want the best for them, so it's really hard to not be involved."

For more MAFS tea from Alyssa, listen to the full episode of Behind The Edit here!

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