MAFS' Ella reveals Intimacy Week moments that didn't air: 'It's a shame'

Ella Ding and Mitchell Eynaud quickly emerged as one of the strongest couples on season nine of Married At First Sight, forming both a physical and emotional connection early on in the experiment.

However, the pair experienced their first major hurdle during Tuesday night’s episode when the 26-year-old old groom refused to kiss his ‘wife’ for five minutes as part of an Intimacy Week challenge.

“I think that’s just stupid,” he said. “It’s just weird. It’s a bit too intimate to have the camera crew here doing it, so I think we’re going to politely pass on that one.”

Ella was clearly disappointed with the decision made by her ‘husband’ - who had previously exposed himself on-camera during their honeymoon by doing naked handstands in the shower - and told producers she felt “rejected”.

Chatting with Yahoo Lifestyle, the 27-year-old bride opened up about the on-screen incident and revealed that there was even more to the discussion that didn’t make it to air.

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“We spoke about it for a lot longer than what people saw on TV,” she detailed.

“I suggested a peck, we didn’t have to do tongue action or anything like that. I said to him that the whole point of the challenges is that they are going to be uncomfortable, and that's why they’re called challenges.”

Ella went on to say that she and Mitchell established a majority of their relationship off-camera because that’s when he would feel most at ease.

“I was obviously disappointed at the time, but I'm a very understanding person and by that stage I could really read Mitchell by his body language and his tone, and he was just very uncomfortable and I didn't want to push those boundaries for him,” she continued.

‘It’s a shame they didn’t show that’

While viewers only saw Ella and Mitchell partake in two of the Intimacy Week tasks, the couple actually received several other challenges from expert Alessandra Rampolla that weren’t shown on TV.

“We did the hugging challenge and it was actually really quite beautiful, we felt very relaxed and calm,” Ella described.

“And we did the eye gazing challenge as well which was really nice, and we both felt like it took us back to our wedding day when we were just standing there meeting for the first time and really being present.”

In addition, they were also sent the “box of goodies” from Alessandra and asked each other deeply personal questions about sex and what they both enjoy in the bedroom.

“They were really positive experiences from Intimacy Week for us, so it’s a shame they didn't show that, but those were great. There was definitely more than just the two tasks everyone saw.”

‘It was hard’

Speaking about her own portrayal on the reality TV show, Ella remarked that it’s “interesting to see how little” is being shown from her experience when so much was filmed.

“I am enjoying watching it back. So far I'm not too disappointed with much, I just hope that like they do show more,” she admitted.

“It was hard because Mitchell really struggled with the cameras and stuff and I think that's maybe why we aren't really getting a lot of airtime, which makes sense to me now. You don't really know what you're going to get from Mitchell when we do tasks.”

Married At First Sight continues tonight at 7:30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.

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