MAFS EXCLUSIVE: Surprising way producers choose which wedding guests can attend

From Ellie Dix’s overprotective cousin to Tim Calwell’s cringe-worthy best man, it seems the family and friends of this year’s Married At First Sight cast members are being given a much bigger spotlight this season.

This has certainly been the case at the intruder weddings this week, with Ridge Barredo’s groomsmen going viral for their questionable bro lingo when yelling out “deece” (an abbreviation of ‘decent’) at the ceremony.

During an interview with Yahoo Lifestyle’s Behind the Edit podcast this week, season 10 bride Janelle Han revealed that there are strict rules when it comes to who’s allowed to attend a MAFS wedding.

She explained that every guest must be approved beforehand, and there’s a surprising way producers work out who will bring the drama.

“Let me drop some tea. So when I gave my list of people that I wanted to attend my wedding, I also had to put down my relationship with them and how long I've known them for,” she detailed.

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“What [the producers] do is that they actually called up all my bridesmaids and my immediate family to ask about the other guests - ‘Who’s the biggest loudmouth? Who’s the one that's most likely to speak up?’. And the people that got mentioned the most were the only people that got mic’d up.

“So my brothers were mic’d up, my maid of honour was mic’d up and my parents as well because I guess they were the ones that were going to be saying the most TV-worthy things.”

Janelle added that viewers need to realise “everything is very intentional on MAFS”, which is why the reality show is so entertaining.

Why are intruders important to the experiment?

While viewers often question the necessity of intruders on MAFS, especially considering the couples have a much lower success rate because they’re in the experiment for a shorter amount of time, Janelle said she believes there’s a huge benefit to having new cast members join partway through.

“If the intruder couple is not doing very well and you see the issues that you've already gone through and they're going through now, it kind of validates your feelings and how you're sitting in your relationship,” she detailed.

“However, if the relationship is going well, it's going to make you question your own relationship. Why am I not there yet? What actions do I need to take to get to this stage faster? It gives a lot of purpose for reflecting.

“It gives so much fresh perspective. Having intruders was a great call by MAFS.”

Subscribe to Yahoo Lifestyle's podcast Behind The Edit and listen to the full interview with Janelle Han here.

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