Married At First Sight Secrets: The Cast Give Us Behind-The-Scenes Gossip

Dating apps getting you down? Tired of trying to find The One? Fed up of reacting flame emojis to people’s Instagram stories? If you’re keen to find a soulmate, but you’re finding modern dating difficult, you could always apply for Married At First Sight. Applications for the next season of the ‘social experiment’ are open, and who knows, if you’re selected, you might just walk down the aisle to meet the love of your life (or someone you’re going to argue with a lot on a luxurious honeymoon), chosen for you by a panel of relationship experts.

But what else behind-the-scenes gossip is there to know about the E4 show? Well, luckily Grazia caught up with Bob Voysey{ =nofollow}, Marilyse Corrigan and Luke Dawson to find out what it’s really like to be on the programme. And spoiler alert: it’s definitely not for the faint of heart.

The cast were paid the wages they’d get paid in their normal jobs

‘We just we just basically got paid our wages, you know, like what we'd get if we're doing our normal jobs,’ Bob - who worked as a business protection specialist before the show - says. ‘We sent over our payslips before the show.’

‘Because of Covid, it was quite nice because some people [on the show] were out of work anyway,’ Marilyse adds.

The cast could not speak to other couples while in the apartments - and had to be chaperoned on walks

‘I remember booking time slots with the producers to go for a walk, like “Hi, can I go for a walk please?’ Bob says. ‘It was like you were being taken for a walk like a dog,’ Luke adds.

Though they admit Covid was a reason production was so cautious, and the cast say they were woken up to be tested every few days. This also meant everyone, individually, went into isolation following their honeymoons - though couples did manage to break the rules. ‘I sent some send a bouquet of flowers to Megan’s hotel room,’ Bob says. ‘I sent flowers to Morag as well,’ Luke adds, ‘We managed to like find each other's details and we were talking, but we weren't allowed to be. And I know most of the couples did that, obviously.’

Contestants brought wine in their handbags to the dinner parties

‘I think as soon as a bottle of wine was gone, during the first dinner party, they would just replace it,’ Bob says. ‘And then we were smashed, and it ended up in a massive argument. So then the second week, they took away a bit more alcohol. But we all thought ‘sod it, we're all going to bring our own drink.’

Filming is pretty intense

Filming happens for over eight weeks. Commitment ceremonies and dinner parties would sometimes take all day to film. And, during the process, you’d only get a few days off. ‘I remember one day we had a dinner party where we'd have to get up at like 7am, so the girls could start getting ready for filming to start about half eight,’ Marliyse says. ‘And then the day would be so long we wouldn’t finish until about one o'clock in the morning.’

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not scripted

‘It’s not scripted,’ Luke says, but ‘producers just remind you the stories. So when you're on camera, they remind you what's going on. And they might help you like words or lines or something now and then.’ Marilyse also says the experts are involved with the matchmaking: 'I do feel like they had our best interests at heart.'

The women get sent money to pick their own wedding dress

‘The producers literally sent me the money and they were like you need to go get your dress, you've got a week to get one,’ Marilyse explains. ‘I was having to ring round all the dress shops around my area and half of them weren’t open because of Covid. But I explained to them that I was doing a TV show, and I was desperate for a dress. And it was a nightmare,’ she says. ‘It was the one thing that was putting me off appearing on the show because I was like, “Oh my gosh, I'm just going to have to settle for anything, you know.” But then I did find a beautiful shop in Pocklington, which is in Yorkshire. And the first dress I tried, I loved and I was like, that's the one.’

There’s a group WhatsApp - but it's not exactly buzzing

‘There was a collective group WhatsApp, but it’s just gone quiet now. I think everyone's busy in their lives now,’ Bob says.’I don’t even know who’s in it anymore, and there's a separate guy's one. That's it. But no one really talks in them anymore, as people have got more busy.’

READ MORE::a[Here's Why E4 Played The Wrong Episode Of Married At First Sight Last Night]{href='https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/tv-and-film/married-at-first-sight-final-episode/' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener noreferrer'}