I think we can all agree that this season of Married At First Sight (MAFS) has been a doozy. In past seasons, we’ve seen more gradual progression with the status of the couples’ relationships. In 2025 MAFS, one week, couples appear to be rock solid, and the next, they’re on the precipice of a breakup.
According to former MAFS post producer and podcast host Alexandria Funnell, this is due to the magic work happening behind the scenes. And, while it makes for brilliant, compelling television, she says that sometimes the stories unfolding in front of the on-ground producers’ eyes need a little help to reach their full potential.
Alexandria, who is now one of the hosts of the entertainment podcast That’s Showbiz Baby, worked as a post-producer on MAFS for two seasons, which equates to about two years in total. Instead of being one of the producers on the ground and working face-to-face with the contestant, Alexandria’s role happened behind the scenes. It was her job to watch the hours upon hours of footage captured by the team and work closely with an editor to work out what the story actually is.
“The post producer is essentially in charge of going through all the footage, watching it all, to create the story or find the biggest story angle because a lot of things happen throughout the day, but there’s only so many sort of minutes of TV you can make,” she told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“So my job was to pull out the most interesting angle that we’re going to follow, and then I worked alongside an editor to create the scenes. So when people are getting angry at the edit and the editor, it’s really the post producer they should be angry at.”
Despite her time working on the show, Alexandria still loves tuning in to the shitshow we know and love each week. But now, she’s got the expertise to spot when her former colleagues are fine-tuning a story.
The one that sticks out to her the most this season? Beth Kelly and Teejay Halkias. Beth and Teejay were intruders who seemed to be into each other the moment they entered the competition. However, during homestays, Teejay flipped and Beth appeared devastated.
But Alexandria is calling bullshit.
“The one that sticks out to me as a storyline having post-production fingerprints all over it is Beth and Teejay,” she said.
“It’s just not a story, in my opinion. I really don’t think Beth cares that much. I think that’s definitely milked to make them last to the end of the show. It’s not a fake story, but it’s a ‘we’re stuck with these people and we need to justify why the hell Beth is still here, apart from the fact that she clearly wants more air time because she knows Teejay is not into her’.
“It could be the producers on set who have been like, ‘Beth, surely you’re upset, he’s led you on’, but I don’t buy that.
“I think it’s got post-production fingers all over it.”
That’s not the only story that Alexandria is calling bullshit on.
“Another one that stands out to me as a little bit exaggerated was Jake. Remember Jake?” she recalls, thinking back to the infamous photo ranking challenge where he said some questionable comments about the other brides.
“Yes, she shared that but I feel like if there had been more drama between the other couples, that wouldn’t have been the main story.
“To me, it felt like they were really reaching for a story there. What stood out to me was like, they didn’t have much else to go with so they really over-dramatised this.”
Although Alexandria can easily spot scenes where the MAFS producers have milked it, she emphasises that they never completely make up the story.
“That’s the thing, in my experience, people don’t get made out to be worse than they are,” she spilled.
“You’re always just looking for the wildest, most bizarre or interesting angle amongst the footage. And I feel like you don’t have to look very far because when you see the cast and the way they do behave naturally, there’s always bonkers stuff.”
Fascinating, isn’t it? I guess it goes to show that no matter how much we think we know about MAFS, there’s always more really going on behind the scenes.
