Just when you thought the Married At First Sight (MAFS) Couples Retreat was behind us for another year, a former bride has shared some bits and bobs that will change how you viewed the entire thing.
MAFS 2024 bride Eden Harper sat down with PEDESTRIAN.TV for an episode of our new podcast, Villain Edit, and shared what her experience was like when she visited Byron Bay for her season’s Couples Retreat. As you may recall, it’s where she told Jayden Eynaud that Sara Mesa was still seeing her ex-boyfriend, and all hell ensued.
Keep reading for what Eden had to share, including different filming expectations, how food is sorted and whether or not everyone gets the opportunity to go on a date.
The MAFS cast are filmed 24/7 at Couples Retreat
While it can feel like we’re watching A LOT of MAFS during the eight-or-so weeks it’s on our screens — and we are — there are only certain call times that the cast have to adhere to.
“Day-to-day in MAFS, you’re not filmed 24/7 — you have call times,” Eden explains, noting that the crew might give you a heads up that they’ll be in your room at a certain time the following day. Aside from that, Eden said “you can do whatever you want”, like call your family, go for a walk, do activities with your partner and so forth.
For the MAFS Couples Retreat, however, it sounds much more restrictive in comparison. “You’re mic’d up from the second you wake up to the second you go to bed, and they’re filming you the entire time, and your phone’s like confiscated the entire time as well.”
The crew stop the MAFS cast talking to each other
The MAFS retreats to date have all taken place a distance away from the city apartments the cast live in during the experiments. Eden’s was in Byron Bay, the 2026 season was in Kiama on NSW’s South Coast — just under two hours from Sydney’s CBD.
“We had minibuses from the Gold Coast to Byron,” Eden explains, noting that couples were split up across three or four different minibuses with two producers on each to control conversations. “Two producers [are] on there, and they were just like stopping you from talking to the other couples the whole time.”
She clarifies, “You’re just not allowed to talk about each other, the couples, drama, the experiment.
They cook their own food
“Production provide the food,” Eden explains of her MAFS Couples Retreat.
“As soon as we arrived, the pantry cupboards were stocked,” she continues, noting that production runners were there to assist with any restocks if needed.
From there, she noted it was a “free for all” when it came to cooking, remembering that Lucinda Light and Jono McCullough would be in the kitchen cooking up a storm for everyone.
Not all couples are allowed to go on dates
At the MAFS retreat, we heard about Bec Zacharia and Danny Hewitt going on a date, but never saw footage of it. Interestingly, Eden tells us that she asked to go on a date during her retreat as her dog, Cub, was being dog-sat nearby, but her request was declined.
“I was like, please let us go on a date and we can go and see Cub,” she explains. “I was declined a date. We weren’t allowed to leave.” What’s more painful is that it felt as though they randomly picked other couples to go on dates, but she admits she doesn’t know how production decided on who.
“Something to do with their storylines, what they wanna show,” Eden guesses. “I think there were three couples on ours that went on a date, but I begged for one, and I wasn’t allowed.”
Well, there you have it, MAFS fans. A few strings get pulled at the MAFS retreat but none of which encourage people to say finger bang or c*nt.
