With every season of Married At First Sight comes the same critique from contestants claiming that they’ve fallen prey to the edit. But while the music and the cleverly cut sound-bites do have an impact on how we perceive the “characters” on the show, MAFS expert and certified clinical sexologist Alessandra Rampolla truly believes that no matter what goes down behind the scenes, it always comes to the surface eventually.
However, after bingeing two seasons of the show right before she joined experts John Aiken and Mel Shilling in 2021 for Season Eight, Alessandra says she had her doubts about the show representing what happens when the cameras aren’t rolling.
“I really wasn’t sure reading the commentary if what we would see on film at the end was what actually happened because there’s so many theories,” she told PEDESTRIAN TV.
“But really my experience very happily is that MAFS represents what happens.”
As a therapist with over 20 years of experience, she says that the show truly represents the client-therapy experience. Well, in terms of how much a therapist sees of their client.
“It’s such a big show. There’s so much going on in real life and we’re filming, but there’s a lot that we don’t see. Because it’s so big — I think it would be really difficult to get through [all the moments shared by the couples]. As experts, we can’t divide ourselves between all the couples and be there all the time and see everything,” she explained.
“If you went to see a therapist with your partner, that therapist wouldn’t be watching a video of you having your argument at home with your partner, you would just be telling them about it and they would relay that information according to how you express it. We take that. That’s what we do.”
As she watches the show along with the viewers at home — like she’s doing now — she admits that there are some moments where she wished she had the full picture.
“The viewers are watching everything before we’ve actually even had the conversation where they’re telling us about it. So watching back, I don’t think it’s something that I regret or bothers me, but I do go like ‘Oh, I wish I wish I could see what actually happens’ because I think then the responses would be much more specific,” she stated.
“But I’m not bothered by the fact that we don’t get to see all the details [as experts] because ultimately the stories get told and everything is understood.”
Along with being an expert on MAFS, Alessandra has recently paired up with Westpac to share new data about couples having difficult conversations about money. And — as it turns out — these convos can be just as hard as intimate chats about what goes on in the bedroom.
According to the data, 91% of couples report that money causes arguments in their relationship and 89% find money hard to discuss. Conversely, 65% of Aussies agree that couples who have these difficult chats about money regularly are more likely to be in a healthy relationship but 22% admit that they rarely discuss finances with their partner.
Alessandra believes that conversations that challenge us are the ones that we need to be having.
“I think that anything that is difficult, anything that we find that really challenges us — that’s where we need to pay attention and really focus on and make not challenging,” she said.
“We tend to cover up and only show the things that we feel comfortable with. We shy away from topics that can bring about judgement very easily and these include topics like sexuality and finances. There is so much judgment around these things.”
Well, there you go. In conclusion, Alessandra reckons MAFS is kinda legit and that you need to talk to your partner about your finances. Nice!!!!!
