The premise of MAFS may technically be for the participants to find long and lasting love, however, two stars from the current season were actually already married when they entered the experiment.
During filming, which took place in August and September last year, Josh White and Alyssa Barmonde were both married to their ex-partners, as per So Dramatic!.
According to the publication, Alyssa only split from her ex-husband of seven years a few months before going on MAFS, and the pair hadn’t officially divorced.
“She was working through a lot of heavy stuff on the outside. There were lawyers involved and custody battles over the kid,” an insider told the publication.
They added, “Duncan spent a lot of time supporting her through all of the heavy shit she was going through outside the experiment… He was even helping her write letters to lawyers and stuff.”
Meanwhile, the publication also reported that Josh was going through a “messy divorce” at the time of filming, and his contract allowed him to “go home at any time”.
“That’s also why he was granted permission to leave, despite it being against the rules,” they added.
Love Film & TV?
Get the latest Film & TV news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
The insider said that Josh flew home to see his kids right after he returned from his honeymoon with Mel.
“When they got back from their honeymoon, she didn’t see him for six days because he went back home to his family,” the insider added. “Her and Josh didn’t even text each other during that time.”
While Duncan and Alyssa are still in the experiment and appear to be going strong, Josh and Mel left the show during Sunday Night’s commitment ceremony.
After Josh told experts John Aiken and Mel Schilling and Alessandra Rampolla that Melissa had questioned his manhood and “controlled” him by attempting to restrict his access to TV and his mobile phone, they allowed him the option to leave, even though Melissa wrote ‘stay’.
For more on this topic, follow the Reality TV Observer.
