Melinda From ‘MAFS’ Shares All About The ‘Divide’ Between The Cast

CEO queen Melinda Willis is a firm Married at First Sight fan favourite, with her outspoken but caring nature shining through during Season 10. She had a bit of a rocky start, but fell in love with her partner Layton Mills, and yes, they’re still together today. Considering the terrible success rate of the franchise, it seems like the pair simply got lucky. 

Due to her skyrocketing popularity in the UK, Melinda has been busy sharing some juicy secrets in new interviews, and one comment caught our eye: according to Melinda, there was a “secret divide” between the brides on the show, and this has spilled over into real life. 

When chatting to UK’s Heart Radio about who she’s stayed in touch with after filming wrapped, she dropped some major bombshells. 

“There’s a few people not talking, there was a divide on the show you don’t really see, especially with the girls. That was a storyline at first and then it quickly got buried, so I would say that storyline is still evident in real life,” she revealed.

“I talk to Tahnee [Cook], Janelle [Han], Alyssa [Barmonde] and Evelyn [Ellis]. I don’t have anything against the other girls but I don’t really stay in contact with them.”

According to Melinda, the entire cast were originally in one big WhatsApp group, but it quickly imploded. She told the publication the chat got “bickery”, and after one-half of the group dominated it, a bunch of the contestants decided to leave. 

“It’s gone back to those two separate groups that were arising in the experiment that quickly got shut down,” she explained.

So, who did she purposely leave out? Missing from Melinda’s list were: Lyndall Grace, Bronte Schofield, Claire Nomarhas, Sandy Jawanda, Tayla Winter, Melissa Sheppard and Caitlin McConville.

It’s likely that Melinda is still close with Caitlin (as she gave the contestant a job at her salon), but she left early on in the show, so maybe the bride simply slipped her mind. I’m guessing that Melissa also wasn’t part of the “divide”, because again, she left early on in the show. 

However, Lyndall, Bronte, Claire and Sandy all seem close, so are they part of this mysterious second clique? And does this have something to do with Alyssa’s bad edit, and those who didn’t want to associate themselves with a “villain”? 

“It’s interesting because some people, when their edits came to life you really saw their connections change. You could see who was worried about being friends with someone who maybe wasn’t going to be liked,” Melinda explained… cryptically.  

“I had my group and stuck to it the whole time. I’m still very supportive of Alyssa, a lot of people aren’t but I was there, I know my truth.”

There’s so much to unpack here, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on all the cast’s socials for any other secrets. 

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Image credits: Married at First Sight, Channel 9