{"id":96921,"date":"2025-08-26T10:37:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T10:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/96921\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T10:37:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T10:37:16","slug":"married-at-first-sight-season-13-cast-subjected-to-strict-drug-tests-curfews-after-participants-rogue-night-out-during-filming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/96921\/","title":{"rendered":"Married At First Sight season 13 cast subjected to strict drug tests, curfews after participants&#8217; rogue night out during filming"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The upcoming cast of Married At First Sight have been subjected to a strict new testing requirement after some went rogue during filming.<\/p>\n<p>Production for season 13 of the Nine Network&#8217;s controversial dating show is currently underway, and drama has already enveloped the brides and grooms before the series hits screens in January or February of 2026.<\/p>\n<p>In a MAFS first, the new cast will be required to undergo weekly drug testing throughout the filming duration, and any participant who returns a positive result will be booted off the social experiment immediately.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"poster-img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/49a9f3c5eb958c44f1f8ca8aa2511988.jpeg\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" alt=\"MAFS: Argument erupts between wives over drinks\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The dramatic measure comes after several of the cast broke curfew during a wild and boozy night out on the town earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Production has every reason to be p**sed off,&#8221; an insider told Daily Mail on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The night in question completely blew up &#8211; cast members disappeared, fights broke out, and one couple is already in turmoil.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And now the cast have also all been given curfews in a MAFS first.<\/p>\n<p>MAFS participants have previously not had a stringent curfew and were relatively free to come and go, with brides and grooms normally ordered back in their apartments by 10 pm on weeknights and 11 pm on weekends.<\/p>\n<p>This has now been restricted to 8 pm on Fridays and Sundays, and 9 pm on Saturdays.<\/p>\n<p>It is understood production this season felt they had no other choice but to up the ante and impose the new measure after a failed shoot resulted in several cast members going missing and being branded &#8220;selfish&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>In a leaked email, production staff from Endemol Shine Australia expressed its &#8220;utter disappointment&#8221; in the cast&#8217;s disregard for their crew.<\/p>\n<p>Staff warned participants their hotel key cards could be deactivated after curfew unless they informed producers of their whereabouts.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The complete disrespect to this production&#8217;s guidelines, as well as to my crew and their weekend, means these changes will be enforced,&#8221; the email read, leading to contestants slamming the move as &#8220;not fair&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"poster-img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/f71736097a793fc19e1f567a662157d2.jpeg\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" alt=\"WATCH: Timothy from MAFS detains machete-wielding teenager in Melbourne\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The development comes after SkyNews.com.au in July exclusively revealed Nine launched a full-scale reset for the show\u2019s 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p>The network implemented stricter background checks, more in-depth psychological screening, and tough new guidelines aimed at avoiding another police scandal, alongside a very clear directive to production.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGo hard on challenging the participants, but keep the drama out of the courtroom,&#8221; Nine is understood to have told Endemol Shine Australia.<\/p>\n<p>A police investigation into the reality TV juggernaut that cast a shadow over season 12 was quietly dropped after five months in July.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skynews.com.au\/lifestyle\/celebrity-life\/nsw-police-launch-official-investigation-into-married-at-first-sight-after-groom-pauls-violent-act-brought-nine-networks-duty-of-care-into-question\/news-story\/b1fe35b201f352b17e83cffa152272ec\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-tgev=\"event119\" data-tgev-container=\"bodylink\" data-tgev-order=\"b1fe35b201f352b17e83cffa152272ec\" data-tgev-label=\"lifestyle\" data-tgev-metric=\"ev\">NSW Police launched the investigation into the show in February<\/a>\u00a0after groom Paul Antoine punched a wall, sparking fan outrage.<\/p>\n<p>A NSW Police spokesperson told SkyNews.com.au that &#8220;following an investigation conducted by officers attached to South Sydney Police Area Command, no further police action is expected.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Last season, it was also revealed groom Adrian Araouzou was found not guilty of domestic violence charges for assault, occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and resisting police in a NSW court in 2021 prior to his MAFS appearance, leading fans to question the casting process.<\/p>\n<p>A network insider said Safe Work was subsequently called in to be &#8220;heavily involved&#8221; in the show&#8217;s future.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Channel Nine has taken their recommendations very seriously,&#8221; the source said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey want compelling TV but not at the expense of cast wellbeing or legal risk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The upcoming cast of Married At First Sight have been subjected to a strict new testing requirement after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,37689,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-96921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-mafs","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}