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Getting married to a stranger on national TV isn’t the standard route to happiness, but for Emma Barnes , it paid off. The former sales manager became an overnight star last year when she appeared on Married At First Sight UK, and while her on-screen relationship wasn’t a perfect match, the show opened up a whole new career for the bubbly Bristolian. Emma, 32, says her life has been turned “upside down” in the best way, as she returns to the small screen for an exciting new venture – although she’s still searching for The One. Here, the fun-loving reality star gives us the lowdown on life after MAFS, why ex-husband Caspar is not on her Christmas card list and all the goss on her quest for true love… Emma, a little bird tells us you’re back on telly soon... Oh, my god, yes – a MAFS special of Come Dine With Me! It was amazing, there’s some wild fancy dress – I can’t believe I’m going to be on national TV in the outfit I wore. The episode features Me, Stina and Kieran – who are exes – and Ella Morgan and Paul Liba. Everyone brought the energy, it was great. I went with a wedding theme and had my dinner party on my birthday, so it was a birthday I’ll never forget. And how’s life been since MAFS? Well, I was working full time before it, now I’m lucky enough to not have to go back to that. I definitely didn’t anticipate the amazing reaction I’d get from viewers. My friends would agree that I haven’t changed much, I keep my feet on the ground and grab every opportunity with both hands, but sadly, my dating life hasn’t changed much, either! Oh, dear! How are things in that department? I don’t know what’s going on. There are so many challenges for single people, and the dating world is worse than before I did the show. I don’t know if that’s just me (because I can’t get a bloody date), but it feels harder. I guess I’m scared people will think they know me, from watching MAFS. But to be honest, most boys don’t watch the show. It’s quite a girly show, isn’t it? Or couples watch it, so maybe some boys will have watched with their girlfriends and then broken up. I shall wait for that flood of men! Would you go on any other dating shows? At the moment, I’d take any help I can get. So, maybe. I do believe in it and I think it works. I watched Celebs Go Dating and recently saw that Kerry Katona and Jon Lee both met their current partners there, so it can and does work. Do you keep in touch with your MAFS co-stars? Oh, yes! Stina [co-star Kristina Goodsell] and I are joined at the hip, I see her all the time. And now that MAFS is back on, most of us girls have fired up the WhatsApp chat again to gossip about the new couples. I haven’t had time to do a watch party yet, but I want to invite all the girls down, watch a MAFS episode and have a sleepover. I haven’t kept in touch with the boys as much, but they’re all just cracking on. And Caspar? I probably spoke to you guys more recently than I spoke to Caspar! I still text him ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Merry Christmas’, but I don’t get a response! I’m sure I will one day. He’s married now and I’m really happy for him. Of course, it would have been great if I’d have been matched with someone that I stayed with or that liked me. But what can you do? I don’t think any MAFS experience is perfect. I’d have hated to fall in love straight away and watch it slowly break down on TV, I think that would be much harder. What do you make of the new series? I love it. I’ve chatted to some of the cast and the parents of three of the couples asked me for advice. I love that. It’s such a unique experience, there’s only maybe 40 people who’ve been on the show, so you form a bond with past and present participants. But you take it with a pinch of salt, because you know it’s been edited and may not be as it seems. Is the show tough? Yeah, the days are really long. I started watching my series with my mum because I hadn’t really seen it. And now I realise that I looked exhausted by the end. I had the life drained out of me. I look back at it with rose-tinted glasses, and it was really fun, but it was actually really, really tough. But I don’t regret a thing! The cast can get trolled, is that tough? I had a positive experience, but I saw the backlash that Caspar got, and it isn’t nice. It can be tough, especially if you’ve had a bad experience on the show, you do get nervous about the episodes airing. It brings up challenging feelings, but you have a video or a phone call with welfare every day and a psych chat once a week, so the support is there. But that doesn’t change how hard it is. MAFS UK Does Come Dine With Me starts Monday, 3 Nov on E4. Stream or watch Mon – Fri at 7.30pm Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
