While there’s no shortage of drama during Married At First Sight’s dinner parties, things aren’t always what they seem behind the scenes.

Daily Mail Australia can reveal that plenty of strategic planning by the show’s producers made sure Monday night’s finale made for excellent TV.

The participants couldn’t contain their emotions as they arrived on set for the last day of filming.

Exclusive behind-the-scenes photos show Dave Hand, Adrian Araouzou, Rhi Disljenkovic, Jeff Gobbels, Paul Antoine, Eliot Donovan, and Ryan Donnelly were seen hugging a glamorous producer on arrival.

Paul, who copped an absolute roasting from expert John Aiken during Monday’s episode, was seen looking rather stressed as he arrived on set vaping.

The cast were also seen posing for photos with experts John, Mel Schilling, Alessandra Rampolla at sunrise after an overnight shoot.

While there’s no shortage of drama during Married At First Sight’s dinner parties, things aren’t always what they seem behind the scenes. (Season 12 cast pictured with experts John Aiken, Mel Schilling and Alessandra Rampolla)

Daily Mail Australia can reveal that plenty of strategic planning by the show’s producers made sure Monday night’s finale made for excellent TV

Although the finale only lasted a couple of hours on TV, the show’s emotionally charged reunion was shot over a whopping 13-hour period.

The show’s participants arrived at 3pm with their makeup and hair fully styled, before shooting at 6pm until sunrise.

Despite appearing to have no friends on-screen, Adrian was seen hugging Jeff before making his way indoors.

The show’s producers sat in an off-set location and watched the events play out on monitors, similarly to the show’s ‘love experts’.

There was little reshoots during the reunion, with everything playing out onscreen as it originally happened.

Just hours before the reunion Billy Belcher secretly met up with bride Carina Mirabile in an attempt to orchestrate a scandal for the tabloids.

‘He wanted his moment. He wanted to leave a lasting impression and be part of the MAFS season 12 highlight reel,’ a source told Daily Mail Australia.

‘He didn’t get the screen time he’d hoped for during the experiment, so he was looking for a way to make headlines.’

Paul, who copped an absolute roasting from expert John Aiken during Monday’s episode, was seen looking rather stressed as he arrived on set vaping

Awhina Rutene looked excited to be making her way into the warehouse for one final meeting with the experts

Despite appearing to have no friends on-screen, Adrian was seen hugging Jeff before making his way indoors

Adrian couldn’t wipe the smile off his face when he noticed he was being photographed

Paul was also a little too excited to be photographed

The group were then yelled at by a producer to get inside

Dave Hand couldn’t control his excitement, racing out of the car to hug a female producer

The handsome groom even picked her up and gave her a giant hug

There were mixed reports about Billy and Beth Kelly ahead of the reunion.

Some insiders claim he suggested they attend as a couple—while others say Beth shut it down, making it clear she only saw him as a friend.

Undeterred, Billy then slid into Carina’s DMs.

‘It started off flirty,’ the insider explained.

‘They were Facetiming a lot and hanging out. It was like an unexpected and surprising friendship that caught everyone off guard.’

While the two maintain there’s nothing romantic going on between them, show insiders say their chemistry was undeniable.

One reason why Billy chose Carina was because he couldn’t stand her on-screen husband Paul Antoine and wanted to embarrass him.

‘Billy really liked Carina,’ a source explained.

Hours before the MAFS cast reunited for the finale, Billy Belcher, who was paired with Sierah Swepstone on the show, was caught getting handsy with Carina Mirabile

Insiders tell me that Billy was desperate to leave a lasting impression at the cast reunion

‘[Billy] wanted his moment,’ a source revealed. ‘He didn’t get the screen time he’d hoped for during the experiment, so he was looking for a way to make headlines’

In the hours before shooting the reunion, Billy and Carina’s ‘swap’ was carefully stage-managed to ’cause a scandal’

Billy and Carina appeared to really get along behind closed doors

‘And let’s just say he and Paul never got along. He always thought Paul was foul and didn’t deserve someone as cool as Carina.’

In fact, Billy would often mock Paul behind the scenes, telling the cast and crew ‘he didn’t even buy his wife flowers’.

In the hours before shooting the reunion, Billy and Carina’s ‘swap’ was carefully stage-managed to ’cause a scandal’.

They even made sure I was there to take photos of him arriving at her Airbnb in Coogee, although I hear there wasn’t any funny business inside.

While they did exaggerate the relationship for attention, it was also clear to me the two were genuinely very close and I wouldn’t rule out their showmance blossoming into a real romance someday.

Cast members told me Billy and Carina would often Facetime each other – and I caught them doing just that after they arrived in Sydney for the reunion.

Billy initially reached out to Beth Kelly, suggesting they show up to the reunion as a couple. But Beth declined, saying she saw him as a friend and didn’t want to masquerade as anything else

Undeterred, Billy then slid into Carina’s DMs. ‘It started off flirty,’ a source reveals

‘They were Facetiming a lot and hanging out. It was like an unexpected and surprising friendship that caught everyone off guard,’ adds my insider

It comes after Carina’s relationship with Paul completely unravelled in the wake of the final challenge of the season, ‘Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side?’

As I previously reported, Paul agreed to meet his ‘back-up match’ during the task – something Carina saw as the ultimate betrayal.

Sources say she was devastated by his decision, branding it ’emotional cheating’.

‘She was genuinely hurt. She went into the experiment looking for something real, and Paul completely blindsided her,’ says an insider.

The fallout was immediate. The couple struggled to bounce back, and things only grew more tense as the cameras stopped rolling.

Carina, who didn’t agree to take part in the task, was not impressed when she later learned about Paul’s ‘curiosity’.

Paul regretted his decision almost instantly.