An Edinburgh bride who is appearing on Married at First Sight UK has revealed the ‘long’ process of applying for the series.

The hit E4 show sees hopeful singles paired up with a spouse by dating experts, and then marry them before even meeting them. Leisha Lightbody, 31, was paired with Essex lad Reiss.

She first applied for the show in June 2024, and was told they had found her a husband in December. She left for filming in March, but had a ‘thorough’ process to go through before she was behind the camera.

Leisha says she went through psych evaluations, medical tests, several zoom meetings, trips to London and had numerous forms to fill out before her casting was confirmed.

Speaking on social media, Leisha told fans: “I was basically sat at work on my break scrolling through social media, and the advert came up – Married at First Sight.

“At the time I had just come out of a six year relationship. I was heartbroken, and to be fair I was sick of the dating scene.

“People are savage. It’s not the way it used to be back in the day where people would actually take you out on dates and actually treat you nice.

“I’m a bit of a soft girl at heart and I just thought ‘I can’t deal with this’, so when I saw the advert I thought yes – that’s a bit of me.”

After applying, Leisha got a phone call from casting the following day. After a short chat, she was invited for a zoom meeting to discuss the next steps.

She continues: “I had my first zoom meeting, and it was brilliant. It was about an hour and it was recorded.

“Then basically you go through a lot of different stages. It’s not for the faint-hearted. If you apply and you think you’re going to get on it, it is a long, long, long process.

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“There’s so many different stages. You’ve got to go through psych assessments, love experts, you’ve got to fill out all these documents.

“They really do make sure you are the right kind of person for the show. Also, they want to make sure you do get the right person.”

Leisha says she was back and forth to London around two or three times during the casting process. Coming up and down from Scotland, she admits it was a ‘trek’.

She added: “Be prepared for that if you live far away from London that you’re probably going to need some time off from work as well.

“Set aside some time to fill out the forms properly, because they are big forms. Also, I would just say – be completely honest with what you want and who you are as a person.

“At the end of the day, you want to be matched with the correct person. If you lie, it’s not going to be authentic to you.”

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As well as forms, interviews and psych evaluations – potential cast mates also have to through medical tests.

Leisha told fans: “You go through your medical history, they’ll get your doctors reports and you’ll get hair samples as well like drug testing.

“It is very very thorough. I applied in June last year, and I only got told that I was on the show and that they’d found my husband in December.

“Then I went on the show in March. It is a long process, I was in November being like ‘am I not going to get told? Am I on the show?’

“There’s a lot of stages, and they could have found me a husband and then in January he could’ve pulled out and that was me done. So it’s quite scary, until you’re actually on the show nothing in guaranteed.

“Just go for it guys! I applaud you.”

Married at First Sight UK returns on Sunday night at 9pm, and casting for the next series is open now.