Married At First Sight star Alyssa Barmonde shares clever and affordable Christmas hacks

Alyssa Barmonde He may have been dubbed a villain on Married At First Sight, but when it comes to Christmas she’s anything but a Grinch.

The reality star and mother of one, 38, has been busier than a North Pole elf preparing her abode for Christmas and has shared some handy holiday hacks.

On her Instagram Story on Christmas Eve, Alyssa posted a super affordable hack that would be perfect for Christmas 2025.

In a pretty environmentally conscious move, the video showed Alyssa filling the plastic tray of an empty advent calendar with some homemade chocolate.

While Rocking Around The Christmas Tree played in the background, Alyssa could be seen spraying oil into the Christmas-themed molds.

She then began filling one of the advent calendar molds with her own red-dyed chocolate mixture.

“Pro tip: Get out your Advent calendar and fill it with your own chocolate,” Alyssa captioned the cheap and cheerful Christmas hack.

The crafty MAFS bride also took to Instagram earlier this month to share another unusual Christmas tip.

Alyssa shared a short clip showing her creating a custom platform for the popular Christmas toy Elf On A Shelf.

For those fans who have issues with shelves, Alyssa created a quirky reindeer made from toilet paper rolls and paper towels.

She used toilet paper rolls for her legs, while the paper towel roll was used for her body.

A third roll of toilet paper was used for the neck and a final roll served as the reindeer’s head, with hand-drawn eyes and mouth and a very sparkly nose.

“Easy Elf On A Shelf idea with things you already have,” she captioned the video.

‘Don’t worry about the moments of frustration and that you’re over it now. “I promise I love you so much because you keep my CHYALD under control.”

alyssa She rose to fame on the 2023 season of Married At First Sight, where she was paired with her television husband Duncan James.

During the second half of the season, she was portrayed negatively, with edited scenes focusing on her emotional outbursts, her mistreatment of Duncan, and her constant use of “I have a son” as an excuse for her bad behavior.

The ex-Mormon, however, insisted that this portrayal was one-sided and unfair, arguing that many of her confrontations with Duncan, from whom she was separated in final vows, lacked proper on-screen context.

alyssa She fled Australia after “coincidentally” losing her job amid the fallout from her villain edit.

A source close to Alyssa told Daily Mail Australia that she was planning a trip abroad because she was “unhappy since the show aired” and just needed to relax.

‘She really just wants to move on and forget she was ever on the show. It has been completely unfair. “What we saw on television was not her,” the source said.

Alyssa was also fired from her job as an executive assistant for a Sydney company, a position she had held for seven years.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph in April 2023Alyssa noted the “coincidence” of being fired just two weeks after the MAFS finale aired.

She confessed that she went through “a couple of really dark months” while the show was airing and had to stop watching it after the couples retreat because “I could see what the editing was.”

Alyssa revealed she was harassed by viewers who tracked her mobile phone number and business accounts and received “the vilest messages.”

He asked Channel Nine’s publicity department to give him access to his Instagram account so he could challenge the show’s editing narrative, but his request was denied until the season finished airing in the UK.

“They’re protecting the show and the narrative they’ve created, instead of letting me have my own voice,” he said.

Alyssa said she felt hurt and betrayed by the producers after watching the series and seeing all the problems in her relationship with Duncan attributed to her status as a single mother.