Seven Year Switch's Michelle shares an honest account of what she went through while filming.

Seven Year Switch is back on our screens and one episode in it’s already causing a stir.

For the second season, couples struggling in their relationships will not only have to “switch” partners for the experiment but also participate in an “experimental marriage”.

And here we were thinking Marriage At First Sight had finally ended.

So can a show that forces you to share a bed with a total stranger in a fake relationship really save your real one?

Only someone who’s been through the experience can really know – which is why The Binge invited former ‘contestant’ Michelle Guest from last season on to the podcast to answer the million dollar question. Post continues after audio.

“Whether they go on TV to solve them or not, I think everyone has problems in their relationship. The couples this season I can relate to every one of them in some way as I think most of us can,” she said.

“I think even though when I knew the season was coming up I thought ‘Oh, all the couples are going to be so fake because who in their right mind would go on a partner swapping show’, but I see a lot of desperation in these couples  and I can relate to what they’re going through.

“I’m feeling all over again what happened when it was me and when I watched myself back.”

She also shared how helpful the experts really are on the show – and it turns out they really had nothing to do with her own breakthroughs.

"Honestly, the biggest thing for me on the show was being able to talk to Ryan [her switch partner] and just openly talk to someone who's also going through a hard time," she said.

"Not a family member, not a friend, not anyone who is biased, just somebody who can sit down and go, 'Well yeah, that's shit' or 'Maybe you're a bit of an arsehole for saying that', someone who's just genuinely open and honest.

"As far as the counsellors, I don't know. They're lovely, Peter was lovely to me and he helped [but] we really didn't see much of them to be honest."

Guest says one of the biggest differences between her and contestants from this season is they have a better idea of what they were signing up for.

"We [Guest and ex-partner Jason] believed we would be together. We didn't know we were partner swapping. We thought we were going away together, having counselling sessions together and some bonding time together. It wasn't until later that we realised that some of the time we would actually be apart," she said.

"It wasn't until I opened the door and saw Ryan standing there, I did not know it was going to be a man, for starters, or that Jason would be with someone else. Or the one bed thing, it was very different to what we thought."

While Michelle and Jason ended up separating, right now they've got their own version of a happy ending.

"We're not together but we did spend this Easter together and we're probably together more than we're not but we're in a really good place in our relationship even though we're not together. We're still parenting [Elijah and Indiana] beautifully and getting along better than we have in a really long time," she said.

"I don't know whether the show had anything to do with it but for me, looking back on it especially after watching it on television, it made me realise how sad I was and how broken I was, not just in my relationship but in my own personal self I guess."

After the series ended, Michelle bravely shared she had been battling Postnatal Depression, something she spoke about during filming but was never aired.

"So I thank the show for showing me I wasn't ok and I did need to get help but other than that, the show, I don't know. I have very mixed emotions about the show as you can probably guess."

That said, she doesn't "regret" the experience.

"No regrets. But would I tell my best friend to do it? No," she said.

"I guess for me, we went on to the show, we thought it would be different to what it was. So that's the only thing, no regrets, it happened, it's done.

"It wasn't a lovely experience, watching it back and how you watch yourself on television and how things come across and watching people say the most nastiest things about you wasn't pleasurable at all."

For the latest TV news, listen to The Binge.