IT’S coming up to the final week of Married At First Sight UK, but the toughest days for our couples may still lie ahead.
This week saw the couples visit each other’s homes – which led to one couple, Rosaline Darlington and Thomas Kriaras, sadly splitting up.
Here, Amy Christophers – who took part in the 2021 series of MAFS – reveals to The Sun why many of the couples seem to reach breaking point just before the end.
She also opens up on what happens after the camera stops rolling, why it’s tougher for MAFS stars than Love Islanders – and how the weeks when the show airs are actually when even strong couples are most likely to split.
The homestays are always a very interesting part of MAFS, as they come at the point of the process when everything is reaching boiling point.
By the time it gets to them, you’re exhausted from however many weeks of drama and then you’re away from the group, and it’s time to just focus on you, as a couple, again – so if there are any cracks, they’re going to show.
And we really saw the pot boil over for some of the couples, like Ros and Thomas and Erica Roberts and Jordan Gayle, this week.
For me, homestays were one of the worst parts of MAFS. I was told I was going to Cornwall, and was so excited to see all my friends, who I hadn’t seen in ages because of lockdown – most of them couldn’t even come to the wedding because we were only allowed six people.
I planned to go paddle boarding and have a barbecue with my friends and family. But, in the morning before we were due to head off, I was told I was going to be cooking dinner for two of Josh’s friends, and two of my mates, in a rented flat in south London.
It seemed like Laura Vaughan and Arthur Poremba got the raw deal this time around like I did, going to play tennis. They probably blew all the budget for homestays on that dinner in Chelsea with her friends!
The vow renewals are coming up next week, signalling the end of the show, but the couples will spend a week apart before that – with one of each pair staying in their apartment and the other going home.
What’s strange about that period is the people that stay at the apartments have still got their production phones, and still have their chaperones, but the ones that go back home get their real phone back and go back to their real life, with no production looking over them.
That means they can go out – and some definitely did in my series- and potentially even cheat on their spouses, while the others are stressed at the apartment, still under lock and key by production, worrying about what the other’s up to.
But the moment after you decide to renew your vows – and finish filming – is even stranger.
You say whether it’s a yes or a not and the producers are like, ‘You’re free to go now!’ and you just walk out in your renewal dress feeling so lost after two months in the apartment with a chaperone and cameras.
It’s just you and the taxi driver and you can’t even talk to them and tell them what a wild three months you’ve had.
And then the worst part of it all is leaving the experiment and you just cannot say anything to anyone.
Nobody knows the whirlwind you’ve been through – and the show doesn’t air until about three or four months after it’s been filmed.
I think Love Islanders have it easy in comparison, because that’s in real-time.
I remember crying in the toilets of a nightclub and someone was like, ‘Are you alright?’ I thought, ‘Oh, I can’t even say that I’ve had a break-up because nobody even knows that I had a boyfriend, let alone a husband.’
But it’s also just as hard for the couples who stay together
They can go out and do whatever they want together when nobody knows who they are, and the show hasn’t started yet.
But then once the show’s out, they can’t be seen with that person because they give away the ending, which adds an extra pressure and extra strain on the relationship.
So anyone that still stays together throughout the show airing and then beyond, they’re unbreakable – and whoever you are, congratulations on finding your soulmate!
When it came to the commitment ceremony this week, I think it was also clear everyone can feel the end of the series approaching – and everything’s coming to a head.
Everyone felt much more honest with each other – although I have to admit I had a really hard time concentrating on what was actually happening because I kept getting distracted by the size of Tasha Jay’s hoops!
And I have to say I’m really happy Peggy Rose didn’t listen to her parents and stuck by Georges Berthonneau.
They kept banging on about his gaming not being a career, but as an eSports presenter, I can assure them his earning potential is way more than Peggy’s if he’s successful in it.
Part of me just wants the whole of the UK to really back his Twitch channel to prove a point to her parents!
