MARRIED At First Sight star Orson Nurse has revealed why he will never read the controversial book published by his ex-wife following their split on the reality show.
Actor and business owner Orson, 43, was paired with Richelle Cade, 48, on last year’s series.
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Their tumultuous time together saw Richelle come under fire from viewers for sniping at Orson, branding him fake and using ’emasculating’ language.
Eventually, it proved too much and they split in week six.
Seven months after the show, Richelle released ‘Martyred at First Sight’ which has a provocative cover of a blindfolded and gagged bride.
In its pages she claims Orson had an STD that he kept secret from her while taking part on the show and again criticised him for being fake and performative.
In an exclusive interview with Orson, the former reality show groom reveals why he has no interest in delving into its contents.
“I haven’t even read this book,” he tells us. “On my daughter’s life. On my mum’s life. I have not even read this book.
“In my head, I’m like, ‘why am I going to go and put myself through this torment again?’ I didn’t care if the book had lies. I didn’t care if the book had truth. I didn’t care what the book entailed.
“Because for me, I know what I experienced. So, I don’t need to hear it from another person’s point of view.”
He continues: “People obviously messaged me and said, ‘oh, this was said or that was said’. And I was like, ‘look, I’m not interested’.
“So, I don’t even know what’s in this book. If I’m being totally honest with you.”
Richelle also accused Orson of using the show as a vehicle to boost his profile rather than to find a genuine relationship, which she says was at odds with her own motivations.
However, Orson insists that wasn’t the case and points to the fact he shelled out a lot of money to fly in relatives from the Caribbean to witness their big day.
He says: “I went into Mafs to actually find somebody. And if I’m being genuine, I was like, I really want it.
“I flew my mom in from St. Kitts to be here. My money. Not production money. I flew my niece in. My money.
“Because I thought, you know what? If this is it, my mom is present. And it was just disappointing. I’m being honest. It was very disappointing.
“I struggled through holding my tongue, because I’m very big on respect. And I didn’t want to be that person that’s going to disrespect anyone, especially on national television. I have a daughter. So, I just try and make sure that I pride myself in how I am in normal life.”
Orson says the show’s welfare team checked in on him following the book’s release and asked how he intended to deal with it, but he wasn’t interested in devoting any time to it.
During the show, Orson says he flagged concerns he had about Richelle to the show’s experts, but believes they weren’t acted upon.
“Genuinely, honestly speaking. She needs help. She needed help,” he says.
“And she has not gotten that help. So, for me to actually go and shut down stuff or even add fuel to the fire made no sense to me.
“I sat on those sofas. And I told Mel [Schilling], I told Charlene [Douglas], and I told the other young man [Paul C Brunson], ‘This young lady needs help’. To their faces. Didn’t hide. I go, ‘she needs help’. Clearly nobody listened.
“I kind of showed them the red flags. There’s more stuff that I can actually say to you, but it doesn’t make sense. It’s gone. I saw the behaviours. I lived the behaviours. I just thought there’s just no point.”
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Following his exit from the show, Orson says bosses were desperate to bring him back after he hit it off with another bride, Hannah Norburn.
Orson insists he’d had no contact with Richelle for five days prior to his kiss with Hannah and, by that point, he had totally checked out of the relationship.
Though he had a connection with Hannah, who also left the experiment in week six after splitting from Stephen Nolson, Orson felt he needed to distance himself from the show.
He says: “If I had joined the experiment with Hannah, I would have not joined back with the same mindset of what I started with. And that’s the reason why I did not go back.
“I would have gone back in there and it would have just been for show, for joke, for clicks. Do you understand what I’m saying? When I went first, I’m like, I want something serious.
“I had like five days. Five days to make a decision on whether I go back into the show, yes or no.
“I left on the very same night when I said, yeah, I’m done. I’m going home. Straight to Birmingham. In a taxi.”
The phone rang day after day as bosses asked him for his thoughts on returning, but Orson stood firm.
“One, I didn’t love Hannah,” he says. “Yes, we shared a kiss so there was a connection. There was something, but for me, it wasn’t enough to be like, ‘let’s explore this amongst everyone’.
“And we had a conversation. And I was like, ‘look, if you do see me that way, let’s do this outside. I don’t mind. Because that’s what I came for’. It doesn’t have to be publicised.
“But I also got her point of view in terms of, she’s only been there two weeks. So, in my head as well, I’m thinking, yeah, she hasn’t really had any time here.”
Though he ultimately doesn’t regret doing the show and has made some good friends, Orson says it took him four months of healing to return to normal after the experiment.
Fortunately, his close friend is a psychologist and helped him deal with the mental pressures of the programme and its aftermath.
He describes his friend, who was his best man on Mafs, as a “blessing” and “saving grace” for being a phone call away at any time.
Now, a year on from his won drama and with a new set of Mafs brides and grooms taking centre stage, Orson is happy just to keep his head down and move on with his life.
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