WELCOME to my first MAFS column! I’ll be here every week sharing my VERY honest thoughts on the new brides and grooms, and all the juicy insider gossip as someone who has white-knuckled that reality TV rollercoaster first hand.
Well, when they said MAFS would be back with a bang, they meant it, didn’t they? It is WILD already.
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Let’s start with the positives: There are two couples I am really rooting for. Davide and Keye – I’m obsessed already. I love them and think they are great match.
Nelly and Steven are also a great match and I love them individually. I would like to get a bit more from him but I understand he is probably just a bit quiet at this stage.
I’ve got a bone to pick with the producers
I don’t understand why the producers made a whole edit about Steven having kids and being nervous to tell Nelly, though? It’s really not that deep! As someone who was matched with someone who has got four children, I just don’t think it needed to be a big part of the edit.
I really like Leigh and and Leah too and I hope they can turn it around. I think Leah could be really good for Leigh. They are a hot couple and I am really rooting for the fit couples. I want them to work. I don’t know if Leigh is just really stressed, I am really hoping that is the case.
Now it all gets a bit complicated.
When a girl’s got the ick, you can’t really pull that back!
Dean and Sarah, well where do I start with them?
I think she just made a few really poor choices of words. It’s really hard to be honest and not hurt someone’s feelings and I think that’s just something she got a little bit wrong. I do think she means well.
Dean started out really fun and high energy, which I love, but I do think that would start to grate and get a little bit draining. The honeymoons are really stressful anyway and I feel like Sarah has got the ick – and once a girl’s got the ick, you can’t really pull that back.
Cheating scandal?
Also we have now got Joe who has entered the chat, and we know he is Sarah’s type. Is that going to be a thing? Could we have the first cheating scandal of the series? Watch this space…
He is certainly the eye candy of the group so one of the girls could try and turn him. He is a lot of their types, they all want a bad boy.
Speaking of Joe, I didn’t initially agree with them matching him with Maeve. He said he is done with partying and has had problems with alcohol and addiction in the past, so why have they put him with a Geordie party animal?
That said, they did seem to pull things back a bit on the honeymoon, though. She has obviously been hurt a lot and has built up a lot of walls. Maybe they will nurture each other, which could be cute.
Red flags
Now there is one couple I am not buying and that’s Grace and Ashley. I really struggled with Grace and I think she is looking for any excuse not to like Ashley.
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She has decided she doesn’t fancy him. The whole tomboy Barbie thing? I would have actually taken that as a compliment! Maybe they can turn a corner but I just don’t think I am buying it.
As for Julia-Ruth and Divarni, they are giving ‘Hannah and Stephen on honeymoon 2.0’.
It’s just like we were at that stage in the experiment and they know whether they are coming or going. Maybe they are the right match because she is going to bring him out of his shell and he might calm her down? Only time will tell.
Of course, the week drew to a close with newbies Bailey and Rebecca. Becca is my spirit animal, I see a lot of myself in her. And I am soooo excited for Anita and Paul, I feel like they are going to be really big characters.
So that’s it, the first week of MAFS is in the bag and I need a lie down after all that drama. Bring it all on again next week!
Mafs couples that have stood the test of time
Loved-up Tayah Victoria and Adam Aveling of series six fame had the first Mafs baby.
The pair couldn’t keep their hands off each other on the programme and quickly found their feet in the outside world, moving into Adam’s Doncaster home.
Just 18 months after meeting, the couple welcomed their daughter Beau.
Season five couple Michelle Walder and Owen Jenkins also managed to make their marriage work away from the cameras and had their first child in December.
Teacher Michelle, 29, has no regrets about taking part in the experiment. She told us: “I just feel very lucky and thankful that it has worked out – and excited for everything to come.”
Michelle and Owen were both sick of dating apps when they applied in 2019.
Owen recalled: “I had been out for some drinks with a friend after work.
“While he was out for a cigarette I was scrolling on Instagram waiting for him to come back in.
“The MAFS advert was the last thing I saw, and I joked, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I signed up?’
“A few beers later when I was back at home I sent in the application, and the rest is history.”
Another couple to make Mafs UK history is Zoe Clifton and Jenna Robinson.
Despite a slight rocky start, where they clashed over Jenna’s vegan lifestyle, the show’s first same sex pairing are still going strong.
They even have a successful podcast together called Life With a Pod.
Jenna shed light on being involved in the show earlier this year when she told us: “We’re not legally married, and I never felt like we were. I definitely feel the process makes you take the relationship a lot more seriously and having the help of the experts… if you can survive that process it sets a firm foundation for a long-lasting relationship.”
