With its epic dinner parties and dramatic wife-swapping, Married At First Sight UK has been a hit with fans since it burst onto our screens in 2015.
But behind the scenes, past cast members have revealed that the experience is mentally exhausting.
Steven Springett, 34, appeared on the show last year and was known as the series villain. Now he tells the Daily Mail how he was pushed to breaking point thanks to 16-hour filming days, fake scenes and contracts that meant he couldn’t see his children. When the cast reunited for the final time on-screen last night, he didn’t attend – and today gives the real reason why.
The Essex-based banker says: ‘The show drained the life out of me mentally. I’ve watched the Australian and UK versions, so I kind of knew the process, but until you’re actually in it, you don’t know it. I wasn’t expecting filming to be as full-on.’
Steven says he was originally in talks to be cast on another dating show, but got a call from Channel 4 just ten days before filming started for MAFS UK, asking if he would like to be on the show. He was matched with Nelly Patel, and the pair married after meeting for the first time at the altar.
He explained: ‘They called me up and said they had read through my preferences from my dating profile for another show I was being cast for, and they said we were a perfect match.
‘So I went purely off that and said “Let’s go for it”.’
Steven had recently quit his job, so he had a free schedule once he had sorted out childcare for his two kids, whom he shares with his ex-partner Chloe. The pair split in 2020.
Steven Springett was matched with Nelly Patel, and the pair married after meeting for the first time at the altar
But as soon as filming started, he says he was treated differently to the other contestants.
‘It was very different from everyone else, because I was doing my backstory filming during the actual filming process. So I had to go meet [my] family in week four or five, and play it out as if I didn’t know what my partner looked like, but so many things had happened between Nelly and me that it felt weird,’ he says.
‘I had four days off in eight-and-a-half weeks. Everyone else had about 12 to 14. I also had the earliest call times. It was usually 5am, and I had to be fully dressed for filming potential scenes.’
While Steven and Nelly’s relationship started well, with a very loved-up honeymoon in Montego Bay, Jamaica, it wasn’t long before things took a wrong turn.
After Nelly broke a rib, Steven chose to go on a night out with some of their co-stars rather than look after her at home.
While he did take accountability for this decision and suggested that he’d stayed out because he wanted to distract himself from some bad family news, it was the beginning of the end for their marriage.
Steven claims he had to sign a contract which stated he wouldn’t be able to see his children during filming, which Channel 4 has denied.
He explains: ‘I was missing the kids. I asked to see them, but I had signed a contract to say that I was not allowed. But I was able to FaceTime them one day, and that’s when I got told about my stepdad being in the hospital with his heart issues.
‘I remember it just hitting me, thinking, “I’ve actually stopped my own life to be on this show”. I just felt I wasn’t being me from that early stage which is why, when you see me lose my temper a bit, I was caught up in so many emotions.’
When Steven branded his wife ‘a f***ing idiot’ on the show, she defended him – but he says this was the moment producers decided he would be the series villain.
He explains: ‘I clocked on. I think it was after I had the “f***ing idiot” comment, and that was about week three. I sat there and thought, “They’re going to use that. You’re not going to cut something like that out”.
‘After that, [based on] some of the questions they were asking me, I thought they were going to make me out to be a certain way. I probably should have noticed it earlier, and I probably should have noticed from that comment alone. They were going to be like, “Well, we’re going to get Steven to a point where he will break”.
‘Behind closed doors, Nelly was always putting herself down and comparing herself to the other women, and I told her, “No, Nelly, what you’ve got to realise is you’re always going to be someone’s ten,” and that was never [going to be shown] on the TV.
‘Then we were having to go through old arguments and make it seem as if they’re new, and that’s where the frustration comes from. And I thought to myself, “If they’re bringing up old arguments and things that I’ve said two weeks ago, I’m not shaking this bad guy image”.’
The contestants of Married At First Sight UK’s 2025 series
‘I remember it just hitting me, thinking, “I’ve actually stopped my own life to be on this show”. I just felt I wasn’t being me from that early stage which is why, when you see me lose my temper a bit, I was caught up in so many emotions,’ says Steven
Steven and Nelly’s journey on the show came to an explosive end during the sixth commitment ceremony, after he was accused of using a dating app while still taking part in the experiment. One of his final scenes saw Nelly’s friend Lucy confront Steven about the fact that she had found his profile on Hinge during the homestay week, which gives the contestants a taste of what life could look like on the outside.
This came off the back of partner swap week, which saw Nelly paired with Bailey Smith, and Steven with April Holmes.
‘Once we returned back to one another, we actually called it a day then and there. Nelly said to me that her experience with Bailey is what she wants in the outside world, and she didn’t have that with me. So she actually called it first.
‘And they didn’t put April in a good light here, and I wish they did, because she turned around and said to me, “Stephen, would you introduce Nelly to your kids?” My answer was no, and that was the light bulb moment for me. They never showed that on the show.’
During the first reunion episode, Steven became emotional as he got a grilling from experts Mel Schilling, Paul C. Brunson and Charlene Douglas, before taking accountability for his actions and apologising to Nelly, ending things somewhat amicably.
While filming the show itself was mentally draining, for many of the contestants it is even more difficult watching their intense journeys back. During this time, Steven received many messages pulling him up on his poor behaviour but, shockingly, he was also receiving cruel comments about his son, who has been diagnosed with autism.
He said: ‘Being put through the show was bad enough, but the messages I received were awful. They wrote, “I’m glad your kid is disabled, because he doesn’t get to see how much of a C-word you are.”
‘I mentioned this to the show, and they just told me not to read them or reply to them.’
Despite their poor handling of online trolls, Steven does praise several members of the welfare team, including a woman called Amanda, who recommended he do eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy after the show was over. They also checked in post-show every other week.
He explains the therapy helped him work through past relationship trauma, which stemmed from his partner of six years, with whom he shares two children, turning around and saying she didn’t love him any more, before moving on one week later with someone else.
MAFS UK came to an end in November, but the brides and grooms returned for a final reunion show which aired last night – and it was clear the drama was far from over.
‘It was a fiery one – more so than what you’ve seen on previous shows,’ Steven said.
When Steven got the call about attending this reunion, he knew what was best for him.
‘I didn’t want to give them any way to try to shape me… to the point where I’ve done wrong, or give Nelly a platform to badmouth me. I didn’t want to be ganged up on as I had been throughout the show.
‘My story ended at the first reunion, and I said I would only go there to listen to other people’s drama.’
Steven says he regrets thing he said on the show and hurting Nelly, but is grateful that MAFS allowed him to uncover his trauma and become a better person
Steven’s ex-wife Nelly attended last night’s reunion special and discussed how she has moved on from the experience and now feels like she is the best version of herself
Other cast members, including Ashley Dommett and Divarni Balogun, also didn’t attend. Divarni has since taken to Instagram, explaining: ‘Since many of you have been messaging me about why I wasn’t at the reunion, yes, I was invited, and I would have loved to see certain people I still value. However, the production had alternative motives that didn’t align with me. This chapter is now officially closed.’
Steven’s co-stars were quick to fill him in on the reunion drama after filming, and one part in particular saw him once again disappointed with the producers.
When he met Dean Vary and a few of the other lads for a catch-up, Dean said to Steven: ‘I hope you don’t mind, but I had use you in a rap at the reunion.’
When he questioned what was said in the rap, Dean continued: ‘The show asked me to mention Hinge and your name together.’
The rap went: ‘As for Steven, he made us cringe when he finally admitted he had been on Hinge’ – causing the cast to burst into laughter.
Steven told Dean: ‘Obviously, I’m not best pleased about how the show has asked you to do that, and it wasn’t something you’ve done yourself.’
Meanwhile, his ex-wife Nelly used the reunion show to discuss how she has moved on from the experience and now feels like the best version of herself.
Of Nelly, Steven now says: ‘This happened a year ago now, so I want to move on. It sounds horrible, but Nelly was broken before she came on the show, but people are making it out that I broke her. I didn’t help the situation, by all means, and I can hold my hands up to that, but I didn’t break her, and that’s how it was being spun. I think the reunion would have run with that as well, so I’m glad I didn’t go.’
When asked if he regrets the experience, he takes a moment to process it all, responding: ‘I’m going to say yes and no. I’ve allowed myself to be the worst version on TV, and that’s not what I wanted to happen; it just happened naturally, but I regret things I’ve said on the show.
‘I allowed my frustrations to get the better of me, which isn’t usually in my character. And I regret hurting Nelly and not dealing with things as I would have liked to have dealt with them.
‘At the same time, I’m grateful for the opportunity because it allowed me to uncover my trauma and get the therapy and help that I needed. I’m now a better person from that.’
Despite it all, Steven is open to doing more TV work in the future, but adds: ‘I would have my guard up now I know what it is really like.’
