All the messy drama Steven is embroiled in over his ex girlfriends and Nelly meeting his kids

Since MAFS UK 2025 started, Steven has had huge dramas with his ex girlfriends speaking out, and his family life being brought up on the show. The last week saw the couples face in-laws week, which has meant family life has been hot topic.

MAFS groom Steven is 34, and from Essex. Ahead of the show, he had been single for over a year. Steven is a father of two, and said prior to the experiment has always focussed on raising his children and building his career.

He’s had a lot of heat during the show. He’s been called out for things he’s said to Nelly, and outside the show had an ex leak screenshots claiming they were still together whilst filming took place.

Here’s a rundown of everything the ex partners of Steven have had to say, and how he’s responded since MAFS UK has been airing.

All the drama started when an ex of Steven’s started saying they were dating when he was filming MAFS

When Steven first started appearing on MAFS, his ex made some pretty big claims. Lifestyle influencer Melissa Stacey exposed all the details of their breakup in a three-part TikTok series. She claimed he “disappeared” on her to go on the show, and has since claimed he’s come crawling back to her again.

Melissa claimed Steven ghosted her, and told her he’d been filming for a Netflix drama in Greece. They were still chatting and dating a bit, but then ended things. Melissa then found out it had been MAFS he was filming for. She said: “We continued dating and continued seeing each other, but there was an off feeling, and I ended things ultimately.”

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She then said Steven blocked her on Instagram, but continued to text her. Melissa also leaked apparent screenshots, including a message she claimed was from Steven that said: “When you see the person they’ve put me with, it will all make sense.”

via TikTok

He rubbished the claims

Steven released a statement about what Melissa said, and cleared up what their relationship actually was. He told The Tab: “Melissa is a lovely girl and yes we dated for a couple of months, but ultimately things did not progress into anything official as I didn’t see a future in us. I then went onto the show to find a wife.”

The mother of Steven’s children then spoke out to back him up

@chloee.mccx

The ‘piping hot tea’ turned out to be lukewarm dishwater in a mug #mafsuk2025 #marriedatfirstsight #marriedatfirstsightuk #channel4 #mafs

♬ original sound – Chloeee_xo

Chloe, the mother of Steven’s children, then posted a 10-minute TikTok. She addressed Steven’s “outbursts” on MAFS, as well as the drama surrounding his ex. She explained they were together for six to seven years, and have since been co-parenting for around five years after an “amicable” separation.

Her video started with a defiant statement: “Steven, Married At First Sight 2025 didn’t have a secret girlfriend at the time of filming and I’m going to go into it.”

She said: “This narrative is playing out online, and portraying him in a certain way and I know it’s not true. I can’t just sit here and watch it play out and not say anything.” Chloe said Steven explained his most recent relationship “wasn’t working” so he ended it.

Chloe said it was then “a week or two” later that he told her he was filming. “But, we had that conversation before filming [for MAFS] started,” Chloe clarified. Chloe also claimed the “receipts” Melissa posted don’t actually prove anything, other than that the relationship she claimed to have with Steven wasn’t serious.

“This is all exaggerated into something it wasn’t,” Chloe said of Melissa claims. “It doesn’t make sense.” Chloe did hint that she thought some of the messages may have been edited, because they don’t match the way Steven types over text, or speaks in real life. “I don’t think they’re receipts, I think they’re more scribbles on a napkin,” Chloe said.

Chloe then spoke out about Steven has been during the show. She said: “When it comes to the behaviours on the show and stuff, I don’t condone outbursts or any of that kind of behaviour and I feel like it is being heavily edited to look a certain way.

“They’re filming for 12 weeks and out of that we’re getting an hour’s viewing four nights a week. Obviously we’re not getting the full picture, but I do feel to a certain extent that editing is at play here.”

Steven has now released a full video about why Nelly didn’t meet his children during MAFS

@stevespringett4

Thank You ❤️ So, many questions last night about MAFSUK and why didn’t we see me & Nelly with my family for in-law week. The answer is in the video and hope that explains a few things 😊 Thank you for joining the live last night & thank you to those showing love & support throughout the journey ❤️ #fyp #MAFSUK #parenting #dating #foryourpage

♬ original sound – Steven Springett | MAFS UK 25

During in-laws week on MAFS UK 2025, Steven didn’t introduce bride Nelly to his kids. He has since posted a huge video to TikTok, in which he explained the decision behind this. He said at the point this part of the experiment was filmed, he still had questions about when was best to introduce Nelly to his children.

Reacting to the episode, Steven said: “The reason for that is because I, that week, saw my kids. I also saw the kids’ mum as well. For me, it’s a big question mark. When is the right time to introduce someone new to your children? For me, given the stage where we were in the process, there was still very much a stranger element to Nelly and I getting to know one other.”

He said he felt as though in previous relationships he might have introduced his children to girlfriends too early, so didn’t want to do that again.

But, that doesn’t mean Nelly will never meet his children. Steven said he hasn’t “ruled it out in the future”, but in-laws week “wasn’t the right time” because they had a rough week prior in the experiment. He added: “She [Nelly] accepted, gracefully. She fully understood. As we’ve seen from Nelly so far, she’s a very gracious person.”

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