‘Thanks for ruining my favourite show’: MAFS UK brides and grooms on telling their exes

As we all know, the concept of Married At First Sight is really quite simple and although sounds terrifying, it actually seems like a whole load of fun. But saying that, I’m not so sure I love the idea of watching my ex get married on TV and then having to see their face for an hour every night, four times a week. I imagine that feeling is fairly mutual.

With the new season set to start on Monday, I’m sure we’ve all wondered whether the new brides and grooms got round to mentioning their new marriage to their exes, or whether just they plan on ruining the show for them instead. To the MAFS UK 2023 exes out there – all I can suggest is that perhaps you skip this season and try again next year.

This is what the exes of the MAFS UK 2023 cast said about them appearing on the show:

Luke

With MAFS UK being his second TV appearance after starring in Channel 4’s The Language Of Love, Luke isn’t a stranger to the cameras – or searching for love, it seems. After being dumped by his ex-girlfriend of eight years, Luke actually told his ex’s family about his appearance on the show, with them still being close. But when it came to his ex, Luke told The Tab that he only told her after bumping into her in the pub three days later – and “she wasn’t happy”. So unhappy that she actually wanted to ‘turn up and stop’ his MAFS wedding.

Luke said his ex won’t watch the show when it comes out, but that “she regrets” dumping him. He seems to be over it though, making it clear he’s onto bigger and better things: “But unfortunately, you only get one chance with me.”

Georges

Being single for four or five years, Georges told The Tab how he sort of had an ex, but that their relationship was unofficial. He said that despite them never really being official, she was the only person he didn’t want to tell – but that his best mate told her anyway. Knowing she watches the show, Georges said she would have been “frustrated by it”.

“There was an ex that, we were never really official but we slept together for like, five or six years. So we were kind of a thing, not! I mean, we weren’t ever official but we were.

“And when she found out she wasn’t best pleased. But it’s fine, boohoo, you snooze you lose, right? There’s a reason why it was never anything more. She never liked watching me on TV, they were her words, ‘I don’t like watching you flirt with other women’, I was like, ‘sorry?’. It’s not my fault, it’s yours. But yeah, she wasn’t really best pleased about that.”

Shona

Shona’s ex-boyfriend was not best pleased about hearing her marriage. She told The Tab: “I also rang my ex to tell him and I was like, ‘I think this is the right thing to do to tell you’, and he was like ‘thanks for ruining my favourite show’.” Awkward.

Whereas Rosaline told us she thinks all of Shona’s exes will watch this season, she’s not too sure: “I don’t know if he’ll watch it.”

Rosaline

Rosaline didn’t tell her ex-boyfriend she was to appear on the show, despite him breaking up with her just six months ago. So mature. She said she wasn’t sure whether this was the right or wrong thing to do, but instead joked with her dad about how to walk down the aisle, where he mistakenly assumed she was marrying said ex.

“I joked being like, ‘oh dad, how do you walk down the aisle, like this or like that?’ And he thought I was marrying my ex and I was like, ‘oh no no no’. And he was like, ‘absolutely not’. And then when I told him the other bit he was like, ‘what?'”

Jay

Jay on the other hand, literally couldn’t think of anything worse. When asked whether she told her ex about being a bride on the show, she was quick to say no. She told The Tab: “No, they don’t need to know that, what do they need to know for? It’s gone, been done and dusted. See ya later.”

Tasha

Tasha was another bride who didn’t tell her ex about going on the show. She instead preferred to opt for the surprise factor, saying “Oh, no thank you. No, no, no. They can watch me get married on TV, thank you very much.” Fair enough.

Arthur

Seemingly the most romantic groom of the new season, Arthur told The Tab that he did in fact tell his ex-girlfriend that he’d be getting married on the telly. Despite not speaking for a year, she came to see him about a month before the show started to “talk about things”. But according to Arthur, she “picked the wrong time”.

“I did mention it to her. She just laughed it off. Yeah, she was like Arthur I can’t wait to see.”

Brad

I’m not sure whether this is a red flag or a green one, but Brad reported having a good relationship with all his exes, going so far to say that they’re “friends”. He did clarify that he believes these good relationships are dependent on the situation, and that having no emotion towards someone allows flexibility for him to be both friends and platonic with exes.

He told The Tab: “If you still have emotional attachments to somebody, it’s always bitter.

“If I don’t care about you, I can say ‘Hiya, you alright’, I don’t feel any emotion. So yeah, my exes have all been sweet”.

For all the latest Married at First Sight Australia news and gossip like this article about MAFS UK 2023 exes, like The Holy Church of MAFS on Facebook.

Related articles recommended by this author:

• From kicking off to cracking on: What you can expect on MAFS UK 2023 according to the cast

• Nathanial from MAFS UK says he prefers dating guys because girls are ‘hard work’

• MAFS UK’s Ella didn’t want to be someone’s ‘dirty secret’ so applied as first trans bride

Featured image via Instagram @lukeworley1, @bradskelly and @shoniemandy