‘I never loved Shona’: Brad makes savage dig at ex-wife after being axed from MAFS

He said when he spoke of ‘allowing’ Shona to do things, it came from the heart

7 months ago

In the last week it has been revealed Brad Skelly has been axed from MAFS UK 2023, after what Channel 4 deemed as “unhealthy” behaviour towards new wife, Shona Manderson. Now he’s made a savage dig at her, and said he never even loved her, despite confessing his love to her multiple times on the show.

Brad and Shona were matched on Married at First Sight, and quickly got intense – discussing how much they loved one another and the possibility of having children. However, cracks began to show when Brad said they had “different levels of maturity” and began using controlling language towards Shona.

Brad was accused of being controlling towards his new wife during the experiment when he told her to “shut up” during the dinner party, and branded her emotionally immature. He also spoke of “allowing” Shona to be upset, comments which sparked a response from women’s charity, Women’s Aid.

Speaking to The Mirror, Brad has now said he was never even in love with Shona, and said it was the situation that made him think he was. He said the “highly emotional environment” with “no external influences and guidance” made him confuse lust with love.

via E4

He said: “I most definitely can confirm that I wasn’t in love, but at that time, it was a strong feeling of lust that I got confused with. Yeah, because you haven’t got a lot of external influences or guidance like you have on the outside world like on the outside world you have a lot of freedom and flexibility to actually find out if that’s the case.

“You know, when in there I was really trying to make it work. So I think a lot of the time with me saying these things I was trying my hardest, you know, to really make things work but I was really trying to navigate myself to be fair.”

Following his actions on the show, Channel 4 confirmed Brad had been kicked off the experiment, and Shona would no longer be taking part either. “If any relationships on MAFS UK develop in a way that is deemed unhealthy we take expert advice as to whether the couple should leave the process,” the channel said. “This was the case with Brad and Shona. Support is available at all times.”

Brad on Married at First Sight UK 2023, MAFS

via E4

Brad told The Mirror he never intended to speak to Shona the way he did, and said his comments “came from the heart”. He added: “So the way that I project certain terminology, however, is never intended that way. So for me, when I expressed that if ‘I allow Shona to do this, then she will never learn’.

“Yeah, it was more so the whole conversation was coming from the heart and a sense of, Well, if me and Shona or partnership, and we’re sort of trying to look out for each other, it’s in each other’s best interests to sort of have each other’s back, you know, so if we allow each other to go rogue or to want to guide each other, you know what I mean?

“So if we allow each other to fall into situations, that we’re aware of we will both never learn. It was obviously snipped at the part where I said that and I can completely understand how it looks.”

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