While the brides and grooms set out to find love on the “Married At First Sight” experiment, sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Every Sunday, each couple faces experts John Aiken and Mel Schilling and clinical sexologist Alessandra Rampolla at a commitment ceremony, where they discuss their issues and concerns in front of the participants.
The “MAFS” commitment ceremonies are like a form of relationship counselling. The contestants come face-to-face with the three experts, and open up about any issues they’re experiencing in their marriage. After their couch therapy session, each participant must reveal whether they want to ‘stay’ or ‘leave’ the experiment. But they can only exit the experiment if both of them write ‘leave’.
Here’s Who Has Left the MAFS 2023 Experiment
Tayla and Hugo
We never had high hopes for Tayla and Hugo, and it’s not surprising they’ve decided to go their separate ways.
The couple decided there was no need to head to the commitment ceremony to end things. Speaking privately at the fifth dinner party, Tayla told the groom she was willing to give things another chance, but Hugo had had enough.
“You’re going to be absolutely awesome when you find the person you connect with but we both know that’s not me and that’s OK,” he said.
The couple then announced their split to the group, calling an end to their time on the show.
Sandy and Dan
While we had high hopes for Sandy and Dan, things unraveled between the pair quite quickly.
Sandy was devastated to hear about Dan’s antics at the boys’ night, where he was showing pictures of his ex-girlfriends to the other husbands, and comparing her to them. Dan also publically admitted he wasn’t sexually attracted to his ‘wife’.
Speaking to the experts at the commitment ceremony, the bride expressed she felt like Dan had been pulling away ever since they were intimate.
“It’s not a good feeling. I just remind myself, the one thing my dad said [was] ‘my biggest fear is that you go there and you’ll be disrespected by who they pair you with. And that’s exactly what happened,” she said holding back tears.
When asked about their relationship prior to the butt dial, Dan explained that he had been struggling with incompatibilities in their relationship. Specifically that Sandy did not enjoy the beach as much as he did.
Sandy believed that the biggest issue in their relationship was his focus on their differences while she tried to focus on their similarities. Eventually, both of them decided to leave the show.
Janelle and Adam
After the cheating scandal rocked the experiment, it was time for Adam to face the experts at the commitment ceremony. Janelle was the first to speak, sharing her shock over Adam’s actions.
“The cheating was one thing, but it was all the actions that followed that made it worse,” Janelle told the experts. “It was the lack of accountability, the lack of apology that felt so shocking.”
When Alessandra asked Adam why he seemed more focused on making peace with Jesse than Janelle, he was speechless. Alessandra held him responsible for his behaviour, and didn’t let anything slip by.
Adam attempted to explain that the kiss had not been premeditated and was just a “stupid drunken kiss”, but Lyndall pointed out his flirtatious behavior that night. Despite everyone in the room trying to make Adam see the gravity of his actions, he showed no remorse. At this point, they were just going around in circles.
The experts ultimately concluded that Adam was not taking ownership of his mistakes. In the end, Janelle and Adam both decided to leave the show. Adam walked out of the room, and no one went after him.
Melissa and Josh
After weeks of tension, things finally reached breaking point for Melissa and Josh at the commitment ceremony.
Josh recalled some of the things that Melissa had been saying behind closed doors, which included barbs about the lack of physical intimacy between the couple, and not being ‘manly’ enough.
“She has used degrading and dehumanising language to me, questioning my manhood. And can I say that if I was a woman saying these things, the group would feel very differently about this,” Josh said.
When it came to deciding if the couple wanted to stay or leave, Josh wanted to leave while Melissa surprisingly chose to stay. The “MAFS” rules state that if one person wants to stay, the pair have to spend another week in the experiment.
However, expert John Aiken could see the mental toll that was being placed on the groom and did “something [they’d] never done before”.
“We’ve been around long enough to know that there is no coming back for you in this experiment… right now, it’s up to you, Josh,” John said.
It was a no-brainer for Josh, who chose to leave the experiment.
Caitlin and Shannon
After a horrendous Intimacy Week, Caitlin didn’t hold back in front of the experts, recounting all the horrible things Shannon had been saying to her.
“I think the most hurtful thing for me was [when] he said if there was someone who walked down that aisle that wowed him, he would have cut it off with his ex then and there,” she said.
Related: “I Deserve to Be Respected”: Caitlin Leaves “MAFS” 2023
John Aiken was quick to slam Shannon’s actions as “really disgusting”.
Still, Shannon elected to stay in the experiment, prompting John to tell Caitlin that the decision was “entirely” up to her whether she chose to stay or leave.
The bride chose to leave the experiment, noting that she “deserves to be respected”.
“I deserve to feel wanted, I deserve to be treated like a human being. You don’t deserve me,” she told Shannon.
“Married At First Sight” continues tonight at 7.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
Related: MAFS Groom Shannon Tells ‘Wife’ He’s Still In Love With His Ex-Fiancée
