And that’s it for Ella Morgan, JJ Slater and Bianca Petronzi on MAFS UK 2023, with all three leaving the iconic E4 show last night (Ella’s husband Nathanial Valentino left on Monday night after a very dramatic dinner party) following the breakdown of their relationships when Ella and JJ started to develop feelings for each other.
Rumours that Ella had made a connection with another groom on the show had been circling for weeks, and finally last week - whilst the group split up and headed on separate spa trips - the connection between Ella and one of the intruder grooms became obvious. When asked which member of the group was most their type, both Ella and JJ raised some eyebrows when they chose each other.
Initially their partners Nathanial and Bianca were kept in the dark about the extent of the duo's flirting, but on Monday night everything came to a head during a dinner party in which it was revealed that Ella and JJ had been texting and had even arranged to meet up one-on-one.
Nathanial subsequently quit the show and then last night Bianca, JJ and Ella followed suit after a dramatic commitment ceremony in which Bianca shared that it was Ella who had texted JJ and asked to meet up.
Obviously flirting with someone else when you’re married – even if it’s only on a TV show – is a massive no-no and Bianca (who handled herself incredibly well in last night’s episode we should add) and Nathanial have every right to feel disrespected by the way that their respective partners treated them.
However, that doesn’t give anyone the right to come for Ella on social media.
Taking to her Instagram stories, Ella revealed that she had been receiving multiple messages of hate on social media, posting ‘I’m not perfect in any way… we all make mistakes, but I don’t warrant receiving the transphobic abuse that I have. My transition has nothing to do with anything.
‘Thank you everyone for the supportive messages, love and understanding.’
We say it every year, but it’s important to remember that we only see a small, highly edited section of Married At First Sight every episode. In fact, a whole week’s worth of content has been cut down into just four hours meaning viewers can’t possibly know the full story when it comes to the relationships between the contestants especially because what we do see is often the most dramatic moments.
Besides, even if that weren’t the case, it’s never appropriate to target your annoyance at a reality star’s actions to them from behind the protection of a keyboard and relative anonymity. Your words will hurt.
The fact that Ella is a trans woman, has nothing to do with the fact that she developed feelings for someone else on a reality show. For her to receive transphobic abuse thinly veiled as anger that she was considering cheating on Nathanial is disgusting.
Luckily Ella was well supported by her friends including former MAFS UK contestant Thomas Hartley who wrote, ‘Stop trying to bully my friend… Be kind or if you can’t control yourself don’t watch it.’
He later added, ‘I love you Ella! I stand with Ella and I stand with Bianca’ to which Ella responded, ‘As do I… we are fine now and I only have love for her’ suggesting that the pair had managed to patch things up off screen.
King Paul C Brunson – one of the relationship experts on MAFS UK – sums it up best.
Speaking about the backlash that some of the contestants on Married At First Sight UK have had this year, Paul posted an Instagram video encouraging viewers not to share their negative views to the contestants.
He said, ‘I think it’s so cool to have an opinion about this show and share that with friends, family, colleagues – that’s fine – but the moment that you take that opinion that is negative and hurtful and you go to one of the contributors pages and you post that, let me tell you what that means.
‘It means that you are an attention seeker. It tells me that you have low self-esteem. It tells me that you live a miserable life. It also tells me that your breath stinks because there’s good research that shows when you have those three characteristics that your breath probably stinks.’