During lockdown three, for many of us, Married At First Sight Australia was the TV to get us through. Hundreds of thousands were completely captivated by the series, airing on E4, which saw strangers walk down the aisle and navigate married life in the weeks afterwards (with a lot of added drama). In fact, the import was so successful, it was announced shortly afterwards that the UK series would be revamped to give the Aus version a run for its money.
One of those who watched the Aussie version was Luke Dawson, 36, who is currently on the UK series, paired with Morag Crichton, 31. He says he applied for the new version while he was watching The Australian series with friends. 'I was watching it and I was like "man, that would be so cool,"' he tells Grazia. 'So it was a bit of a joke, it was a tipsy kind of application and my friends were like, "Go on Luke, you'd be great". I applied and then all of a sudden I had one conversation, one phone call and then three four months of back and forth questions.'
Since then Luke has become a fan favourite. Matched with Morag, experts hoped the loud 31-year-old would bring Luke out of his shell following a tough break-up. But was clear from the offset that the pair had entirely different personalities; Luke was far more introverted. On the wedding day, Morag swigged from a hip flask and said Luke wasn't what she ordered. And on the honeymoon, Morag insisted that he should change his wardrobe - and took him shopping (much to the dismay of most fans).
Luke has been watching the show - and he says he was surprised to watch back that scene at the wedding, where Morag claims that he 'wasn't what I ordered'. 'From a viewer's point of view, you to understand that when these conversations are taking place, and you're not there, we legitimately do not know that conversation is taking place. I'm watching this show like everybody else, and discovering new conversations have happened.' What was that like, to see conversations which he wasn't privy to? 'It can be tough sometimes, but I'm also in a very good place,' he says, keen to stay optimistic.
During the application process, Luke says he was asked what his ideal partner would be. Turns out, Morag wasn't his type either - but he says he was 'a lot more respectful to her towards her than she was towards me at the time'.
So, if given the choice, what kind of woman would he want to have matched with? 'I remember an early conversation [with relationship expert Paul C Brunson] and he was like "Luke, I love you - let me pick the perfect person for you,"" he says. 'And I described someone who was quite career oriented, quite homely, family orientated. My usual type is long, dark hair with a good sense of humour, who could get on with my friends and family.'
Keen to make the most of the series, however, Luke says he committed to try and make the relationship work - he insists he only went on the show because he truly wanted to get married. Fame is a side effect: Luke went in to the series with 232 Instagram followers, he now has over 85,000.
This week fans have applauded co-star Matt Jameson, 39, paired with Dan McKee, 27, for sticking up for Luke at the final dinner. He stepped in to criticise the fact that Morag has made it so clear throughout the series that Luke needed to change, from the shopping trip to saying he wasn't a 'manly man'. 'Matt was my best friend on the show,' Luke says. 'I'm so glad everyone got to see that the other night, we talk all the time.' All the other men on the show are in a WhatsApp group too, he reveals: 'I think we'll always stay in touch and keep each other updated on our lives.'
There have been doubts cast over the intentions of some of the other contestants, though, as many have appeared on other dating shows - including Morag. When asked whether he knew during filming that Morag had appeared on Take Me Out, he simply says: 'I didn't know that at all until really late on.' Did finding that out make him skeptical about her end game? Luke doesn't answer.
Luke compromised throughout the experiment more than any of his fellow contestants. But he says the biggest of those compromises were the clothes - 'there's more important things to me' - but the biggest was when he told Morag, who didn't want kids, that he had changed his mind on children.
But Luke wants to make clear that his outlook had simply changed, not that he was sacrificing anything because of his wife. 'The kids thing I probably went over the top,' he tells us, 'But I want everyone to understand because it got on a lot of people's nerves. I was worried when that was going to come out on the show, I was really stressed. This doesn't come through in the edit, but in my real life journey, before going on to the show, I said to Paul that I want a life partner - however if kids aren't in my life, it's something I've got to get used to.'
He adds: 'I was putting so much pressure on myself about having children that [before the experiment] I was probably pushing people away who were perfectly good for me because I was freaking out that they either had kids, or they couldn't have kids, or they didn't want kids that I was actually losing out.' However, he does add that he would still 'love' to have children. 'What I will say is that I would love family, but to me being with someone who I want to be with is much more important,' he says.
Luke is keen not to spoil the rest of the series - you'll have to watch tonight to find out if him and Morag agree to stick together - but he says fans need to tune in next Monday for the reunion. 'I think everybody's going to watch tonight and will be like "Oh MAFS is finished,"" he says. 'But really the reunion is the one where like, everyone is gonna go "Oh my bloody God."'