If you thought our version of Married At First Sight (MAFS) was cooked, wait till you hear about how wild it is over the ditch. The first season of MAFS NZ saw contestants get legally married to a stranger, because, and I kid you not, producers thought it would “make more of an effort” if there was some sexy paperwork involved.
MAFS NZ first kicked off in 2017, yet one couple has only just managed to extract themselves from their TV marriage from hell. You see, in Aotearoa, you have to be separated for two years before you can actually get a divorce – a problem I’m guessing producers just swept under the rug.
At least here in Australia, the ‘marriages’ are all fake. Can you imagine being tied to someone like Harrison Boon, for a minimum of two years? What happens to their shared finances? What if you fall in love with someone else and desperately want to tie the knot? I have so many questions. What an absolute shitshow.
Anyway, The Spinoff tracked down one of the franchise’s rare queer couples – Ben Blackwell and Aaron Chisholm, who legally wed in 2017. At their wedding, the pair appeared to be on Hate At First Sight, with Ben admitting he “really didn’t like” Aaron almost instantly, and declaring the experts had got it wrong.
This was the beginning of the end. (Image: TV3)
The pair obviously didn’t make it, with Ben becoming NZ’s first MAFS villain. The couple had to wait an excruciating two years before they could even consider getting divorced, but once they were ready to sever ties, COVID-19 hit and Aaron was in the thick of it, working as a paramedic in London.
“It was just totally chaotic to try and organise the divorce during lockdowns,” Ben told the publication.
He continued: “Those stupid decisions that you make in your 20s aren’t just going to affect you in the short term, they are going to have long-term effects on your life.”
You can almost feel the tension from this couch session. (Image: TV3)
The pair had an awkward reunion recently in an Auckland courthouse and confused the person dealing with their divorce paperwork. The soon-to-be exes had to note the day they met and the day they wed… which was obviously the same date.
“He looked at me and was like, ‘I think you’ve done this incorrectly, both of these are the same day’. [I replied], ‘No, that’s right: we met and got married on the same day.’,” Ben said.
“As far as I’m aware, me and Aaron were the only gay couple to ever be legally married on MAFS, so we’re also the only gay couple in MAFS history to get legally divorced,” he added.
The exes actually had to fork out $300 for their divorce, which seems bonkers to me. What are they drinking over there?
