Married At First Sight Australia groom Richard Sauerman, 62, has revealed the real reason he and Andrea Thompson, 51, were cut from the reunion episode.
Last week viewers watched as the season 11 cast got together one final time to discuss their relationships with the MAFS experts. However one pairing was noticeably absent from the couch, as Richard and Andrea didn’t rehash their journey with their fellow castmates. This left fans confused and wondering why these two didn’t have a sit-down chat like the other couples did.
Now Richard has come forward to disclose that he and Andie did in fact film a section with Mel Schilling, John Aiken and Alessandra Rampolla, however their scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.
In an interview on Yahoo! Australia’s podcast Behind The Edit, Richard revealed: “We were filmed that night. They filmed six couples but only five went to air, we didn’t go to air.”
When asked what viewers missed, Richard said: “They missed the six minute highlight reel of our relationship. Why it didn’t go to air I have no idea, I think you might want to ask Andie that question. Maybe she has an answer to that.”
Richard was then quizzed on how he found sitting down with the experts and reflecting on his relationship.
The groom explained: “It’s so stressful. Sitting in front of the experts in that environment. With everyone else sitting there, the couples watching you, all the cameras, the lights, the whole thing is very very intense.”
When asked about how his and Andrea’s final chat at the reunion went, Richard stated: “It was a bit awkward, to be honest. We didn’t leave on good terms. We had exchanged a few text messages between leaving and between there [the reunion] but no real massive, meaningful contact.
“Andie was a bit stand-offish and that’s okay. I said on the couch I’d really like to be friends with Andie and they asked her if that was possible and she said ‘yeah, sure that’s possible’, so we kind of left on that note.”
Speaking about what his relationship is like with Andrea today, Richard revealed: “Andie and I today, we’re not enemies, we’re not friends, we’re just two people who shared a really amazing experience, a really unusual experience. We’ll always have that in common and that’s it.”
In the same interview the 62-year-old also stated that he believed Andrea had leaked a private conversation they had about getting back together with the press.
Richard claimed: “I sent texts to Andie and I hear them being read out on podcasts – like, no, I’m not going to talk to you if you’re going to tell other people what I’ve said.”
Andrea has not come out publicly to discuss Richard’s statements, however things seem to be civil between the pair as they met for coffee a few weeks ago and still follow each other on Instagram.