The ending of this year’s Married At First Sight UK was just as explosive as the rest of the series has been, with half the couples having shock splits in the final vows on Tuesday night.
After 10 weeks, the Channel 4 dating experiment came to a head, with the last four couples, Adam and Polly, Sacha and Ross, Amy and Luke and Nathan and Lacey, having to make their final decisions on whether to stay together.
But in highly dramatic and emotional scenes, only Sacha and Ross and Nathan and Lacey chose to commit to their marriages, with the other two couples sharing brutal splits.
Amy and Luke shared a shocking confrontation, after he said he was ‘laying my heart bare’ and admitting: ‘My dream scenario is that me and Amy leave hand in hand and look forward to the future. I hope she gives me that chance.’
During the vows, Luke shared the depth of his feelings for his bride, as he told her: ‘This experience has been testing, for all our highs there have been lows. I feel responsible for many of them because of my white lies.
‘I felt I damaged our trust and at times I wasn’t sure you even liked me and became concerned as to why you were so cold.
‘But over time the ice melted and every step you were there protecting me. We have shared the most special moments and I don’t want to give up.
‘There are many things I have left to work on, but I hope on our journey ahead there will be two footprints in the sand. Amy, I want to stay together, our future starts now’.
However, Amy decided to wear a black wedding dress and veil as she savagely declared she was ‘mourning the death of this marriage’ and that Luke was not ‘worthy’ of her.
She began: ‘Luke I joined the experiment to find my forever person. You were my Prince Charming, you showed me you were a gentleman. There’s never been a dull day and we’ve had so many laughs and you’ve taught me a lot about myself.
‘However, I’ve tried so hard to let my walls down but the continuous lies have stopped our marriage moving forward.
‘Marriage is based on trust and you’ve pushed me to a point I don’t believe a word out of your mouth.
‘I know my worth and you aren’t worthy of me. This marriage is done, dead, deceased. I stand here in black to mourn it’s death. RIP.’
As she walked away, a heartbroken Luke making visibly emotional and teary-eyed, telling the cameras: ‘I feel empty and a bit lost for words. I don’t feel like I deserved all of that, it felt a bit heavy handed, but what can i do?
‘My white lies aside, my feelings for Amy will always be. I just wanted someone to accept me for who i am, I wanted Amy to accept me. Clearly Amy is not wanting to have any part of this relationship anymore and it’s over for her and me.’
Meanwhile, Adam and Polly had an even more explosive final vows, ending with the pair yelling at each other and Adam storming off.
Viewers had already watched the combative couple sling insults during Monday’s dinner party, with Polly branding her groom, 35, a ‘f*****g narcissist’.
Adam fumed: ‘If you’re going to frustrate me and moan at me all day, why would I want to come home and have sex with you?’, before letting his chair crash to the ground as he got to hit feet.
Polly then hit back: ‘You’ve led me on, you’ve f***** me about, and you’ve p***** me right off’ before storming off.
And going into the final vows neither seemed sure on what to do, with Adam saying their relationship had been ‘so natural’ and they’d ‘built a great friendship’ and Polly admitting: ‘Despite everything, I do think Adam and I are a good match.’
Adam added: ‘I do feel Polly wants this to work but for that to happen a lot needs to change. When we’re good we’re good, but when we’re not it’s a disaster.’
As they came together for their final vows, Polly said: ‘Adam, this experience has been once in a lifetime. It hasn’t been an easy journey and it’s been filled with ups and downs.
‘I came in ready to compromise, but I realise I’ve actually been sacrificing a lot of my personality. I’ve tried not to swear, not to talk about intimacy and not to be too opinionated and watered down arguments to protect your reputation.
‘That said you’ve taught me a relationship can be fun and you’ve taught me what I want from a man. I am boisterous, loud, opinionated and independent and the right man will love those things about me.
‘You’ve been so adamant you don’t want me to changed, but over the last few days i know this isn’t’ true. I now know what I deserve and this isn’ it. I regret calling you emotionally mature, because if you were you wouldn’t have led me on.
‘You used me to paint a narrative that you’re a good man and husband. But all you’ve shown if you’re a good liar. I do hope you find love one day, but it won’t be with me.’
In response, Adam insisted he wasn’t a liar and had been honest with Polly from the start, as she shot back: ‘You have lied about wanting a future when you know that’s not what you want. So that is lying. You had multiple opportunities to leave, I said if you wanted to I would go, so why did you stay?’
Adam replied: ‘I stayed to see what happened and if anything would change. It’s always about you, never about me’.
Polly fumed: ‘Also your lack of empathy, deflecting blame, not taking accountability, the fact you don’t feel the need to apologise’ causing Adam to declare: ‘This is childish’ and storm off.
Polly yelled after him: ‘You are a joke, you’re embarrassing. He always walks away, he never finishes anything’ before breaking into tears and saying: ‘It’s s*** to be so vulnerable and open and sharing that with someone, for them to just walk off without speaking.’
She then insisted: ‘This is not done, he’s not getting the chance to mug me off.’
Sacha and Ross also shared a very turbulent final vows ceremony, as Sacha stormed off half-way through and broken down sobbing in the hallway.
The couple had shared a strong bond throughout the experiment, but struggled over the fact that Ross wanted to stay in Manchester to be near his daughter, while Sacha was adamant she wouldn’t leave her home in Walsall.
As Ross began his vows, Sacha became furious as she said: ‘You’ve made out that you wasn’t yourself in the experiment because of me, that you began to lose yourself. You’ve not had my back with those vows. I need a minute,’ before running off.
She told the cameras: ‘I’m upset with Ross’ vows. It sounds like he doesn’t want to come to Walsall. I’m devastated.’
But she soon returned, saying: ‘I don’t want to lose Ross. I’m going to hear what he’s got to say because I love him.’
Ross continued: ‘There is no one i would rather be on the journey with, but I don’t want to tear you away from your family. I’m going to move to Walsall to be with you. You are everything i asked for, you’re the perfect girl for me and I love you.’
As Sacha beamed with happiness, she then used British Sign Language to give her vows to Ross, saying: ‘We started this not knowing each other or being sure it would work.
‘But you did all you could to make me feel comfortable and I soon began to catch feelings on the honeymoon.
‘We became a team and a real connection began. I know our fieriness has caused some problems for us and I wasn’t sure I could take the heat. I don’t want a future where arguments get out of hand.
‘But I love everything about you. Your smile, your body and the way you place your hand on my neck to hear the vibrations when you take your hearing aids out at night. I think it’s the sweetest thing. I came here for the L word and met the love of my life. I love you Ross always.’
While Nathan and Lacey shared emotional final vows together, with both becoming teary-eyed as they vowed to keep their marriage going.
Lacey told Nathan: ‘When I first laid eyes on you I feared you were too good looking for me and I thought I’d get hurt.
‘As time went on i found a big difference in our communication. Throughout the experience I worried you lacked depth and I feel I’m constantly asking you for more and you’ve struggled to match my expectations.
‘However you opened up to me and let your guard down and i know it’s harder for you. I believe you were brought to me for a reason Nath, you make me feel safe. I love you.’
While Nathan broke down in tears several times throughout his speech, as he said: ‘Looking back on my memories of our wedding, when I first saw you I thought you were beautiful. However as time went on it became apparent our communication was a problem.
‘You needed a lot of reassurance and it takes me time to open up and I didn’t realise how hard it would be. I feel our biggest hurdle was my communication and my ADHD. At times I feared if I didn’t give you communication it would upset you and you’d eventually give up.
‘However, I promised to myself I’d put things right. There is so much i love about you, your quirky mannerism, how confident and spontaneous you are. I know I’m difficult to read sometimes but I love how patient you are with me and how you’ve grown to understand me and how i think.
‘I never met someone who pushes me and makes me a better person. I never get tired of spending time with you and I’m looking forward to life outside the experiment. I love you to the stars and back.’
All the couples are set to come face to face once more for the reunion episode on Wednesday night, where it will be revealed what happened to them following the conclusion of the experiment.
And fireworks are sure to go off with the teaser revealing several surprises, shouting matches and tears.