There are couples like Olivia Frazer and Jackson Lonie, who fell for each other instantly on their wedding day, and then there are couples like Al Perkins and Samantha Moitzi, who needed help from the experts just to share a kiss. And we all know that didn’t go over very smoothly.
WATCH: Sam rejects Al’s kiss on their MAFS honeymoon
Not everyone can move at lightning speed on Married At First Sight Australia, but is it a sign of whether or not the romance will last? With this couple, it turned out to be.
The 25-year-old groom and 26-year-old bride were off to a rocky start on their wedding day, with Sam raising immediate concerns over his maturity. In an interview with our sister site New Idea, Sam admits their connection took some time.
“When you look at our wedding, it wasn’t love at first sight,” she said. “It was tough because I came into the experiment with quite a firm idea of what I felt like I needed and what I wanted in a relationship.
“And because Al was so different to what I was expecting… It was almost a bit of a struggle because I didn’t want to take the lead, but I felt like he really wanted me to teach him everything, which then made me feel like his mother.”
And while they’ve had some ups, their relationship has mostly consisted of downs as Sam maintains Al is too immature for her.
At the final Commitment Ceremony on March 20, Al wrote “leave” and left the ball in Sam’s court to decide if they would stay or go – after she’d tried to go home the two previous weeks before.
“I did want to be more than friends,” Al admitted to the experts.
“Sam has been such an amazing wife and I still really care about her, but I’ve really got to be mature and consider where Sam’s feelings are at. I guess we’ve got to go our separate ways.”
“Keep the shoey for the second date maybe,” Sam told Al, after affectionately telling him he would find someone amazing.
It was a far cry from the previous Commitment Ceremony, where Sam snapped at him for writing down “stay” and said “this isn’t the Al show.”
On Instagram, Sam then took a swipe at Al in the caption of her photos from the Commitment Ceremony.
“When you’re 100% sure this is your last MAFS Commitment Ceremony but then you end up having to stay for his personal growth,” Sam captioned the carousel.
Of his MAFS journey, Al tells Nine that he’s glad he went on the show even if he didn’t find love.
“After coming out of the experiment, I do feel confident that I will be a great husband one day,” he tells the publication.
“I’ve grown as a person in this experiment.”
“The journey on the show was probably the best thing I’ve ever done in my life,’ he said. “I’ve cherished every single moment of it. If I’m gonna be honest I didn’t want to leave. I loved it there.”
But things picked back up the following week, with the couple ditching homestays and enjoying time together in Sydney so they could exit the experiment on better terms.
“I was big time blindsided when she wrote leave the first at the commitment ceremony,” Al tells our sister site Now To Love. “But I was pretty certain she was going to write leave the most recent time.”
Al told the publication he has no regrets about choosing to stay on for another week so the pair could “end on a nice note” following the breakdown of their relationship.
“We went on a really nice [snorkelling] date and that was a step in the right direction, otherwise if we did leave we would’ve left on a really bad note,” he says.
“I wanted to make sure we kept going and steer us in the right direction. Sam and I are really tight now, everything is really good. It’s changed me for the better. I’m glad everything that happened has happened.”
Just like Holly Greenstein and Andrew Davis, or Selin Mengu and Anthony Cincotta, the signs were there all along that Sam and Al would not make it through the experiment.
The couple were not following each other on Instagram prior to MAFS starting – which was a bit of a red flag. The participant’s accounts are currently being run by Nine Networkrepresentatives and, once it was realised that stars like Sam and Al weren’t following each other, they have since hit that follow button on all accounts so that it was less obvious.
On SportsBet, Sam and Al were predicted to leave at one of the Commitment Ceremonies prior to the Final Vows. The predictions are often seen as a sign of “leaked” intel from someone close to the show, but they can change throughout the season as new details emerge. In this case, it turned out to be true!
Al was spotted wearing is wedding ring on a night out with co-stars, which seemed promising, but that could have been just for fun. At the very least, we’re glad Al has left in a solid friendship group – which you can read more about here.
Married At First Sight Australia airs Monday to Wednesday, 7:30pm, and Sunday, 7pm, on Nine Network and 9Now.
Ready to find your own fairytale romance, without the reality TV drama? Sign up to eHarmony.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
