Viewers tuned in to Married At First Sight Australia would be forgiven for feeling a little confused about Steve Burley and Mishel Karen’s relationship.
One week there seems to be no hope for the couple, with dinner party walk-outs and Steve telling EVERYBODY (and then eventually Mishel too) that he’s not attracted to her. He has already opted to leave the experiment once. Then the next week they’re dropping the L bomb and say they’re moving towards intimacy.
“It may be confusing, but I make no apologies,” Steve, 52, tells TV WEEK. “I’m not here to make everyone else in Australia happy. I’m here to make myself happy – and Mishel happy, if possible.”
The UK-born barbershop owner explains that everything changed for him and Mishel in the space of just one hour during groom home stay week.
The couple had a “deep and meaningful” conversation when there were no cameras around.
“Our producer was on the phone downstairs in his car,” Steve explains. “Mishel just opened up to me about many things. It’s something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.
“It was a very moving moment. We hugged and were both in tears. My attraction started to grow towards Mishel because of the conversation.”
Because it’s a “personal matter”, Steve has not gone into detail about what they talked about, but admits their relationship might be less confusing to viewers if they’d been able to see and hear it.
Is it just us or is most of the drama happening off camera this season?
“Being privy to the conversation may have made it clearer,” he says. “Where we were after that is a really close moment and I will love Mishel until the day I die.”
WATCH BELOW: MAFS’ Steve tells Mishel he isn’t attracted to her. Story continues after video.
Steve wants to make it clear that he never once said Mishel wasn’t attractive.
“I said I was struggling with my attraction,” he explains. “They’re two completely different things. She’s a beautiful, beautiful person.”
We wonder if his previous relationships have been this confusing.
Steve was formerly in a five-year relationship with MasterChef Australia winner Diana Chan.
Steve met Diana in Melbourne “and we just hit it off.
“Our relationship took off from there,” he has told TV WEEK.
The couple lived together and had even planned to marry when Steve received a shock testicular cancer diagnosis at the age of 44.
He credited Diana – who won the MasterChef title in 2017 – with supporting him through his treatment.
“She was there. She supported me at every oncology appointment that I had, the operation, all this sort of stuff. She’s just an absolute deadset sweetheart,” he told the publication.
