Credit: Nine
Like any couple Married At First Sight Australia, we have high hopes, but ultimately most of them will fall to the curse – could this be true for 2025 pairing Adrian and Awhina?
Initially, Adrian seemed to tick off all of Awhina’s romantic wishlist for her future partner. Their biggest issue, however, was that Adrian didn’t know if he wanted to father another person’s child.
Awhina is a single mother to a six-year-old son. The entire wedding, Awhina was gathering her courage to reveal her mum-status to her new husband, when her own mother dropped the major bombshell mid-speech.
While Adrian was enthusiastic about becoming a father in his audition tape, he admitted: “I didn’t say I want someone else’s kid.”
“It wasn’t ideal. If I could have it my way, I’d like to have that first with someone. Had we been in the outside world and known she had a kid, I never would have entertained it,” he then told the camera crew.
We thought this would be the biggest hurdle for Adrian and Awhina, but it wouldn’t be MAFS without a few twists and turns. And oh boy, is this 2025 pairing a rollercoaster.
Just when you think this relationship is coming to a halt, Adrian flashes a smile at his wife, and the issues fade into dust.
A new issue arised mid-way into the MAFS 2025 experiment, when Sierah revealed during a commitment ceremony that she emotionally opened up to Adrian, and he to her, despite being unable to confide in Awhina during the letter challenge.
Shortly after, the producers chose a select number of this year’s participants to partake in the 2025 promo video. Adrian was one of the few participants the producers did not ask.
Awhina came home to an empty apartment and Adrian had left his ring behind.
“I’m pissed off that I’m not in the promo. It’s disrespectful, and I’m not going to be treated like that,” he told Awhina over the phone. “I’m not coming back until they get me in the promo.”
At the dinner party, Awhina didn’t hold back, feeling that she and Adrian “aren’t a couple” given was the only person putting effort into their relationship.
“I was empathetic to your situation, you then tried to turn the tables and re-navigate how we ended up here. You didn’t offer me any genuine apology or even still ask me how I am. To not even come in with sincerity and apologise to me, that is not okay,” she expressed.
“Sometimes in life you need to be selfish,” Adrian responded, as he tried to explain his version of the story. “This time in my life, and my day, I need to be selfish and remove myself from the situation. She calls me, she’s messaging me saying ‘hey Adrian, you’re leaving, you’re ruining my experience-“
Awhina denied sending such text messages, and Adrian’s response had a few women around the table fired up.
“You’re gaslighting because you missed half of the story,” he said. “You females deflect, deflect, deflect.”
Unfortunately, during Adrian’s absence, he also went out for dinner with Sierah and Tony, which certainly has not helped his marriage…
“No one wants to hear my side. Everyone was coming at me,” he told the camera crew.
A surprise to no one but Adrian, Awhina wrote ‘leave’ in the following commitment ceremony, while the groom wrote ‘stay’. This meant that the pair were to remain in the experiment.
“I just messed up. I’ve done that in the past, I self-sabotage. I don’t give a shit about anything or anyone. I was heated, and I reacted with emotion. Us men can act heavily on emotions, and we’re not good with emotions and we make dumb decisions and that’s what I’ve done,” Adrian said.
And just when we thought the pair had hit rock bottom and could only go up, the MAFS Family and Friends Week threw another spanner in the works. Adrian’s twin sisters and friend when for lunch with Awhina and her twin, Cleo, and neither parties held back.
After facing a tough round of questions, Awhina confessed she “struggled to have a voice” with her husband, and he isn’t curious about her personal life.
“Okay, so what I’m hearing is this is all about Adrian right now, so you can confidently sit here and say that you don’t partake in any of these problems?” Adrian’s friend, Jasmine said.
Noticing Awhina’s “swollen” eyes, Cleo came in defence of her sister.
“[Adrian] has not even shown up, not even once,” she said.
“They are not good enough to be in your life,” Cleo said of Adrian’s family and friend. “He is definitely not good enough to be in my nephew’s life.”
Adrian and his guests furiously walked away from the table. The groom later stated that he felt “embarrassed” for Awhina and Cleo.
“I feel upset that I put my sisters and Jasmine in that situation,” Adrian told the camera crew. “I’ve given up just as much as her. I’ve given up my job, I’ve given up time away from my dog… Even though I feel like pulling up Cleo, but at the same time, I want to let her embarrass herself.”
Married At First Sight Australia airs at 7pm Sunday-Wednesday weekly, on Three and ThreeNow.
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