At the first Married At First Sight NZ dinner party Christopher and Rose assumed the role of Mum And Dad – delivering slightly condescending observations to the other couples on how their relationships were looking.
But you can never assume age gives you the upper hand… we all know that James and Carmen are the real power couple in this series.
The twenty-somethings might be ‘young’ – and also only a few days into their relationship – but they already seem the real deal as well as proof that sometimes the experts get it absolutely right. (We can add season one’s Brett and Angel and season two’s Dan and Yuki to this claim.)
As MAFS expert Stephanie Dowse puts it, “It’s like a greyhound race, and one greyhound is well out in front.”
In a podcast interview with The Edge‘s Sharyn Casey and Meg Annear Carmen, 25, has revealed just how at one with James she feels.
“We’re just like twin humans really,” she said. “I feel like he’s the boy version of me. We get along really well, we’re interested in the same things.
“He is a great time, if it’s a great time you’re never going to not want to do it.”
She said she realised at the get-together organised by Rose and Christopher on the couples’ honeymoon that “me and James are in quite a good place compared to everyone else”.
She said she was most “worried” for Vicky and Stefaan, but that “a few people got upset” when they spoke “one-on-one” that evening about their marriages.
Meanwhile, for someone who fell offside with Every Female Viewer by saying in episode one that “Saturday nights were for the boys”, James, 29, sure seems a smitten kitten – and we’ve forgiven him, of course.
We suspect he’d almost be bereft without his wife by his side on Saturday nights. To him Carmen has been a constant source of delight, announcing “I like the boys” at their wedding then suggesting a “skulling” race and getting tattoos on a post-honeymoon date.
James, a telecommunications technician from Christchurch, has since proven to be the sweetest of partners, telling Carmen straight away about his past with MAFS bride Vicky, declaring at the first dinner party that he was there for his wife, not the drama, and even calling her on her phone during a sentimental moment in their apartment because they’d missed out on the whole dating experience.
This week Stephanie posited to the couple that a relationship that starts off so strong can fizzle out but Carmen said afterwards, “I’m not worried about that happening.”
Even finding out that James had once been intimate with Vicky failed to faze the Auckland pastry chef: “Part of me kind of liked it because I’m like, he’s still wanted,” she laughed.
Carmen’s last boyfriend “cheated on me heaps” and she believes that’s the reason she’s so secure in her relationship with James.
“I think that’s why I’m not worried. I spent a lot of time alone, healing myself, and going into this you can’t bring any of those issues that you had into this because otherwise it will never work.”
You can find the rest of the podcast by searching MAFSNZ Group Chat on any podcast streaming service.
