Married at First Sight UK viewers have been left puzzled by the experts’ reactions to a couple calling time on their marriage.
Following Partner Swap week, the contestants reunited with their spouses. As a “tit-for-tat” over a compliment that didn’t land hung over Ashley and Grace’s relationships, MAFS fans took to social media as the trio of experts were accused of “not experting”.
At the latest dinner party, Grace and Ashley showed up on their own after an argument stemmed from him complimenting her body. While Ashley insisted it came from a place of appreciation for his wife, Grace felt it was impersonal.
The exact wording of the compliment in question was a point of contention during the dinner, with Grace saying that Ashley had phrased it in a way that hinted at him being attracted to any “half-naked woman with a good body”. For his part, Ashley repeated that it was directed at her specifically.
“You know what the issues is? It’s that you just aren’t listening,” Grace told him. “It doesn’t matter what was said… it wasn’t the right compliment for me.”
He replied: “And I feel like when I’m doing those nice things, I’m not going to be able to watch every single letter of every single sentence, because there’s only one letter that would’ve changed that from ‘a woman’ to, like, you.”
As Grace sarcastically suggested they should put the issue to the table and ask which one of their co-stars would have felt flattered by the compliment, the argument escalated.
“The tit-for-tat is exhausting,” expert Paul C Brunson said. “And what you’re seeing is how people who genuinely like each other can actually hurt each other.”
On Twitter/X, fans were following the row, with one person writing: “Grace and Ash have got me back on this damn site because these experts are not experting,” while someone else agreed: “We’re all saying that.”
At the party, Bride Leah took over after an awkward silence, saying: “You both worked very hard. But I do feel like you both haven’t understood each other from day one, in terms of who you both really are.”
“There’s so many positives of what you’ve brought to one another, but there’s still that… You’re not really communicating to understand each other.”
Meanwhile, expert Mel Schilling criticised Ashley for going into “blaming mode”.
“There was a real opportunity there for both of them to open up and to sort of say, ‘You’re right. We’re both not getting our needs met’,” she said.
“But unfortunately what Ashley has done here is going into blaming mode again. That’s just going to get Grace on the back foot.”
“I think the point that Grace is making is that she just wanted an apology,” expert Charlene Douglas added.
“And I think that if Ashley was able to take some kind of recognition for the hurt that he caused her, I think that would have gone a long way in terms of where they are now.”
As the situation grew tense at the table, both Ashley and Grace admitted defeat, with him leaving after she said he was the reason she was struggling.
“This is absolutely heartbreaking because you have a couple where they have shared values, shared vision for life, they’re physically attracted to each other, but yet can’t communicate,” Paul said.
On Twitter/X, a viewer disagreed: “Shared values Paul, erm that would just be that they both want to get married because I don’t see any other shared values!”
They added: “How they see the world and their roles in it is soooo fundamentally different.”
At the table, Grace asked the others whether she should check on Ashley and decided to go comfort him as he weeped.
“This shows that Grace does genuinely care about Ashley as a person,” Mel said.
In response to Mel’s comment, one Twitter/X user noted: “Okay, I think the judges are trolling us now.”
The episode ended on a sad note for Ashley and Grace, who mutually decided their relationship wasn’t worth saving.
“I think it’s just too far gone now,” Grace told producers. “It’s beyond repair.”