Married At First Sight UK viewers watched in shock a few weeks ago as bride Julia-Ruth Smith, who left the experiment when her marriage to Divarni Balogun didn’t work out, confessed to her fellow contestants that she’d jetted off on an off-camera holiday with Joe Wood just days after he split from Maeve Mathieson.
Julia-Ruth and Joe enjoyed some fun in the sun in Lanzarote, where they slept together and got matching tattoos, although things didn’t progress into a full-blown romance as he ghosted her after they returned to the UK.
Despite not returning to the show himself and keeping pretty quiet about his fling with Julia-Ruth, Joe has now finally opened up about their holiday and the reason why he didn’t pursue a relationship with his co-star.
Joe’s opened up about his brief relationship with Julia-Ruth ©Channel 4
Speaking during an appearance on the Tom Talks podcast, Joe spoke about how the trip with Julia-Ruth came about. He explained, ‘Obviously after the show, I think it was a week after the show I was going on holiday by myself. Julia-Ruth then went out a few days later than me, not too sure of the timeline.
‘She then messaged me asking me if I was okay and we had a normal conversation and then she basically said, “Oh I wish I was going on holiday.” And then she just ended up coming on the holiday and we had a lot of fun.’
He added, ‘It was great to share our experiences together, because the pressure was off, we were fully decompressing. It was nice to do that with someone who has a similar experience. There was a little bit of a romance while we were there.’
Julia-Ruth was ghosted by Joe after their trip ©Channel 4
But despite having fun on their holiday, Joe revealed that he wasn’t interested in anything long-term with Julia-Ruth as it would have been ‘morally wrong’.
‘We got back and I just think morally, for me, it wouldn’t have been right to pursue anything with her in terms of something serious. I don’t think that would have been right for me, it just didn’t feel right for me to then pursue a romantic relationship.
‘The important thing is we were both single, we’d finished our marriages, we were done and it was after the show. I never had any intention to go back on the show. What I do in my personal life is up to me.’
Joe split from wife Maeve before his trip with Julia-Ruth ©Channel 4
After Julia-Ruth made the bombshell revelation about her holiday with Joe, his ex-wife Maeve was left gobsmacked and fumed, ‘I can’t believe that Joe’s actually done this. You don’t tell someone that you love them, leave them and then two days later start cracking on with another wife, then f*** them in Lanzarote. F*** off.’
He’s now admitted that his actions were ‘insensitive’ and added, I can see that it was insensitive because they know each other. But I was single and I always made sure there weren’t any signals during the show.’