Why did Adrian leave MAFS Australia? Groom shares real reason for exit
25 March 2025, 19:00
Married At First Sight Australia's Adrian says that he was actually 'kicked off the show' in a bombshell interview, claiming that a producer told him to 'pack his bags' following a fallout over a promo shoot.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
MAFS Australia 2025 groom Adrian has been one of the most controversial characters on this series of the hit reality TV show, with the scenes of his shocking exit from the experiment turning many against him.
The Married At First Sight scenes showed Adrian's wife Awhina attempting to put the pieces together after she returned to their apartment to find her husband gone, with his wedding ring left on the kitchen counter.
Awhina and Adrian, despite their disagreements on parenting, had been a strong couple up until this point of the show, leaving many fans questioning what could have caused his abrupt exit.
On MAFS, the story goes that Adrian was furious after being excluded from a Channel Nine promo shoot alongside the rest of the grooms, with the husband apparently offering an ultimatum to the show; put me in the promo shoot or I walk.
Now, Adrian has shared his own side of the story, and it is very different to the one we saw play out on our screens on Married At First Sight Australia.
First, let's review what happened on our screens during Adrian's shocking exit, and dig into the storyline which MAFS decided to air.
After Adrian leaves the apartments, Awhina comes home to an empty room and a wedding ring left on the side. When she gets through to Adrian on the phone, he can be heard telling her: "I'm p***ed off that I'm not in the promo. It's disrespectful and I'm not going to be treated like that."
When Awhina tries to convince him to return, he retaliates: "The fact that you're pushing me to come back, it's sort of showing colours."
Adrian eventually returns to the experiment at the following dinner party, but he has a lot of work to do to make it up to his wife.
Now, let's look into what Adrian says really happened during those dramatic few days.
The groom told Yahoo Lifestyle that he did not quit MAFS, but was instead told to leave by a producer after he bailed on the promo shoot for Channel Nine early.
He explained that he had become annoyed with the promo shoot as it was taking a long time to film the 'red flag / green flag' social video, which he branded "cringe".
Adrian said: “I went and sat in a tent for 20 minutes. It was 30 degrees plus that day in a warehouse and now I'm stuck in the tent. They wouldn't even let me leave. So I was sitting there, I was getting angry, and I was like, ‘You know what? I'm going. I'm not waiting three hours for them to finish just to go do some red flags and green flags [videos]’. Like, get out of here. Who cares? I didn't want to do that, I think it's quite cringe anyway.”
He was then chased up by (what is believed to be) a producer of the show, who questioned why he left: “This woman just kept yelling and yelling and yelling and I'm like, ‘Alright, see you later, I'm not sitting here going back and forth over something so stupid’. And then she goes, ‘Pack your bags and leave the experiment’. And I go, ‘Okay, no worries’."
Speaking of what he believed was the producer's motivation to make this request, Adrian said: “She didn't have control of me and she didn't have control of others on the cast that left, and I think it was sort of like the final straw. Like, ‘You listen to me, otherwise, see you later'."
“It had nothing to do with the promo," Adrian went on to tell the publication: "If I cared, why wouldn't I have stayed for the next six hours of the day? But I didn't. The only person that was getting hurt that day by leaving was me, no one else. That's why you didn't see me much prior to the show airing because I missed out on the promos out of my own choice."
He added: “I didn't say, ‘See you later Awhina’. I didn't say, ‘See you later Married At First Sight’. I was told to leave, so I got my bags and went, ‘See you later. Try me, I’m going’.”
Adrian claims that when he went to the apartment to get his things, the house AP (associate producer) entered and tried to film him packing his bags: "She’s filming and I go, ‘Nope, I'm not packing. Whatever, keep my clothes, I don't care’, and I walked straight out. That’s why when I left, you saw my bag was still there. I never took my luggage with me,” he points out. “And when I come back in, you see me with one backpack because I never grabbed my luggage, because I never chose to leave."
He even explained why he left his wedding ring in the kitchen for Awhina to find, telling the press that he was worried MAFS would claim that he stole their property.
Adrian reflected on how Awhina handled the situation and how it ultimately affected their relationship: "At the time I was like, why aren’t you hearing my side? You should be more siding with me, not production. I felt like Awhina was hurt because it was more personal to her that I left, and I can understand that, I can validate that."
“She was sort of at the time just a bit confused about everything that was going on," he went on: "So I was like, let's just have some time apart. If anything, it’s been five weeks back to back now in each other's pocket, and me and Awhina spent every second off camera together. So we decided to not hang out and talk too much over that weekend to have some space, and that's all it was.”
A few days after leaving the apartments, Adrian made a shock return to the experiment ahead of a dinner party, and while the show made it look as if he had recovered from his strop, he claims that production actually asked him to return.
Adrian says he did not want to come back after the fallout, but only agreed because of his feelings toward Awhina.
“I wasn't coming back, but they were like, ‘Oh, get Adrian back’," he said: "And honestly, because I care about Awhina - whether people believe me or not - that was the main reason I came back."
The groom added: “I couldn't give a s**t about being on TV anymore. I already had five weeks and I know they were an impactful five weeks, I know I would have had a lot of air time. I didn't care about that anyway. So production asked me to come back and then Awhina also asked so I came back.”
Who is still together from MAFS Australia 2025?
- Are MAFS Australia's Jamie and Dave still together?
- Are MAFS Australia's Sierah and Billy still together?
- Are MAFS Australia's Ashleigh and Jake still together?
- Are MAFS Australia's Tony and Morena still together?
- Are MAFS Australia's Carina and Paul still together?
- Are MAFS Australia's Jacqui and Ryan still together?
- Are MAFS Australia's Awhina and Adrian still together?
