Married at First Sight's Matt Pilmoor 'broken' as his mum spends 120 days in hospital with 'rare' brain condition

Matt, aged 31, who was a groom on hugely popular dating show MAFS UK in 2023, has taken to his Instagram page to tell his fans about his mum’s health.

He revealed that she’s now been in hospital for more than 100 days due to “a lot of brain problems”, but her health issues are so complex that doctors are unable to diagnose her.

In a video published on Sunday March 23, the reality star spoke directly to the camera looking sad. He said he wanted to provide information because many people had been asking him about what was happening with his family.

He said: “Mum went in to hospital over three months ago now. She’s been in hospital for over 100 days. Went in with delirium, not eating . . . a lot of brain problems basically. . . The hospital have been doing their best to cure my mum, to get her back to how she used to be, but unfortunately she’s had the base line now of probably not going to get any better.”

He continued: “The thing that I’m struggling with the most is there is no diagnosis yet, this is how rare it is . . . she’s got about seven different things going on with her brain. You would almost think it’s dementia but it’s not. It’s damage to the brain.

“When I go see her now she’s gone back about 20 years. She’s talking about Matthew and I’m sat right in front of her, she doesn’t realise it’s me some days and that’s what breaks me.”

He explained that “the hardest thing” is not being able to speak to his mum properly every day and tell her about good and bad things that are going on in his life. He added, however, that he is and his mum are still “joined at the hip”.

Referencing his long-term girlfriend Shona Manderson, also aged 31, whom he met on MAFS, he went on: “I’ve got Shona which is incredible. I’ve got my friends . . . which I’m so blessed and thankful for.” He then became emotional as he said: “I just never knew it would be like this, you know?” He added that he “cherishes” his mum and all he wanted was for her to get better.

Shona commented on the video with her support. “Love you so much xxxx,” she wrote.

In a follow-up post to mark Mother’s Day on Sunday, (March 30), Matt shared a series of photos including one of him and his mum together in happier times and one of him visiting her in hospital.

In the caption, he wrote: “Should be a day of celebrations not tears, but she’s battling on as best as she can. I adore this women. 120 days in hospital still with so much uncertainty but I’m with her ever step of the way. Appreciate your mum and spend as much time with her as possible, because you don’t know what’s around the corner.”

Matt and Shona, who were on the same series of MAFS but were paired with different partners before getting together, are the only remaining couple from series eight specifically. They are also only one of four couples from all nine MAFS UK series who remain together.

Shona was married to Brad Skelly, and at first their romance looked very promising. But, the experts soon raised concerns with Brad’s behavious towards his new wife, calling him out for gaslighting her, and the pair were asked to leave the experiment and split a short time after.

Matt, meanwhile, had been married to Adrienne Naylor but the pair's romance was short-lived. Due to the time they each entered and left the experiement, Shona and Matt did not meet until a subsequent reunion show in June 2023.

They have been dating ever since and are said to want to get married and start a family. During the recent MAFS UK reunion special, which aired in February and included 2023 and 2024 cast members, Matt gave Shona a promise ring - something many viewers thought was an indication he would soon propose.