Married at First Sight US: 5 of the most shocking things to happen on MAFS US - from pregnancy to a restraining order

The dating show sees singles from across the USA matched by relationship experts before meeting for the first time on their wedding day. They say ‘I do’ moments later, and embark on a fast-tracked relationship with includes moving in with each other and meeting family and friends in the hope of building a long-lasting union.

Although there are 12 couples who are still togther from all of the MAFS US series, their have actually been more than 60 couples matched overall. So, there’s been plenty of drama amount the 50 plus couples who found that they weren’t actually meant to be. There’s also been one couple who caused controversy by continuing their relationship, as well as one groom who had a big health scare after leaving the experiment.

Here are five of the most shocking moments which have happened with MAFS US participants.

An expert married one of the grooms

Jessica Griffin and Jon Francetic are a somewhat controversial couple from MAFS US. Relationship expert Griffin joined the show in season 6 as an expert - the same year that Francetic was a cast member. Francetic's marriage didn't work out, but he found love with Griffin.

They began dating more than five months after the season finished. The pair became engaged in April 2019 and married in October 2022. Griffin announced she would not return as an expert to season 9, and many thought this was because of her relationship with Francetic.

One of the grooms married a disgraced actress

Jason Carrion was one of the grooms from the first season of MAFS US back in 2014. He was paired with Cortney Hendrix. The pair got on well all throughout the experiment, and although they revealed in a reunion show called Married at First Sight: The First Year that they’d faced some issues in the real world, which included the death of Carrion’s mother, Hendrix losing her job and arguments over money, they stayed together.

They remained together for five years overall, but divorced in 2019. Later the same year, Carrion met and became engaged to actress Roxanne Pallett. She had moved to America to escape the negative attention she was receiving in the UK at the time following ‘punchgate’. It was 2018 when Pallett falsely accused fellow actor Ryan Thomas of attacking her with malicious intent while they were both on Celebrity Big Brother. Her career was ruined as a result.

The pair married in January 2020 and their son Maverick was born in September 2021.

A groom found out his ex was pregnant

In season 12, which aired in January 2021 Chris Williams was paired with Paige Banks. Their relationship never really stood a chance, however, as William’s former fiancée Mercedes Myrick contacted him while the pair were on their honeymoon to let him know she was pregnant with his child.

Fans had already commented that their nuptials were doomed prior to this, however, as Williams had openly spoken about dissatisfaction with his bride’s looks on their wedding day and revealed he had been engaged to Myrick months before going on the show. They were trying to see if there was a way forward for them when Williams learned he was going to become a father. The couple did actually stay together until the very end of the experiment, although Williams was constantly torn between staying with Banks or reuniting with Myrick. Williams and Banks then agreed to not continue their relationship in the real world and divorced. Myrick suffered a miscarriage.

A wife filed a restraining order against her husband

Jessica Castro and Ryan DeNino had a tempestuous relationship in season 2, which aired in March 2015, filled with fighting. They did decide to stay together in the real world, however, but DeNino is said to have threatened to harm his wife on multiple occasions after they left the show.

During a reunion show, which was filmed six months after the series ended, things between the couple were strained although they were still together at that time. Castro claimed DeNino had cheated on her many times. This supposedly led to an outburst from him backstage during which he was heard saying ‘she’s f**king dead. When I get back to Brooklyn, she’s f**king dead, this girl’. He allegedly even threatened to kill her and “disappear” her family.

The New York post reported that he had said: “I will break you into f–king pieces” to his wife and also told her "I will break your dad into pieces. I will make your whole family disappear.”

These repeated death threats led to the end of the marriage, and Castro filed a restraining order against her former husband in June 2015. Castro later began a new relationship, getting married again in 2018 and welcoming a son in 2021.

A groom was part paralysed

Nick Pendergrast, who married Sonia Granados in season four in 2016, was left partially paralysed by a work accident three years after leaving the show. Pendergast and Grandos did stay married for a year after the experiment ended, but then decided to divorce.

That same year, Nick announced that he was in a new relationship with Heather Yerrid and she was expecting twins. Son Logan Joseph and daughter Layla Rae were born in December 2017.

In January 2019, he had what he later described on an his Instagram page as an “unfortunate severe accident while on the job” which left him with “severe hypothermia, multiple pelvic fractures, severely comminuted sacral fractures” and more. He was wheelchair-bound after the accident, but has since fully recovered and no longer requires a wheelchair.