Behind the Married At First Sight breakup that broke viewers’ hearts

MAFS groom Sean was left heartbroken when the love of his life Susan decided to leave their marriage. But he might not be as heartbroken as we thought.

MARRIED At First Sight’s Sean was left heartbroken when the love of his life Susan decided to leave their marriage on Sunday night, but the farmer might not be as heartbroken as we thought.

Delivering their final verdicts at last night’s vow renewal ceremony, Queensland farmer Sean declared his love for the Perth truck driver. Then viewers watched as she broke his heart by saying she wanted out.

“You’re everything I could ever want. I’m so happy I met you. And you’ve changed my life for the better. I love you as the person you are. My heart wants nothing more than to ride off into the sunset together forever,” Sean said.

But after his heartfelt declaration Susan told him she would be leaving.

“I’ve decided I can’t be in a relationship with you. I hope we can be the best of friends,” she told him.

While Sean was the picture of heartbreak in the episode, he was in better spirits when news.com.au spoke to him prior to the episode airing, saying the decision was mutual.

“We both said leave,” he said.

Sean said while neither explicitly told each other their final decisions before the ceremony, they had many conversations in the lead up and so the result was no big surprise.

“I had a very strong feeling that she would leave. But we both said to each other going into it that we respect the decision that we do make. And it wasn’t going to mean that that was the end for us — because we’d still speak after the experiment. We both said leave anyway.”

Susan and Sean say goodbye after delivering their decisions.

They also made an agreement: “It was more just don’t surprise each other.”

“Its more like, if we both know we’re gonna leave don’t just come out and say you’re gonna stay and just shock us,” he added.

While Sean admits Susan is the person he’s looking for, he said it was clear early on that she wasn’t suited to his outback lifestyle. And while he always intended on staying in the experiment until the end he said the home stay at his Queensland farm was a turning point.

ARGUMENT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

During the home stay, there was noticeable tension between the loved-up pair. And while it wasn’t shown in the episode, Sean said an argument in the car set the tone for the week at his house. It was set off by Susan’s positivity, which he requested be “toned down”.

“For a while she was just like, ‘Oh! Look at those birds! Look at the colour in those trees! Look at the flowers in the dam! Look at that! Look at this!’” he said.

“And I’m just like ... I couldn’t respond to it every time. So I said, ‘Look can you just back that off a little bit?’ I said, ‘Honestly, I just cannot respond to you. And that didn’t go down real well.”

It was this week that prompted Sean to consider leaving the relationship at the end of the experiment.

“I think it was sort of (at) my home stay I got the feeling that I would say it,” he said. “And then I thought, no I’ll give Susan’s home stay a go. And then I think it was sort of about then that I had a bit of a feeling that I would want to leave after — not during the experiment.”

THAT BOYS NIGHT

While viewers lapped up the romance between Sean and Susan over the weeks, he endeared himself to viewers further when he stood up for fellow contestant Cheryl after her husband Andrew made rude comments at a “boys’ night”.

During the husbands-only party, firefighter Andrew made fun of everything about his wife Cheryl — from her hair extensions to her intellect — before making a lewd gesture.

And Sean says more happened that wasn’t shown.

The now-famous “boys’ night”.

“There’s things that happened on that night that weren’t aired on TV so that’s why I was a little more cranky but I know they couldn’t air that stuff,” he said.

“It was just probably more derogatory comments — I can’t remember the exact words because I was just trying not to listen to it.

“There were actions that happened on the night there as well which were just something that you don’t do at a party. Just like, tipping chicken all over everyone, tipping chips all over everyone. Flicking their chicken bones on the ground. Legs spread, flicking each other in the privates.”

When Sean stood up for Cheryl following the party, viewers dubbed him a “hero” — and his wife Susan said his actions only made her feelings for him stronger.

While they haven’t seen each other since the show wrapped in January, Sean says they text and call when they can.

“Who knows, six months or 12 months down the track things may work out — after you chat and things are off camera,” he said.