Married At First Sight couple Craig and Andy accidentally ‘met’ two weeks before they were married

THE concept of Married At First Sight is that experts match up two singles who have never met before.But for Craig and Andy, they crossed paths before.

THE WHOLE concept of reality dating show Married At First Sight is that experts match up two singles who have never met before and marry them off.

But for Craig and Andy, the first gay couple to be paired up on the show, they accidentally crossed paths before the show started filming and didn’t even realise it.

“Funnily enough, two weeks or so before the wedding date Craig said he spotted me on Oxford Street (in Sydney) and tried to engage in conversation,” he told news.com.au. “He tried to hook up with me — he said he was flirting with me. I think it was on a Friday night or Saturday night after work.”

While Craig says they did spot each other, he said Craig was being a bit complimentary with the flirting claims.

“No way!” he laughed when asked if he’d hit on his future husband on the street.

“On the Saturday before we left to go to Queenstown (where they were married) I was leaving work to take the rubbish out and I saw him and I thought he was pretty cute.”

Craig and Andy are matched by experts on the program.

On Tuesday night’s episode, we met Craig and Andy and followed them in the lead up to their big day. While we won’t see their ceremony until Wednesday night, it seems the day was already filled with drama.

A frantic Craig was seen losing his speech while his best man lost the ring.

“Turn the camera off or I’m gonna walk!” a frustrated Craig told producers before locking himself in a bedroom.

Upon seeing this episode, Craig was disappointed with how he was edited, saying: “There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes that nobody knows about, unfortunately.”

“I hope people see beyond the way I’ve been portrayed and not the way it’s been edited,” he said, adding producers “put words into my mouth that I didn’t even say.”

Craig confronts the camera man on Tuesday night’s episode.

“I’m actually more concerned how my mother’s going to handle it. She’s quite worried with how I’m going to handle it. I’m more concerned about her than myself.”

In the week leading up to the premiere, the show’s Facebook page was flooded with backlash about the involvement of a gay couple in the social experiment. Surprisingly, this backlash was from people in the LGBTI community.

“Thank you for reducing same sex marriage to a cheap gimmick for ratings,” one person commented on Facebook. “Years and years of fighting for this, and you’ve effectively cheapened the entire marriage equality movement.”

The couple were shocked by the criticism and say they didn’t expect it.

“In my opinion it’s a step forward to marriage equality — it’s putting it in people’s living rooms,” Craig said. “That’s what they want and now they’re up in arms about it. I’m actually proud of myself for being one of the first gay people being married on Australian television. I stand behind myself and I’m proud of myself for doing it. I don’t believe it’s a step back for marriage equality at all — I think it’s bringing it to people’s attention.”

Married At First Sight continues Wednesday night at 8.30pm on Nine.