16 November 2023 , 23:22
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Married At First Sight's Shona Manderson has been secretly dating co-star Matt Pilmoor for months and has now officially confirmed their romance.
The 31 year old from Nottingham, who was originally paired with Brad Skelly on the show, revealed her new relationship in a gushing interview alongside her new man. After a tumultuous relationship with Brad, which ended early due to being deemed "too unhealthy", Shona embarked on a journey of self-love. She then met Matt, 29, at the MAFS reunion in June and they've been quietly dating ever since.
Speaking in a new interview, Shona couldn't contain her joy as she gushed about her new relationship with Matt, describing it as "really healthy and safe". She gushed: "We have a really healthy, happy, safe, fun, relationship - I really appreciate Matt so much, it's what I deserve, we deserve each other. I'm proud to be his girlfriend and it just works."
The Married At First Sight stars have been secretly dating for weeks (Channel 4)
The happy couple are now ready to go public with their romance (Channel 4)Explaining to OK! magazine how they kept their romance secret, Shona revealed: "Matt would be driving and I would be in the back, we would be walking around Nottingham and I'd be all the way over there, we were like secret agents on a mission". Matt chimed in, adding: "We had to do it, we had to be so careful".
When asked if they wished they were originally matched on MAFS, Matt said: "We had to do what we had to do, my experience was good but we were meant to go on those journeys to find each other ... Being together from the start would have been incredible but I think it happened this way around for a purpose."
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Matt confessed he found Shona very attractive as soon as he first met her. Shona revealed she didn't know who her now boyfriend was until they met at the reunion, which was filmed in June but aired this week.
Matt admitted to checking out Shona's profile before the reunion and sparks eventually flew at the catch-up, with Matt inviting Shona to spend some time in Harrogate. They started to get to know each other, swapped numbers and couldn't deny their "instant vibe".
"I remember saying to Shona at the end of the reunion 'You should come to Harrogate' and she was like 'Ok, I will' but we didn't rush into anything," Matt said. He said he had "broken up" with Adrienne "four or five weeks before that" but hadn't got "closure" until later.
Talking about Shona, he continued: "We said to each other it's a bit soon, let's not meet straightaway, so it was about five weeks after the reunion when we met," with Shona adding of their romance: "I wanted to learn from my experience with Brad, I didn't want to go in head first, I wanted it to be a slow burner."
After five weeks of messages and calls the pair finally met for their first date, opting to meet halfway in Sheffield. Shona took along her adorable pooch Winston, they went for breakfast, spent the day together and had their first kiss. Speaking in their interview, the couple admitted things have been "so nice" and moving at a natural pace.
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