Axed Married At First Sight UK star Brad Skelly says he was never in love with Shona

Axed Married At First Sight UK star Brad Skelly has admitted he was ‘never in love' with Shona.

Brad, 27, has found himself at the centre of controversy after his comments to wife Shona Manderson, 31, which angered E4 viewers.

The Grimsby-based model was booted off the show after concerns were raised over his ‘unhealthy’ behaviour towards the performing arts teacher from Nottingham.

Viewers were left feeling uncomfortable after seeing Shona being told to 'shut up' in a particularly tense episode of the latest series of Married at First Sight.

During the dinner party on Tuesday last week (3 October), Brad snapped at her in front of other couples at the table after becoming annoyed when she got upset that others felt their relationship wasn’t genuine, telling her he felt she needed 'external validation'.

"You need to let it go," he said.

But when Shona tried to cut in, he hit back saying: "Shut up! Shut up!"

He also claimed that he ‘allowed’ Shona to feel all the emotions when she wanted to express during a dramatic commitment ceremony.

Prior to the argument, the pair had dropped the L-bomb and even discussed pregnancy shortly after meeting each other at their wedding, which sparked concern among the experts.

Channel 4

Brad has now reportedly moved on with another woman and in a new interview, he has opened up and shared his side of the story regarding his tumultuous marriage with Shona.

In a chat with The Mirror, he said he was never in love with Shona but the ‘highly emotional environment’ with ‘no external influences and guidance’ made it easy to confuse lust with love.

“I most definitely can confirm that I wasn't in love, but at that time, it was a strong feeling of lust that I got confused with,” he told The Mirror.

"Yeah, because you haven't got a lot of external influences or guidance like you have on the outside world like on the outside world you have a lot of freedom and flexibility to actually find out if that's the case.

@bradskelly/Instagram

“You know, when in there I was really trying to make it work. So I think a lot of the time with me saying these things I was trying my hardest, you know, to really make things work but I was really trying to navigate myself to be fair."

A spokesperson for Channel 4 told Tyla: "The couple’s exit plays out in the show. It was agreed alongside experts Paul, Mel and Charlene that the intensive Married at First Sight environment was not working for the couple and it was the right time to leave the experiment.

"The relationships on Married at First Sight UK are closely monitored off screen, by production and an independent psychologist. If any of the relationships develop in a way that is deemed to be potentially unhealthy for either party, we would take expert psychological advice as to whether it was time for them to leave the process.

"The welfare of all contributors on Married at First Sight UK is our top priority and we ensure that appropriate support is available to contributors at all times during filming, including 24/7 access to a member of the welfare team or psych support."