Reality TV stars Haydn Daniels and Luke Cederman are selling their wedding rings on Trade Me, with proceeds going to KidsCan. / KidsCan
A Married at First Sight NZ contestant is applying to have the failed marriage annulled - and is calling into question the show's matchmaking skills.
Legal documents reveal Haydn Daniels has applied for his marriage with former Bachelor NZ contestant Belinda Clarke to be annulled - and he has raised concerns the show's producers did not match him well with his screen wife.
Daniels' rocky marriage with Clarke fell apart before the end of the show's season last year.
The documents state Clarke is aware of the annulment application and also wants their marriage declared void.
Prior to the show Daniels and his last long-term partner had made plans to move to Tauranga after Daniels gained a team leader position at a school in Mount Maunganui, but the partner got cold feet - this contributed towards his decision to appear on the show.
The show's claim it psychologically matched people was a major drawcard for him as "the lure of a scientific approach was appealing".
"As the New Zealand version was intended to end in a legal marriage within minutes of meeting your match, I thought that this would motivate the producers to put considerable time and effort into making sure the couples were well matched," he said in the document.
Haydn Daniels now regrets taking part in Married at First Sight NZ.
After auditioning for the show and going through interviews he got the news on July 18 that he had made the cut and a meeting with a matching expert was arranged.
"In the meeting [a producer] held up photos of about ten girls and asked me to rate them out of 1-10 on the basis of looks.
"My ultimate match and later wife, Bel, was not amongst the photos."
He said he would have remembered as he knew her from her previous appearance on reality TV show The Bachelor.
He had to complete an online psychological test which asked him if he had been suicidal among other things.
"We also met with a lawyer who gave us some advice on 'pre-nups' and informed us they were going to be organised for us. They never eventuated."
At the wedding Daniels' step-father conversed with Clarke's father revealing that Clarke was approached by producers late in the process.
"This obviously upset me and undermined the whole basis upon which I was willing to be a participant in the show.
"However, it seems all that Warners [which makes Married at First Sight] were concerned with were making sure their show went ahead successfully."
A MediaWorks spokesperson defended the show against Daniels' concerns about transparency and communication.
"At the very outset, it was made extremely clear to all MAFS NZ participants what they could expect from taking part in the production, including understanding the laws of marriage which state that a dissolution can only happen after a two year separation," they said.
Daniels' legal document claims that as a matter of law a person could not consent to marry another person if they did not know their identity before marrying them.
"Specifically, s 31(1)(a)(ii) states that, "or for any other reason, there was at the time of the marriage or civil union an absence of consent by either party to marriage with the other party".
The Herald has contacted Warner Brothers, which produced the show for Three, for comment.
