Carmen Stimpson, 30, and James Hardy, 34, are one of two couples who found love on the local version of Married At First Sight. Photo / Channel 4
Carmen Stimpson, 30, and James Hardy, 34, are one of two couples who found love on the local version of Married At First Sight. Photo / Channel 4
Only weeks before the latest season of Married At First Sight New Zealandis set to hit our screens, a former bride and groom have made an adorable announcement.
Carmen Stimpson, 30, and James Hardy, 34, who starred in season three of the local version of the international series, have revealed they are expecting their first child together.
Sharing the exciting news on Instagram, the soon-to-be parents said: “SURPRISE!!! 3 x peas, 1 x pod. Cant believe we are pretty much half way, we can’t wait to meet you baby GIRLYYYY [sic]”.
Many flocked to the comment section to congratulate the pair, one being Samantha Best who was recently announced as a bride in the 2024 season.
“Aww congratulations girl!” She wrote.
The happy couple met in 2019 on the third season of the hit show, with Stimpson moving from Auckland to Christchurch to live with Hardy shortly after the conclusion of the season. The pair remain one of only two couples to have stayed together after the experiment.
Hardy received intense backlash during his time on the show after he appeared in an interview with producers and used “disgusting” slurs when talking about fellow contestant Vicky Fuller
In one episode, he said: “Vicky’s looking like a s*** on TV, and she’ll probably always look like a s*** on TV because she is a s***, and s***s will be s***s.”
In the same episode, he told queer contestant Jonathan Trenberth he was being “a little bit of a queen”, and said “I’ll probably knock you out shortly” to a third contestant, Christopher Wilson.
Soon-to-be-parents Carmen Stimpson and James Hardy.
Many fans took to X to call out the behaviour, with one person writing: “Okay this is disgusting.”
Another added: “A gay man has been called a ‘queen’, a woman telling bullies to shut it has been called a ‘s...’ and a ‘diva’ and told to shush, and two men are just being gross everywhere. Where are the standards, TV3?”
After receiving complaints about the episode, the show’s then broadcaster, MediaWorks, released a statement stating it had prefaced with a warning of coarse language before the show aired.
“We believe that to have edited out the confronting behaviour from last night’s episode would be disingenuous to the characters of those on the show and would have left a lot of unanswered questions for fans.
“Duty of care for all participants in the experiment is paramount and they are all offered unlimited access to a professional therapist during the course of filming and while on air.”
