THEY’RE the only success story from last year’s series of Married At First Sight – but there’s one big problem.
Tasha Jay and Paul Liba, who met at the altar on their wedding day as part of the E4 experiment and fell in love, have discovered they’re not actually married.
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MAFS sees strangers paired together and tie the knot, before embarking on their honeymoon and living together.
But, in an exclusive interview with The Sun, Tasha and Paul tell us the weddings on the show aren’t legally binding.
“Some days I call him ‘my man’, because it always feels weird to say husband,” says Tasha. “Like, are we married? Are we really married?”
Paul adds: “ I have saved her on my phone as ‘wife’, but I do call her my girlfriend.”
In fact, Tasha is still waiting for Paul to pop the question – and get hitched again, this time for real.
“I want another wedding,” she says. “I’m waiting for my ring but that’s on Paul, so I’ll let Paul take that one.”
Paul adds: “She’s ready. She’s really annoying me for the ring. And I said, ‘In good time,’ and she’ll definitely get it.
“When I first signed up to MAFS, I was fully committed to the whole process, thinking it was real.
“I thought, you know what? If I’m legally married to someone, fingers crossed it’s someone I actually like, so even if I’m not properly married to Tasha, I would not have known. I could’ve saved money on another wedding.”
Long-distance romance
Before a second trip down the aisle, however, the first step for Tasha and Paul is to actually move in together, as the pair have been negotiating a long distance romance since filming on MAFS wrapped, with Tasha living in Leeds while Paul is in London.
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And it’s testament to their relationship that they’ve kept it going despite the distance.
“At the beginning, it was a big change because obviously we were used to being in each other’s pockets every single day whilst filming and stuff,” says Paul.
“Then it was kind of okay because we still talk every single day – morning, afternoon, evening, night.
“But I think the longer it’s got, it’s been harder, because obviously we miss each other and we want to be with each other but it is coming.”
Tasha adds: “It will definitely be by the end of this year. He will be in Leeds and then he will have to become a northerner.
“The plan was originally to move to Manchester together but we’ve decided that Paul’s going to come to Leeds, where I already am and I’ve got my house and then we’ll finally settle on a Manchester apartment.
“That’s the only argument we have. We’re trying to settle on an apartment because there’s so many and we just have two different tastes.”
Clandestine meetings
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As well as the long distance, Tasha and Paul had another mountain to climb when they first got together.
MAFS is filmed months in advance, and they weren’t allowed to be seen together in case it ruined the series for the fans once the TV show began airing.
“I was really strict with it, with Paul,” laughs Tasha.
“I was like, ‘No, if you’re coming to Leeds train station, I can’t meet you there,’ or like, ‘You get the train first and I’ll get the second train’ if we were going anywhere together.
“I was like, ‘I don’t want to ruin this for people. If someone sees us, we’ll just pretend it’s not us and that we’re cousins!’”
People didn’t believe in us. People thought Paul was too good for me or I was too good for Paul and we wanted to defy the odds.
Tasha Jay
Paul adds: “The things we had to do. Say we went to do something, we had to go out in groups.
“I went to watch my friend’s boxing match and we had to invite other people so it wasn’t just me and Tasha.
“It was definitely weird. We couldn’t just go out and do normal boyfriend, girlfriend things, because we have to wait for the show to air for viewers to find out we were still together.”
Tasha and Paul are the only couple that is still together from their series, which she puts down to the dating experts matching them perfectly.
Mafs couples that have stood the test of time
Loved-up Tayah Victoria and Adam Aveling of series six fame had the first Mafs baby.
The pair couldn’t keep their hands off each other on the programme and quickly found their feet in the outside world, moving into Adam’s Doncaster home.
Just 18 months after meeting, the couple welcomed their daughter Beau.
Season five couple Michelle Walder and Owen Jenkins also managed to make their marriage work away from the cameras and had their first child in December.
Teacher Michelle, 29, has no regrets about taking part in the experiment. She told us: “I just feel very lucky and thankful that it has worked out – and excited for everything to come.”
Michelle and Owen were both sick of dating apps when they applied in 2019.
Owen recalled: “I had been out for some drinks with a friend after work.
“While he was out for a cigarette I was scrolling on Instagram waiting for him to come back in.
“The MAFS advert was the last thing I saw, and I joked, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I signed up?’
“A few beers later when I was back at home I sent in the application, and the rest is history.”
Another couple to make Mafs UK history is Zoe Clifton and Jenna Robinson.
Despite a slight rocky start, where they clashed over Jenna’s vegan lifestyle, the show’s first same sex pairing are still going strong.
They even have a successful podcast together called Life With a Pod.
Jenna shed light on being involved in the show earlier this year when she told us: “We’re not legally married, and I never felt like we were. I definitely feel the process makes you take the relationship a lot more seriously and having the help of the experts… if you can survive that process it sets a firm foundation for a long-lasting relationship.”
She says: “Paul is what I needed and they knew that so that’s why he works for me and, because Paul’s never had a serious relationship, and he wanted someone quite fiery and fun, I’ve worked for him.
“It’s just so nice to be the couple that lasted and we wanted to defy the odds.
“People didn’t believe in us. People thought Paul was too good for me or I was too good for Paul and we wanted to defy the odds of black relationships in general.
“People always put a negative on black couples, saying that they don’t last.
“And here you have two very proud black people absolutely smashing it so I’m really happy that we’re just throwing it in everyone’s face.”
MAFS friend
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Tasha will be watching this year’s series of MAFS intently, as she has a very good friend on the show – Holly Ditchfield.
She’s married Alex Henry, who The Sun revealed was jailed for going AWOL from his military job and has been accused of abuse by a group of women calling for him to be axed from the show.
Speaking of her mum-of-two friend, Tasha says: “She is an absolute rocket. She’s very similar to me.
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“That’s why we get on so well and I’m just so proud of her and really excited to see her blossom and just see how everything pans out.
“I want the world to fall in love with her, because she’s an absolute angel.”
