MARRED At First Sight Australia's controversial groom Eliot Donovan has revealed why he really threatened to walk out on bride Lauren Hall on their wedding day.
The pair's special day was anything but. Not only did Lauren's sister Tamara explode at her over the dining options at the reception, she came very close to losing her man just hours after saying "I do".
It was a warning sign of things to come because just days later, he went his own way and the bride and groom were then re-partnered.
Eliot, 35, seemed to be put off by Lauren's age - she is 37 - after he said he wanted a 25-year-old bride.
Now he's told Yahoo Lifestyle that he never intended to go on the show but decided to audition after a talent scout contacted him.
Initially, he thought he was being put forward for popular home improvement show The Block, but that wasn't the case.
He said: “I eventually just went, you know what? At the end of the day, I’m probably not going to meet my person there, but it could be a really interesting experience.
“I’ve got nothing to lose if I just go in and I meet her and she’s not the one and I pack my bags and go.
“If you see the process going into it, that was my whole mindset. I was like, I’ll just leave if it’s not the right person for me.
"Like, I don’t want to be part of this experiment, I don’t want to be here to try to entertain people… But if it’s the person my dreams, then I could meet her, and then who knows?”
Eliot and Lauren's split played out in tense scenes in which she accused him of failing to even try to get to know her.
He bluntly said he wanted "someone who wants to have a family, someone that likes exercise like me. I want someone that is, like, not into superficial things."
She hit back: "You’ve made an assumption. You haven’t actually put in any effort. We haven’t even had deep conversations," she said.
"Like, you really don’t know anything about me."
But Elliot refused to back down.
He replied: "I don’t need you to tell me what I want. Do you know what I mean? There’s no upside for me."
With that, he walked out, leaving Lauren devastated.
