MARRIED At First Sight’s Marilyse Corrigan is no stranger to reality TV having previously been at the centre of a Towie love triangle, The Sun can reveal.
Fans of the E4 series watched the 37-year-old mum-of-two marry a total stranger, Franky Spencer, earlier this week.
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And while viewers could barely watch Marilyse’s new man’s cringetastic wedding speech, they’ll no doubt be intrigued to know her reality TV past.
The personal trainer appeared on the ITV’s Towie in 2013 to clear Mario Falcone’s name to then girlfriend Lucy Mecklenburgh after Sugar Hut honey Amy Broadbent claimed she left a Manchester club with him.
At the time, Marilyse vouched that she had seen Mario leave with his friends, countering Amy’s claims that they had gone home together and Little Chris’ brother Ben’s claims that Mario had arrived to the club with Amy.
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In an unearth clip, the East Yorkshire native shared her side of the story with Lucy in a coffee shop, insisting that Mario “kept himself to himself” and it was in fact Amy who was trying to get his attention.
She began: “Me and my friend Abby we were working on the night along with Amy and Sally, and we were all dressed in the same dresses, they were working that particular night. It was the first time I ever met them.
“Mario was there with his friends and he was literally sat in the same seat all night, just with a group of lads.
The E4 star added: “He was just literally, kept himself to himself. He weren’t up dancing, he weren’t doing anything like that. I didn’t even see him drink loads.
“She [Amy] was fighting past people to sit next to him and he didn’t look too happy about it. He was getting a bit p***ed off. She would not leave him alone.”
“He was just sat there keeping himself to himself. He wasn’t holding any girl’s hand that night, he didn’t have his arm around a girl.
“I didn’t met anyone called Ben and like I said all I saw was Mario leave with a couple of guys.”
At the time of the furore, Lucy revealed on Twitter that Marilyse had approached Towie bosses to set the record straight about Mario and “had nothing to gain” from the situation.
Writing in a March 2013 Twitter rant, Lucy penned: “Fact 5-Mario didn’t ask Maz [Marilyse] to speak to me she contacted the show & me as she new the truth .. She had nothing to gain.”
In the end, Lucy chose to believe Mario with thanks to Marilyse’s comments and the pair continued to date – but ultimately split three months later in June 2013 following more turmoil.
BACK ON SCREENS
Marilyse delighted viewers when she appeared on this week’s Married At First Sight however fans were left cringing when her new husband Franky’s delivered his awkward wedding speech, hours after first meeting.
One after another of the ex-soldier’s cliched gags were met with a painful silence from the reception guests.
He began by joking it was the last time he was going to be able to speak for 10 minutes uninterrupted now that he’s a married man.
The gag received a bemused look from bride Marilyse, and it only got worse when he thanked her in advance for making him breakfast each day on their honeymoon.
One viewer wrote on Twitter: “Franky’s speech made time stop it was so hideously awkward.”
Another posted: “i couldn’t watch franky’s speech omg #MAFSUK.”
A third said: “Is Franky’s speech for real or has it been edited to be so awfully cringe?!”
There were a smattering of chuckles when he said he felt like Elvis Presley, because Marilyse was always on his mind.
The self-proclaimed traditionalist, who lives in Dubai, revealed earlier in the episode his previous marriage ended as he didn’t like how his ex was treating him.
But Franky’s old school attitudes towards marital dynamics left many viewers claiming his behaviour raised “red flags”.
Some accused him of wanting a servant and not a wife after he spoke about a potential bride looking after the house while he made the big decisions in their lives.
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