

As if we needed any more proof that the once-golden couple of Married At First Sight (MAFS) 2026 were no longer together, Sam Stanton has labelled his partner Chris Robinson as “cowardly” after he wrote “leave” during last night’s brutal Commitment Ceremony.
Although the pair had a strong few weeks in the experiment and recently became intimate (in the words of Alessandra Rampolla), they clashed at last week’s Dinner Party when Sam felt like his feelings weren’t being considered. The argument was enough for Chris to want out of the experiment and write “leave”, with Sam heartbroken as he had written “stay” in the hopes of repairing their relationship.
Sam admitted to PEDESTRIAN.TV that Chris’ decision was “a complete surprise” as this was only the first time they had disagreed on something, but he can understand in hindsight why he wrote “leave”.
“It became clear as day that when he wrote ‘leave’, he was just looking for the first way out of there,” he said.
“Maybe his feelings for me had changed a lot earlier than he let on as well, because I know he liked me at the start, but if you look back at how he rolled his eyes at me and stuff, obviously he was starting to not like me for whatever reason a lot earlier than he let on. To be able to write leave that quickly after one big blow-up in one week, it’s cowardly if you ask me.”
Why did MAFS’ Sam write ‘stay’?
As for why he decided to write “stay”, Sam said it was “not even a question in [his] head” because he knew the experts could help them patch things up.
“At the end of the day, everyone is on that show because we don’t really know how to do relationships — that’s why we’re all in our mid-30s and single,” he remarked.
“You go on MAFS to get feedback. So this was the first time I was like, ‘Cool, maybe I’m not communicating with Chris well, maybe he’s shutting me down’. All these things could be true, and I was really excited to write ‘stay’ and be able to work on that.”

So, what happens now?
As per the rules of MAFS, Sam’s decision means that he and Chris will remain in the experiment for another week to try to repair their relationship.
This week requires participants to visit each other’s hometowns to see how their relationships would work in the real world — so, unfortunately for Sam, he has to travel to Chris’ 60-acre farm on the NSW South Coast after he was basically dumped on the Commitment Ceremony couch.
“That was tough. Once I saw Chris write ‘leave’, I was like, ‘What am I f*cking doing here? What are we even fighting for now if you’re going to cop out like that? How do I come back from here?’,” he detailed.
“It just came over me like, ‘F*ck, now I have to stay for a week knowing that I’m the only one who really wants to put effort into this’. I don’t know how much I had left at that point.”
Sam and Chris are only the fourth same-sex couple to appear on MAFS, and it doesn’t look like they’ll be breaking the show’s “gay curse” anytime soon.
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The post MAFS’ Sam Stanton Blasts ‘Cowardly’ Chris Robinson After His Commitment Ceremony Blindside appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .