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Married at First Sight Australia star leaves after show makes big change to rules

Married at First Sight Australia returned to E4 on Monday and fans watching at home were surprised to see the experts make a dramatic change to the show's rules, resulting in one participant walking away from the experiment.

Josh White and his wife Melissa Sheppard sat down for the second commitment ceremony of the season and it was clear that the pair were not getting on. The couple, who wed at the beginning of series ten, faced many ups and downs after they said "I do", particularly when it came to intimacy week.

Traditionally in Married at First Sight, if one person in the couple votes to stay, and the other leave, the pair are forced to remain to continue their journey. However, in a show first, Josh, who requested to leave in the ceremony, was allowed to exit.

Josh had voiced his concerns about Melissa's openness and straight-talking attitude to sex and intimacy, with Melissa explaining to the experts: "Josh is really conservative and I respect that but it suppresses me and I feel like I'm the Alpha in the relationship, I'm the more dominant one and it's just showing."

MORE: What happened to Shannon and Caitlin on Married at First Sight Australia?

MORE: Do MAFS couples get paid for being on the show?

Melissa and Josh married at the start of series ten
Melissa and Josh married at the start of series ten

After hearing Melissa's point of view, Josh interjected: "I cannot sit here and take this. It is untrue. She has used degrading and dehumanising language to me, questioning my manhood. That is the core of the issue right there."

He added: "I'm leaving, I can't stay here anymore I want to go home and see my kids." Expert John Aitkin then said: "Josh, we can see clearly that you are pretty broken right now, considering what we've seen tonight and what we've heard, I'm going to do something I've never done before.

Josh, commitment ceremony, portrait
Josh, commitment ceremony, portrait

"I've never seen a relationship like this before in the experiment, and we've been around long enough to know there's no coming back for you in this experiment and we are not going to subject you any longer to this."

Fans watching at home were quick to heap support on Josh after watching the emotional episode. One person wrote: "Never wanted to give someone a hug as much in my life, poor Josh." A second added: "This man deserves the world," and a third tweeted: "I am so glad they let Josh leave."

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