Controversial Married At First Sight UK star Luke Worley has sparked rumours he has a new girlfriend with his latest Instagram post – but is it all it seems?
Fans of the hit Channel 4 dating show – in which singles agree to marry a stranger on the day they meet them and then start a fast-tracked relationship where they move in together and complete tasks under the guidance of experts – will remember Luke from the 2023 series . . . for all the wrong reasons.
He was matched with Jay Howard and although their relationship seemed to be going quite well at first, Luke’s issues with another groom caused drama for the pair and led to him being asked to leave the experiment early. He clashed with Jordan Gayle on multiple occasions, and their verbal disputes eventually became physical.
It culminated in Luke going to Jordan’s apartment and starting a physical fight with him. The pair had to be separated by security, and Luke was swiftly asked to leave the show as it is very clear in the constestant’s contracts that ‘bullying of any kind, including physical’ is not allowed.
Jay also had to leave the experiment too, as she clearly could not remain without her TV husband. When the reunion show came around, she entered alone and told the rest of the cast that her and Luke had not been able to make their relationship work in the real world.
Now, two years on, Luke has sparked rumours that he has a new girlfriend by sharing a photo on his Instagram page of himself and a woman looking cosy, cuddling and beaming at the camera. The Mirror and The Sun have reported that this is Luke going ‘Instagram official’ with a new beau, but I don’t think so. Here’s why . . .
Firstly, I thought the woman in the photo looked familar, but at first I wasn’t sure why. Then, I realised Luke had tagged her in the image and her name is Thalia Pearce. I recognised the name instantly. Thalia was one of the contestants who appeared alongside Luke on Davina McCall’s Language of Love in 2022.
Yes, MAFS wasn’t Luke’s first attempt at finding love on reality TV. In fact he’s one of 19 reality TV contestants who have been on more than one dating show – and also among the 17 who have been on Married at First Sight and another show specifically.
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The show, which was also on E4 and only ran for one series, paired up British and Spanish singletons. They could not speak each other’s language, but the hope was that they would still find connections despite their language barrier. Luke didn’t make a connection with any of the Spanish singles, but he did fancy Thalia.
As the premise of the show was all about matching people from different countries they never got to go on a date on the show and though they did talk about maybe exploring a romantic connection once they were back home in the UK they decided just to be friends.
So, no, Luke doesn’t have a new girlfriend. (Well, he might and just be keeping it very private, but I’m quite confident about the fact that he’s not dating Thalia). This would also be why he’s captioned the image “Back with the bestie”, because they are actually just friends.
It’s lovely to know that their friendship has actually lasted though.