Last night on MAFS, Dave Hand pulled a total 180 on his on-screen wife, Jamie Marinos – and it was a tough watch, right? For anyone who has been glued to Married At First Sight 2025, this has been the couple with arguably the strongest, bordering-on-boring-it’s-so-cute relationship. They’ve always had each other’s backs, they never seemed to argue, Jamie even told him she LOVED him last week. Now, they’re suddenly the most likely couple to sprint out the door at this week’s Commitment Ceremony.
The wild part is how fast Dave’s feelings seem to have shifted. Up until this week’s partner swap business, he seemed consistently smitten with Jamie. Like, from the get-go, this was one of the most solid couples we’ve seen in MAFS history. Now, he’s suddenly revealing that his feelings for his on-screen wife haven’t been developing, and honestly, he seems totally checked out of their relationship.
The not-so-happy couple, Jamie and Dave. (Credit: MAFS)
At first, I thought maybe this was a producer-led twist, where we just haven’t been seeing the full truth. You know, where they just edit stuff to make us feel a certain way, have us rooting for a couple who we probably wouldn’t root for if we saw their 24/7 existence? But Jamie’s reaction to Dave’s confession made it pretty clear that she, too, has been blindsided by all of this.
Watching Jamie’s heartbreak on-screen brought back PLENTY of painful memories. Because the fact is, most of us have been in Jamie’s shoes.
Here’s the classic tale that I’m sure you relate to. You’ve been seeing someone for months. At first, you kept your guard up because you know, you’re still figuring them out, sussing how you feel about them, etc. Maybe you’ve been burned before and don’t want to rush into anything. But they’re giving 100 per cent green flags. They text when they say they will, they’re like, “I’ve never met anyone like you”, you’re meeting the friends and maybe even the family, it’s all full steam ahead. So, gradually, you let your guard down. You allow yourself to catch feelings because there’s just no fucking way this dating-thing isn’t going anywhere. You feel totally confident that you won’t get your heart broken, because only a sadistic maniac would be giving you all these positive signs with no follow through, right?
Wrong.
All too familiar. (Credit: MAFS)
One minute, you’re making them your famous spaghetti bolognese for date night at home. An hour later, they’re cuddling you in bed while simultaneously telling you how they don’t think they’re that into you. Yes, that is a real story.
Look. I don’t actually think people like Dave are sadistic maniacs, okay? They seem that way with this chaos behaviour, where they give you zero signs that they’re having doubts until the literal second they decide to tell you they’re just not that into you.
I think it’s more that people like Dave just go with the flow. They’re enjoying the good parts of the relationship while remaining completely oblivious to where their head’s at. They are completely in the moment, but in a toxic way. They don’t go home after a date and analyse it or think about where they are at with their feelings. They don’t consider whether they’re in the right headspace for a serious relationship. They just bop along happily until they’re suddenly in WAY deep, and it hits them all at once, because they’re forced into some self-reflection and what they see is a bunch of feelings that stagnated back on date #3.
When you think about it, things clearly took a turn when Jamie confessed she was in love with Dave. In my experience, it’s always been these vulnerable moments that prompt a feelings-180 from these types. If you’re a person who is bopping along in a relationship because everything is breezy and light, it’ll be the not-so-breezy-and-light moment (whether it’s feelings talk or an argument) that’ll force you to self-reflect.
Now, I do NOT think this behaviour is excusable AT ALL. I think it’s fucked up to do this to someone! It’s seriously immature, and these people need to grow the fuck up. They need to listen when their exes tell them how hurtful it is to be blindsided, learn from that, and do better.
But… I also don’t believe it’s intentional. Otherwise, half the population would be actual sociopaths, which just isn’t realistic, right?
So look. Am I mad at Dave for blindsiding poor Jamie like this? Hell yes I am! I’ve been Jamie many times over, and it is honestly like a knife to the heart.
Do I think he’s an evil mastermind who planned this all along? No. As with so many MAFS relationships, this one just reflected real life shit, yet again.
Melissa is a freelance writer, and you can find her on Insta.
