Last time we caught up with the pair they revealed they would soon be moving in together, and now the time has finally come for John to move down to Bournemouth to live with his bride
10:34, 28 Feb 2026Updated 13:50, 01 Mar 2026
Abigail Chahwan and John Shepherd found love on Married at First Sight UK and are taking the next steps in their relationship(Image: Abigail Chahwan and John Shepherd)
Some may believe that love first sight is a myth, that you couldn’t possibly find the person you would like to spend the rest of your life with after a glance. For Welshman John Shepherd and his bride Abigail Chahwan it has become a reality after they met on E4’s Married at First Sight UK.
The season finale of the 10th edition of the popular reality dating show aired In November 2025, however the cast will return for a special episode this weekend. The last batch of romantic hopefuls will feature in a reunion episode of Married at First Sight UK this Sunday, March 1 on E4 at 9pm.
Since appearing on the series Abi returned to her job as a Veterinary Nurse in Bournemouth, and John headed back to Flintshire where he runs his own marketing/social media business. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter
Last time we caught up with the pair they revealed they would soon be moving in together, and now the time has finally come for John to move down to Bournemouth to live with his bride.
Speaking of the move, John said: “Home will always be home and I’ve moved away from North Wales before and the more I move away the more I kind of like fall in love with North Wales so yeah it will always be there, family will always be there so yeah nothing but excitement really moving down to Bournemouth.
“I feel like I’ve just been waiting to move down for the last few months and like life hasn’t really gone anywhere until like we actually move in together.”
Abi added: “I think it’s happening at the right time. I wish it happened sooner, but we just had to kind of make those provisions to get everything all sorted. But it’s the next step really for our relationship. So we’re both really excited to progress and move forward.”
This time last year the pair were preparing to marry a stranger, and they had no idea who would be at the end of the aisle.
Abi reflected: “Like it is crazy how much can change and it’s just like I never thought I’d be in this position now like looking back you know last year. I was hopeful to meet someone and find someone but I wouldn’t think now I’d been moving in with that person you know in love and just ready to take those next steps in our lives together so it’s absolutely incredible, like I’m so you know grateful for the show and what it’s given us. It is ultimately the best thing that we could have ever hoped for.”
Welshman John will soon be moving to Bournemouth to live with his bride Abi(Image: Abigail Chahwan and John Shepherd)
The couple will soon be celebrating their one year anniversary on a holiday to Portugal. They discussed the next steps in their relationship, and John says that may involve another wedding.
“We’ll just be getting comfortable living together. Obviously getting comfortable in my new surroundings in Bournemouth, and then hopefully children and a bigger wedding one day. I’m not going to say a proper wedding because the last one was proper as well. A bigger wedding is exactly what we want.”
In fact they still look back at their wedding fondly, and occasionally re-watch the MAFS episode where they said I do.
Abi shared: “So it was only like a couple of weeks ago I watched the wedding episode and honestly it’s just my favourite like I can’t get enough of it. Like I would have it on repeat if I could because I think that is the key moment for us, it’s the first time we met, the first time I feel like we did fall in love, well maybe for me anyway, and this is the start of our journey.”
John added: “But it’s so mad because I was watching it being like, ‘wow, we’re speaking so comfortably with each other’. Like we never thought, ‘yes, okay, you’re meeting a strange’r, but it was never like I was meeting a stranger.
“I never felt to myself, ‘Oh, God, who is this girl?’ Like, I’m trying to work this girl out. It just felt like it connected straight away, didn’t it? It’s so nice to watch, and we’ve got that forever.”
The pair have received such a positive reaction following the show, and have occasionally been spotted out and about.
The Welshman said: “Everyone’s been really really positive. It’s been it’s been so nice to see, because when we were on the show people were like ‘It must be fake. It must have been fake, they can’t be getting on that well.’ Now, it’s so nice to go, ‘No look we are happy.’
“I think it also provides a little bit of hope and inspiration for people. We get a lot of people in the comments going, ‘you guys remind me of me and my partner and we’ve been together for 30 years’ and all that kind of stuff or people say like Adam and Tayah from the previous series and Jules and Cam who were on the Australian series. It’s nice to think ‘oh yeah that’s what we want, that’s what we could have.’ You know we want children and we want a really lovely loving future for years on end you know so it’s nicely that can happen.”
The couple still watch their wedding episode of MAFS UK(Image: Channel 4)
Abi and John are the only couple from their season of MAFS UK who are still together, with all the remaining couples from the show announcing their split shortly after the final was aired in November. Following the series, the cast met up once again for a reunion in the winter, and the episode is believed to reveal all the answers fans of the show have been waiting for.
John shared what we can expect from the reunion episode saying:”You can expect to get the answers as to why some couples that you last saw who were together are no longer together, so you can expect to have the answers there.
“You can expect Dean lifting the mood, that’s what you can expect as well. I can’t tell you if he’s going to rap again, but I can tell you he’s going to lift the mood. So I think you’ll get a lot of answers, obviously, you’ll see from social media, people have moved on and you’ll get the answers as to why.”
Abi added: “I think what’s nice as well like you get it from both parties, because you know on social it’s really hard when you haven’t got them both in the same room. So at least now you can like understand both points of view and then really get a good understanding of kind of what actually happened and why those people aren’t together anymore.
“I think it’s important to kind of note that none of it is scripted as well so I know obviously people might think we have to say these things and are given lines, but it’s not it’s all just real raw emotions which is why I think there is so much drama and tension and like you know upset and emotion from like every single one of us. Like we all care so deeply in a way that you would have been through that raw, genuine kind of like feelings.”
John continued: “It is real life, like these people are our friends, and I think it’s easy to think, ‘oh, it’s a TV show’. But you know, there’s real emotions involved, and I hope that comes across when when people see it. You know, people do get upset, and we got upset as well. So yeah, you know, there is real motion emotions involved.”
Abi also said: “I think everyone’s in such a good place now, because it’s been some time after the show. They’ve found new relationships, and if they haven’t found new relationship, they found kind of love within themselves again. But I think everyone’s kind of really settled in and just enjoying life and making the most of life.”
The pair will be appearing in this weekend’s reunion episode of MAFS UK, where Abi has a surprise for John(Image: Abigail Chahwan and John Shepherd)
The pair have received endless support from the cast during and after the dating experiment, and are looking forward to watch them all reunite on their screen this weekend.
Abi explained: “It’s weird because obviously so much has changed since we finished filming, and in a way we had such an amazing time like I would do it all over again if it led to the same outcome with John and also like getting to know all the other cast members. We really developed and made some incredible friendships so I’m looking forward to Sunday just seeing us all interact again because I feel like I’ve really missed that.”
John added: “And I’m looking forward to, people being able to see myself and Abi, and how much we’ve developed away from the show as well, and like our celebration of love. I think that’s a really, really important thing. It’s like love can be celebrated. You might not see it much because, like, you know, it’s no secret we’re the only couple that are still together, but love can be celebrated on a TV show.”
Abi also teased that she had “a little surprise for John” during the reunion, so hopefully we can expect to see that in the edit. If not, we’ll have to catch up with them again soon.
You can watch Married at First Sight UK: Reunion Special on E4 or stream it on Channel 4 from Sunday, March 1 at 9pm.
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