Juliette shocked viewers when she wrote ‘Stay’ at the Married at First Sight (MAFS) Commitment Ceremony, just a day after she came for Joel’s jugular at the Dinner Party. But, despite writing leave and being ready to exit the experiment altogether, Joel told Chattr that he felt some relief when he saw Juliette’s decision.
ICYMI, Juliette’s takedown of Joel kicked off with a claim he’d called himself the “star” of MAFS — something she later admitted on Stan’s After The Dinner Party she’d misheard. Throughout the Dinner Party, Juliette continued to roast him in front of the group and even mocked him for sleeping with a teddy bear while questioning his masculinity.
Joel told Chattr that he was devastated when he left the Dinner Party, and spent the following day contemplating his Commitment Ceremony decision. Joel explained that he has struck up some amazing friendships with the rest of the cast, which he didn’t want to walk away from.
“I was in knots. All day, I was in knots. I was feeling sick to my stomach, because on one hand, I was having fun on the show. I know it seems quite crazy to say that, but like, apart from, despite Juliette’s treatment of me, I was having fun in this crazy, you know, world of reality TV, and I didn’t want to leave the show,” he explained.
Why Joel decided to write ‘Leave’
However, Joel explained that once he’d really thought it through, he knew he ultimately couldn’t let Juliette’s bad behaviour slide.
“But on the other hand, if I write ‘Stay’, I lose all credibility forever. What kind of message would that be to send out to people that I’m okay with being abused by Juliette in front of the whole group like that? Like, no, everything I say that I stand for would be false. So I realised that my gut was telling me, it was screaming at me, ‘You cannot, you cannot,'” he said.
“You have to risk what you want. You have to risk the consequences of leaving the show to stay true to yourself. So that was a message, like that was a lesson. That was a lesson I learned to listen that day, always straight, stay true to yourself, no matter what the consequences are. And that’s what I did. I wrote leave, and I risked it all. And she wrote ‘Stay’,” he said.
While Juliette’s decision meant that Joel had to stay with her in a couple for another week, the silver lining for Joel also meant he’d be taking part in the upcoming Couple’s Retreat and be able to spend some more time with his newfound pals.
“Some of the people there are just amazing, and I feel like I’ve made friends for life,” he said.
Married at First Sight (MAFS) 2026 airs Sunday – Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
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