Source: Belinda Green / lifetime
For all of the 11 seasons Married at First Sight has been on, with its successful pairings but also its many failed couples, there was never an estranged duo that was able to have their marriage annulled — until this year.
Brandon Reid and Taylor Dunklin‘s marriage was a trainwreck during Season 10 in Washington D.C. Now, they’re not only free of each other, but according to the courts in Maryland, their marriage is canceled as though it never happened. According to Soap Dirt, Reid, who was the one who filed for the annulment, was able to make the case that he was the victim of fraud because he signed up to do the show to find true love, but he felt Dunklin came on looking for “notoriety and attention,” and there were rumors that she was not whom he was supposed to be matched with initially.
According to the site, Reid “made history,” with the judge saying he was the first man since 1922 to waltz into county court and be able to have their marriage annulled rather than go through divorce proceedings. In Maryland, the grounds for an annulment include, a spouse coerced their partner to get married, one spouse was defrauded by the other, one spouse is mentally incapable of marriage, one spouse was already married, the couple finds out their are closely related, and one spouse is underage or was underage with no parental consent to marry.
Sounds like he actually was able to get an annulment before fellow MAFS co-star, Michael Watson. Back in August, he and Meka Jones were able to have their marriage thrown out after he claimed he was frauded by the show, and Jones felt she was frauded by him.
As for Reid, he claimed Dunklin tried to get on other reality shows before landing on the Lifetime hit. He also alleged that she was not faithful to him during their relationship. All of this drama came out well before we saw things tank in the couple’s marriage. Reid filed for an annulment in January, just as Season 10 was beginning to air. Once the season began, it became clear after their honeymoon why things didn’t work out. That was the turning point for the couple, who from then on, struggled with the cameras and production, communication, social media, and at times, just showing respect for one another.
Dunklin hasn’t spoken on the annulment, but she has said that her time on the show, being married to Reid, was a low point in her life.
“I really appreciate all the positivity, kind words, and honest constructive criticism/advice. But honestly, being apart of this show was The WORST, most stressful experience I ever had in my life. I barely watched. So much happened off camera or that the show didn’t display. It’s hard when you have to continue to relive it,” she said in an Instagram message in April.
“I’m healing from it, becoming better from it, accepting it as a learning experience & moving on to getting back to the positive care-free HAPPY person I was before,” she added.
While Reid only hangs out with Watson, Dunklin does hang out with all the wives from Season 10, saying building bonds with them was the highlight of her time on MAFS. When asked if she missed filming in May, she said, “not at all. Worst experience ever.. could’ve been so fun lol but it was a set up.”
And when someone chided her and said that she didn’t seem invested in working on her marriage, she called Reid an “abusive lunatic” and said “that guy needed professional help” so it couldn’t be worked on.
While Reid is probably somewhere counting his lucky stars that he was able to walk out of court as someone who was never married, it sounds like Dunklin is also glad to be able to say good riddance to him and their short-lived union. We don’t blame either of them for wanting no connection to each other on record, in the past or the present.
