Married At First Sight's Luke Fourniotis breaks silence on marriage with Melissa Akbay as he reveals the moment he knew something was wrong: 'I felt completely alone'

Married At First Sight groom Luke Fourniotis has broken his silence on his crumbling relationship with Melissa Akbay, revealing he felt isolated, rejected and shut out long before the experiment had even properly begun.

In an interview with Daily Mail, Luke, 30, admitted watching the first Dinner Party back was deeply confronting, saying it forced him to relive one of the loneliest nights of the experiment so far.

'It definitely brought back a lot of memories,' Luke said. 'I remember finding it so hard just to get through that dinner party. I felt really awkward and really alone.'

While other couples laughed, bonded and leaned into the experience, Luke said it was painfully clear his marriage was already on shaky ground.

'I was looking around the room and everyone else was getting along,' he explained. 'Mel and I were the only ones who weren't. Seeing that was really hard.'

What made it worse, Luke said, was watching Mel be warm and engaging with everyone else while giving him nothing in return.

'She was friendly, loud, funny, laughing, having the best time with everyone else,' he said. 'And I was getting absolutely nothing. That was almost worse because it showed me she could be that person. She just didn't want to be that person with me.'

Despite the growing emotional distance, Luke said he was still hopeful at that stage that things could improve.

'Of course I was hopeful,' he said. 'It was still early days. We'd only been on the honeymoon. I was thinking maybe she just needed more time to warm up.'

He admitted he was confused by Mel's behaviour, particularly because she had not yet been upfront about her lack of attraction.

'I was scratching my head wondering why it wasn't working,' he said. 'I kept asking myself what I was doing wrong. Why doesn't she even want to be friends with me?'

Luke said he repeatedly tried to understand what Mel needed from him to build attraction, but claims he was shut down every time.

'I asked her so many times, is there anything else I can do for you?' he said. 'And she always just said no. There's nothing else you can do.'

To Luke, that response was frustrating and disheartening.

'If you want to make a relationship work, there's always something you can do for the other person,' he said. 'Surely there's something. But she never really tried to think about it.'

Watching the other couples thrive only compounded his pain.

'It was a punch in the guts,' he admitted. 'That's what you want. I wanted that experience too. To walk into that first dinner party with someone you're getting along with.'

While he said he was genuinely happy for the other couples, Luke conceded it made his own situation feel impossible to ignore.

'At the dinner party, you can't escape it,' he said. 'Reality sets in that it's not going well.' 

Luke also admitted watching Mel tell expert John Aiken that she would make an effort for the right man was upsetting.

'It hurt watching that back,' he said. 'She said she was willing to make it work with someone who looked a certain way, but when I came along, she didn't really try at all.'

Asked what he believes could still turn things around, Luke said the pressure to force romance needed to be stripped away.

'Right now, we don't even have a friendship,' he said. 'That's the most basic building block. Forget intimacy. Forget romance. We need a friendship first.'

Despite the emotional toll, Luke said the overwhelming public support since the episode aired has been validating.

'It's been super validating,' he said. 'When you're in there, you don't get that validation. You don't know how it's coming across.'

He added that several castmates have since reached out after seeing the episodes play out.

'A couple of them said, I'm so sorry, I didn't realise it was this bad,' he revealed. 'They said she genuinely gave you nothing from the start.'

As Revelations Week continues on MAFS, Luke's emotional honesty is resonating with viewers, even as his marriage hangs by a thread.

For now, he says the support has helped him trust his instincts.

'It makes me feel like however I was feeling in there was completely true,' he said.

Luke's claims now appear to align with images published by Daily Mail last August showing the couple living strikingly separate lives just one week into apartment living.

In the photos, Melissa was seen wandering Sydney alone, headphones in, snacking on a chocolate bar and staring down at her phone.

She appeared withdrawn, disengaged and deep in thought.

Luke, meanwhile, was photographed elsewhere, upbeat and smiling, dressed in gym gear with a flower tucked behind his ear as he stretched before heading out for a jog.

At the time, production sources brushed it off as a couple needing space.

Insiders now say the images were an early warning sign.

'That wasn't a rough patch,' one source told Daily Mail. 'That was a marriage where one person had already checked out.'

According to multiple insiders, Mel made it clear early on that she was not attracted to Luke and had little interest in building any kind of connection.

'She didn't want to get to know him,' a source said. 'And that included not wanting to be friends.'

While Luke allegedly tried to open conversations and find common ground, Mel is said to have shut down discussions and kept interactions surface-level.

'She didn't lean in,' an insider said. 'She leaned away.'

Insiders also point to Mel's alleged lack of interest in Luke's family, particularly his sisters, as another red flag.

'She showed no curiosity,' one source claimed. 'No effort to connect. No warmth.'

Perhaps most damaging, sources say, was the contrast in Mel's behaviour.

'She was cold to Luke behind closed doors,' one insider said. 'But completely different with everyone else.'