Married At First Sight UK star Thomas Hartley broke down in tears as he issued a grovelling apology for 'sickening' comments about his co-stars.
The reality TV star says there is 'no excuse' for his comments and explains how he will live 'eternally with regret' following his behaviour.
After apologising on social media, Thomas went on to explain how he has been experiencing some 'very dark thoughts' over recent days and received threatening messages from trolls.
Thomas was known for his fallouts and outbursts on this year’s show, but despite appearing to making up with everyone on the recent reunion episode, the Scouse mental health nurse mouthed off again on Cool FM’s What’s Happenin’ podcast.
His comments upset April Banbury, who he had a long-running feud with, as well as Whitney Hughes and lesbian couple Jenna Robinson and Zoe Clifton.
They included a joke about Jenna’s dad, who sadly passed away during Covid meaning he couldn’t walk her down the aisle.
After being publicly criticised by his co-stars regarding his comments, Thomas has since issued a grovelling apology and says he has asked for the offensive podcast to be taken down.
He said: “I sincerely apologise for any offence I caused on the podcast. It wasn’t right and I did ask for it to be removed and it wasn’t.
“I take full responsibility and honestly completely regret the situation and what I said. I am honestly so sorry for any pain caused to anyone... There’s no excuse. I was out of order massively. I will live eternally with regret.”
In later posts on Instagram he apologised again as he revealed he was having some “very dark thoughts”.
“I think it’s important to start by saying this podcast is about dark comedy and it’s safe to say after the reaction from people, death threats, accusations and the band wagoning, it’s safe to say I’ve had some very dark thoughts,” he wrote.
“I have already apologised, but the damage is done and for those personally affected by the podcast, I am extremely sorry. The lines between comedy and insensitivity were massively blurred. I was genuinely too comfortable and said the complete wrong thing.
“To the trolls, those threatening my family and friends, you should be ashamed of yourselves. I’m taking a break from social media for a few days.”
Following more backlash from trolls, Thomas appeared visibly upset as he broke down in tears in a clip shared to his Instagram stories.
He said: “Just to say when you’re sending these messages, what would you do if you sent a really f***ing awful message and the next minute someone had killed themselves.
“People are treating me like I’ve killed someone and I’ve made a comment on a podcast, said the wrong thing, I’ve apologised and people are literally acting like I’ve murdered one of their relatives.
“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep. I don’t know what you want, whether you want blood. I can’t even concentrate. This is really bad.”
Crying down the camera, he added in a now deleted clip: “Is this what you want? Do you want me to be broken. This is so bad.”
Prior to Thomas' public apology and emotional social media posts, Jenna’s wife Zoe took to Instagram to brand Thomas a “disrespectful piece of s***”.
She added: “To slate your own friend and disrespect Jenna is something completely unforgiveable.”
In another clip, Thomas is heard taking aim at April as he says: “She said her mum abandoned her didn’t she...”
The conversation then turned to Whitney’s mum, who also passed away, and Thomas and the podcast hosts can be heard laughing.
Blasting their behaviour, April said: “To come across sickening behaviour from adults is appalling. Laughing over people’s trauma for clout.
“The industry needs to be careful as to who they give platforms to without damaging their names also, by supporting and promoting bullying.”
Whitney revealed she had blocked half the MAFS since the show ended because of the things Thomas and others had said about her.
She said: “Whilst the show was on air some of the cast were saying hurtful things that trolls had posted about me despite the friendship that we had built after the show.
“That and disgusting behaviour like this [the podcast] is why I have blocked half the cast and why I turned down flying for the MAFS Christmas Special.
“I’ll never willingly put myself in the company of anyone who will say anything to gain followers or press.”
Another of this year’s brides, Jess Potter, also took to social media to accuse Thomas of “bullying her daily”.
She wrote: “Imagine a grown man is bullying me...constantly! DAILY. How can someone who works in mental health think that being nasty about me constantly online, insta lives, insta stories, podcasts and articles isn’t having an effect on mine.”
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