MAFS star Charlene Douglas on touching reason couple has made show ‘worthwhile’

Sex and Relationship Therapist Charlene Douglas has discussed the touching reason one of the couples on Channel 4’s Married at First Sight has made her role on the show particularly worthwhile.

Speaking to Express.co.uk about working with Balance Activ the Big Vagina Report, which explores the complicated relationships women have with their vaginas and aims to destigmatise talking about women’s sexual health, Charlene discussed her time on the popular reality show.

Asked about her proudest moment on the series to date, Charlene reflected on one particularly successful marriage.

“I think Adam and Tayah,” she revealed. “You know, that they are still together.

“They’ve got a gorgeous little baby and every time I see pictures of them together – and their baby – it just makes this job really worthwhile.

“Just that a gorgeous baby has come from it and they’re very happy together, so I’m very proud of that.”

Tayah Victoria and Adam Aveling welcomed their first child in October last year – a baby girl named Beau Emily Aveling.

The pair met on the 2021 series of the show and announced they were pregnant just a few months after it had concluded.

Asked if she must find it very rewarding when all her hard work with the couples on the show pays off, Charlene confirmed: “Definitely. From each show, we’ll have at least one couple that are still together.

“From last year, Jenna (Robinson) and Zoe (Clifton) are still together,” she added, before explaining that getting married wasn’t the only thing couples gained from being on the show.

She said: “I think across the board, and I’ve often said this whether people are still together in their relationship or not…

“I think all of them – everyone that’s come on that show – will say that they’ve learned so much about themselves, so much about relationships and are able to then take that on into new relationships. So for me, that’s a success just in itself.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Charlene spoke about working with clients that have issues around intimacy, noting that women often feel uncomfortable speaking about their own bodies.

“The fact that most people don’t even call it a vulva,” she said. “You know, you get all these like little fancy names like ‘it’ or ‘down there’.

Speaking about the Big Vagina Report, she added that it was a “big topic that more people need to hear about” and that an unwillingness to talk about female anatomy often comes from a place of “shame” that has been reinforced since childhood.

It means that many women do not even have proper awareness of health issues such as bacterial vaginosis, which is a very common cause of unusual vaginal discharge.

Charlene Douglas has been working with Balance Activ on the Big Vagina Report, the biggest dive into women’s intimate health, which explores the tricky relationships women have with their vaginas.