It’s early days yet, but we’re thinking Married at First Sight Australia groom Josh Pihlak could be just the man for his new bride, logistics investigator Cathy Evans.
Waikato-born Cathy, 26 – who is the only Kiwi on the show after moving to Sydney ‘for love’ – has trust issues. Two of her past relationships ended with her partner cheating on her and she has built up some fairly impenetrable walls to protect herself from getting hurt again.
While, of course, there is the danger of Josh being too much of a “Mummy’s boy”, he could also be just the guy for her.
In the sweetest of interviews with TV WEEK the Newcastle tradie has revealed how grateful he is to his mum for all the sacrifices she made for him and his brothers when they were growing up.
He even went so far as to say his mum is his “favourite person in the world”.
Josh told TV WEEK that his parents divorced when he was six and his mum brought up him and his brothers “pretty much on her own”.
“You don’t realise it when you’re young, but growing up, you know how much she sacrificed,” Josh, 28, said. “My brothers and I never went without. I can’t say enough nice words about my mum.”
The industrial operator and truck driver says he has a good relationship with his dad now.
“But I can’t help thinking back to when I was a kid, being let down,” he says. “He’d say, ‘I’ll come see you this weekend’ and then not turn up.”
Josh reckons he’s wanted to meet “the one” and have a family since he was a teenager.
“I met a great girl and I did love her,” he says. “But rather than being a good partner and building that relationship, I chose going out and drinking. And she got rid of me.”
It became his deepest regret and proved a turning point for Josh. He says he’s ready to find a partner and settle down – and he secretly hopes that his mum finds that too.
“It breaks my heart that my mum is single at the moment,” he says. “I think falling in love is the best thing in the world.”