Relationship expert John Aiken has made a name for himself as one of the nation’s leading dating gurus on the reality TV social experiment Married At First Sight.
After being a fixture on the show for 12 seasons and helping hopeless romantics find their happily ever after, it’s fair to say the 54-year-old knows a thing or two about love.
With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that John has found his own love story in real life with his wife – although it didn’t come without a few hurdles.

A slow burn and a tragic beginning
The TV psychologist met his wife Kelly Swanson-Roe, a glamorous former news reporter, over 20 years ago, after he first saw her on television in New Zealand.
“She is someone I am very grateful that I met,” John previously told 9Honey, reflecting on his and Kelly’s blossoming romance in its early days.
Kelly, who was widowed at age 30 after her husband tragically died in a canoeing accident in Switzerland, was naturally guarded when she first met John, so their courtship was a slow-burner.
But after takings things steady and frequently flying between Auckland and Wellington, John admits it became apparent that he and Kelly had serious feelings for each other.

“She had a lot of people around her that were very protective and didn’t want her to jump into anything else,” John said of Kelly, who he credits for her resilience.
Not willing to let go of their budding romance, John told the publication he took the plunge and made their relationship official.
“Rather than saying, ‘No, I need to be separate with Kelly,’ I just said, ‘I’m going to bring her past partner into the relationship and really make him a part of it all,'” he confessed.
In a previous interview, the MAFS expert said that they openly spoke about him, had photos of him and remembered him every year.
Meant to be and making the move to Australia
After cementing their relationship, John admitted he told a white lie to ensure his proposal went smoothly.
“I took her to Sydney. Look, I lied to her to be honest. I said, ‘I’ve got this book publisher that wants to meet with me,'” he told 9Entertainment.
“I had the ring with me and we went to a restaurant down at The Rocks, just under the under the bridge. I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She didn’t see that coming.”
After tying the knot in Waiheke in 2007, the couple then made the move Down Under, where John gained fame as one of the trio of experts on MAFS. The couple celebrated their 18th anniversary on January 21.
“I had never had felt that way before – it literally took my breath away. I struggled to talk,” he recalled to 9Entertainment about the wedding. “She is someone I am very grateful that I met.”

A happy family
When not posting loved-up selfies with wife Kelly, John also posts plenty of adorable happy snaps of the couple’s two children: son Aston, 13, and daughter Piper, 10.
And judging by the endless gushing posts on social media, it appears there’s no shortage of love in the Aiken household.

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