Over the course of this season of Bride & Prejudice: The Forbidden Weddings, six Australian couples have dealt with the immense pressure of having parents who will do just about anything to stop them from getting married.
From arguments over substance abuse to accusations of kidnappings, it’s been the most dramatic season of Bride & Prejudice we’ve seen yet.
But while all five couples have been fighting to get married, there’s one couple’s story in particular that hundreds of Australians have truly empathised with – Jess and JoJo.
Watch the trailer for Bride & Prejudice: The Forbidden Weddings below. Post continues after video.
From the moment we were introduced to JoJo’s parents, Sid and Lody, it was clear that Jess and JoJo’s story was one we’ve seen play out time and time again.
Although Jess, 28, and JoJo, 38, have been together for two and a half years and even bought a house together, JoJo’s parents strongly disapprove of her decision to get married to Jess.
In a situation that many same-sex couples face, JoJo’s parents, who are of a strict Lebanese Catholic faith, told their daughter that they weren’t willing to “sin in front of God” by attending the couple’s wedding.
“They’re good people, but they are not doing the right thing,” Lody said. “As much as I love Jess and Joanne, I won’t see them getting married. Sorry, I can’t. I can’t go. I will be sinning in front of God and I can’t do it.”
“They’re not to be together. A woman and a woman, it’s not right,” Sid added.
It was a point both Sid and Lody made clear throughout the season.
In one episode, Sid and Lody explicitly told JoJo that they were “ashamed” to have a gay daughter.
During another conversation, which came after JoJo admitted to “crying herself to sleep at night” because her parents didn’t support her wedding, JoJo’s mother Lody referred to the 38-year-old as “not normal”.
“I don’t want her to marry a girl. I want her to marry a boy,” Lody added.
In another instance, Lody told her daughter: “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”
As the wedding drew closer, JoJo continued to ask her father, Sid, to walk her down the aisle – just like he did for her siblings.
In the end, however, Sid decided not to attend the couple’s wedding, telling the pair that his religion would “cut his throat” if he attended the wedding.
Since then, we’ve been waiting to see whether JoJo’s mother, Lody, would turn up to watch JoJo marry Jess.
And on tonight’s episode of Bride and Prejudice, we finally found out the answer – Lody showed up.
"It was so hard for me to leave my husband," Lody told JoJo, of her decision to attend the wedding.
"But I got up and I came. Today, I did this for you, because you're my daughter," she added.
"At the end, you're my daughter. I've always been proud of you. Always. And I hope you have a good life, darling, because when I see you happy, I'm happy."
Despite Sid's absence, JoJo and Jess married in front of their family and friends, with Jess' family eager to welcome JoJo into their family.
"Her choice was not my choice or her father's choice," Lody told the camera.
"But you know what, she just loves a girl, a girl loves her and they got married and that's it. I wish them all the best and all the happiness in the world."
Here's how Twitter reacted to Jess and JoJo's wedding on Bride & Prejudice:
Did you watch the finale of Bride & Prejudice: The Forbidden Weddings? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
For more on this topic:
- GET EXCITED: Everything you need to know about the new season of Bride & Prejudice.
- Breakups and lasting marriages: Where the cast of Bride & Prejudice 2018 are now.
- "I wouldn't even spit on her." Last night, Australia met TV's most intense mother-in-law.
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