Don’t Tell the Bride star uncovered her husband’s affair while he was in a COMA

When she reflects now on her precipitously short marriage, Bianca John concedes that she should perhaps have heeded the warning signs.

It wasn’t so much the £12.99 ring her fiancé Adam Ledner chose for her or even the fact that he’d selected the cheapest dress he could find – a tacky knee-length lace confection with a plunging neckline found on the internet.

It was more the fact that he failed to consider that at eight months pregnant, she might not want to shoe horn herself into a revealing dress and stilettoes to endure a wedding ‘ceremony’ on a cramped plane circling Bristol.

Even though you don’t expect a conventional ‘do’ when you’re taking part in Don’t Tell the Bride – the long-running TV reality show in which all the responsibility for organising the wedding is handed over, along with a budget of £14,000, to the groom – it seems this was a gimmick too far.

‘I was most upset about his lack of thought,’ laments Bianca, 29, an employment mentor, recalling her disastrous day – which was centred around a warehouse filled with sand – in 2016.

When she reflects now on her precipitously short marriage, Bianca John (pictured on her wedding day) concedes that she should perhaps have heeded the warning signs

It wasn’t so much the £12.99 ring her fiancé Adam Ledner (pictured together) chose for her or even the fact that he’d selected the cheapest dress he could find – a tacky knee-length lace confection with a plunging neckline found on the internet

It wasn’t so much the £12.99 ring her fiancé Adam Ledner (pictured together) chose for her or even the fact that he’d selected the cheapest dress he could find – a tacky knee-length lace confection with a plunging neckline found on the internet

It was more the fact that he failed to consider that at eight months pregnant, she might not want to shoe horn herself into a revealing dress and stilettoes to endure a wedding ‘ceremony’ on a cramped plane circling Bristol. Pictured, Bianca on Don't Tell the Bride: Revisited

It was more the fact that he failed to consider that at eight months pregnant, she might not want to shoe horn herself into a revealing dress and stilettoes to endure a wedding ‘ceremony’ on a cramped plane circling Bristol. Pictured, Bianca on Don’t Tell the Bride: Revisited

‘When you’re a month away from giving birth, you feel self-conscious and I don’t think Adam considered that when he picked my dress, or thought about how I’d feel, with my swollen feet crammed into cheap plastic shoes, getting married on a plane.

‘The aisle wasn’t wide enough for Dad to walk down with me and he was stranded at the back of the plane wondering what was going on. We didn’t take any vows. It was quite bizarre. We had to get married two days later at Pontypool Register Office. Very classy,’ she laughs drily.

Bianca had hoped her husband would redeem himself after the wedding. ‘You do when you have a baby on the way, don’t you?’ she says reasonably. ‘You have high hopes because you want to create a happy family.’

But her optimism was sadly mistaken. Surely few husbands can have got it quite so consistently wrong as hapless Adam, who’d even toyed with the idea of holding their reception in a disused prison as a nod to his former job as a prison officer.

A month after they tied the knot, Bianca gave birth to their adored son Brock, now five. Thankfully no drama there. Then 11 months later, in September 2017, Adam, 38, a support worker for children in care, was rushed, unconscious, to hospital.

He had barely been admitted to intensive care when Bianca inadvertently stumbled on evidence – on his phone – that he’d been having an affair.

Did she rail against her faithless spouse? ‘No, because he was still in a coma,’ she says reasonably. ‘But I was angry and upset; sorry for trusting him. I walked outside to get some air, called mum and stood in the pouring rain until she arrived.

‘She’d no idea about the latest developments and she just said, “Oh God, how’s Adam?” I said, “Never mind that. It’s a whole new story now.”

Even though you don’t expect a conventional ‘do’ when you’re taking part in Don’t Tell the Bride - the long-running TV reality show in which all the responsibility for organising the wedding is handed over, along with a budget of £14,000, to the groom - it seems this was a gimmick too far. Pictured, Adam on Don't Tell the Bride: Revisited

Even though you don’t expect a conventional ‘do’ when you’re taking part in Don’t Tell the Bride – the long-running TV reality show in which all the responsibility for organising the wedding is handed over, along with a budget of £14,000, to the groom – it seems this was a gimmick too far. Pictured, Adam on Don’t Tell the Bride: Revisited

‘I wanted him to be well – I wouldn’t wish ill-health on anyone, especially my son’s dad – but I was upset, and I wanted him to explain himself.

‘I never had any desire for vengeance, but I also knew he was never coming back into my life.’

You may think Bianca’s story is a predictable contemporary parable: a tawdry TV stunt wedding and a marriage that fractured when it had barely begun.

What makes it different is her good humour and magnanimity: although she is now divorced from Adam and happily single, they preserve an amicable relationship for the sake of their son.

Bright and fizzing with life, she was just 21 when she met Adam on the dating app, Tinder in 2014. She had already planned to go travelling in Australia and south east Asia for 10 months and Adam joined her en route a couple of months into her trip.

Swept up in excitement of their extended holiday, life seemed blissful: he proposed in Thailand, picking out the words, ‘Marry me?’ in rose petals.

‘He’s very easy going and that appealed to me,’ she says. ‘Being laid back might be appealing on holiday – but it wasn’t so much in real life. So what started as endearing became annoying.’

She was four months pregnant when they returned to the UK and, four months later, they signed up for Don’t Tell the Bride, intrigued by the opportunity to do something they’d never forget.

‘I was most upset about his lack of thought,’ laments Bianca, 29, an employment mentor, recalling her disastrous day - which was centred around a warehouse filled with sand (pictured) - in 2016

‘I was most upset about his lack of thought,’ laments Bianca, 29, an employment mentor, recalling her disastrous day – which was centred around a warehouse filled with sand (pictured) – in 2016

Bianca (pictured on the show in 2016) had hoped her husband would redeem himself after the wedding. ‘You do when you have a baby on the way, don’t you?’ she says reasonably. ‘You have high hopes because you want to create a happy family.’

Bianca (pictured on the show in 2016) had hoped her husband would redeem himself after the wedding. ‘You do when you have a baby on the way, don’t you?’ she says reasonably. ‘You have high hopes because you want to create a happy family.’

‘I suppose I’d have come to my senses sooner if we’d been living normal, everyday lives,’ says Bianca, who generously concedes: ‘Adam’s not a bad person, but he hasn’t got much common sense. He’d put Brock’s nappies and baby-gros on back to front and he was hopeless at DIY. If he put up a shelf it would fall down.

‘And he’s not good at making decisions either. When we were travelling I booked all the flights and decided on everything – even down to where we had dinner.’

Adam’s vacillation was borne out in the way he planned their wedding. Taking his cue from Tinder – in which you swipe right to like a photo and left to discard it – he presented his bride-to-be with two envelopes, inviting her to choose right or left.

So it was that Bianca selected the envelope marked right and (mercifully but unwittingly) opted to have their wedding reception in a warehouse full of sand rather than the slightly grimmer option of a disused prison; a nod to Adam’s former job.

The sand theme was an attempt to recreate the sun-kissed beaches of Thailand on which they’d lazed while travelling, just as the flight over Bristol was meant to evoke the excitement of their long-haul flight to the other side of the world.

But what on earth was he thinking? ‘The sand was horrendous! It was right up there with the dress,’ says Bianca, who later learned that Adam had spent £130 on neon-coloured plastic seaside buckets (toning with the fluorescent bridesmaids’ dresses) to use as table decorations – just £10 less than he’d paid for her dress.

For Bianca’s mum Rachel, 52 – married for 34 years to Bianca’s dad Billy John, 67 – the biggest disappointment was the anti-climax of the flight.

She and Bianca have recalled the big day for a follow-up TV show, Don’t Tell the Bride: Revisited, on E4 to mark the series’ 15th year.

Yet in September 2017, Adam, 38, a support worker for children in care, was rushed, unconscious, to hospital. He had barely been admitted to intensive care when Bianca (pictured on the show, right) inadvertently stumbled on evidence – on his phone – that he’d been having an affair

Yet in September 2017, Adam, 38, a support worker for children in care, was rushed, unconscious, to hospital. He had barely been admitted to intensive care when Bianca (pictured on the show, right) inadvertently stumbled on evidence – on his phone – that he’d been having an affair

Meanwhile Adam’s vacillation was borne out in the way he planned their wedding. Taking his cue from Tinder – in which you swipe right to like a photo and left to discard it – he presented his bride-to-be with two envelopes, inviting her to choose right or left (pictured)

Meanwhile Adam’s vacillation was borne out in the way he planned their wedding. Taking his cue from Tinder – in which you swipe right to like a photo and left to discard it – he presented his bride-to-be with two envelopes, inviting her to choose right or left (pictured)

‘As we drove to the airport in a minibus, I was excited. I thought we’d be flying somewhere exotic for the wedding. I didn’t realise we’d be circling over Bristol for an hour.’

Were it not for what happened next, we could perhaps find it in our hearts to feel a scintilla of sympathy for Adam, scorn poured on his well-intentioned efforts to rekindle happy memories on their wedding day.

But of course the fiasco of the nuptials was a minor hiccough compared with what ensued.

Bianca was at the gym and Brock at nursery when Adam called her from their home one day in September 2017: ‘He was slurring his words, not making sense and he said he didn’t feel right.

‘I phoned for an ambulance and the controller said it sounded like a stroke. By the time I got home he was semi-conscious on the floor. The ambulance arrived just after me and I followed it to hospital.’

It later emerged that Adam, who had just taken part in a body building contest, was suffering from rhabdomyolysis, the breakdown of muscle tissue that leads to the release of muscle fibres into the bloodstream. The rare condition – often occurring in endurance athletes – can be life-threatening.

‘I called Mum on the way to hospital to tell her what had happened,’ recalls Bianca, ‘and as we were talking my phone battery died. I had Adam’s phone with me so I switched to his – he’d never made a secret of his security codes – and it pinged as a message came through.

‘It read, “What are you doing today babe?” I thought, “Babe? That’s a bit cosy.” But I laughed and told myself it was probably completely innocent.

So it was that Bianca selected the envelope marked right and (mercifully but unwittingly) opted to have their wedding reception in a warehouse full of sand rather than the slightly grimmer option of a disused prison; a nod to Adam’s (pictured left) former job

So it was that Bianca selected the envelope marked right and (mercifully but unwittingly) opted to have their wedding reception in a warehouse full of sand rather than the slightly grimmer option of a disused prison; a nod to Adam’s (pictured left) former job

‘At the hospital, Adam was in intensive care and I sat in the family room distraught, anxiously waiting for news. Then another text came through, just two question marks. I thought, “What the hell?” and clicked on the profile photo of the sender, which showed three women.

‘I thought, “This isn’t right.” I had a little word with myself. “Don’t do anything. He’s really poorly”. But I couldn’t help it. I turned detective to find out who had messaged my husband.’

Bianca – who had never suspected Adam was being unfaithful – scoured social media and uncovered the identity of the woman with whom he had evidently been having an affair.

On a rugby mates’ Whatsapp group, she found that Adam had shared photos of his lover in her underwear, together with graphic details of their clandestine sex life, with his friends.

‘I’m a calm person; it takes a lot to rock me, but by now I was furious,’ she says. ‘These were married men acting like the worst kind of teenagers, sharing photos of a woman in scanty clothes and Adam was bragging about what he’d been up to with her.

‘It took Don’t Tell the Bride to a new level,’ she says wryly, adding: ‘Worse still, I knew his rugby club friends and I was embarrassed for them.’

Coolly she decided on her strategy. First she sent a message to her husband’s mates telling them, ‘Adam’s in hospital. You might like to come and see him. I know everything.’

Then, with admirable restraint she texted his mistress. ‘I wrote, “Adam’s in hospital. I’m not sure if you know he’s married, but I’m his wife.”

The sand theme (pictured) was an attempt to recreate the sun-kissed beaches of Thailand on which they’d lazed while travelling, just as the flight over Bristol was meant to evoke the excitement of their long-haul flight to the other side of the world

The sand theme (pictured) was an attempt to recreate the sun-kissed beaches of Thailand on which they’d lazed while travelling, just as the flight over Bristol was meant to evoke the excitement of their long-haul flight to the other side of the world

But what on earth was he thinking? ‘The sand was horrendous! It was right up there with the dress,’ says Bianca (pictured with her wedding guests), who later learned that Adam had spent £130 on neon-coloured plastic seaside buckets (toning with the fluorescent bridesmaids’ dresses) to use as table decorations – just £10 less than he’d paid for her dress

But what on earth was he thinking? ‘The sand was horrendous! It was right up there with the dress,’ says Bianca (pictured with her wedding guests), who later learned that Adam had spent £130 on neon-coloured plastic seaside buckets (toning with the fluorescent bridesmaids’ dresses) to use as table decorations – just £10 less than he’d paid for her dress

‘I thought, “Poor girl. Perhaps she’s oblivious.” I wondered if she even knew about me.

‘But she texted back and told me she did. I was furious. Adam was still unconscious but by then I knew I wanted nothing more to do with him.’

Duly she drove home packed all his possessions into his car, then returned to the hospital leaving his car there and handing the keys to a nurse.

Back at home, torn by anger and concern for Adam, she continued to check on his progress. Two days later he emerged from the coma and called her.

‘I just said, “I’m glad you’re okay, but I don’t want to speak to you at the moment.”’

The next day, released from hospital, he knocked on the door of their home: ‘I said, “I’ve got nothing to say to you. I don’t want to know any of the sordid details. I’ve seen enough.” And Adam still had the nerve to ask, “Can I stay tonight?”

‘I told him he couldn’t. And that was it. He went. Then I threw my cheap wedding ring into the garden.’

Of course time moves on and although they now lead entirely separate lives Bianca and Adam remain friends for their son’s sake.

Adam tells me, ‘About a year into my marriage to Bianca I had an affair which lasted four or five months. I make no excuses for it.

‘It had stopped, by pure coincidence, just before Bianca found out about it and after that, I never saw the woman again.

‘Now I’m super happy with someone I met three years ago. Bianca is happy too and gets on well with my partner. She’s a brilliant mum and Brock is the happiest little boy.

‘I’ll always love Bianca – she’s the mother of my son – but lessons have been learnt. I was very immature when I married her and I wouldn’t behave like that again.

‘But am I glad we got together? Of course. I couldn’t regret it because we have our wonderful son.’

As for Bianca, she still hopes that one day she’ll have a fairy tale wedding which will be the prelude to a long and happy marriage.

‘But next time I’ll be organising every aspect of the big day myself,’ she smiles.

Don’t Tell the Bride: Revisited – Bianca and Adam’s episode will be available on demand at All 4 alongside all 10 episodes in the latest Don’t Tell the Bride: Revisited series.