An Emmerdale legend has got married for the sixth time in a “wild” Christmas plot twist.

The festive season in the Dales has been fraught with tension as Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) and Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) found themselves fearing for their safety following the reappearance of Robert’s unhinged husband Kev Townsend (Chris Coghill).

Meanwhile, Jacob Gallagher (Joe-Warren Plant) and Sarah Sugden (Katie Hill) have been covertly planning their wedding, cleverly masquerading it as a gender reveal party.

On Christmas Eve (24th December), Jacob was left awestruck by the sight of his soon-to-be wife in her wedding dress. However, they had to quickly conceal their joy when an unsuspecting Eric Pollard (Chris Chittell) and Kerry Wyatt (Laura Norton) turned up, reports the Daily Star.

Sarah Sugden and Jacob Gallagher were left speechless on Christmas Eve (Image: ITV)

Later, upon arriving at the registry office, Sarah and Jacob were shocked to find Kerry and Pollard, who had just got married.

“This is purely a financial arrangement,” Pollard clarified. Loyal soap viewers will be aware that his sole reason for marrying Kerry is to funnel money for Jacob’s future to her, a detail still unknown to the rest of the village.

An irate Jacob confronted his grandfather: “You lied to me, said that you had some important meeting. You made out that you weren’t even available.”

Pollard was equally upset that Jacob had “gone behind his back” to marry Sarah, leading him to storm off in annoyance.

Eric Pollard and Kerry Wyatt got married (Image: ITV)

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Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) assembled numerous locals at the Woolpack for a special gathering honouring the young couple, yet the duo didn’t even get married after discovering Pollard and Kerry’s scheme.

Attempting to deflect Sarah’s mention of a “sham wedding”, Kerry informed those present: “This is 100 per cent genuine. I love Eric to bits, he’s like a dad to us.”

Pollard chimed in: “Kerry and I have grown close since she started to look after me. It’s not a crime, is it?”

Observing from across the pub, Jacob seethed: “We should tell everyone the truth. He’s ruined our big day.”

In a bid to lift spirits, Jacob and Sarah subsequently discovered they were having a baby girl, although viewers will know that the child isn’t actually theirs – Charity (Emma Atkins) and Ross Barton (Michael Parr) are the biological parents.

Emmerdale fans couldn’t believe the plot twist (Image: ITV)

Emmerdale viewers were left stunned by the surprise wedding scenes, flooding X (formerly Twitter) with their thoughts.

“Soaps are so wild. Like what do you mean Kerry has just married Eric Pollard on Christmas Eve and become his sixth wife. I’m actually howling at this twist,” one viewer posted.

Another remarked: “This was absolutely not on my bingo card for Xmas Eve. Eric and Kerry wedding,” whilst a third quipped: “Eric better now die in Corriedale because Kerry became his 6th wife and Henry VIII had six wives and you know how that mnemonic goes.”

A fourth viewer mirrored the enthusiasm, declaring: “It was a good episode today.. really good.. twists, turns and full of surprises!” whilst another expressed similar delight: “Tonight’s #Emmerdale is the funniest thing I’ve ever watched in my whole life, I literally died laughing. Eric and Kerry, whoever did that deserves a f****** raise.”

Emmerdale airs weeknights on ITV1 at 7.30pm and is available to stream from 7am on ITVX