Feedback week on Married At First Sight (MAFS) 2025 has already caused chaos, with the controversial partner swap challenge well underway. Paul Antoine was paired with Awhina Rutene, which caused a bit of a stir with his wife Carina Mirable, because he used to date Awhina’s identical twin Cleo Rutene.
But when Paul revealed what Carina had said about Cleo during a letter writing task, it caused outrage.
“I feel like [Carina] is a little bit of a snob sometimes and comes across as very judgey, and I’ll be honest with you this is giving me the ick,” Paul said. He explained that when he told Carina about his previous relationship with Cleo, she said: “I didn’t know you would go for that kind of calibre”. Yikes!!!
Cleo tells Chattr she was “really upset” after hearing what Carina had said about her.
“I had just been telling Awhina how happy I was for Paul. I had seen some leaked photos of the two of them, and I told [Awhina] that she looked really pretty and that they seemed genuinely happy together,” she says.
“What really hurt was being judged solely on my physical appearance. I’ve been judged for how I look my whole life, and for another woman to do that, it just doesn’t sit right with me.”
She adds that she isn’t “in competition” with Carina, so there was no need for the hurtful words.
“I don’t judge anyone. I’m focused on bettering myself every day and I don’t feel the need to tear anyone down,” Cleo says. “I honestly feel like Carina’s comment just highlights that she has a mean-spirited attitude and doesn’t support other women. It made me feel like she was looking down on me, and I just don’t think that’s fair.”
Did Cleo and Carina ever discuss the ‘calibre’ comment?
It turns out that Cleo asked Carina to have a chat about what the bride had said behind her back, but it didn’t go well.
“I’m someone who likes to tackle things head on. I asked [Carina] to have a conversation with me, by myself, so we [could] address the matter,” Cleo explains.
“I found her to be dismissive when I asked her for the conversation and then she was deflecting the blame onto Paul and called him over. This was a conversation woman to woman and after she involved Paul — I left as I didn’t want to cause them [any] drama.”
It looks like Cleo is taking the high road and handling the drama, and we’ll get to see Carina’s reaction during tonight’s episode.
Married At First Sight 2025 airs Sundays at 7pm and Monday – Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
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