Here’s a Married At First Sight (MAFS) 2025 couple swap we didn’t see coming! Apparently, Paul Antoine and Awhina Rutene’s twin Cleo Rutene had a relationship before the groom went on MAFS. Wonder if producers knew this and wanted to stir up some drama?
Paul had also dated his onscreen wife Carina Mirable prior to the show, so perhaps Perth has a really small dating pool?
Cleo tells Chattr she had a “short” relationship with Paul back on 2022, and surprisingly, she met him the old fashioned way.
“We did not meet on a dating app. I was out to dinner with friends and we spotted one another on the walk to the restaurant,” she says.
The pair broke up before he went on The Love Boat but “remained friends aftewards”.
“[Our breakup] was a mutual decision as we were both at different stages in our life and I supported him with going on The Love Boat as I had just come out of a long term relationship and had never spent time being single,” she reveals.
Cleo spills that Awhina and Paul recognised each other during the first Dinner Party and the groom was open about his past relationship with Carina.
“[Our relationship] was never hidden, everyone is allowed to have had a life before the show,” she adds.
Awhina’s twin sister stresses that there’s no romance or spark between her and Paul now, saying that they’re “only friends, nothing more”.
Fans question if the MAFS cast are ‘plants’
After the popular Instagram account MAFS Uncensored shared the news about Cleo and Paul, viewers started commenting in disbelief. Some wondered how so many couples and contestants had connections, something that hadn’t really happened in previous seasons.
“[Is] this show just filled with plants and everyone is managed by the same people? Australia is a pretty big place, the chances that a small handful of people on a show all somehow have either banged or know each other is astronomical,” one person wrote.
“Does anybody this season not have a connection to someone else?” another asked.
“Perth really is incestuous and this revelation is a little bit vomity,” a third remarked.
“And I bet they all followed each other on socials before this. Just goes to show there’s nothing genuine about this programme anymore. If there ever was,” another said.
However, Cleo dismisses this, saying they didn’t hide their relationship but it’s unlikely producers discovered their connection.
“Producers would not have known as I wasn’t a participant for them to investigate,” she says.
Wonder if there will be any other secret relationships that emerge? We’ll just have to wait and see!
Married At First Sight 2025 airs Sundays at 7pm and Monday – Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
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