A new player has entered the ongoing Married At First Sight (MAFS) drama between Jacqui Burfoot and Ryan Donnelly, with a 2017 MAFS participant stepping forward to slam Ryan after having a short-lived romantic relationship with him.
Scarlett Cooper starred in Season 4 of MAFS in 2017 (the same season that featured the twins, the runaway bride, and Deb the lady who was angry that she didn’t get a Polynesian groom, in case you needed a refresher), and Scarlett’s now blasted Ryan in a series of Instagram Stories.
What happened between MAFS’ Ryan Donnelly and Scarlett Cooper?
According to the Daily Mail, the drama all started when the pair met at Australia’s Most Influential People Party where the pair hit it off and spent the night together.
Initially, Scarlett had spoken highly of Ryan, calling him “hot” and “intelligent”. “Ryan’s fucking hot, and I wish I was paired with him because we would’ve made MAFS history,” she said in an Instagram Story.
Not long after, Scarlett took to Instagram again to slam Ryan’s behaviour, saying she was fearful after Ryan “censored” her.
“You told me you liked me, you told me I was your perfect fucking girl,” she said, before deeming Ryan a liar and then saying, “You blew up my phone, that is harassment, do not threaten me, do not tell me what I can and cannot say.”
After she accused the groom of trying to control what she was saying to the public, Scarlett said Ryan kept trying to contact her and that she would go to the police.
“I’m scared for my life, he’s been threatening me. I have blocked him, but I’m getting all these prank calls, I don’t know what to do, I think I have to call the police and get a restraining order against him,” she said.
“Get out of my life, or I’ll contact the police.”
Later on, Scarlett took to Instagram again, saying she would get her side of the story across.
“At the end of the day, I’m just telling what happened. I shouldn’t have to be scared, I shouldn’t have a man telling me what I can say, and silencing me,” she said. “I am very hurt and I’m very fragile, but I will get to tell my story.”
Ryan speaks out: ‘I’m dumbfounded’
Ryan told The Daily Mail he and Scarlett met through mutual friends, but after they got intimate, he felt “concerning energy” from her.
“I’m still dumbfounded as to how it’s reached this extent,” he said. “We literally hung out for half a day. We became intimate – but straight after, I started getting a concerning energy from her.
“She started saying things like, ‘You better not ghost me’ and ‘You better not hurt me.’ I already felt pressure to manage her emotions, and we had only just met.”
What was Scarlett’s MAFS storyline?
Appearing on MAFS in 2017, Scarlett was matched with Michael Tomic, who was touted as Australia’s “pickiest” man.
The pair’s honeymoon got off to a rough start when Michael confessed to Scarlett that he had a second job as a stripper, with Scarlett saying she was “shocked and disappointed”.
Scarlett was later outed at a commitment ceremony for texting another groom, Johnathan Troughton who was married to Cheryl Maitland. The scandal rocked Johnathan and Cheryl’s relationship, with the two splitting.
Scarlett later said how she was portrayed in the scandal “hurt” her and that she only needed a friend at the time. “I think we realised what all of Australia could see, we were matched with the wrong people,” she later said.
Stream Married At First Sight 2025 on 9Now.
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