Love them or hate them, there’s no denying that Married at First Sight Australia has brought us some wildly entertaining villains over the years. Let’s be honest, would it even be a season of MAFS without them?
From Davina Rankin‘s cheating scandal to Olivia Frazer outing Domenica Calarco‘s OnlyFans, the batsh*t dating series has long provided us with baddies that could rival those in a Marvel flick.
Ahead of the show’s premiere on January 30, we’re looking back at Married At First Sight Australia’ s most devilish villains over the years and their explosive scandals that made reality TV history.
Anthony Manton, Season Four
Claim to shame: Calling his bride “frigid” on national TV
Dubbed “Australia’s most hated man” in 2017, Anthony Manton caused a rightful stir when he called his bride Nadia Stamp “frigid”.
Now that’s a word we haven’t heard since primary school!
His villain status reached such heights that media personality Lisa Wilkinson called him a “dog”.
Unsurprisingly, he also dumped Nadia immediately after the season wrapped.
“As soon as the cameras stopped rolling, he dropped me like a hot cake,” Nadia told the other brides in the reunion special. Bullet dodged, we say!
Davina Rankin and Dean Wells, Season Five
Claim to shame: Being involved in the first-ever MAFS cheating scandal
Davina Rankin and Dean Wells shocked viewers in 2018 when they began a secret affair, despite still being “married” to their respective partners Ryan Gallagher and Tracey Jewel.
In the season’s most explosive moment, the pair snuck off from the dinner party to spend some one-on-one time together.
“I want to kiss you so bad,” Davina told the 39-year-old in private, while Dean told cameras that there was a “fire in the belly with Davina that [he hasn’t] had with Tracey”.
Ultimately, the affair backfired spectacularly when the MAFS villains agreed to leave their respective partners — until Dean got cold feet and chose to stay with Tracey. Ouch!
Despite her attempts to then win back OG hubby Ryan, he wasn’t having a bar of Davina’s shenanigans. It was only then that she exited the experiment.
Dean? Well, he stayed, only to be brutally dumped by Tracey at the final vows. Yassss queen!
Jessika Power and Dan Webb, Season Six
Claim to shame: Cheating on Mick Gould and Tamara Joy
Jessika Power was originally paired up with Mick when she entered the sixth season of the experiment in 2019.
However, she earned her “villain” title when she kicked off another MAFS cheating scandal and controversially hooked up with contestant Dan Webb who was wed to Tamara Joy.
The ~salacious~ affair culminated in the now-infamous wine-throwing incident with Martha Kalifatidis and Cyrell Paule.
Following the on-screen drama, Jessika and Dan shocked their fellow participants when they announced they would continue their relationship IN the experiment.
Their decision weirdly received the approval of the show’s experts (read: producers), which of course, outraged their co-stars and viewers.
However, it wasn’t meant to be (no sh*t). The couple split during a live television interview on Talking Married, which aired after the show’s reunion.
It was then that it was revealed that Jessika had been dishonest about trying to hit on groom Nic Jovanovic.
Ahhh, so many grooms, so little time!
Ines Basic and Sam Ball, Season Six
Claim to shame: Cheating on Bronson Norrish and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Sobinoff
That wasn’t all the drama that went down in Season Six…
Who could forget MAFS‘ most brutally honest bride Ines Basic who ruffled viewers’ feathers following her savage reaction to seeing her husband, Bronson, for the first time? Not us…
The iconic MAFS villain had fans of the show raging from the get-go after she mocked her on-screen husband for his eyebrow piercing and saying he looked “inbred”. Yikes!
The backlash only grew throughout the season, as Ines was later sprung sexting with Sam Ball. A.K.A. that dude who bailed on his wife Lizzie Sobinoff the morning after their wedding to deal with some “personal news.” Yeah, he sucked.
Meanwhile, both Ines and Sam chose “leave” at the first Commitment Ceremony, but were forced to stay in the experiment because Lizzie and Bronson has written “stay”.
It was at this point that the cheeky bride began sliding into Sam’s DMs. Soon after, an affair kicked off until it was finally exposed during an explosive Dinner Party.
The affair was so scandalous at the time that it was even nominated for “Favourite TV Moment of the Decade” at the AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) Audience Choice Awards in 2020. Sheesh!
Meanwhile, Bronson overhead his bride slagging him off to producers, so he departed the show and never looked back. Good for him!
Michael Goonan, Season Seven
Claim to shame: Cheating on Stacey Hampton with Hayley Vernon
Lawyer Stacey Hampton truly drew the short straw when she was paired with MAFS pest Michael Goonan.
The duo’s relationship was rocky from the get-go, with Michael and Stacey accusing one another of cheating.
While Michael later admitted he kissed Hayley Vernon during a boozy night out while Stacey was away with her children, he claimed they were “just mucking around”.
However, Vanessa Romito later dished to New Idea that the duo “hooked up multiple times”. They even started developing feelings for one another!
“They were fooling around on the bed and dry humping. Shoes were flying everywhere,” she added.
Michael later claimed he wasn’t even attracted to Hayley and declared he wanted Stacey back.
“I realised I loved her,” he said at the time. “I went, ‘I’m not ready to let this girl out of my life; I’m not ready to say goodbye’.”
After the cat was let out of the bag during the Final Dinner Party, Stacey ended her relationship with her cheating hubby.
He later tried to win her back with a public Instagram post, but Stacey quickly shut him down. LOL.
Bryce Ruthven, Season Eight
Claim to shame: Gaslighting his bride, Melissa Rawson
Bryce Ruthven was anointed as the 2021 MAFS villain (and probably of all time) after fans branded his relationship with his wife Melissa Rawson as “abusive”.
The wave of criticism against him only got worse when whispers began circulating that he had a GIRLFRIEND named Courtney waiting for him on the outside, as revealed in episode 52 of the So Dramatic! podcast.
After a whole lot of gaslighting, insults, arguments, more gaslighting, and claims of “coercive control” between Bryce and Melissa, the sitch got so bad that the show was investigated for airing episodes featuring the pair.
Fans were so outraged by Bryce’s treatment towards Melissa, a Change.org petition titled “Make the Nine network apologise for failing duty of care (Bryce and Melissa, MAFS)” was created.
“This season of Married at First Sight Australia features a couple, Melissa and Bryce, who portrays an excessive amount of domestic violence (DV) signs which are not being handled by the network appropriately,” the petition stated. Pretty dark stuff!
Surprisingly, the couple is still going strong to this day, having since gotten engaged and welcoming twin boys, Levi and Tate, in October 2021. Who would have thought?
Daniel Holmes, Season Nine
Claim to shame: Stealing Dion Giannarelli’s wife, Carolina Santos
Season Nine groom Daniel Holmes infuriated viewers when he stole Dion Gianarelli‘s wife, Carolina, after failing to see a future with his own bride, Jessica Seracino.
Daniel and Carolina began a secret affair during filming and it’s no secret that the cheating scandal was one of the biggest storylines of the show in 2022.
Whilst the scandal itself was quite hard to watch, one of the season’s most iconic moments came when Carolina and Daniel’s affair was exposed and the ENTIRE CAST (bar Olivia Frazer and Jackon Lonie) walked their asses out of the Commitment Ceremony.
After they all returned they had to listen to Carolina and Daniel’s request to reenter the experiment as a new couple.
Jack said “uhh no,” Brent jabbed that they were just after “fifteen minutes of fame,” and Domenica whispers “mole”.
The MAFS experts also DRAGGED them and all around it just made for hilarious viewing.
The experts eventually decided “f*ck no.” As such, the couple went on their merry way.
However, in what came as a surprise to fans, the pair continued dating IRL and actually seemed genuinely in love before sadly splitting in August 2022.
Olivia Frazer, Season Nine
Claim to shame: Exposing Domenica Calarco‘s OnlyFans account
In 2022, Australia watched in pure shock as Olivia Frazer exposed Domenica’s OnlyFans, allegedly circulating images from the account among the group.
The now-infamous scandal unfolded during the second-last Dinner Party of MAFS 2022, earning Olivia the title of “Australia’s most-hated woman” and the biggest MAFS villain of the season.
At the time, Olivia claimed her “friends” had Googled the bride because, according to her, “that’s what you do when someone smashes a glass in your face”.
Their feud was so YUGE that it even sparked a petition to have the E-safety Commissioner investigate Olivia, and led to two separate police investigations.
However, the biggest shock was yet to come when Olivia later created her own X-rated OnlyFans account with her now ex, Jackson Lonie. Hypocrisy much?!
Yet somehow, we think the worst Married at First Sight Australia villains are yet to come…
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