Over the course of 13 seasons of Married At First Sight, we’ve seen some truly terrible grooms enter the experiment.
From the toxic to the misogynistic, the deplorable and even the cheaters, just when we think we’ve seen it all, another groom sweeps in and takes the crown.
Already this season, Trump-loving intruder Tyson has made “fatphobic” Chris look like a prince thanks to non-stop talk of his hatred for wokeness and masculine energy in a woman.
Still, in the grand scheme of things, he’s not the worst groom we’ve seen.
Here, we break down the worst groom behaviour to have graced our screens.
Bryce Ruthven, Season 8
From the get go, Bryce drew the ire of audiences, both for his treatment of wife Melissa Rawson and allegedly having a secret girlfriend just prior to going on the show.
Slammed as toxic, for gaslighting his bride and being emotionally manipulative, Bryce was the epitome of a villain. He was also brutal about Melissa’s appearance, saying she was “not my type” as he listed her flaws.
His behaviour was so manipulative that a Change.org petition was launched by a viewer during the season. It accused producers of failing in their “duty of care”, citing that Bryce was “mentally torturing” his wife.
“She is being subject to gaslighting, emotional manipulation, isolation, and countless other TEXTBOOK signs of a controlling and or abusive relationship,” wrote petitioner Angela Rowell.
“The network has also failed duty of care to viewers putting together a final edit that shows these signs, supporting the relationship, and completely ignoring the obvious signs of control and abuse Melissa is subject to.”
Still, somehow, the couple proved their critics wrong. After welcoming twin sons Levi and Tate in October 2021, they tied the knot – for real – in February 2023.
Sam Ball, Season 6
Sam’s “affair” with participant Ines Basic while married to Elizabeth Sobinoff – combined with fat-shaming his wife – put him firmly in the villain category.
Post-show, the former groom also came out swinging at producers, insisting he was “manipulated” into certain situations. This included fat-shaming his wife.
According to Sam, he was simply reacting to producers telling him that Lizzie called him “tubby” first.
“She fat-shamed me and I said she’s bigger than the girls I usually dated, meaning height and stuff like that,” he insisted.
As for his dalliance with Ines, Sam said he was “asked” to pretend to cheat with her due to his background in “acting”.
“I didn’t sleep with anyone on the show, mark my words,” he stated.
Dean Wells, Season 5
Another cheater and chauvinist, Dean felt the wrath of viewers after cheating on wife Tracey Jewel with Davina Rankin. And there was no denying it, after he and Davina were caught on camera.
Naturally, Dean insisted in 2020 that MAFS is fake, calling the show “so silly” and admitting he was dumbfounded that viewers hadn’t caught on yet.
“It was not me that people saw; it was such a manipulated situation, it just wasn’t who I am,” he told news.com.au.
Though he wasn’t outright “asked” to do anything, Dean said his bad behaviour was encouraged and that situations were “manipulated”, “blatantly edited” and “completely incorrect”.
Speaking with The Herald Sun in 2018, Dean insisted that he and Davina met up simply to discuss the experiment and how they weren’t happy in their “marriages”.
“I did feel a bit of a flirty vibe from Davina at the Dinner Party, but I didn’t think anything more of it after that,” he said. He added that he did feel “a lot of guilt” for betraying Tracey.
Harrison Boon, Season 10
Smug, arrogant and constantly making himself out to be the victim, Harrison quickly went down as one of the most hated MAFS grooms.
His admission that he had been seeing another woman up until the night before his wedding to bride Bronte Schofield further proved his manipulation and deceit.
We watched in horror as Bronte fell for her husband’s gaslighting time and time again, growing more and more disheartened every time she failed to leave him.
But Harrison insisted he was the one being manipulated.
“The edit was completely on Bronte’s side for the entire thing,” he said after the show wrapped.
Mike Gunner, Season 6
Uncaring, unkind and uninterested, Mike made no attempt to get to know his wife, Heidi Latcham.
Dubbed a “gaslighter” and “narcissist”, viewers slammed Mike for dulling his bride’s shine.
Who could forget him lashing out at his wife that he’s “not your therapist” when she tried to have a deep and meaningful conversation with him about her difficult upbringing?
His vulgar way of talking about the other women and their sex lives was also called into question numerous times, his toxic masculinity on full display.
Amazingly, they made it all the way to Final Vows, even declaring their love for one another, but split just two days later.
After all was said and done, Mike insisted he didn’t let the criticism get to him.
“I received comments like, I am ‘gaslighting’, I am a ‘narcissist’, but other people’s insecurities don’t concern me, he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“If they want to cast labels like that on me then that is a reflection of their own poor judgement, not mine.”
