Awhina Rutene and Billy Belcher have continued to spark chatter about the nature of their relationship.
The Married At First Sight star looked very friendly indeed as they headed out for a double date with co-stars Rhi Disljenkovic and Jeff Gobbels at a Perth bar on Saturday.
Billy, who has split with bride Sierah Swepstone, swung his arm over Awhina’s shoulder as they cuddled up on their stroll to the pub.
Awhina, who ‘married’ Adrian Araouzou on the show, held onto Billy’s hand during the intimate moment.
They appeared very relaxed in each other’s company – again inspiring chatter as to whether they have undergone a ‘couple swap’.
Rhi and Jeff were still going strong on the outing to the Claremont Hotel, the couple’s romance seemingly surviving the show as they held hands while walking along and chatting happily.
While Awhina and Billy have previously insisted their relationship is strictly platonic, an insider has revealed that their respective partners were less than impressed when they were caught on camera sharing an intimate outing in Perth in February.
‘As soon as Adrian saw those photos, he was raging,’ a source close to the couple told Daily Mail Australia.
‘He sent Awhina a nasty text message and blamed her for ruining their TV relationship- just weeks after he was spotted with another girl. Not cool.’
Sierah, meanwhile, is said to be blindsided by the set of images, particularly given Billy never made such romantic gestures during their marriage experiment.
‘She found the whole situation laughable. Billy never wanted to buy her flowers or take her out for ice cream, so this is pretty rich,’ the source added.
When approached by Daily Mail Australia, Awhina clarified that she and Billy have built a friendship since filming wrapped but denied anything romantic was going on.
‘Billy’s a WA guy. We have built a friendship. He happened to be at my birthday, but it is a purely platonic friendship,’ she explained.
When asked if Adrian had anything to be worried about, Awhina laughed: ‘Adrian has nothing to worry about.’
As for where things stand with Adrian, Awhina played coy but admitted their relationship had been challenging.
‘I think viewers are finally seeing what our relationship truly looked like. Don’t get me wrong – Adrian and I had good moments. When we connected, we really connected,’ she said.
‘But those good moments always came at the cost of my needs not being met or me brushing things under the rug’ the reality star continued.
‘And that’s not sustainable long-term.’
She also confirmed that Adrian was not at her birthday party, revealing he instead attended groom Paul Antoine’s celebrations.
‘He was in Perth the weekend of my birthday. But it’s in our contract—I can’t really take photos with my ‘husband’ if we’re still together,’ Awhina added.
The sighting comes after Billy was called out by the experts for suggesting the idea of a ‘wife swap’ at a dinner party.
‘It really troubled me when I heard that you had mentioned the possibility of a wife swap,’ John Aiken said sternly.