Married At First Sight’s Awhina Rutene made an impression on her ‘back-up groom’ Tim King.
The pair met up during Tuesday’s episode for a date, and had a heart-to-heart chat that left Awhina feeling seen and appreciated.
Tim now says that he had warm feelings about the bride and hates the way her groom Adrian Araouzou has treated her.
‘She’s just such a kind, caring, genuine person. I really started feeling for her, especially with Cleo and that family catch-up they had’ Tim tells Yahoo.
While the pair have not stayed in contact, Tim says Awhina is the sort of woman he could be interested in.
‘There definitely are some shared values that do align… seeing just how kind genuine and caring Awhina is, they’re qualities that I definitely look for in a partner,’ he said.
‘So I think based on that, definitely there could have been a relationship that formed. But who knows?
‘She definitely had those values and qualities that I do look for in someone, so you don’t know where things could’ve gone.’
During the episode, contestants were presented the opportunity to meet their ‘back-up’ matches, and it came as no surprise to viewers when both Adrian and Awhina, 30, agreed to do it.
What shocked fans at home, was the moment Adrian, 31, returned to the apartment to brag to Awhina about the buxom blonde he could have been matched with.
From the start, Adrian jumped at the chance to meet Maxine from Sydney, who was picked out by experts as a potential second match.
‘If I go, am I supposed to feel bad? I’m not against it… F*** it, let’s go. What’s one more task,’ he said when he was presented with the challenge.
Upon meeting the 29-year-old, who put on a very busty display in a pink dress for their date, Adrian was immediately smitten with her good looks.
‘She’s a good looking girl. She is attractive. She’s exactly my type,’ he told producers.
‘Is Maxine someone I would hang out with? Probably. We had a fair bit in common. We live a similar lifestyle. I do have feelings for Awhina, but we live long distance.’
Meanwhile, Awhina was left in tears when she was presented the test challenge, saying she suspected Adrian would agree to do it.
Couples were given the challenge separately and were forced to make the decision on their own without knowing what their partner chose.
‘If I choose not to do this and he chooses to do this, that would crush my soul,’ Awhina sobbed.
‘A lot is going through my head. I just keep thinking about regrets. I gave up so much to be here.’
Awhina went on to say she found it difficult to date back in her home city of Perth because she spent all her free time looking after her son.
‘I already know in the back of my head Adrian is going to do this task… Yeah I’m going on this date,’ she decided.
‘I came here for a life partner and I’m not sure that’s Adrian.’
Awhina met with Tim from Queensland on her date, with the pair also hitting it off as he quickly revealed he was willing to relocate for the right person.
Tim also appeared to have no issue with Awhina being a mother, which Adrian suggested on their wedding day could be a deal breaker for him.
Meeting with Tim left Awhina unsure about the future of her relationship with Adrian, which was made worse when the couple reconvened to reveal how their dates went.
‘[Maxine] was cool. We obviously had things in common. She lived in Sydney,’ Adrian said, as he revealed in the past he wasn’t open to the idea of relocating form NSW to Perth to be with Awhina and her son.
‘Did you have a spark with her?’ Awhina asked him.
Adrian attempted to deflect the question by asking Awhina if she had a spark with Tim, but she didn’t budge, saying: ‘I’m asking you.’
‘I wasn’t like, ‘Wow.’ I don’t go ‘wow’ over anyone,’ he said, but then added: ‘She definitely was attractive. She could have been a model or something.’
Maxine is currently studying to be an interior designer.
Hurt by the response, Awhina took a dig at Maxine’s name, saying it was ‘s***’, before she attempted to have a serious conversation with Adrian about the future of their relationship.
‘There are external factors in play that we avoid. Like that we live in different states,’ she told him.
‘Our relationship isn’t as strong as we’d both like it to be so we both did a challenge that we wouldn’t have necessarily done had we been stronger.’
But all Adrian could respond with was, ‘Yeah, well, whatever. It’s done now,’ leaving Awhina disheartened by his flippancy.
She later told producers she wanted Adrian to feel jealous over her going on a date with Tim like she was jealous about Maxine, revealing it likely meant he didn’t have strong feelings for her.
‘I expected a stronger reaction. It would have been nice if he was a little bit more p***ed off. I think he thought, we both did the challenge so who cares? Why do we not care?’ she said.
‘Why is it something that you’re laughing about and brushing it off? It’s not a light matter… If we’re in a healthy relationship then why did we both decide to do this task?’
Married At First Sight will continue on Wednesday at 7.30pm on Channel Nine and 9Now.