Married At First Sight fans have lashed out at Adrian Araouzou after he blamed ‘being a man’ for walking out on his bride Awhina Rutene.
Awhina broke down in tears on Sunday’s episode of the show after facing off with Adrian over his dramatically leaving the experiment over a publicity shoot snub.
Adrian, 30, acknowledged that he had done the wrong thing and blamed his masculinity for the error.
‘Yeah, I just messed up. I’ve done that in my past. I self-sabotage anything or anyone’ he explained.
‘I reacted on emotion. And emotions for us men, we can react heavily and we’re not good with emotions. Then we make dumb decisions. And that’s what I done’.
Fans watching the show were not amused by Adrian’s behaviour and excuses, with many sharing their thoughts on X.
‘Wow. Just wow. Adrian’s attitude is disgusting. He has no respect for women whatsoever. Awhina better not be held captive by this Neanderthal for a week’ wrote one person.
‘This Adrian is a base animal… He can’t learn’ said someone else.
‘Bro isn’t good at taking accountability. He justifies his raging misogyny in any way he can’ another wrote.
‘That and his narcissism. Bro thinks himself above everyone. He minimises, deflects, and flips the narrative to blame anyone *but* himself.’
‘Awhina should be allowed to leave. Some of the easiest conduct for men to engage in are dismissing and belittling single mothers specifically’ someone else posted.
‘There should be an exception made by the experts that she can go now, Adrian is in no way worthy of her, at all’.
‘Awhina needs a man and not just good man for herself and her son but a QUALITY man!’ one more posted.
‘Adrian is not ever going to be whom she wants/needs him to be! He is only there for the camera and has been since day one!’
‘The petulant way Adrian reacted when Awhina revealed she wrote LEAVE fills me with ZERO hope that he will change’ another complained.
‘Adrian is so unbelievably despicable, makes my stomach churn. Lock up your daughters when he is out’ someone else said.
Yet anther chimed in: ‘Adrian gives very Andrew Tate vibes except we can’t understand all the nonsense he spews without subtitles.’
During the episode Awhina, 30, blubbered and sobbed as she explained how she felt when Adrian abandoned her.
‘It was really invalidating. I felt invisible… Because I don’t feel like it is just a promo video’ she said.
‘The fact is you should be here for me and I’m not your priority’ she added, accusing him of leaving her.
Adrian was encouraged by the other grooms to be kinder to his bride as she is such a loving person.
‘I genuinely do care. And I need to do better to prove it’ he said.
Adrian chose to stay in the experiment to try and make it up to Awhina, but she chose to leave.
She wept that she was away from her child and missing important milestones in ‘selfish’ pursuit of love, but it was not worth it.
Because Adrian chose to stay, show rules dictate that they will remain in the experiment another week.
Awhina was cautiously optimistic that they could turn it around in that time.
‘I feel like tonight was definitely, for Adrian, a big whack-in-the-face moment… But I’m not sure he’s able to (turn it around)’ she concluded.
In an interview with Daily Mail Australia, Awhina revealed her devastation after Adrian abandoned their relationship over what she described as a trivial issue – not being included in a promotional shoot.
‘If I’m being honest, I actually haven’t watched this week’s episodes, but you don’t really need to watch it to know what’s happening because it’s all over social media,’ she admitted.
Awhina recounted the difficult moment when Adrian walked out, leaving her alone and confused.
‘It was hard for me. What you don’t see is that I actually spoke to production when I found out Adrian wasn’t included,’ she explained.
‘They told me some brides and grooms weren’t in the promo so the audience could keep guessing who was paired together.
She continued: ‘I even told production that if only one of us could do it, Adrian should go instead of me.
I didn’t care about being in the promo. So it really hurt coming back to an empty apartment and realising he had left over something I never even cared about,’ she said.
Despite knowing Adrian would be frustrated over being left out, Awhina said his reaction was ‘over the top.’
‘I knew he’d be feeling hurt, left out, but at this point, I also knew Adrian wanted to be part of all the shoots and all the publicity. Whereas for me, I just didn’t care,’ she said.
Awhina’s emotions escalated when she later found out Adrian had spent time with fellow bride Sierah Swepstone while she was left to deal with his absence alone.
‘I was completely unaware that the night before, he had spent time with Sierah,’ she revealed.
‘I had spent the whole day with her, comforting her, without knowing she had been with Adrian. That felt like a betrayal.’
While Sierah assured Awhina that she and Adrian had simply shared ‘a plate of meat’ over dinner, the revelation left Awhina reeling.
‘I was sitting alone in my apartment, crying, trying to make sense of it all, and then I get a text message late at night saying, ‘By the way, Sierah was with me last night.’ That was it.’
‘Why did neither of them tell me? If you’re not hiding something, be open and honest. But the fact that they didn’t communicate it made it feel like they were hiding something. That’s not okay,’ she said.
When Adrian eventually returned, Awhina expected accountability—but was instead met with his demand for an apology.
‘He walked in expecting me to apologise,’ she recalled. ‘That was crazy to me. He left me over a promo shoot, spent the night with another bride without telling me, and still wanted me to apologise?’
Reflecting on her journey with Adrian, Awhina admitted there were many moments when she was ready to walk away.
‘I was consistently apologising for his poor behaviour, and I wasn’t going to do it this time. There were so many hurdles between us, and I gave it everything. But this was my breaking point. I knew I couldn’t tolerate it anymore.’
While she declined to comment on any recent interactions with Adrian, she did share her excitement about reconnecting with some of the other MAFS brides in Melbourne.
‘It was really beautiful seeing Jamie (Marinos) and Beth (Kelly) again. We all left the reunion on such a heavy note, so it was great to come together and end things on a much more positive one.’
As for whether she has had a ‘glow up’ since the show, Awhina laughed off the suggestion.
‘I actually gained a lot of weight during filming. I just feel like I’m finally looking like myself again.’
With Adrian seemingly out of her life for good, Awhina is focusing on moving forward – and fans are rallying behind her strength and resilience.