Married At First Sight fans are fuming after learning Paul Antoine will not be made to leave the experiment after he punched a wall during an argument with Carina Mirabile in their apartment.
Josh Fox, who runs the MAFS Funny Instagram account and podcast, launched a petition on Wednesday calling for the show’s producers to review the measures they take to protect female participants.
Now, Fox has revealed the shocking way that bride Awhina Rutene learned of her groom Adrian Araouzou’s past domestic violence charges.
The former KIIS FM radio producer described the actions of MAFS bosses as ‘shocking’, ‘inexcusable,’ and ‘negligent’ on Friday.
In a new episode of his MAFS podcast, Fox also claims that the scenes Australia will see play out on Sunday night are nothing more than ‘a pice of TV theatre’, filmed days after producers ‘had already decided Paul would be remaining on the show.’
Channel Nine told Daily Mail Australia they are providing support to the couple.
MAFS insider Josh Fox has revealed the shocking timeline of events that took place during the filming of the current season of Married At First Australia, with groom Adrian Araouzou’s past domestic violence charges not known to the show’s bosses
Multiple sources close to the production told Fox that Adrian’s bride Awhina Rutene was pulled out of filming to be told about Adrian’s past three and a half weeks into filming the series
Adrian and Awhina have had a bumpy ride on the series so far, with Awhina breaking down in tears during Family and Friends week. Pictured: Adrian on a solo outing during filming
‘Nine and Endemol Shine Australia has treated this matter extremely seriously. Our first priority at all times has been the wellbeing and safety of the participants and after extensive consultation with Carina, she wanted to remain in the experiment with Paul. We continue to provide support for Carina and Paul,’ they said in a statement.
Fox received the same statement.
Awhina Rutene and Adrian Araouzou underwent the extensive MAFS application process in April, May, and June in 2024, which includes a series of interviews, as well as psychological and medical evaluations.
What they didn’t do, Fox claims, is run a basic police and courts background check on participants.
Awhina and Adrian were matched and filmed their MAFS wedding last July.
Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed Adrian as a participant on August 10.
Four days later, MAFS production company Endemol Shine Australia received an email from a concerned member of the public, who flagged Adrian’s previous domestic violence charges to the producers.
Adrian faced three charges – assault occasioning actual bodily harm, domestic violence common assault and resisting police – but he was found not guilty on all counts and it is not suggested otherwise.
Awhina and Adrian were matched and filmed their MAFS wedding last July.
All three charges were dismissed in a NSW court in November 2021.
According to court documents, the charges stemmed from an incident at Araouzou’s home which he shared with his then-partner.
Police were called to the property after a witness heard screaming.
His partner later signed a police statement days later stating that injuries sustained during the incident were not the result of an assault, but rather from a ‘seizure’.
Speaking through his lawyers last year, Adrian vehemently denied the allegations.
‘Any suggestion of physical assault is categorically denied,’ he said.
‘I had my day in court, I was found not guilty and the application for an AVO was dismissed. Any allegation otherwise is completely baseless and highly defamatory.’
The Australian reported Endemol Shine had launched an investigation into the incident after a friend of Adrian’s then-partner contacted producers.
Fox obtained the email that was sent to producers on August 14 by the concerned friend. He said the friend received this reply on August 15: ‘Thank you for contacting ESA. Your email has been sent to the Married At First team.’
After hearing nothing more, the unnamed friend send a follow-up email.
On August 21, they received another reply: ‘Dear [name], Acknowledging receipt of your email which has been escalated within Endemol Shine Australia.’
‘You won’t believe what happened next,’ an incredulous Fox said on his podcast.
MAFS’ Adrian Araouzou (right) and his twin brother James (left) on an outing together during filming in 2024
MAFS bosses pulled Awhina aside and asked her if she had ever felt unsafe around her groom Adrian (pictured) and she said no, and that she wanted to continue filming
Multiple inside sources confirmed to Fox that just after the second dinner party was filmed on August 20, ‘Awhina woke up expecting another day of filming inside the apartment.’
‘Instead, she was told “Awhina, the cameras aren’t going to be rolling today. Production has been halted.”
‘She was taken downstairs, put in a car, and driven to Channel Nine’s head offices,’ Fox said.
‘Awhina was then taken through the Channel Nine building and into a boardroom, where she was met with John Walsh, the network and executive producer of MAFS and Alex Spurway, Endemol Shine’s executive producer of MAFS.’
‘As a confused Awhina sat down, she was then informed by the two bosses of the show of Adrian’s past domestic violence charges, and how he’d fronted court, and been found not guilty on all of those charges.
‘Awhina was then told the bosses had “no idea” about this because Adrian had never mentioned it in his application forms,’ Fox continued.
‘She was essentially told “Hey, despite all those months of interviews, we never actually did any background checks on anyone”.’
MAFS bosses asked Awhina if she’d ever felt unsafe around Adrian and she said no. She was then asked if she’d like to remain on the show, and she said yes.
‘My question,’ Fox said, ‘is how the f**k did it even get to this point?’
‘How are the people behind this show, which makes millions a year, not doing even basic background checks before putting strangers together in an intimate setting?
‘These days you have to do a national police check for most jobs!’ he pointed out. ‘And court listings are public.’
‘Also, why did it take over a week until they decided to pull Awhina into a meeting to make her aware of the situation?’ he asked.
The podcaster said he’d put those exact questions to Channel Nine and had not received a response. Adrian also declined to comment.
Fox also questioned why MAFS producers didn’t decide to run background checks on the groom, after they received those emails.
He contacted New South Wales courts on Thursday, and quickly learned that Adrian was before local court magistrate Hamilton at Sydney Downing Centre in October 2017, accused of affray.
He entered a not guilty plea on December 4, 2016, but the offence was proven and Adrian was ordered to pay a $400 fine.
The legal definition of affray is a person who uses or threatens unlawful violence in a private or public place, and the behaviour would cause a person to fear for their safety.
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