Married at First Sight Australia: 7 most shocking moments from the show's most controversial brides and grooms

The 11th season of ‘Married at First Sight: Australia’ has hooked viewers in the UK - with this year’s brides and grooms providing more jaw dropping moments than ever before.

One of the most controversial grooms from the 2024 cast is 34-year-old Jack Dunkley, who has shocked his fellow participants and relationship experts John Aiken and Mel Schilling and Alessandra Rampolla alike, with his unsavoury comments.

First, during a heated confrontation with bride Lauren Dunn at one of the experiment’s weekly dinner parties, where all the couples come together to share their experiences over a meal, he asked her husband Jonathan Mccullough to ‘put a muzzle on your woman’.

Then, during a retreat, where the couples are sent for a weekend away together, he made a comment about ‘whales’ being present at the pool - in front of fellow groom Tristan Black, who had been open with the group about his insecurities surrounding his body image and his desire to lose weight. He added insult to injury by presenting Tristan with a gift card so that he could buy weight loss supplements, by means of an apology.

He hasn’t been the only villan of the series so far, which is airing every Monday to Thursday on E4, as bride Sara Messy has also been placed under fire for allegedly cheating on her groom Tim Calwell with her ex-boyfriend. The latest allegation of bad behaviour from Sara comes weeks after the experts called her out for cancelling three dates with Tim - and then getting angry and defensive when he raised that as a problem.

Then, there was also Ben Walters. He left the show after weeks of confusing behaviour, in which he would tell his wife Ellie Dix that he liked her and wanted to be with her and then swiftly change his mind. The experts told him he had been gaslighting Ellie and urged him to change his behaviour before his exit.

That’s just a summary of some of the of the most astonishing behaviour from this year’s show, but previous seasons have been rocked by scandals too. Below, we take a look at seven of the most of shocking moments in ‘Married at First Sight: Australia’ history.

David Cannon cleaned the toilet with his wife Hayley Vernon's toothbrush

In season seven, there was an allegation that Hayley Vernon and Michael Goonan, who had not been matched, had kissed. In response, Vernon’s groom David Cannon scrubbed the toilet with her toothbrush. Unaware, Vernon continued to use the toothbrush for a number of day afterwards.

David even recorded his act and sent the video to his co-stars. Hayley was then made aware of what had happened by one of those co-stars, and went on to confront David at one of the dinner parties.

Domenica Calarco smashed a glass during an arguement with Olivia Frazer

Two of the season nine brides, Domenica Calarco and Olivia Frazer really didn’t get on. The tension between them had been building for a while by the time they arrived at the couple’s retreat - and it was there that it came to a head.

Sitting across from each other at the dinner table, Olivia told Domenica to reconsider how she "speaks to people", saying "I'm bored of your f**king voice just yelling all the time." Domenica, who yelled back: "My entire f**king life I've been f**king told that my voice isn't f**king enough", before smashing her glass onto the table in frustration.

Olivia added to the controversy by telling other cast members that Domenica had waved the broken glass in her face - something that just wasn’t true. Domenica has since admitted that she regrets her actions and Olivia also later admitted what she told her castmates was not the truth.

Rebecca Zemek cheated with her ‘brother’ - and accidentally filmed it

Season eight bride Rebecca Zemek briefly left her husband Jake Edwards along in their shared apartment to return to her home in Perth when her family told her that her dog was sick.

During their separation, Rebecca was filming herself, but she revealed more than she intended. Thining that she had hit the 'stop' button after recording one of her updates, she accidentally recorded a man approaching her - and they were then heard kissing passionately off camera.

When the footage was then shared with Jake, and the entire cast, Rebecca tried to explain the mystery man by telling her spouse that he was her brother. The whole group told Rebecca they didn’t believe her and then, when pushed, Rebecca came clean and admitted: "My dog needed transporting and I reached out to an old burn, who actually took Oscar to the clinic for me. When I saw him, emotion kind of sparked with us. And we did. . . We shared a kiss."

Harrison Boon got the number of a girl while out at a bar - and lied about it

Harrison Boon, who was a groom in season 10 of the show, raised plenty of eyebrows during his marriage with Bronte Schofield. It all began on their wedding day, when the bride was left devastated after hearing rumours that her new husband was dating someone outside of the show. As the series progressed, Harrison was accused of gaslighting and manipulating Bronte by her sister Kirra and fellow castmates.

One of the many dubious things that happened between them came when Harrison and fellow groom Dan Hunjas were accused of swapping numbers with women on a boy’s night out. Harrison lied to everyone and said it was Dan who got a number and not him, but later admitted to producers it was him who’d got the number.

When he was found out, he still refused to accept his wrong-doing and said: “I got it, deleted it as soon as she walked off. [I didn’t] see it was a big deal. I was laughing it off with my mate.”

Bryce Ruthven told Melissa Rawson that she was ‘not ugly’ but ‘not his type

During season eight, a couple who caused concern were Bryce Ruthven told Melissa Rawson. Bryce was accused of having a relationship with another woman outside the experiment and it was alleged he was only on the show for publicity.

Bryce later humiliated his wife during the commitment ceremony, another ‘Married at First Sight’ ritual, when he said he wanted to leave the experiment, before changing his mind and saying that he wanted to stay. It was behaviour like this that lead Bryce to be on the receving end of allegations of toxic behaviour from his fellow brides and grooms. During their honeymoon, Bryce told Melissa: "When I first saw you I thought, ‘Not my type’. But I thought, she’s not … ugly?" he said. "I've always gone for the blonde hair, blue eyes, tanned kind of girl, and someone that's, like, usually taller." His comments left Melissa in tears. The pair are now married (for real) and have twin sons, and Bryce has said he regrets what he said about his wife.

Carolina Santos and Daniel Holmes caused a mass walk-out with their affair

Carolina Santos and Daniel Holmes blindsided the whole experiment in season nine when they began a flirtation behind the backs of their spouses, Jessica Seracino and Dion Giannarelli, - and then walked into the commitment ceremony holding hands.

After Jessica ended things with Daniel, he pursued a connection with Carolina, who was still in the experiment with Dion - although she later admitted the only reason she had stayed in the experiment was so that she could see Daniel.

When Carolina and Daniel arrived at the commitment ceremony together it caused so much outrage that it led to a mass walk-out from the other couples.

Jayden Eynaud’s bizzare cheating story

Back with season 11, Jayden Eynaud appalled his wife Eden Harper by talking about his attitude to cheating during a task set by the experts, in which the participants are asked to write confession letters.

In his letter, Jayden explained that his ex-girlfriend had cheated on him several times during their relationship. When he found out, he says she asked for another chance with him. He then admitted that he told her he would give her another chance - but only if he slept with one of her friends . . . and she watched. Shockingly, he also revealed that his ex agreed, as did one of her friends, and the act actually took place.

When asked by Eden if he regretted his revenge act, Jayden said he didn’t at all. After seeing the upset his lack of remorse caused Eden, who had also been cheated on in the past, however, Jayden changed his mind and said he did regret it after all.