LIFE & CULTURE

Connie Crayden Sets The Record Straight On Her Past With Bryce From ‘Married At First Sight’

The former contestant revealed that she rejected his "flirtatious" behaviour last year

Former MAFS contestant Connie Crayden has set the record straight on her past with Married At First Sight Australia season eight’s Bryce Ruthven.

For context, Bryce, whose misogynistic commentary on the show has had fans declaring the husbands of 2021 the worst yet, gave a radio interview to Hit 104.7 on Wednesday, in which he was asked about a rumour that suggested he slept with Connie last year.

In response, Bryce said: “Ugh, Connie. Does she look like my type of girl? No, I can guarantee now that never happened.”

Charming, right? Well, Connie has since spoken up to set the record straight, and as predicted, Bryce’s version of the tale appears to be far from the whole story and what actually transpired between them.

Speaking to reality TV gossip site The Wash, the season seven contestant revealed that the pair formed a friendship after Bryce interviewed her for his radio show when she was on MAFS.

She revealed that she eventually blocked him after rejecting his “flirtatious” advances, not long after he had broken off his engagement with ex-fiancée, Lana Bongioletti, who she also knew.

“I thought I had a new friend, we got along so well, and I went over to his house and had lunch with him and his fiancée Lana. I adored her and thought they were great,” she told The Wash.

“Then when things got rocky for them [as they split up], he’d come to me for advice from a woman’s perspective. When we spoke he’d always twist things and make them flirtatious. Hyper-sexualising everything I said and pushing boundaries.”

Connie went on to say that she ultimately had to block Bryce across all social media, as maintaining a friendship, that she suspected was the result of rebound behaviour, was becoming too difficult.

“It was getting too hard to have a friendship with him. It was almost like he was using me as a way to get over his break-up. I was like, ‘No, this is not how it is, you’ve got it all wrong’. I had to block him on all forms of social media,” she added.

Bryce from Married At First Sight Australia 2021

The story follows also follows another radio interview Bryce gave in late February, in which he referred to his ex-fiancée Lana as the “devil” before saying “She’s not the worst person in the world—but she’s not the best either. That’s probably the best way to describe it.”

It also comes after rumours that he had a secret girlfriend during filming of the series. Per So Dramatic! Podcast, “he lied to her [his secret girlfriend]” and “convinced her that he was just doing the show to further his career and he asked her to wait for him”.

Out-of-show rumours aside, Bryce also hasn’t made the best impression on fans during his time on the series, after making his wife Melissa cry by making hurtful comments about her appearance, objectifying the other contestants and ‘ranking Melissa’ fourth for attractiveness.

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