Twin sister of Married At First Sight‘s (MAFS) Awhina Rutene, Cleo Rutene, has revealed that she had a secret romance with one of the 2025 grooms in the past.
If there’s one thing that makes Season 12 stand out from the rest of the other MAFS — besides the consistently trash men (no offence) — it’s that a bunch of this year’s participants are all somewhat connected prior to their appearance on the show.
For example, Rhi Disljenkovic and Jeff Gobbels were friend-zoned exes who ended up as husband and wife on MAFS, and intruder groom Teejay Halkias has previously hooked up with OG bride Jamie Marinos, who has been matched with Dave Hand.
Now, in a tea spill to Daily Mail Australia, Cleo Rutene — who previously appeared on MAFS during Awhina’s wedding day to Adrian Araouzou and during *that* explosive Family and Friends Week fiasco — has revealed that she previously dated Season 12 groom Paul Antione in 2022.
According to Cleo, her love connection to the controversial groom was brought to light when Paul first met Awhina during a Dinner Party, where they “addressed it openly with Paul telling his wife, Carina [Mirabile]”.
“While I don’t feel my past relationship should be up for public discussion, I will comment now that it’s out there,” she told the publication.
“I met Paul in 2022, shortly after becoming single following an eight-year relationship. It was an instant spark, and we shared a whirlwind romance for a couple of months.”
Unfortunately for the former flames, Cleo shared that the timing wasn’t right and that she needed to “focus on herself”. However, they’ve remained good friends since.
What a coincidence, right? It’s also quite spooky regarding that Paul and Carina were also previously connected prior to joining the experiment…
Further in her interview with Daily Mail Australia, Cleo also touched on Paul’s shocking behaviour on the show.
To give you a quick recap, Paul has been embroiled in controversy after he admitted to punching a hole in his and Carina’s bedroom door after learning she’d slept with a famous rapper who was playing on the radio.
Reflecting on his actions on the show, Cleo claims “he has never shown any aggression” in the three years she’s known him.
“I want to make it clear that I do not support his outburst. In the three years I’ve known Paul, he has never shown any aggression,” Cleo shared.
“He’s a genuinely happy person who enjoys life, good company, and great food.
“I know he’s deeply disappointed in himself, especially because he has a younger sister and strives to be a good role model.
“While this doesn’t excuse his actions, I can only speak from my personal experience with Paul.”
Despite Paul’s actions, Carina opted to stay in the experiment. However, the decision to keep the pair in the experiment was met with an immense amount of backlash, with viewers accusing the show of “normalising domestic violence”.
NSW Police have since confirmed it was investigating the alleged incident, telling PEDESTRIAN.TV, “The matter has been referred to officers from South Sydney Police Area Command, who have commenced an investigation.”
In a statement to PEDESTRIAN.TV, Nine and Endemol said it would be assisting authorities with their investigation.
“We would always cooperate with authorities in any investigation. We will not be making any further comment at this time,” the statement said.
Following the shocking episode, Carina spoke out, telling the MAFS Funny podcast that she was “surprised” that the police investigation as “gotten to this point”.
“At the end of the day I felt safe and it was up to me, essentially,” she shared.
“I think I was just so overwhelmed, I was in shock. I was not scared.”
Paul has yet to publicly comment on the alleged incident.
The post Turns Out MAFS’ Awhina Rutene’s Twin Cleo Rutene Has Previously Dated A 2025 Groom appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
