Without a doubt, Married At First Sight (MAFS) 2025 has been one of the most explosive seasons in history, especially with Awhina Rutene and Adrian Araouzou‘s mindboggling Final Vows on Sunday Night. However, was their head-fuck of a plot twist for the drama? Here’s what the Perth-based bride had to say about her bamboozling backflip.
This article contains Married At First Sight (MAFS) spoilers. It’s up to you if you wanna stay or leave.
On Sunday night, fans were left reeling after they thought the rollercoaster that was Adrian and Awhina’s ‘marriage’ was finally over. But instead of a clean-cut breakup, we got a complete flip on their decision to end things with the pair smooching up a storm.
“You said you wouldn’t wanna do this experience with anyone else… Do you want to spend time with me tonight?” Awhina asked after stating that it was best to end things in her Final Vows.
After a few kisses, giggles and cuddles, the unlikely couple rekindled what they thought was gone, with Adrian telling producers in a voxie that they’re “going out together”.
“I think we both know the situation, and there’s no pressure to it. Awhina is a lucky woman,” Adrian laughed.
“The future is bright.”
Was Awhina and Adrian’s backflip at Final Vows for the plot?
Watching the plot twist unfold on Sunday night, personally, I thought that this could’ve been a cheeky story device to spice things up before we got the Jacqui Burfoot and Ryan Donnelly showdown on Monday night.
However, according to Awhina, the decision to backflip on their vows was just a true reflection of how their ‘marriage’ on the show was so hot and cold.
Speaking to PEDESTRIAN.TV, the 30-year-old bride revealed that she and Adrian had already planned to have dinner after wrapping up Final Vows and that her decision to backpedal on wanting leave was purely because her feelings for Adrian grew during the experiment.
“Walking into Final Vows, I was walking in [knowing] we’re not each other’s people, but I care for you, and I’ve got feelings for you,” Awhina dished.
“And we had made plans that night to go out for dinner, plans to take me to the airport, and we had trips coming up that would put us together again.
“So when we were reading those Final Vows, it felt really weird to me that we were saying leave as if we were leaving separate when we were leaving to go to dinner together.”
Awhina also revealed that she and her reality TV beau spent a “week together” away from the cameras and technology ahead of Final Vows, which led to them building a stronger connection beyond the confines of their MAFS apartments.
“Leading up to final vows, Adrian and I just went away for the week together, when there wasn’t that pressure of cameras on you or the pressures of the environment to make things work,” she shared.
“We really did connect.
“We’re kind of in this grey area because we don’t despise one another, and we were also not in love either. But I wasn’t ready to close that chapter yet, and I don’t think he was either.”
Awhina responds to the public’s opinion on her Married At First Sight journey
With the backflip, many fans were enraged with Awhina’s decision to stay with Adrian after all the BS they went through.
Reflecting on the public’s perception of her and her ‘marriage’, the Perth-based bride admits that “it doesn’t keep me up at night”. However, one part of the show “triggered her”.
“I really struggled more so in those first few weeks, watching myself break down on TV that triggered me. You know, reliving those emotions again was really triggering. Other people’s opinions aren’t so triggering,” Awhina said.
“But what I will say is, it’s so easy to look from the outside and kind of tell someone what they should and shouldn’t do because your feelings aren’t in it. You haven’t lived that experience.
“When you’re living in that environment, all your emotions are so heightened. It is such a hot box, but you also have so much fear. I because it’s an international television show, and I went in so naive, so raw, I didn’t know the reach it had.”
That being said, I guess you could say that Adrian and Awhina are one of this season’s successful couples. But we also have the Reunion to wait for, which she said was “explosive”.
Interesting…
Married At First Sight returns tonight on Channel Nine and 9Now.
Image source: Nine / Married At First Sight
