Married At First Sight's Awhina Rutene has spoken out about her tumultuous homestay experience with groom Adrian Araouzou.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the 30-year-old single mum reflected on her emotional return to Perth, her decision not to introduce Adrian to her son and her twin sister Cleo's brutal takedown of their relationship.
For Awhina, going back to Perth should have been a joyous moment, but instead it was filled with mixed emotions.
'I was quite fortunate that I got to go home a few times throughout the experiment and usually I'd be so excited, even if it was just for 24 hours,' she explained.
'But this time was different. I imagined bringing my partner home, introducing him to my son, my family, my friends, but because of where we were at in the relationship that just wasn't going to happen.'
Awhina made it very clear from the start that Adrian would not be meeting her child and now she has explained exactly why.
Married At First Sight's Awhina Rutene has spoken out about her tumultuous homestay experience with groom Adrian Araouzou
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the 30-year-old single mum reflected on her emotional return to Perth , her decision not to introduce Adrian to her son and her twin sister Cleo's brutal takedown of their relationship
'I think everyone can agree that Adrian and I have had a tumultuous journey so far,' she said.
'And even though we were in a good spot for us within the experiment, that was only because we'd pushed aside a lot of our issues. We never resolved them, we just agreed to disagree and moved on.'
She added that their relationship was simply too uncertain to bring her son into it.
'You don't just introduce someone to your child when you don't even know where the relationship is going. It wouldn't have been a safe environment,' she said.
During Homestays Week, Awhina's twin sister Cleo didn't hold back in her assessment of her relationship, calling it fake, and surprisingly, Awhina agrees.
'She has a point,' Awhina admitted.
'Cleo's not in the experiment, so she can see it from the outside.
'When you're in the experiment you're living in a fake world - it's not reality. You wake up every day and do random challenges, stay in an apartment all day and just watch movies with your partner. That's not real life.'
'In reality, I have a son, a job, school drop-offs, after-school sports, friends, a schedule and Adrian has his own life in Sydney. We weren't having those conversations about what life would look like outside the experiment. So yes, Cleo was right. It wasn't real yet.'
'She has a point,' Awhina admitted. 'Cleo's not in the experiment, so she can see it from the outside'
One of the biggest ongoing tensions in their relationship has been Adrian's reluctance to take responsibility for his actions - something Awhina has now confirmed.
'Adrian struggles with accountability, we can all agree on that,' she said.
She believes that some contestants think if they don't own up to something on camera, it might not make it to air.
'I think people in reality TV believe that if you don't say, "Yes, I did this, I'm in the wrong," then maybe it won't play out that way,' she explained.
'But I would have really loved for Adrian to stop, take a second, and just say, "Hey, this is real. My partner is real. Our feelings are real." If he had just had some genuine accountability we could have moved on.'
One of the most controversial moments of Homestays was when Adrian openly admitted he was only there for the food, completely disregarding the importance of the trip.
However, Awhina has defended her groom.
'I think that's a little taken out of context,' she said.
'Adrian struggles with accountability - we can all agree on that,' she said
'He actually got along with my mum really well. He even said off-camera that my mum was really cute and that the food she made was amazing. He did say some lovely things about my family.'
But despite his kind words, Awhina admitted: 'Yes, he struggles with accountability. And yes, that comment about being "just there for lunch" wasn't great.'
Cleo grilled Adrian relentlessly at lunch, refusing to back down and while some may expect Awhina to feel caught in the middle, she actually stood by her sister's tough questioning.
'I don't feel like I was caught in the middle,' she said.
'The last time Cleo saw Adrian, I had been crying non-stop and I felt like I was hitting a brick wall. I was trying and it was going nowhere.
'Cleo saw that effort in me and she told me to go home because it wasn't worth it. So, when I stayed and said we were in a great place, of course she wanted to understand how we got there.'
Throughout the Homestay, Adrian repeatedly pushed for an apology from Cleo - something he never got.
And according to Awhina, he never deserved one.
'Absolutely not,' she said flatly.
Cleo grilled Adrian relentlessly at lunch, refusing to back down and while some may expect Awhina to feel caught in the middle, she actually stood by her sister's tough questioning
'I made it very clear - I didn't want to hear about this apology ever again.'
Awhina refused to introduce Adrian to her child, but looking back does she think he would have handled himself well if her son had been present?
'It's a hypothetical situation,' she said.
'My son wasn't in the room and I guess we'll never know.'
As the experiment heads into its final stretch, Awhina teased that the last task will be a defining moment for every couple.
'It's a make-or-break task for some couples, I'll tell you that,' she said ominously.
When asked if it affected her relationship, she simply replied: 'I reckon it affected every relationship.'
