ICYMI, Bryce & Melissa Appeared On A TV Show To Talk About The Downsides Of Fame
Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson have been one of the most controversial couples to come out of Married at First Sight, but they’ve also defeated the odds: the pair are still together now, happily engaged, and the parents of twin boys.
After their tumultuous 2021 series, Bryce was touted the most hated man in Australia, after the series put a spotlight on his poor behaviour towards Melissa, something he says was only a “snippet” of their real journey.
The two recently appeared on 7News’ Spotlight: The Fame Game, to discuss life after Married at First Sight.
“Being just a normal person who applied for the show, I thought I was just going on to find love and thank goodness I did, but I don’t think I was prepared for the onslaught of the trolling and the hate we received,” Melissa said in an interview with The Morning Show.
“I understand we didn’t come across looking the best and our journey wasn’t one that many people thought would have a happy ending,” Melissa said. “It really blew my mind that people could be so horrible.”
Bryce and Melissa’s twin boys.
Bryce, for his part, reckons audiences only saw about 25% of the real journey the couple undertook on Married at First Sight.
“Look I can tell you now there were others on the show that were a lot worse than I was,” Bryce said. “It was just unfortunate they were on the show for about three minutes while I was on it for three months. I think because I was so prominent in the show, I guess I was the main character if you want to call it that.”
Bryce also said his media career set him up as a scapegoat.
“I think being in the media too for 11 years before doing the show I think I was a really easy target, a bit of a scapegoat. If you’ve got someone that’s from the media (who is) a bit negative or does something that’s not portrayed in the best light, it’s easy to target them and have a bit of a herd mentality.”
The couple have since moved on to live normal lives, with normal jobs.
“For us it’s just focusing on ourselves and the two boys. It’s not about what the public thinks about us, it’s more about what we think of us, what our family and friends think. I know we have a lot of support here, in Australia and in the UK as well. I don’t know, maybe we should move to the UK, we’re adored over there,” Bryce said.
“We also want to use our opportunity where we do have a bit of a presence on social media to help raise funds for babies who are born premature and money to go towards hospitals and that’s where we want to be able to do something that’s good for others, we want something really good to come from a negative experience,” Melissa added.
On 7news Spotlight: The Fame Game, Bryce said they’ve come to grips with what they were put through.
“Some of the stories I could share,” Bryce said, before talking about the controversial scene from their honeymoon where Bryce brutally told Melissa she wasn’t his type, saying he normally goes for blonde, taller girls, with blue eyes. Bryce claimed he actually complimented Melissa after his infamous honesty box answer, by saying her personality was one of a kind and that he could learn a lot from her, all of which was edited out.
Melissa then said she was actually upset after the honesty box because of a different question that she had asked Bryce, asking him if he was there for genuine reasons. Bryce had got offended so Melissa was on the backtrack from upsetting him. “I got overwhelmed because I liked him and I was upset I had hurt him,” Melissa said. “And that’s the footage you see after the blonde hair, blue eyes comment.”
“We were aware and told that everyone gets trolled, but the level of hate we received was next level,” Melissa said. “People online sending us messages and saying that they hoped my twins would die. Unfortunately we still get people who troll our twins to this day.”
“In my opinion, it’s a matter of when not if a reality TV show does claim a life of a participant,” Bryce said. “They can ruin careers, public perception, and self esteem and one day they’re going to cast the wrong person on these shows and they’re not going to make it.”