Bryce and Melissa, the polarising duo who were never meant to go the distance after meeting and marrying on Married At First Sight (MAFS) in 2021 and then again for real in 2023, say that their two honeymoons were like “chalk and cheese”.
“There is no comparison between them,” shares Melissa Rawson, 35, relaxed and tanned after island-hopping for 10 days between Koh Samui and Phuket in Thailand.
“We had a choice about everything this time.”
HONEYMOON FROM HELL
As singles, both requested producers send them on a tropical destination for their honeymoon. But instead, they were sent to freezing cold conditions on an isolated farming property in Oberon, NSW.
“They were testing us,” believes Bryce Ruthven, 35, who shares twin two-year-old boys, Levi and Tate, with his now real-life wife. “We were one of the couples being set up to implode, starting with this very uncomfortable honeymoon.”
Scrambling for highlights from her six-day trip with then-stranger Bryce, Melissa says it was a dull honeymoon.
She laughs, “We did one nice walk through the cow dung in the paddocks. And we also had fun flying a kite, but that was about it.”
“At one point, ’Liss was challenged to paint me as I lay there half naked like a Roman emperor on a table,” adds Bryce, who enjoyed hamming it up.
“But it didn’t fit the narrative because we were having too much fun, so the whole scene was dropped.”
A scripted romantic dinner under an isolated gazebo was another memorable failure, as the temperature hit one degree and the cake was stale!
The couple wed officially in February 2023 in a dreamy beachside ceremony in Victoria’s Sorrento. They now live with their boys on the Mornington Peninsula. They’ve only just embarked on their honeymoon 15 months after tying the knot for the second time. But this time around, it was everything they’d dreamed of.
DREAM DESTINATION
“We had a choice about everything this time. And we tailored it to suit us,” smiles Melissa. Afterward, she admitted to a rough first few days without her little blonde-haired toddlers.
“I got cuddles from a lemur at the markets. We swam in and sunbaked around our own private pool and partied at a huge beach bar fire show,” she continued.
Bryce and Melissa even got matching kite tattoos on their wrists to remind them of the fun they had flying kites on their TV honeymoon.
The couple had such a good time together in Thailand, they’re planning a trip back with the twins. They say they’d even consider moving there if the right opportunities arose.
“There is genuine love between us – but I’m still training him up,” laughs Melissa, who was depicted as a timid, submissive wallflower on the controversial dating show.
“We’ve settled into our relationship now and agree that I’m the boss. I make all the decisions, from family matters to controlling the money.
“We’re not perfect. We fight and have disagreements. But we aren’t faking our way through marriage. I’m stubborn and will hold every grudge until the kids turn 18. But Bryce forgets and just wants to make up. We get through it every time.”
Bryce says, “The show [MAFS] made me out to be controlling, but the opposite is true!” He adds with a laugh, “She’s got me by the balls and for my part, it’s easier to just go with it!”
