TRIGGER WARNING: This article discusses physical violence. Reader discretion is advised.
When Carina makes a passing comment about a past lover on a night out, Paul loses his cool and does something that might see him booted from the experiment.
On Married at First Sight Australia, Carina, 31, Paul, 30, Rhi, 34, and Jeff, 39, go on an off-camera double date, and in the car on the way home, an unnamed rapper’s song comes on the radio. When Carina admits she had slept with the mystery star, it sends Paul into a rage.
“At the end of the day we’ve all got a past,” Carina tells TV WEEK.
“I understand that everything’s heightened in the experiment, but it isn’t acceptable behaviour.”
“When we went back up to the apartments, Paul was really frustrated,” Rhi adds. “His reaction was definitely an overreaction.”
The situation escalates dramatically when a seething Paul punches a wall, forcing production to separate the couple, who have been smooth sailing up until this point.
“I was shocked,” Carina recalls. “I was in denial. I just was asking, ‘Why? How did we get to this point?’ I just couldn’t understand how it escalated that quickly.”
When Carina awoke the next morning, alone in an apartment away from her husband for the first time since their romantic wedding day, she admits she felt “lonely”.
“I was super anxious and very uncomfortable,” Carina says. “I just wanted to be with him, but I had to listen to his needs. He needed to sleep on what the hell just happened, so I had to respect that and give him what he asked for.”
The pair reunite just before this week’s Dinner Party, where Paul has to face the repercussions of his actions among the entire group.
“Everyone was screaming,” Carina says. “I knew that he felt really bad for his behaviour, but he definitely was put in his place.”
“We’re normally very loving humans but that night he and I were absolutely mentally drained; it was written all over our faces. But I think everyone understood this is not the Paul we are used to.”
Will Carina give her husband a second chance at this week’s Commitment Ceremony or is this display of violence something the pair can’t come back from?
If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help is always available. Call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
