There was a lot of uncertainty surrounding Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson in this year’s season of Married at First Sight, but since the show wrapped in February, the couple have only seemed to grow stronger, proving themselves to be one of the best matches made on the show.
WATCH BELOW: Bryce and Melissa announce their twins’ birth
What started with some odd disputes about eye-colour has led to the pair moving in together, becoming properly engaged, and most recently – giving birth to twin boys.
Melissa and Bryce welcomed their sons into the world on October 16, when Melissa was only 29 weeks along in her pregnancy, meaning the twins were shuffled straight to the NICU.
While we await further details on the babies, we’re taking a deep dive into Bryce and Melissa’s strong, yet complicated, love story.
Bryce and Melissa met at the altar in an episode of Married at First Sight’s eighth season.
“Wow, she’s quite gorgeous,” Bryce commented when he first laid eyes on Melissa.
However, the pair faced a rocky start when Bryce revealed that she ‘wasn’t his usual type’, which viewers took issue with.
He followed this up a few episodes later in an ‘honesty challenge’, where the couples were asked to ‘rank’ the other brides and grooms from those they found most attractive to least attractive.
While Melissa ranked Bryce first, he ranked her fourth, leading to more viewer discomfort.
Melissa said it was a “kick in the guts”, joking that “you don’t even get a medal for fourth place.”
However, her appreciation for his honesty saw the couple forge ahead.
Bryce and Melissa faced more controversy moving forward as a rumour that Bryce had a secret girlfriend waiting for him in Canberra bubbled to the surface.
He maintained that it wasn’t true, and Melissa stood by him.
“There is no way we’d be intimate as much as we are, or had the conversations that we have [if Bryce had another girlfriend],” she voiced at a dinner party.
However, Bryce did admit that he had met a girl on a dating app a few months before the show began filming, and that they’d ‘hooked up’ a few times.
Despite the negative vibe from their fellow castmates, which would eventually manifest into negative vibes from the audience, Bryce and Melissa seemed determined to make it work.
When the pair made it to the end of the show, a petition was launched to encourage Channel Nine to apologise for the way they had portrayed Bryce and Melissa.
“People are claiming our relationship has triggered victims of domestic violence, but then Channel Nine says they’ve done their due diligence by us, but viewers are still interpreting it like such. Something has clearly gone wrong,” Melissa told New Idea.
Melissa and Bryce said their experience on the show left them ‘broken’.
“I’ve had several lawyers approach me to take them on,” Bryce told New Idea.
“I feel enticed when lawyers are making contact – the show ruined my life, my mental health … There’s never been a couple like us who look so putrid to Australians,” he said.
“I used to able to go down the street and not panic, but now I get looks and I think, ‘have they seen the show? Do they hate me?’.”
“We’re basically living in fear.”
WATCH BELOW: EXCLUSIVE: Married At First Sight’s Bryce and Melissa announce twins and engagement. Story continues below…
Melissa also experienced a bout of depression as the show was airing.
“Days went by when I couldn’t get off the couch and I couldn’t change my clothes. I stopped taking calls from [Channel] Nine and I couldn’t eat – all the signs of depression and anxiety, and it was really tough,” she said.
However, she also confirmed to New Idea that she had sought independent psychology, and that she and Bryce were looking forward to being ‘old news’ and having a wedding they organised themselves.
Before the twins arrived, they also adopted a puppy, Sonny.
In July this year, the couple exclusively revealed to New Idea that they were engaged and expecting twins.
“We’re not doing this for anybody else, it’s about us – we’re cementing our love,” Bryce confirmed.
“Melissa deserves to be happy and I’m apparently very good at that, so I’m looking forward to making it all official.”
The pair planned to marry after the birth of the twins, meaning their little boys will now be in attendance.
There’s been little revealed since the twin’s premature birth, but Melissa has been allowed to return home to recover while the babies remain in the NICU.
“Thank you for all the love for us and for the bubbies. They’re doing really well,” Melissa shared on Instagram.
“We just wanted to say a massive thank you for all your messages. We’ve gotten so many that have come through. We do really appreciate it,” Bryce added.
More updates are expected very soon!
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