After her disastrous experience with her first husband Eliot Donovan, unlucky in love Lauren Hall was hoping that her second marriage on Married at First Sight with Clint Rice would survive the experiment.
But unfortunately for her, her second chance at love in marriage number two wasn’t meant to be.
Scroll on to find out everything that happened in Lauren and Clint’s marriage on MAFS.
An unsurprising end
It came as a surprise to no one that both Clint and Lauren decided to exit the experiment together following the events of the couple’s retreat and the drama that took place.
Admitting that they were just friends and had agreed that the chemistry “just wasn’t there” in their marriage, they both wrote leave.
But it’s not all negativity!
Clint invited his now ex-wife down to visit him in Tasmania and Lauren admitted that she still had hope in the outside world that love could “blossom” between the pair.
The retreat from hell
While everyone else in the experiment was eager to get out of Sydney and head to Byron Bay for the annual Couple’s Retreat, Lauren made it clear that she couldn’t think of a worse way to spend her time.
The group was quick to bring up comments Lauren made about Clint not being “alpha-male” enough for her at the most recent Commitment Ceremony, and encouraged her to expand her limited view of masculinity.
But Lauren didn’t want a bar of it, telling producers that “everyone’s literally spewing garbage.”
The following morning a stubborn Lauren made the decision that she and Clint would leave the retreat after the girl’s night.
After she was criticised once more over her treatment of Clint, an agitated Lauren stormed off and described her fellow brides as “boganic.”
But stay they did, the unlikely duo presenting a united front together on the final night of the retreat as Clint told the group he backed his wife and every disrespectful comment she had made to the other brides and grooms.
As Clint stepped away for a one-on-one chat with the cameras, a nervous Dave approached him, hoping to knock some sense into Clint.
“She’s been saying that there’s no spark, she not interested [in you],” Dave told him, hoping Clint would finally realise Lauren wasn’t committed to the experiment.
But Lauren was quick to shoot down the boys’ concerns that same evening and reaffirmed her desire to continue working on things with Clint.
Fast forward to the following dinner party and the pair opted not to attend, choosing to have a party for two in their apartment instead.
A promising second week
In their first real challenge as a couple, the newlyweds took part in the controversial photo ranking task.
After placing Jacqui in the middle of the pack, Lauren was left stunned, revealing that she would even put this year’s oldest bride Morena ahead of Jacqui in the line-up.
“I think she looks quite natural,” Clint explained, Lauren interjecting that Jacqui looked “quite rough.”
“I think she is very driven in her career, something like that is very attractive to me,” he elaborated before placing Lauren in the top spot.
For Lauren, she was brutally honest when ranking the grooms, and even referred to her ex-husband Eliot as a “dirty, stinky rat” before placing her new husband Clint on the top.
Fast forward to the Commitment Ceremony and while Lauren was unhappy that her husband had been doing household chores like doing the dishes, an action she saw as not being “Alpha male” enough for her – they both wrote to stay in the experiment another week.
The first dinner party and Commitment Ceremony
After hearing how her ex-husband Eliot had treated her during their short-lived marriage, Clint was quick to call out the controversial groom for his behaviour at their first face-to-face encounter, asking if he felt guilty to which Eliot showed no remorse.
As Lauren listened to Eliot’s recount of their time together, she was quick to voice her disagreements with his timeline of events, Eliot denying it all: “You had about five margaritas so you won’t remember,” he says in his defence, much to the chagrin of the entire table.
But Clint was unrelenting in his criticism of Eliot, leaving Lauren incredibly impressed by her new husband.
At their first Commitment Ceremony as a couple, the newlyweds were smitten with one another and both chose to write ‘stay.’
“Clint has all the qualities that I look for [in a husband]. I feel like we have each other’s backs,” says Lauren.
“She ticks a lot of boxes. [Lauren is] also the most stunning person in the room,” Clint adds.
Who is Clint Rice?
When it comes to matching Lauren a second time, the experts were determined to get it right.
Hopeful about the new pairing, they matched her with Clint Rice, who is a business owner and former professional golfer.
At 43, Clint says he did not imagine being single at his age and longs to share his life with someone and get married. The self-claimed romantic says he has achieved a lot in his life and is ready to welcome someone into it.
He said that he hoped to be matched with someone feminine and was ready to take care of someone by being a gentleman, describing his future wife without even realising it!
What happened at Clint and Lauren’s wedding?
It was a bit of a bumpy start for Lauren and Clint. As she walked to her wedding, Lauren said she didn’t believe in vows.
In her own vows, Lauren admitted she had been married on the experiment before, but was ready to connect with someone with similar values. As she listened to Clint read his vows aloud, she said she felt at ease.
When he was asked about why he decided to go on MAFS, Clint said he was unlucky in relationships and wanted to try a new approach. The groom admitted his last relationship lasted for 10 years, and both of them were too career-driven and did not see the same future.
Lauren’s understanding of her groom deepened when he said he went to therapy to learn more about himself afterward.
Speaking on the pier alone, the second-time bride explained to her shocked husband why it did not work out with Eliot, his comments, and his departure after a matter of days.
“I felt awful for her, I was like what sort of guy treats a female like that? That’s just not okay,” Clint said in a confessional shortly after.
What happened during Clint and Lauren’s honeymoon?
As they learned more about one another over wine in the Hunter Valley, Clint revealed that he was eager to settle down and have one child.
This was music to Lauren’s ears, the two-time bride revealing she also only wanted on child and telling the camera that this honeymoon was “already better” than her last.
Let’s hope these two can lean on one another throughout the experiment, especially with Eliot also returning!
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