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MAFS Australia’s Jacqui's dad reveals why her family refused to attend TV wedding
10 April 2025, 13:34
Married At First Sight Australia bride Jacqui's entire family snubbed her on-screen wedding to Ryan – here, her dad explains why.
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Married At First Sight Australia's Jacqui Burfoot's dad has revealed why her entire family refused to attend her on-screen wedding during this year's hit reality show.
The controversial bride, 29, was racked with disappointment on her big day, not only with her groom Ryan Donnelly, who didn't meet her high expectations, but because her loved ones decided not to watch her tie the knot.
Viewers were puzzled by the lack of support on the former Miss New Zealand's side, with many questioning where her parents were among the sea of glamorous guests at the ceremony.
But now the reality star's father has opened up about the real reason why he and his wife decided to skip their daughter's TV nuptials – and has addressed Jacqui's "twisted" edit amid her new-found fame.
Doog Burfoot told the New Zealand Herald: "Jacqui did talk to her mum and me about going on the show. We weren’t overly happy, but we knew she would die wondering if she didn’t.
"Her reason, we think, was probably for opportunity... to go through the door to see what’s there: love, fame, fortune, or just the adventure of the unknown and the discovery of new doors to open.
"We were asked by Jacqui to attend the wedding but we said that we would prefer to go to her real wedding.
"We think this is one of the reasons she chose a blue wedding dress… to save the white one for the real thing."
- Read more: MAFS Australia's Jacqui accuses 'deceptive' experts of gaslighting her in scathing online rant
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After Jacqui's dad cleared up the confusion around why he opted out of the wedding scenes, he also admitted he and his wife would not encourage her to sign up for another exposing series.
Doog explained: "After her experiences with MAFS, we would not support her going on another reality TV show. The power to destroy will always remain with the producers.
"The Jacqui you see on MAFS is a highly fictional and twisted avatar of the real person.
"She is unrecognisable to us and a product of gross editing that uses “frankeinbiting” — splicing different answers to different questions, showing the bad 1% to create, in Jacqui’s case, the ‘crazy’ narrative."
"People watch the show and actually believe what they see and hear is what actually happened and was said.
"The armchair psychologists then come out and make judgments on the on-screen characters.
"But when you know the size of the void between the truth and the onscreen edit, it is a bit like watching a Terminator movie and coming away thinking that Arnold Schwarzenegger may have anger issues."
Despite Doog's frustrations over his daughter's portrayal on TV, he did admit that he was happy to welcome her new fiancé and MAFS co-star Clint Rice into the fold.
The couple, who were married to other people during filming, recently got engaged when the former pro-golfer popped the question during a MAFS reunion viewing party.
Speaking of Jacqui and Clint's relationship after the loved-up pair spent a week at the Burfoot's family home in Queenstown, he added: "We love Clint.
"He is a rock and dotes on Jacqui. He is intelligent, easygoing and fun to be around."
- Read more: What did Ryan say about Jacqui on MAFS Australia? Explicit comment revealed
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He continued: "The two are well-suited and form a formidable team that will likely grow together along whatever path they follow.
"As of Sunday night, things just got real for Jacqui and Clint.
"Clint proposed to Jacqui at the MAFS reunion party in Sydney. And no surprise to us, she said yes. We are thrilled."
- Read more: MAFS Australia groom Ryan's brutal response to Jacqui and Clint's shock engagement
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