MAFS couple reveal surprise engagement in nightclub

Two cast members of this year’s season of MAFS have got engaged in a nightclub.

It's a happy-ish ending to a months-long nightmare as Two Married At First Sight contestants who hooked up in the outside world after dumping the spouses they were matched with on the show have upstaged Sunday's semi-final of the series by getting engaged at a Sydney nightclub.

News.com.au was in the room as Clint Rice, a former golfer who hit big with an internet retail business, proposed to Jacqui Burfoot with a $30,000 custom-made ring at Arcade Bar in front of fans.

The proposal was a shock twist at an exclusive party thrown by tittle-tattle maven Megan Pustetto, who runs the celebrity gossip outlet So Dramatic!. Guests in attendance included co-stars Dave Hand, Billy Belcher and groupies who'd purchased tickets to watch Sunday's penultimate episode at the function. The couple celebrated with trays of spring rolls and Nando's while fans toasted the engagement by jeering every time Burfoot's TV husband Ryan Donnelly appeared on screen. 

Clint Rice proposed to Jacqui Burfoot with a $30,000 ring.

The pair hooked up together in the outside world after dumping the spouses they were matched with.

Our hearts melted - though that didn't explain the sticky nightclub floor that Burfoot dropped to when she accepted the chunky diamond. 

Rice told news.com.au he’d been planning the surprise proposal for “a few weeks” and had kept it secret.

Burfoot said she wanted the wedding to happen “as soon as possible”.

“I had no idea. We have talked about marriage but I thought it wouldn’t happen until after I turn 30. My 30th birthday is on Tuesday. This is what I wanted,” she said while admiring her new five-carat oval diamond that shimmered under the neon nightclub lights.

“I love the ring. It’s huge. It’s massive. It’s literally heavy.”

Both Rice and Burfoot were matched to different spouses on the show but the relationships ended poorly. The pair started messaging in the outside world and Burfoot moved into Rice’s million-dollar Tasmanian estate just weeks after ending her TV marriage to Donnelly.

Sunday's semi-final showed the pair making a grand return to the program to go public with their union. Fellow contestants questioned the sketchy timeline of when exactly the whirlwind romance began, while Burfoot's ex accused her of being "a pathological liar".

“We know the direction we’re heading in,” Rice told news.com.au after proposing. “I thought it was fitting to do it tonight and get engaged on the night we re-enter the experiment – and then move on with our lives. Jacqui and I want to put the rest of the experiment behind us.”

The news comes just weeks after Burfoot was slapped with an apprehended violence order that aims to protect her estranged on-screen husband, Donnelly.

Donnelly took out the apprehended violence order (AVO), which is due for mention on April 23rd, in Campbelltown Courthouse just days after Burfoot was granted a restraining order against him.

On Sunday's semi-final, Rice told Donnelly that Burfoot had upgraded from “a Kia to a Ferrari”.

Rice’s former TV wife Lauren Hall criticised him on the series for being too feminine.

Originally published as MAFS couple reveal surprise engagement in nightclub