1 week Ago By Yahoo Lifestyle
Married At First Sight fans were left scratching their heads watching the reunion dinner party , trying to decipher Jacqui Burfoot and Clint Rice ’s relationship timeline. The couple told their co-stars they weren’t romantically involved during the experiment and only started dating two weeks before the reunion, which was just two weeks after Jacqui ended things with her partner Ryan Donnelly at Final Vows. However, everyone was left confused when they revealed that they had already made plans to move in together and Jacqui would be relocating from Sydney to Launceston.
While Jacqui and Clint have since shut down rumours of a ‘fake’ relationship by announcing their engagement , many fans are still questioning exactly when, where and how they started dating. RELATED: With this year’s season of MAFS officially over, the loved-up couple have now opened up to Yahoo Lifestyle and finally set the record straight on how their relationship began. What were Jacqui and Clint's first impressions of one another? Despite ranking her sixth in the photo ranking challenge , Clint asserts that he was immediately attracted to Jacqui when the cast leaked online ahead of his intruder wedding to Lauren Hall .
“Obviously, I was going to get married to someone else I didn't know, so I was fully focused on my relationship in the experiment. But to be honest, when I saw the lineup before I went in there, that was when Jacqui first caught my attention, for sure,” he shares. Jacqui adds that she and Clint instantly hit it off when they met at their first dinner party , and she always hoped they would become friends.
“I got really good vibes when I first met Clint. I was like, This guy's cool,” she recalls. “I actually said that at the dinner party, ‘Clint seems like the kind of guy I’d want to be friends with’.
I’m surprised they didn’t play it back. “I was like, this guy would be awesome to be friends with. He’s the first cast member that I actually could see myself hanging out with in the real world and talking about business or investment or just hanging out as mates.
But I never thought I was good enough for Clint, if I’m being honest.” When did Jacqui and Clint begin a romantic relationship? Clint explains that he gave his phone number to several participants during filming, including Dave Thomas Hand , Teejay Halkias , Paul Antoine , Carina Mirabile , Morena Farina , and Jacqui. He messaged multiple people once he left the experiment inviting them to visit him in Tasmania, and he and Jacqui began talking “a couple of weeks later” about what life was like away from the show.
“It was very validating to talk to someone who had a very similar experience in the experiment, so I think that's how it started,” Jacqui remarks. Jacqui says she had five days off after filming Final Vows before returning to work, and Clint made the first move by sending her a “big bouquet of red roses” on her first day back. “Probably my first big hint to Jac was her first day back at work and I sent her flowers,” he reveals.
“I knew she was doing it tough, and she's going back to work, and I need to probably show that I do have some interest. We were just getting along as friends at this stage, but I was like, why not send her some nice flowers?” When did Jacqui and Clint have their first kiss? Jacqui spent a week at work before flying to Launceston to spend time with Clint, but she still wasn’t exactly sure if it would become anything more than a friendship. “When I went down to Tassie, I wasn't really sure what we were doing,” she admits.
“I was like, this is a vacation, treat it like a break and get to know Clint. And then to my surprise, we literally just hit it off.” Clint had picked Jacqui up from the airport and given her a tour of his house, and within two hours, they had their first kiss.
Who said 'I love you' first? The couple ended up spending two weeks together in Tasmania, and Clint was the first person to say ‘I love you’ during that time. “He did say ‘I love you’ first and then I was like, I definitely could love you, but I’m not there yet,” she reflects. “But it was within two weeks that we were like, no, we love each other.
“I remember going into the reunion, there were times where I kept trying to hold my mouth and not say it. He was holding his mouth too, because he didn't want to give production that because we'd probably just be mocked. But we were there already.
” During those two weeks in Tasmania, they also had discussions about how many children they wanted and where they would want to live, which is when they decided she should move in with him. “I was like, I don't want to do a long distance relationship, that was not gonna work for either of us, and that made us fast track a lot of conversations,” Jacqui details. “We went through all those questions of compatibility to decide whether a long-distance relationship made sense or whether we should try and make it official, and we went through everything, and it was perfect.
“We treated it like a little experiment. What's wrong with giving the experiment another go? Like, if we could find love with each other, that would be great.” What's happened since the reunion? Jacqui and Clint have now officially been together for five months, during which they’ve spent minimal time apart from one another.
“We spent Christmas together, New Year's together, and we've met each other's families,” Jacqui shares. “We did a month-long holiday in New Zealand in January secretly, and we went around Queenstown and Auckland and stayed with my family. “Our families adopted each other straight away, we just fitted into each other's family so well.
And his family loved me because I was putting a smile on his face.” SHOP: The pair are now planning their wedding and hope to get married in January 2026 in either Tasmania or New Zealand. “If I explained my perfect man, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of Clint,” she gushes.
“How could you not be like, I want to marry you straight away. It’s almost too good to be true.” “I was the same with you,” he replies.
“She’s absolutely perfect.” Want the latest lifestyle and entertainment news? Make sure you are following us on Facebook , Instagram and TikTok and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter..
