Married At First Sight Australia participant Bryce Ruthven caused an uproar by grabbing fellow contestant Rebecca Zemek and giving her an unwanted kiss on the cheek midway through a heated argument.
The incident took place at the couple's retreat, where several members of the group demanded Ruthven apologise for starting a fight with Zemek and her husband Jake Edwards at the previous night's dinner party.
Having made a disingenuous speech which was quickly dismissed by the others, Ruthven made a beeline for Edwards, sarcastically calling him "the king of the experiment" and offering to shake his hand.
When Edwards told Ruthven to "get the f**k away from him", Ruthven turned on his heel and stormed over to Zemek, grabbing her by the shoulders and forcibly kissing her as she pushed him away.
"No, don't!" Zemek cried out. "Yuck, that's disgusting."
Zemek then burst into tears, covering her face with her hands while other members of the group exploded at Ruthven.
"Bryce, how dare you do that mate?" Patrick Dwyer said.
"What? I gave her a kiss to apologise!" Ruthven responded.
Ruthven went on to tell Zemek her tears were "fake, just like her Instagram likes" before storming off with his wife Melissa Rawson, who sided with him.
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Rawson comforted Ruthven.
Zemek later told an Australian radio station that she felt "violated" and was traumatised by Ruthven's actions, and complained to production who reportedly shut down filming MAFS for a day.
"It was just so mentally draining for me at the time," she said.
"I look at it the same way as I did before. It's harassment. I think you learn to keep your hands to yourself when you're five years old."
Married At First Sight Australia airs on Three Sundays at 7pm and Monday-Wednesday at 7:30pm, and is also able to be streamed via ThreeNow.
