Married At First Sight Australia participant Tim Calwell's best man speech has been condemned as "incredibly disrespectful" and "disgusting".
In the 2024 season's opening episode, Calwell was married to fellow hopeful Sara Mesa.
Despite there being a sign of sparks early on after the two shared an affinity for the Spanish language, a spanner was thrown in the works during the post-wedding ceremony when mate Ben delivered his speech.
Things were already on rocky ground after Calwell admitted to Mesa he had recently ended a relationship within the past six months, in which he said he was going to propose to his girlfriend this year. Shaken by the revelation, Mesa said she "had to get out of here".
Although Mesa returned, events soured when Ben unleashed a series of jokes about Calwell's sexual "experimentation" prior to the wedding.
He also referred to Sara as "experiment 865".
Central to the speech was a story that involved Calwell eating rancid chicken that had been left in a box in a sun-drenched tent at a music festival for four days.
"Sara, you can find solace in the fact that, rancid or not, Tim will still eat you," Ben said.
That followed other comments about Calwell receiving oral sex, including while in hospital.
Relationship expert John Aiken exclusively told Newshub the speech raised questions about whether they had the right match for Calwell and Mesa.
"I cringed like everyone else. When I heard that best man speech, I thought the way it began was appalling. And then it just got worse," said Aiken.
"My biggest worry was, well, this guy is going to blow up this match that we've spent months making because the bride is going to look at this best man and go, well, if he's who you hang around with, maybe you're not the right person for me. And of course, her family and friends think the same thing.
"So I was deeply concerned and I thought, I don't know if they're going to be able to recover from this."
There was also widespread condemnation of the speech from viewers.
"Why didn't the groom shut him down," one user wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
"Don't know what was worse - his speech or hairstyle," another observed.
"This doesn't bode well... incredibly disrespectful and he sat there and smirked through it all," another commenter said.
"In what world did this guy think this was a good idea... for a boys weekend maybe; for a wedding... dude," another said.
Full episodes of the current season of MAFS AU are streaming on ThreeNow and airing on Three at 7pm Sunday-Wednesday.
