MAFS bride Awhina Rutene breaks her silence over backlash surrounding husband Adrian Araouzou

Married At First Sight bride Awhina Rutene has spoken out about the backlash surrounding her husband Adrian Araouzou.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the 30-year-old aged care worker revealed that she felt 'blindsided' by his explosive reaction to her past during Confessions Week.

The Perth-based bride admitted she was left hurt and confused after he appeared shocked by a revelation they had already discussed off-camera.

Awhina explained that she and Adrian had spoken openly about their past relationships early on in the experiment.

'He's really confused, to be honest. I felt really blindsided,' she said. 'During our honeymoon, we had some off-camera conversations where we spoke about things and we opened up.'

However, when the topic was raised again on-camera, Adrian had a completely different reaction—one that Awhina didn't see coming.

'I didn't feel like I needed to hide anything. I wanted to be honest,' she continued. 

'Adrian says he values loyalty and honesty, and we've had this conversation before. But his reaction when asked during Confessions Week was so opposite to his reaction when we'd already spoken about it previously.'

While Awhina acknowledged that what she had done in the past was '100 per cent wrong' and she took full responsibility, she was confused by Adrian's dramatic response.

'I understand not everyone wants to be honest on camera,' she said, suggesting that Adrian may have put on a show for the cameras.

'If you have the conversation off-camera and it's a 'who cares' kind of moment, and then on camera, the reaction is explosive, it's really confusing.'

Reflecting on the moment, Awhina admitted she was left 'fumbled' by the situation but ultimately chose not to betray Adrian's trust in that moment, despite feeling hurt.

The cracks in their relationship only deepened when Adrian refused to participate in the Confessions Letter task—something Awhina saw as a major red flag.

'When I walked into that room and he hadn't done the letter, I just thought it was a joke. I was smiling at him, laughing, thinking, 'Come on, where is it?' And when he said he hadn't done it, I just thought, 'Again? Really?' she recalled.

'How much am I going to keep putting in and you're not going to even meet me halfway?'

When asked if she felt Adrian was truly invested in their relationship, Awhina admitted she had doubts.

'I felt like he was dating the experiment and not me. I didn't feel like a human at this point to him,' she said.

'We would have these great highs, but then there were always these extreme lows. I was always left feeling confused.'

Despite the rocky road, Awhina and Adrian continued to push forward, heading into the commitment ceremony with hopes of finding common ground.

'I was really nervous walking into that commitment ceremony. Adrian was my only support person at that point, and I wanted to walk in united because I was feeling really anxious and needed that support,' she said.

However, the drama didn't end there, with Adrian embracing his role as one of this season's villains.

'Oh look, I'm not going to lie—my husband loves attention. Even though he's getting backlash, he's probably throwing himself a party right now,' she laughed.

'I can confirm, he's pretty happy with himself. He said he was happy to take the throne and take Tim's crown of being the villain!'.

As for their connection, Awhina revealed that while they struggled emotionally, physical intimacy was not an issue.

'Intimacy wasn't something that I was scared to tackle. But no matter what challenge we faced, we always managed to find road bumps,' she shared.

'Viewers are just going to have to watch and find out.'

Despite everything, Awhina has no regrets about supporting Adrian throughout the experiment.

'At the end of the day, when I am in a relationship with someone, I hype them up. You should be your partner's biggest cheerleader,' she said.

Meanwhile, rumours have been swirling about Adrian being spotted with someone new post-show, but Awhina took it all in stride, even joking about Australia's demand for her to change her hair colour.

'The public have been demanding that I dye my hair brown—who knows? I saw someone say it was me in a wig! Maybe I succumbed to Australia's peer pressure,' she teased.

Married At First Sight continues Sunday at 7pm on Channel Nine.