While they weren’t paired together on Married at First Sight in 2025, Jacqui Burfoot and Clint Rice took a significant step in their relationship by getting engaged in real life as the show finished airing!
Now, the couple has revealed when they plan to tie the knot and the type of celebration they want to have.
Speaking on the Lara on Eyre podcast, Clint confessed that he wanted a bigger wedding, while his bride-to-be initially wanted something very low-key.
“Personally, I don’t want to organise a wedding, I don’t like having everything fall on my shoulders,” Jacqui said. “So I’d just rather do an elopement with just the two of us in like Italy or something.”
As for when they’re planning to tie the knot? They told host Lara Eyre that they’re aiming for next April or May. While they initially had between January and March in mind, they admitted they had not prepared anything.
The couple did agree that they did want a big celebration for their engagement, but did not provide any other details.
Although their dream day is not this year, Jacqui has already started trying on wedding dresses.
For her wedding ensemble, Jacqui has turned to Australian bridal couture designer Moira Hughes, who also designed her blue MAFS wedding dress.
“It feels so different [this time],” she exclusively told our sister publication Woman’s Day during one of her fittings. “First of all, the wedding [on MAFS] wasn’t real. But this time, it’s with a man I truly love and I want to marry. I want to get married as soon as possible.”
At the moment, the bride-to-be is thinking about practicality and is leaning towards a two-piece white, corseted gown, which she can re-wear on another day.
Jacqui and Clint are ready to enjoy life after MAFS and plan their wedding day. (Credit: Instagram)
In April, the couple told Yahoo Lifestyle which MAFS cast members they planned to invite along for their special day.
“I had a big build-up getting the ring sorted and actually organising it to happen, and since then, we haven’t slept much. We’ve been doing a lot of catch-ups and interviews, and it’s been quite surreal.”
Initially planning to elope, they said they were ready to have a big celebration with their loved ones. Clint said a location was not decided on yet, but it would be between New Zealand, Tasmania, or Sydney.
He added they would be open to a televised wedding on Channel Nine, similar to Cam and Jules’ on A Current Affair.
“Nothing’s off the table. I think we’re always open to entertaining any discussion around what it is,” he said.
So, who do Jacqui and Clint plan to invite from MAFS?
“We’ve already had someone who is so keen to come. She wants to be there, she wants to be playing the hits – DJ Morena,” Jacqui said, and added she would also take care of the music at their engagement.
“She’s been our biggest supporter since day one, in the experiment and out of the experiment.”
MAFS was a whirlwind for Jacqui and Clint, who are now living in Tasmania. (Credit: Instagram)
Clint popped the question at a MAFS Reunion viewing party on April 6 in Sydney, in front of a crowd of eager fans, much to his now-fiancée’s shock.
“I wanted to have a conversation later, but we’ve got a room full of new friends… for what you’ve done on-screen, you’re an absolute star and you’ve been a star in my life,” Clint began.
“You’re amazing, and I know we signed up for MAFS to get married and find a life-long partner. So I’ve got one question for you,” he said when onlookers screamed in delight as he got down on one knee.
Initially falling on the nearby lounge in disbelief, Jacqui said yes and embraced her now-fiancé. Confirming the news later on Instagram, Jacqui happily showcased the ring with Clint by her side before they shared a kiss. In the post, she chose Taylor Swift’s song Lover to play over the top.
“Surrounded with love in love 🤍,” she wrote. The $30,000 five-carat diamond ring was designed by Simon Curwood Jewellers.
The couple shared the happy relationship moment with a group of MAFS fans. (Credit: Instagram)
Speaking exclusively to our sister publication Woman’s Day on the night, Jacqui said she was in disbelief: “I cannot believe it. I didn’t think I’d get engaged before I was 30, but now it’s happened when I’m about to turn 30 in less than 48 hours! I am so excited.”
Clint told the publication that he asked her father for permission before he proposed at the ticketed MAFS event. He said he planned the proposal for three weeks and thought it was fitting to propose in front of supporters of the show.
Both sets of parents did not approve of them going on the show, the MAFS bride told the publication, but leaving with each other made it worth it. “We’re so happy, we got what we wanted. We went on the show for love and we found it,” she said.
While she anticipated a “private” proposal, and they spoke about getting engaged later in the year, the ambitious bride said it was a perfect ending after the show.
Jacqui and Clint got engaged on the night of the first MAFS Reunion. (Credit: Instagram)
“It was exactly what we needed after the season we had,” she told Yahoo Lifestyle. “So it was the best proposal I could have even imagined. The best time of my life, and I was just like, this is why I love him. This is why I love Clint, because he thinks of everything and he’s so switched on, so smart.”
Speaking to The Fox’s Fifi, Fev & Nick a day after the proposal, Clint said he went to New Zealand to meet Jacqui’s family, and his partner has already met his family in Tasmania.
As for Ryan’s claims that it was a stunt?
“Ryan doesn’t take anything I do well. Nothing I do is good enough for him. He’s always got something negative to say, he can’t just move on,” Jacqui said on the radio show. “He’ll be like, ‘she’s cheating… it’s fake… it’s a publicity stunt, I’ll have a kid and he’ll say that’s for publicity too!”
It’s fitting that their engagement was on the same night as the MAFS Reunion aired when they confirmed their romance to the other brides and grooms!
Jacqui and Clint told their MAFS castmates about their relationship at the Reunion dinner party. (Credit: Chanel Nine)
While they had been together in the real world for months, when they filmed the Reunion, it was a matter of weeks, which surprised their castmates.
Jacqui told Woman’s Day that they began texting platonically during the experiment, but things changed “a week-and-a-half” after the Final Vows.
“When I left the experiment, I messaged a few of the cast (members) to thank them for their time on the show and (say) if you’re ever down in Tassie, let’s catch up,” Clint said on The Fox’s Fifi, Fev & Nick when asked about who made the first move.
“A few weeks later, we started bonding over our experience in the show. It wasn’t until after final vows that I said to Jacqui, ‘Why don’t you come down (to Tassie) and hang out to see if there’s something?’ We could tell there was a spark between us.”
The couple has been together since November 2024 and have been living together since the show finished filming.
Although their coupling was confirmed before the Reunion aired, on the show, Jacqui and Clint announced their relationship before heading to the dinner party.
“Clint and I are seeing each other,” she said happily in a piece-to-camera. “You’re perfect. We’ve got the rest of our lives to look forward to. Ryan needs to know that I’ve moved on and that he needs to move on, too. We’re starting a business together.”
Her now-fiancé also gushed about his partner during the first Reunion episode: “We’ve been in touch and have touched each other in every way you can imagine. It’s pretty incredible. You’re affection, you’re caring, we just gaze into each other’s eyes and talk all night.”
Jacqui and Clint shocked everyone at the MAFS Reunion. (Credit: Channel Nine)
Although they claimed they kept their relationship under wraps, the other brides and grooms had their suspicions. After arriving separately to throw them off the scent and Clint dodging Ryan’s questions, they confirmed it at the dinner table.
Explaining the origins of their relationship, Jacqui said she spent the last two weeks in Tasmania, much to the shock of the others.
“I think they’re caught in a bubble of lust, and moving to Tasmania together is an absolute joke,” Billy said in disbelief after the announcement.
Despite Ryan’s frustration and the group’s shock, they were in high spirits.
Just before the engagement, Jacqui told Women’s Day that she still had her things in Sydney, but she’d been living in Tasmania for months. While concerned with the age gap, and not speaking much in the experiment, the bride said “sparks flew” instantly.
“I definitely thought that he was marriage material, but we didn’t know if we were going to click,” she explained.
Jacqui has spoken about the toll MAFS has had on her. (Credit: Channel Nine)
While they both left with a happily ever after, they told Fifi Box, Brendan Fevola, and Nick Cody on their radio show that it was not easy to watch.
For Clint, the Jacqui he saw on TV was far from the love of his life.
“What we see on screen isn’t what Jacqui is like in real life; she’s actually so down-to-earth, so humble, and we get along so well,” he said. “We sit there and watch the show, and we’re so amazed by the character we’re seeing on the show because it’s not Jacqui in our life.”
The ambitious bride spoke about not returning to her law career, which she initially told SkyNews.com.au in March.
“During week three, comments went to air about my intimate life. After that went to air, I did not think I’d be able to work in law for at least a couple of years,” she began.
“Luckily, with law, it’s an industry that’s merit-based, so you can do work behind the scenes, so I do think it would be possible to work in law. It was too psychologically challenging for me to cope with the humiliation of having my sexual life aired on public television and being mocked for it. To show up for work every day and look at people in the eye, I was too humiliated to process that.”
The unlikely duo were initially matched with Ryan Donnelly and Lauren Hall by the experts on the show, but both marriages came to an end.
Jacqui and Clint were first spotted together at the Launceston Cup in late February. The public sighting seemingly confirmed the widespread reports that the pair were living together in Launceston, Tasmania, where Clint has a home.
A month later, the duo officially confirmed they were dating in a series of photographs obtained by our sister publication Woman’s Day.
In the images, the couple was seen enjoying a coffee date, looking loved up and without a care in the world before embarking on a local bushwalk together.
Jacqui and Clint have gone from strength to strength since MAFS aired. (Credit: Instagram)
Clint, 43, wasn’t shy in his affection, sharing a cuddle and a kiss with Jacqui, 30, while on their walk.
Later that same month, just days before Final Vows aired, the loved-up pair shared a romantic snap of them kissing to their social media accounts with the caption: “Cheeky enough to try it, sneaky enough to get away with it 😘.”
Jacqui confirmed that the couple got together shortly after Final Vows was filmed,after Clint invited her down to his home to spend time together.
“We do have a 14-year age gap, so I was a little bit nervous about that. But then, after meeting him, the age gap didn’t matter. It just didn’t really affect us at all,” she revealed in a radio interview with The Fox’s Fifi, Fev & Nick.
Speaking with Yahoo Lifestyle shortly after, fellow MAFS bride Rhi Disljenkovic said their newfound romance wasn’t what she would describe as a “MAFS success story.”
“But I think it’s great they have found each other and they look like they’re having a great time,” she added.
Jacqui and Clint were seen at the Launceston Cup on February 26 while MAFS was airing. (Credit: Pulse Tasmania)
“The only thing MAFS did was introduce them to each other through different partners,” her partner Jeff Gobbels chimed in.
“So they just met each other through the show, but they didn’t go into it together, they didn’t do any tasks together, and they didn’t live together in the experiment,” he continued.
In February, Jacqui went rogue on social media and confirmed she was no longer with Ryan.
“I’m currently in a relationship with a person who was exactly what I asked for,” she wrote at the time.
“Someone kind, considerate [and] a great man.”
Jacqui added: “Sometimes miracles happen because today I am happy and in a loving and long-term relationship.”
“I’m an 11/10 for life happiness and satisfaction. I feel like I’m living my dream life, and I’m so happy to be with someone that is genuine, down to earth, and loves the outdoors like me.”
While she didn’t name Clint, 43, specifically, all the evidence pointed to him being ‘The One’ – and now we know for sure that she was talking about him!
MAFS groom and ex-pro golfer Clint owns this plush pad in Tassie! (Credit: Supplied)
Jacqui, 30, exclusively told New Idea in early December, as filming on MAFS concluded, that she was leaving behind her life in Sydney to move south. That same month, she shared photos on Instagram that appeared to show her inside Clint’s luxury pad in the town of Riverside, and hanging out with his dogs.
It is understood that she permanently relocated to Launceston in early February this year.
“They are actually very well suited,” a source shared with New Idea when the news of this MAFS couple swap first broke.
“I can see this relationship between them going the distance,” they added.
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