MAFS: Bryce Ruthven was ‘stitched up’ during challenge ranking brides’ looks

Married At First Sight’s Bryce Ruthven says he was ‘stitched up’ during ‘cruel’ segment ranking the brides’ looks – as viewers slam the ‘toxic’ challenge

Married At First Sight’s Bryce Ruthven left his wife Melissa Rawson distraught after ranking her ‘fourth hottest’ out of all the brides on Tuesday’s episode.

But the 31-year-old ‘villain’ insisted on Wednesday that producers had ‘stitched him up’ by forcing him to take part in the ‘cruel’ challenge.

He told B105’s Stav, Abby and Matt he was asked to rate the women in the experiment based on ‘attractiveness’, but the other grooms were allowed to rate them on ‘personality’.

Set-up: Married At First Sight’s Bryce Ruthven left his wife Melissa Rawson distraught after ranking her ‘fourth hottest’ out of all the brides on Tuesday. But the 31-year-old ‘villain’ now insists that producers ‘stitched him up’ by forcing him to take part in the ‘cruel’ challenge

‘Unfortunately they were stitching some people up and I was on that board,’ he said.

Bryce explained that by making him rate the brides from most attractive to least attractive based solely on their physical appearance, the producers were setting him up to look bad and hurt Melissa’s feelings.

He also spoke about the challenge on WSFM’s Jonesy & Amanda, where he used to work as an in-studio producer. 

‘That was one part of the whole experiment I thought “what are we doing?” That’s not a normal thing to do in a relationship,’ he said.

‘If someone told me to do it on the overall package – looks, personality, future goals – Melissa would have been leaps and bounds number one.’

Not fair: He told B105's Stav, Abby and Matt he was asked to rate the women in the experiment based on 'attractiveness' but the other grooms were allowed to rate them on 'personality'

Not fair: He told B105’s Stav, Abby and Matt he was asked to rate the women in the experiment based on ‘attractiveness’ but the other grooms were allowed to rate them on ‘personality’ 

On Tuesday’s episode, the MAFS participants were tasked with ranking the other brides and grooms in order of who they found the most attractive.

Bryce told Melissa that Rebecca Zemek topped his list, ranking her at number one, while his wife only placed fourth.

Fans were unimpressed by the challenge, with many slamming the producers for forcing contestants to rate each other in such a way.

‘I could not handle this. It is just toxic imagine telling someone you are married to you are not attracted to them and they are not your type then the whole ranking shenanigans,’ one viewer tweeted.

‘Why is this photo ranking exercise even necessary?’ another asked.

Challenge: On Tuesday's episode, the MAFS participants were tasked with ranking the other brides and grooms in order of who they found the most attractive

Challenge: On Tuesday’s episode, the MAFS participants were tasked with ranking the other brides and grooms in order of who they found the most attractive

'I couldn't handle this': Fans were unimpressed by the ranking challenge, with many slamming the producers for forcing contestants to rate each other in such a way

‘I couldn’t handle this’: Fans were unimpressed by the ranking challenge, with many slamming the producers for forcing contestants to rate each other in such a way

‘The ranking thing tonight was really harsh and cruel,’ a third viewer agreed.

One fan tweeted: ‘I fail to see how ranking women and men from who you are most attracted to in front of your partner helps a marriage. Well done relationship experts.’

‘Hey @Channel9 this “ranking” exercise is disgusting. If you really insist on doing it, at least give them photos of celebrities or strangers. You are basically encouraging and condoning cheating,’ another wrote.

Married At First Sight continues Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel Nine 

Emotional: Bryce told Melissa (pictured) that Rebecca Zemek topped his list, ranking her at number one, while his wife only placed fourth

Emotional: Bryce told Melissa (pictured) that Rebecca Zemek topped his list, ranking her at number one, while his wife only placed fourth