MAFS Australia's Jacqui and Ryan's entire legal battle explained

8 May 2025, 17:28 | Updated: 9 May 2025, 17:16

By Abbie Reynolds

Everything we know about Jacqui and Ryan's legal battle after Married at First Sight Australia.

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MAFS Australia 2025 saw Jacqui Burfoot and 'warrior' Ryan Donnelly come together in a less-than-peaceful matrimony that somehow made it all the way to Final Vows, where they officially parted ways.

At their Final Vows, Jacqui declared to Ryan that in a world of "red flags" he was the "red carpet" and Ryan told Jacqui that a relationship shouldn't be a "performance review" - brutal.

Since filming wrapped, Jacqui has been very vocal in speaking out against Ryan and the show. The Kiwi bride has made some serious allegations against Ryan including accusing him of being 'physically threatening and intimidating' towards her. She has also accused Ryan of revenge porn, and they've both filed retraining orders against each other.

It's safe to say the legal battle between these two is extensive and complicated, so for any MAFS fans struggling to keep up, we've condensed all the important things into one page. For all the details so far, keep scrolling.

Read more: MAFS Australia's Eliot defends use of controversial term after backlash
Read more: MAFS Australia's Jacqui shares unseen 'diary cam' footage from the show

Jacqui delivered some brutal vows. Picture: Nine

March 2025: Jacqui slams Channel 9 for putting her with an 'abusive man'

As soon as the show began airing in Australia, Jacqui went "rogue" on socials, creating new accounts so that Channel Nine wouldn't have control over what she could post.

In a video shared on March 4th 2025 to TikTok, Jacqui said: "For everyone asking why I've gone rogue, it's because I'm p----- off that Channel 9 don't follow broadcasting standards and that I feel like they neglected their duty of care [by] putting me with an abusive man.

"I am glad parliament are investigating this 'work place' because it is shocking the level of abuse I suffered. It's beyond normal, beyond okay. Like beyond legal as well."

March 2025: Jacqui files police report against Ryan

Accusing Ryan of sharing 'revenge porn', Jacqui revealed she had filed a police report against Ryan in an Instagram story, she wrote: "FYI, I filed a police report against Ryan yesterday after sensitive, private, sexual content revenge he has resorted to.

"I encourage anyone to disengage with this content as nobody deserves to go through this. Thank you to all the lovely humans reporting him. He is deleting all comments of people concerned of this nature but it’s a police matter now."

She added: "And no, I am not playing victim. I am a victim. There is no shame on me, there is shame on you (Ryan, ESA, Channel 9 and his enablers who are continuing to enable his abuse and give him a platform to do so – like on the Today Show). I don’t know how any decent human being cannot see how wrong his behaviour his."

There have been no updates on this, despite the police report allegedly being filed two months ago (at the time of writing).

Jacqui sat Ryan down and read out her 'rap sheet'. Picture: Nine

March 2025: Jacqui claims Ryan was 'physically threatening and intimidating' towards her

Soon after revealing she had filed a police report against Ryan, Jacqui accused him of being 'physically threatening and intimidating' during the experiment.

On TikTok Jacqui was asked by a fan, 'What is the most disturbing thing Ryan did?' In response, the MAFS bride alleged: "The thing that scared me most was, if you think back to week two with the shoes on the bed incident, after I got my diary cam out, my little mobile phone, and filmed him, with the shoes on the bed for like the 10th time because he wouldn’t stop putting his shoes on the bed.

"He physically threatened me and intimidated me and I ran out of the room sh-- scared."

Jacqui also claimed that there was "a lot of other really scary incidences" between them, one of which was allegedly after Final Vows when she was left "so scared [she] almost called the police".

April 2025: Jacqui granted interim restraining order against Ryan

According to The Canberra Times, Jacqui was granted an interim restraining order against Ryan after attending court with her now-fiancé Clint Rice.

It was reported that the order stated Ryan could not "directly or indirectly threaten, harass, abuse or publish on social media denigrating material", while Jacqui was warned "against publishing material."

Jacqui had gone to court claiming that Ryan’s behaviour had escalated and specifically referred to an interview he did with the Daily Mail Australia. The MAFS bride claimed that his comments about her had affected her ability to work as a lawyer.

Speaking to the Daily Mail Australia, Ryan had addressed a 'joke' he made on the show about his arms. He had quipped: "Be careful, these arms can cause pregnancies."

Ryan went on to claim that Jacqui began "interrogating" him and tried to connect the joke to "rape culture and sexual consent". He expressed how this frightened him, saying: "I called my best mate, who's a solicitor, and told him everything. I was terrified. That kind of allegation, even unfounded, can follow a man for life."

Jacqui reportedly read the interview aloud in court, describing the article to the magistrate as Ryan 'accusing me of accusing him of a lack of consent'.

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A post shared by E4 (@e4grams)

When the above clip from the reunion was posted on E4's social media, Jacqui commented: "For context, Ryan was abusive and still is. I was granted an Apprehended Violence Order by a Court here in Australia for ongoing violence and abuse.

"The Court has spoken. TV doesn’t show everything. He has breached that and facing the possibility of criminal charges."

Jacqui was crying to Ryan after he said he felt "betrayed". Picture: Nine

April 2025: Ryan seeks restraining order against Jacqui

After months of accusations levied at him from Jacqui, Ryan sought an ADVO (Apprehended Domestic Violence Order) against her.

Speaking outside court, Ryan told Daily Mail Australia on April 23rd: "An individual has tried to destroy my life, my potential for career options, collaborations... with false allegations, so men can be victims as well."

He added: "I've had a lot of suffering, a lot of harm, as a result of these claims online. There is no foundation for it. It's vicious, malicious... justice should be served."

April 2025: Jacqui accuses Ryan of making 'false claims'

As soon as the news broke that Ryan had appeared in court seeking a restraining against Jacqui, she addressed it on TikTok.

Among other things, Jacqui explained that since Ryan was requesting a AVDO and not an AVO, he had to prove that they had been in a domestic relationship. She said: "So the false statement he made was that we were in a relationship for nine months. You all know that this is Married at First Sight where you're married for three months and then we broke up, that's it.

"So he's actually made a false statement in order to be considered for a domestic violence order."

So far, this is where the legal battle between Jacqui and Ryan has gotten to. While in most instances we'd expect the rest of this to play out behind closed doors, it's likely more will be revealed via Jacqui's social media.

Bookmark this page as we will update the page as soon as we know more.

Jacqui and Ryan on MAFS Australia. Picture: Nine

Of course many MAFS Australia fans have questioned why Jacqui continued to stay in the experiment with Ryan and continued to show his affection despite how she claims he treated her. She has argued that it was her trauma response.

Talking on TikTok, Jacqui said: "So when you're in a trauma situation there's multiple responses. There's fight, flight, freeze and fawn - and by the way I am just learning about this now, this was the first time I was in a toxic relationship.

"But fawning is when you give the abuser affection to basically calm them down and stop them from attacking you. And it gives them, full control and power over you. So I was giving up all my power to him so that he would stop challenging me and stop coming at me and stop putting me down and things."

"I felt like if he felt he was in power he would leave me alone and stop coming for me, so that's what I'm doing I think."