Did MAFS Australia's Lauren Hall date Jono McCullough from season 11?

12 March 2025, 08:00

Did Lauren Hall from MAFS used to date Jono McCullough? Picture: Nine/Instagram

By Jenny Medlicott

So did Lauren really date Jono? Here’s what’s we know.

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Things got off to an explosive start for Married at First Sight Australia’s Lauren Hall when she was paired up with new groom Eliot Donovan.

Unfortunately for the pair, things were doomed from the very start of their relationship as Eliot made it clear early on that he was not happy with the match.

Before the ceremony, Eliot, 35, revealed he had a list of “non-negotiables” for a potential bride, which outlined she must be under 30, want a “big family” and be “into exercise”.

And Lauren, aged 37, clearly didn’t meet his criteria as Eliot walked out on his new wife on just day two during their honeymoon, leaving them both single once again.

But alongside the raft of headlines about the breakdown of Lauren's new marriage, her name has also been the subject of other reports that she used to date another former groom on MAFS Australia: Jono McCullough.

So, did Lauren Hall and Jono McCullough actually date before? Here’s everything we know.

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Lauren Hall and Eliot Donovan on MAFS Australia 2025. Picture: Nine

Did MAFS Australia’s Lauren Hall and Jono McCullough date?

Yep, the rumours are true, this year’s bride Lauren and former groom Jono did genuinely used to date!

According to MailOnline, the pair have actually been acquaintances for over a decade but they decided to give dating a go back in 2022 when things “fizzled up” in their friendship.

After just three months of experimenting with their friendship, the pair decided to call it quits in January 2023 when they realised they were just “too different”. But unlike Jono and his MAFS bride Lauren Dunn, the pair actually ended things amicably.

Jono featured on season 11 of MAFS Australia last year and was paired up with Lauren Dunn – not to be confused with Lauren Hall – but things ended on seriously bad terms between the pair at Final Vows.

And things got really toxic when the pair saw each other again for the reunion episode, when it was revealed that Jono had struck up a romance with another bride - Ellie Dix - after their respective marriages broke down.

Jono and Lauren briefly dated before either of them were on the show. Picture: Instagram

And now it turns out after a pretty dramatic end to his time on the show, Jono actually warned his ex Lauren Hall against joining the experiment when he found out she had been cast for the new season.

He told Sky News Australia: “When I heard she was going on the show, a friend of hers reached out and told me.

“I was like, are you sure she wants to do this? Because I know what she’s like, she says exactly what she’s thinking. She doesn’t know filter.”

“She knows what she wants, and she’s just like, ‘this is what I want, this is what I think.’ and that doesn’t… that’s not conducive to a good time on MAFS,” he added.

“I don’t know if it’s going to end well.”

When Eliot stormed out on her on the show, Lauren herself admitted she thought she'd be the awkward one in her MAFS marriage but it ended up being her husband.