On a visit Queenstown, the lovebirds reveal their plan to start a family – and what really happened behind the scenes on MAFS!

When Woman’s Day catches up with Jacqui Burfoot and Clint Rice on a romantic trip to Aotearoa, the engaged Married At First Sight Australia stars look very much like a couple in love.

Sitting down to chat before our exclusive photo shoot, the controversial reality contestants are comfortable in each other’s company and accidentally twinning in similar white crewnecks, occasionally glancing out the window at the distracting view of snow-covered Coronet Peak.

They’re in picturesque Queenstown for a few days, staying at Hawkridge Estate, a luxury B&B that’s also home to Auckland-born Jacqui’s parents, Doog and Michelle Burfoot. It’s only Clint’s second time to Hawkridge and meeting Jacqui’s folks, but he already feels at home with the entire whānau.
The couple got together after they finished filming MAFS. Credit: Andra Krista Photography/Woman’s Day NZ.
“I was welcomed in with open arms by their down-to-earth family,” smiles the former pro golfer, 44. “I was even added into the family group message thread!”

Popping up in the background, Doog, a senior pilot for Air New Zealand, adds, “We’re very happy with Clint and think they make an incredible team. We love Clint. He is a rock and dotes on Jacqui. There seems to be a good yin and yang there.”

Jacqui, 30, and Clint got together behind the scenes after their MAFS marriages, to Ryan Donnelly and Lauren Hall, spectacularly imploded on screen. Clint had sent his co-stars a “goodbye and good luck” message, which led to a deep-and-meaningful in which Jacqui lent a sympathetic ear and helped him debrief.
It caused an uproar when they walked into the reunion dinner party together. Credit: Andra Krista Photography/Woman’s Day NZ.
He suggested they hang out after filming finished, so in November, Jacqui – keen to see if the connection they felt online had legs in real life – flew to visit him in Tasmania.

“We’ve been together ever since!” laughs Jacqui. “Once I flew to New Zealand a day before Clint and that’s the longest we’ve ever been apart – one night in six months!”

Grinning, Clint adds, “We’re together pretty much 24/7. I used to have an hour or two by myself to go to the gym, but now she comes with me and I love it. I’ve never been around a mate, family member or partner who I can spend this much time with.”

Five months ago, at a MAFS finale screening, Clint got down on one knee with a five-carat diamond ring, asking Jacqui to marry him. The couple have since spent hundreds of hours happily working together on their businesses, including jewellery line Jacqueline Lee and new golf apparel brand Country Royale.

Clint also remotely coaches golf, and has his own putting green and golf simulator at home, where he’s been patiently teaching a recent golf convert – his fiancée.

“Clint makes it fun,” smiles Jacqui. “I love walking in the sun and practising stuff, so it’s a good hobby for me.”

“She’s actually pretty good,” Clint reckons. “Jac can use a full set of clubs now and she’s got a natural swing.”

Clint didn’t pack his golf clubs for this visit to New Zealand, but he’ll bring them next time to play some of the world-famous South Island courses. Instead, this mini break is all about hitting the slopes, with Jacqui – who enjoyed winter breaks in Queenstown every year as a kid – offering some expert skiing advice to her novice beau.

The couple are coy when asked if they’ll be scouting wedding venues while on their break and laugh when we suggest getting hitched at Hawkridge Estate. “Dad would love that,” giggles Jacqui.

They’ve pencilled in a March 2026 date but haven’t committed to a venue – or even country – yet. She says, “It’s not an easy wedding to plan because our friends and family are in different locations around the world.”

They also haven’t decided how much of their big day they’ll share publicly, but they know their fans will want to see their happy-ever-after.

“It is a balance, but we do love sharing our lives,” says Clint. “That’s why I proposed publicly – we have so many supporters and customers invested, watching our relationship from the start, so I thought they deserved a front-row seat to the proposal. I saw a couple recently who sold tickets to their wedding, but we won’t be doing that!”

“We’re actually more excited about starting a family than the wedding,” Jacqui shares. “We just want to get the wedding out of the way. We both came from families with three kids, so
that’s what we want, but I’m pushing for five. If we have enough money in the future, I’d love a big family.”

The couple are looking to sell Clint’s Tasmanian home to move to New South Wales or the Gold Coast at the end of the year. They want a community where they can raise kids and one with a golf course for their company photoshoots.
Clint and Jacqui are planning to sell his Tasmanian home and move to NSW or the Gold Coast. Credit: Andra Krista Photography/Woman’s Day NZ.
The pair don’t see much of the other MAFS contestants from their season, explaining that they went on to the show to find a partner – not a new circle of friends.

“Plus we didn’t trust the other cast members,” says Clint. “A lot of them are unemployed wannabe influencers who went on the show to make it big – they’re the people who will backstab you to get ahead, sharing private conversations. That’s not how I live my life.”

He refutes rumours that he split from his partner of 10 years to go on MAFS, explaining, “I’d split up with her in January 2024, so we’d been separated for quite a long time.”

Jacqui continues, “We recognised that we were each there for the right reasons quite quickly. We both had credible backgrounds. I was an investment lawyer, and he was a professional golfer and business owner. We had a life outside of the show – we weren’t doing it for clout.

Jacqui says her edit on MAFS made her out to be someone she’s not and she’s been leaning into social media ever since to allow people to see the real her.

“I got shown as mentally challenged on the show – people even questioned whether I was autistic! I figure that if I show the real me on socials, more people will question what they saw on TV.”

Jacqui jokes that at their Christmas celebrations with Clint’s family, his relatives were probably “expecting me to break down in tears and scream across the room”.
The couple recently caught up with Jacqui’s parents in New Zealand. Credit: Andra Krista Photography/Woman’s Day NZ.
She reflects, “I was confused when I watched our season back. I thought the show was truly about finding love and marriage, and that it would be more of a straight documentation of the scientific experiment they kept telling me it was.”

“Yeah, they really sell you the dream,” agrees Clint. “They say, ‘We’ve actually found you someone you’ll be into,’ and you think you might be the one in a million who finds their perfect match.

“Then they put you with someone they know you’re not compatible with. I spent ages talking about golf with John [Aiken, the MAFS relationships expert]. I developed trust and thought he was looking out for me. But I realised pretty quickly that they’re constantly trying to create friction, especially in the weekly counselling sessions.”

Jacqui claims producers would often splice together unrelated audio or video clips. “For example, that bit on my wedding day when I said it was hard to find someone on my level? That was from another interview where I was talking about my fitness. At my wedding, they showed me happy one minute, then crying immediately after, but the actual footage was hours apart. It was deceiving.

”She says the infamous scene at the “intruder wedding” of Beth Kelly and Teejay Halkias, where she went from crying to happy within seconds, was simply her shutting down to end an argument.
The couple said they don’t keep in touch with any of the other contestants from their season. Credit: Andra Krista Photography/Woman’s Day NZ.
“I’d had enough, so I just switched off, stopped talking and walked off. I wasn’t a mean girl on the show. My behaviour was in response to things happening around me, but they didn’t
show that.

“I remember distinctly where they showed me demanding Ryan share 10 things he liked about me. It was weird – why would someone say out of nowhere at a dinner party, right? But Ryan had been bitching about me all night, so I challenged him to do that just to change the topic.”

When we put Clint to the test, asking him to name three things he likes about Jacqui, he replies quickly, “I love her drive and what she’s achieved already – her career and education, the fact she has a double degree, that she was working as a lawyer and moved from New Zealand to further her career… That show her character.

“One of the biggest things is how well we get along. Nothing is a problem. We don’t get caught up on the little things. If one of us is down, the other one is there to get dinner or feed the dogs to take the load off. And the third thing is she’s stunning and absolutely beautiful – an absolute standout!”

Returning the compliment, Jacqui smiles, “The first thing I liked about Clint was his calm, grounded energy – he’s so chill. I also really liked that he’s someone who wants to go somewhere in life. He’s someone who has commercial ambition.

“He’s switched on and we can have conversations about business or what’s happening in the world. And he’s so kind and chivalrous – he carried both our suitcases when travelling here. The other day, I commented on some daffodils in the section next door and he came home with a big bunch. Chivalry is underrated!”