Married At First Sight star Carina Mirabile reveals the REAL story behind her TV groom Paul Antoine's shocking door punching incident including his surprising sex confession
During the emotionally charged episode, Paul sensationally punched a door in the couple's shared apartment after Carina made what she thought was an offhand comment about a dalliance with US rapper Quevo.
The incident set the couple down a rocky relationship road, as well as shocking viewers and sparking a police investigation.
Speaking about the incident on her new podcast with celebrity hairstylist Jacob Mueller, This Is Chaos, Carina recalled the lead up to Paul's violent outburst - a double date with couple Rhi Disljenkovic and Jeff Gobbels.
She explained that what she thought was an innocent comment about her tryst with Quevo triggered something in Paul.
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'We were taking turns putting on a song [in an Uber]. I put on a song and it was one with Quavo in it. I said, "I slept with him" as it was funny and stupid, we all laughed about it. Paul laughed as well,' she said.
'Then when we get back to the apartment and Paul was so furious. He was frustrated, I could see he was upset. He was pacing, he had to go the balcony, I was thinking okay this isn't normal, something is up.'
Carina added that she thought her comment would be inconsequential, given a shock confession Paul made to Carina that was cut from the show's final edit.
'When Paul and I were doing Confessions Week at the start of the experiment, he openly said that he was into swinging with his ex-partner,' Carina revealed.
'I was like, are you for real? Does your family know about this? Then he told me all about his past dating life and I just let it go.'
Given Paul's racy confession, Carina said that she was surprised at Paul's reaction to her own admission.
'He was just so upset and dramatic about the whole Quavo situation. I kept apologising, he kept saying he was embarrassed that I openly said that. I kept saying sorry, sorry, sorry. I didn't feel unsafe, it was just us having a fight,' she said.
'I said, "but you openly said, on camera, for a national television show, that you had slept with swingers and did swinging with your ex so I didn't think [me sharing that story] that was a bad thing."
Carina added that she thought her comment would be inconsequential, given a shock confession Paul made to Carina that was cut from the show's final edit. 'When Paul and I were doing Confessions Week at the start of the experiment, he openly said that he was into swinging with his ex-partner,' she revealed
'Where's the juxtaposition between this? What is okay and not okay? You're allowed to do that and I just have to accept it? But when I say something about my past sex life you have a massive blow up?'
Carina then revealed that a producer, hearing the arguing coming from the couple's room, tried to intervene prior to Paul's outburst.
She said the producer encouraged Paul to take a walk to calm down, but an evening stroll did little to allay the groom's temper.
'He was angry, pacing and breathing heavily. I just said, "let's go to bed, let's go to bed." So we're laying in bed, I could hear him panting and I asked, "what's going on? Are you okay?" He got up and said "no, I'm not okay."
'He got up and bang, bang. I was like holy shit this has now gotten so much serious. I was freaking out, thinking how did it get from that comment to this situation?'
Carina, who stayed with Paul following his outburst, said that she regrets standing by her man, adding that she feels she let domestic violence victims down.
'Watching that back as it aired, with all of the viewers of the show, I know I 100 per cent let down so many women and victims of domestic violence,' she said.
'While it was all happening [during filming], I was processing it all and didn't know what was happening.
Carina, who walked away from a heartbroken Paul during Final Vows, added that she is arming herself with knowledge about domestic violence so as not to make the same mistake again
'I thought he was coming from a place of having to create this drama for a television show. There was so much drama with other couples on the show, and we were boring essentially.'
Carina, who walked away from a heartbroken Paul during Final Vows, added she is arming herself with knowledge so as not to make the same mistake again.
He hadn't shown me any bad behaviour signs or signs of domestic violence at all [prior to that night] and it all happened so out of a blue,' she said.
'I am now trying to educate myself so I can identify things like this and signs for my future relationship. Before this I had never experienced any form of domestic violence.'
Speaking about the incident in April, Paul told Daily Mail Australia that lack of sleep was one catalyst for his outburst.
'I was mentally drained. We were filming 12 to 14 hours a day, and I was running on five hours of sleep. I just snapped,' he said.
Paul added he felt Carina's apologies over her public admission were 'deflective' adding that his reaction was 'unacceptable'.
'I walked out of the room and I lost control. The moment it happened, I instantly felt shame. I felt disgusted,' he said.
Paul also confirmed that this kind of behaviour had never happened before in his life.
'My friends, my family — they know me. That's not who I am. I've never lashed out like that.'
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