MAFS bride breaks silence over 'footsie' scandal and explosive on-air edit and slams producers for using her pain against her amid secret trauma

Daily Mail​

21-05-2025

Married At First Sight bride Sierah Swepstone has finally spoken out following weeks of speculation surrounding her behaviour on the Channel Nine dating experiment.
In a series of emotional Instagram Q&A posts, the 31-year-old bride made shocking claims about the show's editing, her emotional trauma and setting the record straight on that now-infamous 'footsie' scene.
She also hit back at viewers who accused her of inappropriate behaviour under the dinner party table with co-star Adrian Araouzou, while taking aim at her on-screen husband Billy for shutting her down.
Sierah denied anything romantic was going on with Adrian, writing: 'Billy [Belcher] was actually sitting to the left of me. That doesn't even look sexy nor does it actually look like we are touching.'
She went on to claim that Billy had accused her of saying something off-camera, then denied it moments later.
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'When I got annoyed, he told me to 'calm down' and was actually called out for being controlling by the experts,' she revealed, before slamming the producers for weaponising a vulnerable moment.
'I was trying not to cry… so yes, MAFS used something that happened to me, against me.'
Sierah also addressed the assumption she was 'rubbing someone up' under the table, calling it insulting.
'It's insulting that anyone would think I'd be dumb enough to rub someone up in that environment,' she said, adding with sass: 'I've got more game than that guys.'
The reality star also addressed the backlash over the so-called 'plate of meat' dinner involving Tony Mojanovski and Adrian, calling the drama 'sensationalised' and 'malicious'.
She explained she had removed herself from her apartment due to emotional stress and was later invited by Tony, who saw she was visibly upset, to join him and Adrian for dinner.
'It was essentially a kebab shop with a dining bit… Tony paid – there was nothing sexy about it,' she insisted.
'We were out for a few hours before Adrian dropped Tony and I back.'
Sierah claims Tony's name was deliberately edited out to create a misleading narrative of a date between her and Adrian.
'It was calculated, manipulative and malicious – done with the expectation that Tony's name wouldn't make the edit and we would become cheaters,' she alleged.
In another slide, Sierah slammed the show's focus on trivial drama while overlooking the serious issues she was dealing with.
'In the grand scheme of things, I didn't really do anything Things that are made such a big deal of in TV land aren't things that people would care about in real life,' she said.
She said the public should be directing their attention to issues that matter, such as domestic violence, bullying and mental health – not dinner parties and Instagram likes.
In a particularly raw moment, Sierah opened up about being a domestic violence survivor, revealing she was in an abusive relationship from the age of 16 to 18.
She explained how trauma survivors like herself are often hyper-vigilant and triggered in toxic environments.
'I spent 14 years reprogramming and working on myself. But I will always be vulnerable to certain behaviours that trigger me – especially in an environment where your pain is amplified, exploited, and you are extremely isolated,' she explained.
She accused Billy of pressuring her to share details of her trauma.
Sierah also confirmed that much of her storyline was cut from the show, including the reasons behind her departure.
'My narration was cut out. My feelings were never included. The way I was treated wasn't shown,' she said.
She suggested the lack of context was deliberate, writing: 'The fact it was so sensationalised, because no one questioned why I removed myself… those were the real issues.'
Prior to her stint on MAFS, Sierah appeared on the 2021 series of The Bachelor and failed to find love with her co-star Jimmy Nicholson.
Her elimination from The Bachelor went down in reality TV history as one of the best exits when she hilariously confessed Jimmy wasn't into 'tall, horny bogans' after he sent her home.