On this week’s Married at First Sight, the show’s typical salacious drama and wacky storylines took a disturbing shift in tone.

Paul Antoine became violent during an argument with his experiment partner, Carina Mirabile.

“Last night, Paul and I were coming back from a day out with Jeff and Rhi in the Uber,” Carina explained in Wednesday night’s episode.

“I was putting on music, I put on a song and I made the comment that I’ve slept with this rapper.”

Back at the apartment, she sensed a shift in Paul. “Paul got offended by it and felt disrespected in how I said it,” she said.

Carina tried to comfort him and apologise (for what is unclear?) and Paul became enraged.

“That’s when he got really angry and punched the wall,” Carina recounted.

After the incident, the couple were separated by MAFS producers into different apartments for the night.

The next day, Paul was apologetic but at the same time, he couldn’t help but shift the blame to Carina.

“I feel so ashamed and so remorseful,” he said. “I was so angry at that comment in the cab. I felt so uncomfortable and disrespected. I felt like an idiot.”

Paul’s apology quickly became a justification. Image: Nine.

Let’s make this crystal clear: there is no excuse for intimidating behaviour in a relationship. Ever.

It doesn’t matter that Carina ‘got in your space’. It doesn’t matter that her apology didn’t feel sincere. It doesn’t matter that you think she provoked you.

She didn’t. Carina didn’t do anything wrong. The onus is on Paul — and Paul alone — to control himself.

The fact that Paul is trying to justify his unacceptable actions by shifting the blame to Carina is almost as worrying as the violence itself.

And just a note on the violence: just because Paul’s fist didn’t inflict harm on Carina herself doesn’t make it any less intimidating or threatening to Carina in her home.

He hit the wall hard enough to knock a hole in it, and that is deeply frightening behaviour for any person to share space with.

After the episode aired, viewers were left with complicated feelings. After all, Paul and Carina are a beloved couple on the show.

In a sea of problematic men like Adrian Araouzou and Tim Gromie, Paul wasn’t one of them.

I’d hazard a guess that most viewers considered him ‘one of the good ones’, sitting in the same category as builder, Dave Hand.

But this shouldn’t make his actions any less concerning. In fact, there are rising calls online for him to be removed from the show.

On her podcast It’s A Lot, Abbie Chatfield shared her disgust with not just Paul’s actions but his justifications.

“If a man punches a hole in the wall, you can not trust that he’s in control of his emotions,” Chatfield said.

“If you’re punching a hole in the wall when you know you’re on a TV show, when you know this will be aired to the entire country, when you are on your best behaviour, in theory, then what will you do when you aren’t on a TV show?”

The former reality star went on to say that Paul’s violent outburst is particularly alarming considering how early it is in his relationship with Carina.

“If you’re five weeks into knowing someone and they punch a hole in the wall, that is beyond a red flag,” she said.

This isn’t the first incident of unacceptable behaviour exhibited on MAFS.

In 2021, truck driver David Cannon took revenge on his wife’s infidelity by using her toothbrush to wipe the toilet.

That same year, groom Simon Blackburn was fired after he had already been married on the show after homophobic, sexist and misogynistic videos of him surfaced on social media.

In 2022, Domenica Calarco smashed a glass on the table during an argument with Olivia Fraser.

In a post on Instagram, Olivia read from a letter she had written about feeling triggered by the scene with Paul.

“After more violence was aired again on MAFS, I felt compelled to stick up for myself which I had never done properly before,” Olivia told Mamamia.

“At the time my season aired, I was too shocked by how it was portrayed and the public backlash to articulate any kind of proper response. However, seeing that more violence occurred on MAFS, I can’t sit silent.”

On Instagram, she opened up about having to “get this off my chest.”

The former MAFS bride took aim at instances of violence being tolerated on the reality show.

“If there was a zero-tolerance policy, then after such displays of violence, participants would be rightfully removed from the show immediately,” she read.

Olivia said that she believed that as soon as Paul punched a hole in the wall, this should have enough for him to be removed.

“We were told before filming that anything violent would have us removed from the program… so much as a clenched fist and you were out the door. But that didn’t happen, did it, and it still hasn’t happened,” she said.

“I’ve seen comments after last night’s show, saying ‘How dare Paul blame Carina because he was triggered.’ Thank God people are finally catching on that you cannot victim-blame… it is not someone else’s job to regulate another person’s emotions, no matter the situation.”

Olivia went on to compare the show to other workplace environments where this kind of violence would be considered serious misconduct and often lead to immediate termination.

The video received praise from former MAFS brides Alyssa Barmonde, Tahnee Cook, Selina Chhaur and Carolina Santos.

In response to the backlash over the Paul incident, a spokesperson for Nine and Endemol Shine released a statement to Mamamia.

“Nine and Endemol Shine Australia has treated this matter extremely seriously. Our first priority at all times has been the wellbeing and safety of the participants and after extensive consultation with Carina, she wanted to remain in the experiment with Paul. We continue to provide support for Carina and Paul,” they said.

“Nine and Endemol Shine take their obligations in respect to the health and wellbeing of the participants of this program extremely seriously. All participants have access to the show psychologist and welfare resources during filming, during broadcast and once the program has ended.

“Nine also have an additional service for participants should they like or need further individual and confidential psychological support. This service gives participants access to clinicians to support those involved in the program in relation to their experiences. This service is available to all participants for as long as they need it, it does not end.”

Paul is expected to be held accountable by the experts at this Sunday’s commitment ceremony on MAFS.

But for a lot of viewers, especially women triggered by Paul’s actions, it could be too little too late.

Feature image: Nine.