Despite being one of the most talked about brides on MAFS 2023, Bronte Schofield has been completely silent since the show ended. Although her co-stars have done rogue interviews, it seems that she’s held off. But now that Married At First Sight has wrapped up for year, the reality star has gone and done a spicy tell-all and mate, she’s not holding anything back.
And after her groom Harrison Boon bashed Bronte’s character in an interview this week, I reckon this cheeky chat couldn’t come at a better time, don’t you?
Speaking to So Dramatic!, Bronte spills about the ‘good’ side to her on-screen hubby, whether she was on MAFS for fame, the behind-the-scenes drama at her wedding and, of course, ~those~ leaked voice memos and texts.
But that’s only the tip of the iceberg, my friends.
Buckle up and let’s get into the biggest bombshells dropped by Bronte Schofield in the first instalment of her interview with the pod.
Why she hasn’t done much media
“I think a lot of people don’t understand that we’re actually watching [the show] back for the first time with everybody else. So we don’t realise how we’re going to be portrayed, and I hate the word edit, but it’s true. It’s a reality TV show, things chop and change more than anyone can imagine,” she said.
“Watching everything back on screen, I’m going ‘they’ve cut out every single good part of mine and Harrison’s relationship’.
“I couldn’t go into the media and run a narrative that wasn’t authentic to me, my story and my time in the experiment.”
She added, “When everything starts to unfold and you’re in the public eye, nothing can prepare you for that. I am very resilient but there’s another half to me, that’s very sensitive.
“I think the backlash, it was warranted and people’s opinions of me are none of my business, but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt. It hurts a lot so it just felt right to just pull out [of talking to the media].”
There’s a good side to Harrison we didn’t see
“When Harrison and I first met, we really did have that spark. Our wedding was actually amazing, there was instant chemistry. Our families got along so well, it was everything I could have asked for,” she added.
“The actual conversations Harrison and I had off camera, we had fun. There was laughter. He does smile, he does laugh. There’s another side to Harrison that did not get shown whatsoever.
“I wouldn’t have stayed if I didn’t like him. When you are in that kind of toxic relationship, which Harrison and I were in, when things are bad, that’s what you vent to your friends and family about. That’s what they hold on to.”
She continued, “I take full accountability for painting an extra picture to the girls in the experiment that Harrison was an awful, awful human. But when things were bad, they were so bad that I was just so mind-blown that somebody could treat somebody this way.
“Then the opposite side to that, when he apologised it felt so real and genuine and then we would go out for dinner or have a drink and things were just back to how they were. None of this got shown whatsoever.”
She addresses whether she went on the show for fame
“Look, I’m not gonna sit here and sugar coat it and say no I didn’t ever think about fame. But the word ‘fame’ gives me the ick. I just think ‘well known’. When I was applying and things were processing, I looked at past contestants and thought ‘look how successful they’ve got and they didn’t find love. So even if I don’t find love at least there will be something else waiting for me afterwards, right?’
“Anybody else applying to the show, I’m sure that would have gone through their minds. I’m trying to be as authentic as I possibly can.
“Did I think, ‘oh my gosh I’m going to be quite well known after this?’ Of course I did! Everybody does but that all really depends on who you’re matched with and how you’re portrayed. It can go one of two ways.
“I definitely don’t think fame and fortune and blue ticks and all that crap was ever on my mind during the experiment. But did I think my socials were going to blow up? Of course I did, of course.”
How she didn’t recognise Harrison at the altar
“Everybody is saying ‘Bronte knew who Harrison was’ and yes, I knew who this guy was. But did I know his name? Did I know anything about him? I thought he was from the Gold Coast. I didn’t know he was from Sydney.
“I had no idea, I looked at his photo and went “lol he’s 100 per cent a gold coast boy.”
She added, “Respectfully, anyone from the Gold Coast listening as a man, I’m sorry but you all have a look. Then I heard he wasn’t vaccinated and I was like ‘he’s definitely from the Gold Coast’. When I heard ‘Sydney’ and ‘Harrison’, it just didn’t click.
“When I saw him, hand to heart, hope to die, it did not click. Until [Jessica Tomlinson] said, ‘that’s him, it’s the guy that I was telling you about’. That’s when you see me look around and I’ve gone ‘oh my god, it actually is’. Then I felt like an idiot.”
Her ‘friend’ Jess orchestrated wedding drama behind her back
(ICYMI: At the wedding, Jess told Bronte that Harrison was the guy dating her friend Abby Miller. Truly a drama-filled moment that kicked off the season. For more deets on how it went down, check out our episode recap HERE)
“When she told me [about Harrison dating Abby], I had no idea she was mic’d up. She kept trying to pull me away. She kept saying ‘I have a present for you’ and I was like, ‘how did you even get that in?’ because you’re not even allowed your phone.
“All of a sudden, I looked over and there were like 20 cameras pointing at us. I was like what the hell is going on, I’m so confused right now. Then obviously she’s told me what she’s told me, all of the clocks in my brain just started ticking and thats when you see me slowly look around and then I was like ‘oh my god.’
“I was so upset. Then I was like, hold on, why did you tell me this now? We were on FaceTime last night, if this has been going on for weeks, why the hell did you pick the wedding day to tell me this information? I was ropable.”
How she feels about Jess’ meddling on her wedding day
“This is where people are getting their wires crossed. I’m grateful Jess told me but it’s the way she went about it.
“Why couldn’t she just have called me and just told me? Because there would have been no fricken wedding and no drama. That’s why.
“I got absolutely shredded for not wanting to be her friend anymore but I knew that one day I’d be able to give my truth. I’m not a malicious person, I’m not mean and I don’t want that sort of energy in my life.
“If you valued me as a friend, you would have told me off camera. It wasn’t your day, it was mine. I’m the fricken bride, I have every right to have that moment as my moment.”
She addressed the leaked voice notes
“I have thought about how to answer this question for weeks.
“How do I justify the things I said in 20 seconds when the person, Jess, who leaked them for $300 might I add, sold me out knowing that I’m in such a vulnerable place that I can’t properly defend myself or what I said. I have zero access to my instagram messages and no recollection of that actual conversation.
“It’s absolutely pointless to justify what I’ve said. The viewers have a narrative about me that they’re sticking to and that’s honestly okay.”
She continued, “No matter what I say about [the texts and voice memos], no one will be satisfied of my answer.
“Regardless of them being leaked or what, the narrative or character [the producers] had for me would have got people questioning my authenticity regardless.
“I was screwed either way. I truly did apply to find love and I messed up by saying what I said. I may look like an absolute idiot but I know I was so true to myself and if people want to stick to that 20 second voice note as the narrative of who I am, be my guest.
“It’s time to move on. No matter what I say to people, those voice memos are never going to be justified because I don’t even know why I sent them myself.”
Where she stands with Jess now
“I forgave Jess pretty much right away as soon as the leaked texts came out. I was like, you know what, if you need to tear me down to bring the heat off yourself, so be it. It says more about you than it does about me,” she said.
“I felt like it was a really cheap shot. I was heartbroken. I was just so upset that someone I considered a friend, not once but twice, threw me under the bus for $300 bucks.”
Did she play up their relationship for the cameras?
“Harrison and I were going on dates, we were going out for drinks, I went to his house, I met his son. We’d go to the beach together. Most weekends he wasn’t with his son, he was with me. So we spent a lot of time together.
“I can understand that the voice notes match up to the fact that we look fake as fuck. Even I’m watching it going this is so bad, this just looks like we’re staying just to fuck shit up. If I’m honest, I stopped watching from the retreat because it was just so far from how I felt and so far from what happened.
“If people want to continue to spin the narrative that I’m a terrible, terrible person for saying that I would play it up on a reality TV show and I’m basically satan himself, fine. But what I said in those voice notes does not take away from how I got treated.”
Did she stay on the experiment longer to boost her profile?
“Ah, no. It was about week two and it was after the first dinner party or commitment ceremony, I wanted to leave.
“I was on the phone to one of my friends and I was like “who am I to stay here and show women that this is okay? I don’t want to stay here. This goes against everything I believe in. I feel sick to my stomach.”
“I meant what I said. There have been things said by cast members saying “Bronte despised Harrison” and I did! I did despise Harrison. Who couldn’t despise that man with how he was treating me?
“It was so bad but then I spoke to production and they’ve said no. So I’ve gone, I’ve got to stay and make this work? Well alright, I can see how this is going so I may as well give this a crack, moved back in with Harrison.
“Two weeks later, there was the next dinner party. Then him and I, we actually, genuinely, hand on heart, we genuinely got along. I just genuinely truly wanted to believe that there was something good in him and I was proven wrong right at the end.”
@mafs Can anyone else smell gas? #MAFS #MAFSAU #MAFSAustralia ♬ original sound – Married At First Sight
How did she go from hating Harrison to liking him romantically?
“This is going to sound really icky and weird, we did a task where we had to sit there and stare at each other for five minutes then hug each other for five minutes. They didn’t force us to kiss for ages or do anything out of our comfort zone. Slowly but surely spending little bits of time away from everyone is what actually helped. Baby steps,” she added.
“In the real world, of course I could’ve walked away, but I wasn’t in the real world. I was in an experiment.”
She continued, “There were three weeks where Harrison and I were really good. What people don’t realise is it was filmed over 12 weeks, not eight. It allowed us to really get to know each other.
“The turning point was, and it feels really weird to say, but I felt like I had a friend.”
The reality star concluded: “I know my story and I know my truth and I know that Harrison and I for a blip there, we had something. Whether or not it was real for him, I will never know.”
That’s all we have for now!
Part Two of Bronte’s tell-all chat with So Dramatic! will be released Thursday April 20.
In the meantime, go suss out the chaos Bronte’s caused over on TikTok.
