Ryan De Nino, a recent cast member on season 2 of A&E’s reality show Married at First Sight has entered into a drama that could be the fodder for a reality show of its own, after a shocking tape was released, suggesting that he wanted to speed up the “’til death do us part” section of the vows and do harm to his wife Jessica Castro and her family.
A little background for the uninitiated, the show is based on a Danish series where six singles are paired up into couples by four relationship experts who feel they have found their “perfect match”. These newly arranged couples then agree to marry when they first meet. They wed and then spend their wedding night in a hotel before leaving for a honeymoon. When the honeymoon ends, they continue to live together as a married couple for a month, after which they choose to divorce or stay married. Really? I’d definitely opt for Survivor…or even Jersey Shore. Egads.
In Touch magazine was given access to a tape where Ryan made violent threats to Jessica and her family. The tape was apparently recorded after the series wrapped and the couple, who were married in December of 2014, decided to end their television-created union. Things between the couple were already strained at the taping of the series’ reunion show, where Ryan was overheard saying, “She’s [Jessica] f—ing dead. When I get back to Brooklyn, she’s f—ing dead, this girl.” Court documents have also surfaced, claiming that the show’s production company, Kinetic Content, supplied Jessica with security to protect her against Ryan’s threats, just days before she was granted a restraining order.
In the tape obtained by In Touch, Ryan is heard to say to his bride, “I should smack the s— out of you. What the f— do you think that you can do? let’s be real. What the f— do you think that you can do? I will break you into f—— pieces. I will break your dad into pieces. I will make your whole family disappear and your f—— dog-ass sister’s boyfriend.”
In addition, the magazine reports that Ryan’s show-appointed counsel quit due to his erratic behavior, and, according to a paralegal hired by the show’s producers, Ryan threw a “tantrum” during their meeting to discuss the divorce, then “became even more violent.” And, when asked to leave, she says he “got even more defensive and furious.”
Jessica’s attorney, Marc Rapaport, told In Touch that he believes A&E and Kinetic Content are responsible for not properly vetting the people they cast on their shows – and putting Jessica in danger. A&E and Kinetic assert Ryan was thoroughly screened during the casting process, but it was uncovered that Ryan didn’t provide producers with his real last name, Oehl, and even refused to produce his ID. The attorney asserts, “We are considering potential claims against the production company and network. We believe that in the quest for ratings, our client’s emotional well-being and physical safety were jeopardized.”
Scary, huh? It does raise the question of how these people are cast for reality shows. What kind of background check is done? Remember when VH-1 cast Ryan Jenkins on not one, but 2 shows? (Megan Wants A Millionaire and later, the never-aired I Love Money 3). He was accused of killing model Jasmine Fiore and then ended up taking his own life. After this incident made the national news, how could the producers of this show allow someone to come on the show without producing ID? This incident should serve as a warning to future reality show producers to be a bit more selective in their casting. Hopefully, the producers of this show have learned their lesson and will do whatever it takes to protect Jessica and her family.
Wow, who would think such a solid premise as forcing two strangers into total intimacy could go wrong?
I know, right?
But they got married, all proper-like! That’s the bedrock of good values!
Exactly this, all proper like. It makes an absolute mockery of marriage! And it’s all done for ratings! How can the screaming loonies deny committed loving partners the right to marry, when this travesty is perpetuated on the screen for the idle amusement of the hoi polloi! Sometimes I just despair for the future of humanity.
To be fair had they done what they claimed on the show it would have been fine. They had a team of experts including a psychologist do the matching. But obviously they didn’t actually do a proper psych eval….or did but didn’t care when he flunked. The idea was supposed to be like matchmakers of yore.
Yeah, but the match makers of yore matched two people from the same village whose families had known each other for generations, so it’s not quite the same thing.
Bettyrose
True. And even these “matchmakers” aren’t solid in their techniques. There are still bits of science used. Those used for the show aren’t reliable. Just accessible for production.
I hope Jessica and her family are safe. And he gets serious help. And the producers in all of these shows understand the liability doesn’t cover skipping over a proper backround ID because a personality had to be casted for proper dynamic. JHC ppl!
How could anything possibly go wrong? It seemed like a solid premiss.
I watched this show (I know… I know…lol) and there really was so much drama on screen and off especially on social media. The producers really scr3wed all three of the women that season and allegedly they did vet all the women BUT not the men. Two out the three men actually had issues on their records. And there were other questionable things about their past. The men came on last minute and didn’t get all the checks the women did. The shows panel of “experts” even went at the women. It was bad. The producers had no issue with putting these women in a potential dangerous situation and that’s why we are seeing this. They even used this for ratings at the reunion.
Of course they vetted the women! It’s usually a female perpetrator in cases of rape and domestic violence.
OT, But men’s rights activists that truly believe men are superior and women are evil or weak?? It’s not us molesting children and starting unnecessary wars!
Which of the other guys had something questionable in his past? I’m not surprised the show put the women at risk. It has been like that since the earlier days of reality TV. Back with “Who wants to Marry a Millionaire” . It later turned out the guy had ex-girlfriends who took out restraining orders.
@merritt
Essentially they embellished the guys back stories and the producers weren’t forth coming with info they knew. Apparently Sean had a previous DUI conviction, some other issue I can’t recall now and was also lying about his position at the hospital. There were also coworkers that came forward online with stories that weren’t very flattering about him either. He was actually only out of a relationship for 2 months before he jumped into MAFS. Not to mention His time line didn’t even add up if anyone paid attention. Sean came across as a raging narcissist. He knew exactly how to make Dana look bad all while looking like the victim. Ryan was *allegedly* a known drug dealer and had been in trouble for violence in his past, he was also looking to further an acting career. There were a few other things that came out as the season wrapped and before and after the reunion but I would have to google it. The season was messy. And now they have season 3 coming out.
Yes, there are many people saying that Ryan did and sold coke. If you see the show, it is pretty evident with how he rubs his nose constantly and his eyes are bloodshot. Unless he has major allergies in NYC December weather, I would say the word on the street about him is spot-on.
@WinnieCoopersMom
That makes sense. He seemed to have too much money to spend given the vague description of what he did for a living.
The other guy was Sean, the Emergency Room nurse.
Yep! Season 2 ruined the US series for me. (Check out the AU one! It’s far superior)
What I hated the most was AFTER the show on social media the experts and the season 2 husbands were trying to smear the season 2 wives. Season 1 couple Doug and Jamie supported the vile season 2 husbands. Doug even made fun of Jessica Castro getting a restraining order.
Clearly the audio PROVES this guy is a loose canon!
I enjoyed Season 1 – I found it interesting – but nope, couldn’t get into Season 2. I don’t think this is made up for ratings, Ryan D seemed to have some serious issues (unlikely he’s that great of an actor) and the “experts” pretty much blamed Jess and wanted her to work on herself instead of walking away from that maniac they paired her up with. I had to stop watching because I kept saying to myself “just leave”, I couldn’t watch it anymore.
Then Sean (Davina’s husband) revealed that he had just gotten out of a relationship where they’d very recently lost a baby and I felt he wasn’t “ready” and shouldn’t have been on the show. Davina seemed a bit loony, but Sean wasn’t in a good “marriage” place either.
I thought the “experts” didn’t even TRY to do a good job at matching, so I gave up on the show.
I watched this show too, embarrassingly enough. I guess the first season was solid and 2/3 of the couples are still married, but they rushed the screening process for the second season and here you go. Ryan seemed unstable since the very beginning. I remember at one point he was reminiscing about his grandparents marriage and how he saw it as the ideal marriage. He summed it up by saying how his grandpa was essentially abusive to his grandma, but she put up with it because they loved each other and that’s how things work…HUGE RED FLAG. He was verbally abusive towards Jessica the day after their wedding, I hope her family wins a nice settlement after this because her well being was jeopardized for the sake of ratings. They knew what kind of person Ryan was when they cast him for the series.
I watched it too and it was clear that he was abusive really early on. I couldn’t believe that not only were these “experts” not stepping in and calling this behaviour for what it was, they continued to speak to the two of them as though they were both at fault and had their own issues. It was massively irresponsible to pair her with this abuser, and even moreso leave her in that situation once he started demonstrating really disturbing and violent behaviour.
Whoah that poor woman.
I don’t know what the hell is going on in the show (Honestly I even joked with my mom about this show saying, “Is this what it takes to find a guy now?”) but this is some scary stuff.
I don’t know why she did the show but now she’s stuck with an abusive psycho and A&E didn’t even get a photo ID from this dude? Are you kidding me?!
Just wow…I hope more of this comes to light because I think it’ll offer her more protection if there’s a huge spotlight on this loser.
Scary. And her family homes are known to this loser …. wow. Hope she nails their @ss for a lot of $$$$$. That’s the only way to get this system changed – the almighty dollar.
Marriage is not a game, people
Yep. Gay people aren’t allowed to marry in some places because it “ruins the sanctity of marriage”, but shit likes this flies? Unreal.
Anytime someone pulls the “sanctity of marriage” argument with me, I refer them to the fact that nonsense like this exists. It’s beyond comprehension.
Anyone who wants to be on a reality show that doesn’t involve some sort of skill has mental issues.
It’s called Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I had a friend several years ago audition and then interview for The Real World. She genuinely wanted to be on the show. I kind of learned more about her from that than I had all through high school and college. I mean we were 22, but Real World?! We’ve since lost touch, go figure!
Consider yourself lucky.
They need to interview former co-workers, partners, etc. there are a lot of crazies that could easily pass a background check! And they didn’t have his real last name?! Do they not get these people’s SSNs?
A SSN and full legal name is definitely required for a proper background check. Who do the producers think they are fooling? They deserve a big lawsuit.
Actually, this incident should serve as a warning to all the people who think a reality show is their key to becoming famous or making easy money.
I watched the first season and found it rather interesting in a scientific sort of way. I never thought this was actually supposed to work. Or that anyone was in it to find their life partner. It was like a Petri dish. But this is not fun and games anymore, are these people insane? If someone refuses to produce their ID, you tell them to leave. Immediately. I don’t know the laws but they do get legally married, right? At some point, he had to produce an ID, no? The hell? And who are these experts?
Exactly, who are these so-called experts? Evidently they suck at what they do. 🙁
Like so many US reality shows, I felt as thought the 1st season was interesting and that the producers were genuinely trying to do what the show purported to do. By the 2nd season, it seemed like drama was created intentionally by selecting unstable people.
Said the same thing up thread before I saw your comment. I honestly found season 1 interesting. And while it’s not something I’d personally do, it was an interesting concept and I checked for updated on the couple. Season 2, couldn’t finish it, it just seemed like a disaster waiting to happen and I didn’t want to watch it go down.
From what I read, season 1 was very thoughtfully and patiently done (choosing the couples, etc) but season 2 was just thrown together and it really seemed to have been true.
I just hope poor Jess makes it out of this alive.
I also watched the first season and enjoyed it, and the follow up show to see how things were progressing. Even in the first season when it was all “these people have done everything possible to find love” and Courtney was like 24 or 25, I think *maybe* Monet and Vaughn were over 30 and I majorly side-eyed that, like no you have not tried everything to find love you wanted to be on a TV show.
But Season 2 was horrible, I think with how popular the first season and the first year shows got, they threw together Season 2 way too quickly. I’ve started watching Season 3 and it so far seems a bit better, whether it is because the experts were trying to save face or because they actually put some time and effort into selecting the participants.
What a repulsive concept. Disgusting.
And we wonder why modern society views marriage as a total joke
As defined by the state, yes it is a total joke. This is a perfect example.
Ryan De Nino was scary on what I saw of that show. I hope Jessica stays safe. He is a psycho. The show is a bad idea to begin with and they never should have allowed someone who was being evasive about their ID.
That Ryan Jenkins case from several years ago was terrifying. He butchered Jasmine Fiore.
That moron thought he had it all figured out. “They’ll never even ID her!” Breast implants have serial numbers dumba**.
I can’t tell how many Forensics Files show that have found the identity of murder victims by numbers on implants,dental records,DNA on a cigarette butt,knee/hip replacement or even the facial outline on a trash bag. And I just mentioned 1% of how a murder could be caught.
And that’s why I’ll take the Investigation ID Channel over a reality show any and every day of the week. Leiutenant Joe Kenda all the way!!!!
These shows should have a more thorough background check and hold the contestant liable if they misconduct them selves that would be harmful in any way.
They have monetary clauses for shows like the apprentice, why not on the violent behavior of other contestant.
Shit aren’t these people vetted before hand? There was a UK version of this and it focused on the science side of how people were matched. There were three couples only two of them married one of the pairs the pair you would of thought connected well at the wedding ended it after 3 weeks after he went on tinder. And the couple you thought didn’t work actually stayed together but moved out of their shared flat. It crazy to think a man thinks is acceptable to act this way but then to act this way on tv he clearly can’t see how insane he is behaving. He really must think speaking about women this way is ok if he does it on TV! I wonder if he has a pattern of abuse with his ex’s.
But gay marriage is ruining everything! Ugh. Stuff like this makes me a misanthrope.
I thought of the claim that gay marriage is detrimental to the holy state of matrimony, too. Looks like heterosexuals are doing a pretty good job on their own, right?
Welp. They are back with the third season. And to repair the damage of the second season they had a two hour show with all the “experts” discussing how they are pairing potential couples. Funny they kept emphasizing “we are experts, but we don’t know how this will turn out either.”
That dude was clearly psychologically unbalanced from the start and I’m sure the producers included him in their picks purely for the drama. I felt sorry for his wife from the beginning as she was clearly too trusting, not only of her new husband, but that the producers were actually trying to find her a good match, not create a good TV show.
He looks kind of….slow. Look at his eyes in the first picture. There’s a super creepy guy who was in a motorcycle accident who stares at all the girls in the local coffeeshop. His eyes are like that.
I don’t understand how they didn’t know his real last name or see his ID. If that’s the case, how did they pay him? And how were they legally married? You have to provide ID and legal documents to get a marriage license. The guy sounds like a total psycho and the situation sounds dangerous and terrifying, but no one knowing his real name or identity doesn’t add up.
How can you claim that you screened someone, then admit that you did not have his real last name and that he refused to provide proper ID. I needed ID to pick up my delivery from the post office yesterday for goodness sakes. I hope that poor woman is able to stay safe.
I watched the show and Ryan had huge red flags immediately- I can’t remember the details, but during their “honeymoon” (like 48 hours after meeting) he got really angry at her for a very, very small thing and you could tell in that moment it was dawning on her that she might have made a huge mistake, but she rationalized it away.
I think that may have been the piercing/tattoo blowup. Where he said facial piercings (I think) are trashy and she was offended (because she has a facial piercing) and he blew up.
There were many more red flags.
That was it! If I remember, he left her sitting alone at the restaurant because he stormed out.
I saw that show (I proudly have bad taste in reality TV, but I don’t watch the kardashians to balance out my bad tv karma) and he was repulsive. All of the husband’s were awful. It was like the producers purposely found vulnerable women and paired them up with crazy man-childs.
Yep. When one of the guys (not Ryan or Sean, but the other one) brought his new wife to his place, it was his mother’s basement. I was like OMG I have to see how this plays out with the dominant personality of the woman who was married to the man child. Very twisted.
To be fair, that guy, the other Ryan, had some interesting extenuating circumstances. His niece lost both of her parents and he and his mother were raising his niece together. It wasn’t just a regular “dude in his mom’s basement” sort of situation, luckily. Otherwise it would have been waaaayyyy worse.
I remember when the first real reality show came out…Survivor. I have never really watched reality TV and think that even at its best, it is exploitive and a dangerous thing for our society. Think about it….Honey Boo Boo (originating from parents exploiting young girls in beauty pageants only to find out the mother figure is involved with a child molester), Duck Dynasty, the Duggar family, Courtney Stodden and her creepy husband who married her at 16, and then of course we have the Kardashians (famous b/c Kim K. made a sex tape). I am sorry but I can hardly find many redeeming qualities in reality television, and this example is just further proof in that direction. I would venture to guess most of the people participating in these shows have serious mental/psychological problems and I just never found the humor or entertainment in it. I will admit I have seen a few episodes of The Bachelor, but even then, did not find much be amused with. I would much rather watch anything other than reality television. To me, it is a sad representation of our society today. This article is just a further, scarier example of that.
This story and this entire premise are incredibly disturbing.
Imo, these types of shows don’t want to do in-depth checks on their cast members, because they want drama and publicity through that drama.
I am guilty of watching both seasons of this show. It was so interesting to me. They apparently did much more research of the participants in season one. Two out of three of those couples worked out. With this guy, his new wife was thrilled that she was very attracted to him at first sight, at the altar. He became abusive early on. She was walking on eggshells around him and he was constantly putting her down. I was shocked to see one episode that he was meeting friends at a bar around the corner from where I used to live in Brooklyn. He had that typical stereotypical Italian guido thing going on: wannabe gangster, etc. I’m Italian and grew up with a lot of men with this mentality unfortunately but I’m 50 now and thought ignorance like this was over. I feel for his wife. She was very sweet on the show and seemed desperate for a family.
I saw her in person a little while ago. She was walking down 34th Street. Very good-looking. I wanted to go up to her and say hi because I knew what she was going through BUT refrained BECAUSE of what she’s going through. I’m sure she’s scared and embarrassed and she doesn’t need a total stranger bringing that to her attention. She has to deal with this abusive man and situation. I wish her the best of luck.
Yikes! Sounds like a new plot line for Law & Order.
This show is the best of the worst in reality shows. What a bunch of garbage.
I watched it the first season but didn’t like any of the people on the second so I watched Arranged instead. I sort of liked it. There are still many cultures who believe in arranged marriages and often times the bride and groom meet on the wedding day. Did anyone else watch Arranged?
I watched Arranged. Enjoyed it much better than season 2 MAFS.
I knew Ryan quite well – like, came over to my house for dinner. Never in a billion years did I see that coming. I’m still in total shock.
Yikes! Is it time to go to ground?!
He was so scary on the show. I kept hoping that production was keeping a close eye on him and protecting her – sounds like they still need to! He has unbelievable rage issues. Pair that with him being a very vocal and aggressive misogynist..not a good mix at all. Hope she and her family stay safe and sue the heck out of the shady production company that pieced together season 2. Ratings should never be prioritized over safety issues.
He was truly frightening on the show. Every scene with him would make me cringe. I hated how the “experts” would try and tell Jessica that her relationship with him was unstable because of her trust issues…pretty sure she saw early on that he wasn’t to be trusted and had a raging temper, it wasn’t her “trust” issues.
Yeah, their reaction was insane. I couldn’t believe what I was watching ~ the guy is clearly abusive, and yet all of these “experts” can’t see it? If it’s this bad in the beginning with a camera on him, what came afterwards?
He posted the restraining order to Instagram as soon as he got it… classy guy.
https://www.instagram.com/p/34opNjHeGo/
They have this show in Australia, however the “wedding” is not legally binding so there is no need for divorce if it doesn’t work out. Seems a little safer than this version….