A&E Legal Mess: ‘Married At First Sight’ Star Jessica Castro Suing Former Hubby Ryan De Nino

"I got you something for our anniversary-- a lawsuit!"
“I got you something for our anniversary– a lawsuit!”

Their relationship is over, but their legal battle wages on!

Married at First Sight Season 2 star Jessica Castro has sued her (almost) ex-husband Ryan De Nino for harassment, stalking and menacing, and A&E, the network behind ‘MAFS,’ is trying to keep some of the alleged damning evidence against Ryan sealed.

According to the New York Post, court proceedings for the case began last Wednesday, with Jessica claiming that Ryan, who she married on the day she met him, made audible death threats against her during the filming of the ‘Married at First Sight’ reunion special. Ryan was allegedly heard, via a live mic he was wearing for the taping, stating that Jessica was “f**king dead. When I get back to Brooklyn, she’s fu**king dead, this girl.”

Jessica’s attorney is attempting to get that recording, along with testimony from the show’s staff, brought into the case as “essential evidence.”

Lawyers for A&E are fighting back, however. The network is attempting to use a shield law that is usually reserved for journalists to keep the unaired footage private. Attorneys for the network claimed in court papers that the unaired footage is “news-gathering material.” The state of New York currently recognizes the reporter’s privilege shield law, which, in very basic terms, protects reporters from being forced to reveal their sources or the confidential info they obtain during the news-gathering process.

On November 12, A&E lawyer David Sternbach argued in a court filing that forcing the network to submit the unaired footage would “intrude into the editorial process” of the show.

Jessica’s attorney, Marc Rapaport, appears to have little use for the show that made his client famous. He described ‘Married at First Sight’ as “choreographed, contrived vignettes.”

It is not yet known if Jessica is also suing A&E.

As The Ashley previously reported, Jessica and Ryan were part of the disastrous second season of the hit reality show. They, along with the other two couples featured on that season, decided to end their arranged marriages in divorce last summer. In June, Jessica filed for a restraining order against Ryan after he allegedly threatened her and her family in March of this year.

“I will break you into f**king pieces,” Ryan allegedly told Jessica, according to the petition she filed. “I will break your dad into pieces. I will make your whole family disappear — and your f**king dog-ass sister’s boyfriend.”

Although the couple stated that they both wanted a divorce, Jessica is apparently still technically married to Ryan. On November 22, a fan asked Jessica on Twitter if her divorce was final yet.

“I freaking WISH!” Jessica replied.

Ryan has not spoken out in regard to the court case or the divorce…yet.

The Ashley will keep you posted on the status of the trial.

(Photo: A&E)

16 Comments

  1. Hmmm guses I’m the only commenter who finds her actions opportunistic. Please, if she were in danger this wouldn’t be coming up just now. This girl heard something someone said in anger (that he shouldn’t have said) and it was caught on tape… She looked at that as an opportunity to make some money.


    1. This isn’t coming up just now. At the end of taping when he was becoming violent the network actually paid for her to have security until the last show aired. She also filed the restraining order at the time that this was happening. It has just taken this long for it to work its way through the court system.


    2. threatening to kill you and your family is just “something”? Did you watch the show at all? This guy was vicious.


  2. He is a coke addict and not the drink. I would sue everyone involved if I was her. That show is fake as hell. Dr. Pepper the old doctor doesn’t have a degree. Google all the fake stuff that goes on.


  3. I thought he was a ticking time bomb the moment I saw him too….how did they not notice this?? He must have been able to hide his true self very well…in that case super scary – all the more reason they should NOT hide the info from the court!!! Yikes!!


    1. I’m thinking they knew he was volatile and just let it go thinking it would make for “good tv”. Shame on all of them.


      1. I dont think the panel of experts made much of an effort to check him out nad if they found bad stuff they chose to ignore it. The entire Internet lit up with all sorts of horrible information about him. So average Joes surfing the Net came up with all this and they didnt?


        1. I’m sure the only thing that kept this woman from getting beaten up- or worse- is that the cameras were there. You could see it in his eyes. He badly wanted to physically hurt her.


  4. the so-called panel of experts that cleared this guy for the show need to answer for this as well. It was discovered supposedly after the fact that this guy told multiple lies about his background. He is a seedy character. Apparently they didnt bother to seriously check him out. If they didnt its on them and if they did and went ahead anyway thats even worse. Personally, within five minutes after seeing him on the show I thought he was a nasty piece of work and kind of scary. They are professionals and they didnt notice that????


  5. Well, I guess you should actually take the time to get to know the person you are marrying…. It’s horrible that he did this to her, and that a&e is trying to cover it up. Maybe it will make people think twice about marrying someone you just met for a tv show.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.