Ryan De Nino, Married at First Sight Season 2 Participant, Dies at 40

Ryan De Nino, who appeared on Season 2 of the reality series Married at First Sight, has died at the age of 40. His sister, Melissa De Nino, announced the news in a Facebook tribute posted on a Tuesday, remembering her brother's "huge heart" Deadline. A cause of death was not immediately known.

De Nino took part in the 2015 season of Married at First Sight, then broadcast on the FYI network — a cable channel that has since rebranded. The premise of the show, for anyone who has not encountered it, is exactly what the title says: strangers are paired by experts and marry the moment they first meet at the altar.

De Nino was matched with Jessica Castro, a receptionist. The two went through with the wedding on camera, chose to stay together on the programme's "Decision Day" episode, and later divorced Deadline.

Their time on the show was followed by a serious off-screen controversy. In 2015, De Nino was reported to have threatened to kill Castro and her family Us Weekly. ABC News also reported Castro's account of the threats ABC News.

In the years since his season aired, De Nino kept a low public profile. He maintained both a public and a private Instagram account, with his personal account, @thatkidnino, set to private Screen Rant.

Married at First Sight has run for more than a dozen seasons across FYI and later Lifetime in the United States, with international versions produced in dozens of countries. De Nino's Season 2 was one of the earliest American instalments of a format that has since become a long-running franchise.

No further details about De Nino's death had been released at the time of reporting.