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Police arrested a man who once appeared on Bravo TV's Millionaire Matchmaker for allegedly beating a woman so brutally he was initially booked on suspicion of attempted murder. But don't get this one confused with the other Millionaire Matchmaker guest they arrested last month for allegedly drugging and raping three women.
John Bonavia, 31, is accused of beating a woman on September 12. His neighbor called the police and reported hearing screaming and pounding noises, TMZ reports. Police responded to Bonavia's home in the 200 block of Spalding Drive in Beverly Hills at about 1 a.m., according to the L.A. Times. Officers were forced to kick down the door in order to reach Bonavia and the woman, who BHPD Lt. Lincoln Hoshino said had sustained "significant facial and upper body injuries."
Bonavia was initially booked on suspicion of attempted murder, but has since been charged with one felony count of domestic violence with great bodily injury and one felony count of criminal threats. He was denied bail.
He once appeared on a 2014 episode of Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker, a dating show where celebrity matchmaker Patti Stanger attempts to hook wealthy men up with beautiful women. So, yeah, super progressive, right? Bonavia was billed as a "party boy investor" with a net worth of $1 million.
In this introduction video, he dropped misogynistic gems like: "I'm one of those guys that goes on a lot of dates. Typically you go out, you have a good time and sex does happen. It's hard for me to take these women seriously because sometimes when I'm with them I just think, wow, what a whore."
He also said he's a "butt man, because sometimes with boobs come a kangaroo palace," citing actress Keira Knightley as his top celebrity crush. We think a kangaroo palace might mean a 'pouch,' but it's also an inflatable bounce house and amusement center for children in Michigan, so who knows?
If you want to hear this guy say these things for yourself, they come out of his mouth at about 1:45-minute mark in the video below.
Though the show indicated that Bonavia went out several times with Katrina, the woman he was matched with on Millionaire Matchmaker, Radar Online reported he is accused of breaking into his ex-girlfriend's West Hollywood home and assaulting her on May 31, 2014. This woman, Carlee Fugate, he connected with via Tinder. In court documents filed by Fugate, she alleges that Bonavia bit her and choked her, while telling her he was going to kill her. She also said that he was extremely intoxicated, and that he had a temper when drunk. Notably, Bonavia said he didn't like to drink very much on Millionaire Matchmaker, but he was also charged with being drunk in public and 'curse and abuse' on November 1 in Arlington, Virginia.
On Twitter, Bonavia he calls himself a "SALES & MARKETING GURU" who "excels at marrying problem-solving, ethics, leadership and creativity with sales, profitability and growth."
And he tweets things like:
The most precious possession that ever comes to a man in this world is a woman's heart.
— John Bonavia (@johnbonavia) July 13, 2015
Earlier this month, 62-year-old Michael Leslie Bernback was arrested and charged with raping three different women on separate occasions. Authorities say he assaulted the women—who he met online—at his Sherman Oaks home, drugging one of the woman and tying up another. Stanger wasn't a huge fan of of Bernback on the show either, given his proclivity for women much, much younger than him.
