MAFS 2024: The Exact Timeline Of Jono And Ellie’s Cheating Scandal
Sometimes a dollop of Married At First Sight gossip requires a nationwide police investigation level of unpacking, and this year’s cheating scandal between Jono and Ellie certainly fits the bill – particularly when the timeline is as confusing as this.
You see, in MAFS time, we’ve just discovered Jono’s been texting Ellie while married to Lauren on the show, while denying that anything romantic is happening. But in real-world time, we’ve already seen Jono and Ellie snogging each other at the beach thanks to some keen-eyed paparazzi.
So when did shit actually go down? May I present the exact timeline of all the Jono and Ellie MAFS fuckery.
Jono and Ellie’s MAFS cheating timeline:
August 8th, 2023:
Married At First Sight filming is underway, and August 8th marks the first dinner party of the series where Jono and Ellie meet. They are married to Lauren and Ben, respectively, but seem to get along as buddies.
August 25th, 2023:
It’s the third dinner party, and Ben is being a bit shit so Jono jumps to Ellie’s defence calling her a “lovely, beautiful, smiling, happy and very intelligent woman”. He also says he wants to “metaphorically slap” Ellie’s husband Ben for how he’s treating her – which approximately none of us read into until now.
September 1st, 2023:
It’s subtle, but a few cast members have started to joke that Jono has a little crush on Ellie after standing up for her in a handful of group settings.
September 10th, 2023:
After a pretty shitty marriage and a few big blowups, Ben and Ellie both decided to leave the experiment.
We now know that this was the same time that Ellie started to text Jono to find out what was happening during MAFS filming. These texts apparently are sent “three or four times a week”.
September 29th, 2023:
In the thick of the experiment, Lauren has to fly back home to Perth for emergency surgery, leaving her away from filming for a whole week. A week where Jono apparently continued to speak with Ellie, which feels a smidge more suss as he’s chilling alone in Sydney.
October 6th, 2023:
Following Lauren’s surgery, Jono flies to Perth for Homestay Week at Lauren’s flat. The two seem to be closer than ever and admit that they’ve “consummated” the homestay and have started having sex again.
October 11th, 2023:
Everyone heads back to the Skye Suits in Sydney after Homestays. In a video interview Jono says: “I’m feeling really close to Lauren at the moment, our feelings are pretty strong for each other.” The two have a solid week and are looking forward to the final commitment ceremony and dinner party because they are in such a good spot in their relationship.
October 12th, 2023:
Tori drops the big ol’ bombshell during the final commitment ceremony, outing Jono for messaging Ellie. He immediately denies that there’s anything suss up, saying “Ellie’s not my type” and comparing his texts with her to those he sends to Tristan, Stephen and Michael – his friends who have also left the experiment.
The group are immediately concerned, which expert John Aiken calls out, noting that the women in the room are particularly on edge about Jono and Ellie’s exchanges. Lauren is visibly hurt and says she’s feeling triggered because of her exes texting other women during their relationship and admits that she thinks Ellie has feelings for Jono.
October 13th, 2023:
It’s the final MAFS dinner party of the season, and Lauren and Jono arrive separately. Lauren has lost all trust in Jono, despite Jono maintaining that there’s “nothing” between him and Ellie and that’s why he never told his wife they were texting.
Tori shares more info at the dinner table, saying that Jono told her and Jack in the “safe space of the gym” that he wished he was “matched with Ellie” instead of Lauren. Jono appears to be shocked by this statement, claiming it’s been misheard and it was said during a patch when he and Lauren weren’t in a good spot. Regardless of whether he was going through a tough time with his wife, the comment is not sounding good. The group are appalled and interrogate Jono on the whole thing where he gets defensive and even starts to criticise Lauren.
When the honesty box is wheeled out for the couple, Jono starts asking Lauren the questions on the cue cards. She answers them in record time while still revealing she doesn’t trust Jono as far as she could throw him. You can watch the whole exchange here:
@itspunkee Lightening round #mafs #mafsau #mafsaustralia #marriedatfirstsight #marriedatfirstsightaustralia ♬ original sound – Punkee
October 18th, 2023:
Lauren and Jono film their final vow ceremony, which we’ve seen previews of and Lauren looks PISSED OFF. From the previews and off the back of this scandal, I’m assuming the couple officially break up during this meeting and it’s over for Lauren and Jono.
November 11th, 2023:
A month after the final vows, the cast is carted back to Sydney to film the reunion episode. Rumour has it that Jono and Ellie walk in holding hands and confirm that they’re now in a relationship. This means somewhere between the final dinner party and now they’ve moved their dynamic from a friendship (at least according to Jono) to a romantic situation, OR things were romantic from the start and they just went ‘public’ with it all when Lauren and Jono had officially split.
To make matters extra rubbish, Jono reportedly didn’t give Lauren a heads-up before the reunion that he’d be attending with Ellie.
December 23rd, 2023:
Jono joins Ellie at her work Christmas party (which as a side, note, feels way to close to Chritsmas and offices should know better pls) and they pose for pictures that are then posted to her work’s Instagram page. Those pics eventually get picked up by So Dramatic! and send the message loud and clear that they are now a couple. This feels particularly cavalier because this type of spoiler would be a breach of their contractual obligation to the show.
January 29th, 2024:
Married At First Sight starts airing in Australia. People now know Jono and Ellie’s faces and who they’ve been matched with on the show.
February 7th, 2024:
Those paparazzi pictures of Jono and Ellie snogging on a Sydney beach go viral.
It’s believed by some outlets that these photos have been staged by the couple, with them giving the tip-off to paparazzi to get the scoop.
February 8th, 2024:
In an interview with Yahoo Lifestyle Ben admits he suspected “something fishy” was going on between Ellie and Jono from the moment they first met.
March 24th, 2024:
The episode where Tori ‘outs’ the cheating scandal airs in Australia, and Jono and Ellie are suspiciously quiet on social media. I’m predicting this is because they’re waiting for the reunion episode to air to confirm their romance on their own channels.
March 26th, 2024:
I publish this timeline and realise that I’ve become far too consumed in this Married At First Sight chaos.
Image credit: Nine + Punkee