The 18 Messiest Moments In ‘Married At First Sight’ History
There’s no show like Married at First Sight when it comes to creating some absolutely chaotic moments in Australian reality TV history.
The social experiment gives contestants a crash course in marriage by pairing up perfect strangers, which more often than not goes horribly wrong. There’s a reason only three relationships have lasted out of *checks notes* a whopping 58 unions. Yikes.
While the series began in 2015, the show truly hit it stride in Season 4 which had double the number of weddings seen in Season 3 and the introduction of weekly dinner parties — which absolutely changed the game. No longer was the show just about each individual couple, but the drama that can ensue when couples mix. From screaming fights and wine-throwing, to text messages being exposed and secret kisses between contestants who weren’t matched, the dinner parties became event television.
The last four MAFS seasons have gifted us so many messy moments, so we decided that ahead of the new season, we simply had to take a walk down memory lane.
The 18 Messiest Moments in Married At First Sight’s History:
Clink-clink, enjoy!
1. That iconic Cyrell/Martha confrontation while Martha was wearing a face mask.
One of two Cyrell/Martha incidents to make this list, their first argument came about after Martha asked Cyrell’s husband Nic if he had been rubbing Jessika’s leg at a dinner party, which is something Jess had told her happened. The funniest part was that as Cyrell brought Jess, Nic, and Mick to Martha’s room, Martha was wearing a sheet mask the whole time after Michael arranged a spa day.
Eventually, Martha (still wearing the mask) and Cyrell had a one-on-one conversation and it got extremely heated. Cyrell grabbed Martha by the collar, security was brought in, Cyrell smashed a fruit bowl and left, as Michael shouted “have some respect!” while still wearing a fluffy, pink robe. Absolute scenes.
2. Connie’s mum was brutally honest.
Just in case you were wondering, Connie’s mum can’t STAND the show. An icon was born.
3. Nasser just being Nasser.
It’s hard to imagine but when Nasser was first introduced on his season, he was actually a fan favourite. He and Gabrielle seemed like an ideal match, but things took a turn on homestays when Nasser chucked a massive tantrum over cleaning, before refusing to meet Gabrielle’s friends or stay at her home. Nasser turned out to be a MAFS villain in sheep’s clothing and he hasn’t stopped annoying us ever since.
4. David used Hayley’s toothbrush in the toilet.
The show plummeted to new lows when David took out his revenge on Hayley for allegedly hooking up with Michael, by using her toothbrush to clean the toilet. The experts’ reaction says it all. Disgusting.
5. Ines screamed at Bronson on the boat.
There have been some bad honeymoons on this show, but none can compare to the hectic scenes that Ines and Bronson’s boat trip inspired. As the newlyweds were attempting to go parasailing in Port Douglas, Bronson offered his new bride some words of encouragement, and this somehow ended in her screaming “shut the fuck up!!” at him over and over.
6. Charlene exposed the boys’ night antics at a dinner party.
MAFS boys’ nights always tend to showcase the worst behaviour imaginable, where locker room talk is rife and women are often spoken about in derogatory ways. One of the most toxic boys nights was in Season 5, where Dean and Justin joked about swapping their wives. Thankfully, absolute king and underrated contestant Patrick relayed the night’s events to his wife, Charlene, and she let them have it at the following dinner party — telling the whole group what was said behind the women’s backs.
From slamming, “Poor Dean. It’s always poor Dean, isn’t it?” to telling Justin, “Wow. You really are an asshole,” it was some queen shit. The highlight by far was Charlene telling a meddling Troy that “you might just want to pipe down, Chachi!” which I still use to this day in arguments. Charlene is the hero this show didn’t even deserve.
7. Dean and Davina shared a secret date.
This was seemingly innocent compared to what was to come for the series in terms of infidelity, but there’s no denying that at the time when Davina and Dean went on a date — while still paired up with Ryan and Tracey — it absolutely rocked Australia.
8. Sam and Ines secretly hooked up.
Season 6 then put Dean and Davina to shame, as Sam and Ines didn’t just go on a date while still married — they actually banged. The bizarre seedy hotel room scene is seared in my memory and I still feel unclean.
9. Jess and Dan dated behind their partner’s backs.
But when it comes to infidelity on this show, nothing compared to what Jess and Dan did. These two practically had an entire relationship behind their partner’s backs while on the show. They had dates, secret phone calls, and even kissed at dinner parties while out-of-sight of their respective husband and wife, Mick and Tamara.
Jess and Dan eventually came clean to the experts and were permitted to end the experiment as a couple, However, they split after the finale aired following a now infamous argument which was aired live on a MAFS after-show.
10. Troy tried to awkwardly kiss Ashley on the beach.
Not all of MAFS’ messy moments were quite as controversial as partner-swapping. Troy was the weirdest unit ever and is still, hands-down, my favourite contestant in MAFS history. The furious toothbrusher who did push-ups before every date had many memorable moments but it’s hard to go past the time on the beach when he grabbed Ash’s face for a cringe-worthy kiss. It still pains me to watch.
11. Natasha outed Stacey for allegedly banging her husband.
Season 7 of MAFS was just an absolute mess and it came to a fitting end at the final dinner party, when Natasha gave a toast exposing Stacey and Mikey’s alleged affair. Stacey has denied the fling to this day, but her TV husband Michael split with her shortly after.
12. Jonesy and Cheryl were a match made in hell.
The partner-swapping that would become a normal part of this show owes a lot to Season 4’s Jonesy and Cheryl, the first contestants to leave their partners and chose to continue in the experiment as a new couple. This, of course, was an absolute disaster. Firstly, there was Cheryl’s Scottish father trying to throw Jonesy out of his house, then a brutal beach kiss rejection, and finally Jonesy sealed his fate at boys’ night, when he made sexist comments about Cheryl’s boobs which all came out at the season’s reunion.
13. Debbie wanted a Polynesian husband.
Deb being dissatisfied with her match, John, because he wasn’t Polynesian will never not be extremely funny.
14. Dean rapped.
Enough said.
15. Susie and Billy fought over Splenda.
Susie will be remembered for having a baby named ‘Baby’, ending every sentence with ‘Darl-ling!’ and for scolding Billy for lying about having sweetener. I think the brunt of the issue was that Billy lied about petty stuff and Susie took this as a sign he would lie about bigger things in their relationship. Who knows, but Susie had a rather extreme reaction to Billy saying he had sweetener when, in fact, he did not. “I wasn’t lying about the Splenda!” he shrieked in a hilarious beach scene. This whole clip must be watched from start to end.
16. Sam body-shamed his new bride Lizzie on national TV.
In. The. Bin.
17. Ivan & Aleks refused to talk about intimacy with the experts.
In a series first, Ivan and Aleks straight-up refused to discuss their intimacy with John, Trisha, and Mel. While the experts weren’t happy, viewers watching at home applauded the couple for having every right to set boundaries about what they choose to air on TV.
18. The Martha and Cyrell red wine incident.
Season 6 set such a high standard for all of the MAFS seasons and that’s largely due to this one moment in television history. Tensions had been boiling between Cyrell and Martha (see: number 1) and it all came to the surface during the final dinner party.
Cyrell spent the night shit-talking Martha loudly enough for everyone to hear, provoking Martha to do the unthinkable: she strolled over to Cyrell and poured a full glass of red wine over her head. In return, Cyrell chased Martha and poured red wine over her too. Ironically, Martha was wearing a white Prada dress at the time.
I suggest watching this whole clip in full. I plan to show it to my kids one day as an important lesson in Australian culture.
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What a ride. Bring on the new season!
