Viewers are questioning the loyalty of one of the cast members on Married At First Sight Australia after he refused to allow his new bride to "go through" his phone, as part of a "trust challenge" set by the relationship experts on the programme. In the latest episode of the hit show, which sees brides and grooms meet their spouses for the first time at the altar, Adam refused to show Jennelle the contents of his phone - and told her he wasn't keen on seeing the contents of her phone either.
After initially hitting it off as soon as they laid eyes on each other at their wedding, Adam and Janelle's relationship has been something of a rollercoaster, with Adam making a shocking admission on his wedding night that he had previously cheated on a partner in a previous relationship. Whilst Jennelle was shocked and hurt by the news at first, the couple had seemed to get their relationship back on track - until tonight's episode.
In the latest episode of the show, which aired on E4 on Thursday, March 16, the couple were tasked with swapping phones. The programme's relationship experts said the task was about trust - and had been designed to give the participants a chance to understand their partners better and see if there's anything they've been keeping private which their partners should know about.
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Whilst another couple, Duncan and Alyssa, became closer after swapping phones - with Alyssa gaining an insight into Duncan's close relationship with his family and how they knew all about her - Adam refused to swap phones with Jennelle and told her he didn't want to look at her phone either.
Adam told the camera that a true sign of trust is not needing to look at his partner's phone - though Jenelle admitted privately that she had wanted to look at Adam's phone and double-check whether he'd been hiding anything. The unexpected challenge came after fellow participant Jesse accused Adam of secretly phoning his wife, Claire.
Reading the challenge out loud, 28 year old beauty influencer Janelle said: "In this task, you'll be asked to hand over to your partner one of your most private possessions. Your phone. This task may not sit well with some but it could give you some insight into how much you can trust each other and how honest you have been with one another."
Adam replied: "It's going to be a bit nuts, isn't it?" Brushing this comment off, Jenelle reassured him it would be fine, before telling the camera she thought Adam would welcome the chance to look at her phone. However, she couldn't have been more wrong.
Explaining how she wouldn't go "too deep" into his phone and would only have a "ten minute scroll", Janelle revealed she was unphased by the challenge. But, Adam looked tense and told her: "It feels a bit intrusive."
Stating how she'd only show him certain chats that had been taking place on her phone, Adam added: "Even then, I don't want to see it. Looking down at my partners phone, for me, is something I don't do. We're going well at the minute as well, so I don't want to cause any unnecessary friction with this. I don't want to read into something. I don't feel the need to look down your phone."
"Look what happened with Jesse the other night," Adam added later. "That crazy, possessiveness of 'let me see your phone'. That didn't sit well with me. He was acting jealous. We don't need that in our relationship."
Surprised at this admission, Janelle later told the camera that she was taken aback that Adam was adamant they didn't look through each other's phone.
Despite Janelle wanting to learn what was on Adams phone "especially after [the allegations] last night," the new bride went along with Adam's request and told him: "I trust you. I don't think there's anything to hide. And I think it shows more trust to you that I don't want to look at your phone."
"Same, works both ways," Adam agreed. "You can't have my phone but I'm just letting you know that I won't look down your phone."
Kicking the challenge to the curb, the pair agreed to rip up the piece of paper and revel in the fact that not looking at each others' devices, to them, showed their trust in each other more than the challenge would have.
However, viewers weren't convinced, with many taking to Twitter to air their thoughts.
User @jodiehall_ wrote: "Adam convincing Janelle that the ultimate act of trust is in fact NOT going through each others phones is insane. He is a cheating guru. #MAFSAU"
@kaikouramonkey also said: "Adam dodging a bullet on the phone task #MAFS #MAFSAU #MarriedatfirstsightAustralia"
A third. @SteelerFayy added: "Verrrryyy sus that Adam was so panicked and shut down the phone challenge #MAFSAU"
"Adam got out of that, I wonder if something has happened between him and Clare?? #mafsau #mafsaunz #mafs," said another.
Married At First Sight Australia continues on Monday, March 20 at 7.30pm on E4.
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