Married at First Sight Australia has come to its bittersweet end and while it brought viewers some delightful and romantic moments throughout, it has also given fans a tidal wave of drama. From wedding days going south, cheating scandals, and point-blank lies to newlyweds storming out on each other, setting up camp in another apartment, and some pretty eye-opening conversations, it's been a season to remember. Now the reunion has aired in the UK, and boy did it add some fuel to the fire.
With all the brides and grooms reuniting, both those who had stayed together and whose romance is blossoming and those whose relationship ended very, very sour indeed, there was sure to be friction and drama. And it did not disappoint. With one groom bringing a prop to the final dinner party to prove his point, to another bride screaming and storming out of the room, it was pretty tense.
So with that in mind, we only thought it necessary to break down some of the show's biggest, most cringe-worthy, and explosive moments from the reunion episodes, which aired on E4 on Monday, May 8, and Tuesday, May 9, at a dinner party whose main course was served with a side of sass and a final commitment ceremony that truly hit home.
Read more: E4 makes Married At First Sight UK return announcement following Australia reunion
Without further ado, here are the five most dramatic moments from the Married at First Sight Australia reunion. You can keep up to date with the latest TV and showbiz news by signing up to the newsletter here.
The 'sexting' scandal and Tayla's shocking admission
One moment that no one saw coming was the revelation that Cam Woods and Tayla Winter had become close following the show, exchanging a series of texts and even FaceTimed - whilst Cam was starkers in the middle of a nightclub. The participants and experts, John Aiken, Mel Schilling and Alessandra Rampolla, thought so too and brought it up during the final episode, interrogating Cam on his friendship with the Tasmania-born nurse.
Cam was married to Lyndall Grace on the show, who'd found out after the experiment ended that her husband had entered into a flirtatious friendship with Tayla, and informed her fellow participants at the final dinner party about "sexting" rumours she'd heard.
Meanwhile, Tayla tied the knot with Hugo Armstrong - although both decided to call it quits. But after the final commitment ceremony, it seems Tayla and Cam stayed in touch.
Mel Schilling asked: "There's something we'd like a little clarification on. Particularly from you, Cam. What I'm actually interested in is the nature of your relationship with Tayla."
"Yep, there's nothing going on there," he replied. "It was a p**s-take after the final vows. I got naked in the nightclub whilst my phone was on FaceTime to Tayla and one of the boys was holding it."
"So, just so we can understand the context, why were you on FaceTime to Tayla?" the experts then asked.
While Cam explained there was "nothing there," Tayla was also asked about her relationship with Cam. She said: "We get along really really well... it hasn't been explored yet."
Realising she'd put her foot in it, she backtracked and said: "Not that it is going to be explored... Oh no, I didn't mean to say that." You can read more on the accidental slip-up here.
Harrison's print-out
The same night that Cam's texts with Tayla had been uncovered, Harrison Boon brought something else to light - Bronte Schofield questioning an ex-girlfriend of his on the nature of their past relationship. This time, the groom had hard evidence of her 'crossing a line' in the form of a print out which showed the conversation Bronte had shared with this other woman.
However, it didn't go down quite as Harrison planned. And rather than being met with gasps and outrage from the group and his ex-wife being ashamed, he faced laughter from all others in the room.
“He's got the screenshots in his pocket!" Ollie laughed in shock, clapping, "In MAFS history, have you ever seen anyone brings props to formulate their argument!?", while Claire giggled: "I’m surprised he knew how to work a printer."
Cam even folded this "evidence" into a paper aeroplane as Jessie placed a napkin on his face. "Come on guys, a bit of respect," Harrison added, trying to diffuse the chaos and hysteria his "evidence" had brought.
The 'unmasking' of Duncan
A reaction no-one, yet everyone, could have seen coming was Alyssa Barmonde's outburst at the final dinner party when her former partner Duncan James explained, maturely and sensitively, the turning point in their relationship and why they are not "made for each other... I'm sorry that it didn't work out."
After hearing this, Alyssa was fuming and shouted: "Take off the mask, Duncan! Be who you are, be authentic, be genuine. You wear this mask. You are not the person... it's bulls**t. It's not this person. Duncan, I don't even know who you are. Honestly I don't know who you are. Be who you are."
Coming to the final episode 24 hours later, as the pair sat down on the commitment ceremony couch in front of the experts, they unpicked why this reaction occurred.
"I was very angry last night," Alyssa admitted before Duncan revealed that he'd been hurt by the comments she'd made about his character - not the relationship. Watching back a summary of their time in the experiment, Duncan got an apology from Alyssa for her behaviour towards Duncan as their relationship came to an end.
Jesse and Claire's spark and bombhell
After months apart following the pair's split and subsequent departure from the experiment after it was unveiled that Claire Nomarhas, in week one, had kissed groom Adam Seed, the couple returned to the couch for one more session with the experts - and it turned out better than expected.
Jesse Burford and Claire, who had seen ups and downs in their relationship - read more on that here - shared loving looks and snuggles and, as it turns out, had kept in touch daily since leaving the experiment.
After watching a recount of their relationship via video, Claire told Jesse: "I feel like the end of the experiment was the beginning of a new leaf and I want to be able to continue that."
John asked Claire: "How do you feel about Jesse when you sit here now with him?"
"I don't know if it's weird to say, but I really love who Jesse is as a person. I love his uniqueness, his quirkiness, his [music taste]. I have a lot of kind happy great feelings about Jesse."
When questioned over his parting words to Claire now, Jesse revealed that Claire was paying Perth, where he is from, a visit - a statement that was met with claps and cheers from the rest of the party.
Hugo's corridor confession
As Sandy Jawanda and Dan Hunjas took to the sofa for one last time, reuniting after leaving the experiment some weeks ago, the pair were shown a montage of their relationship from start to finish - with one fine but devastating detail revealed by another groom.
Towards the end of their relationship, Sandy was informed by another bride, Evelyn, that she had received an accidental phone call from her groom Rupert during a boys night out, in which Dan was saying heard saying things about his wife as well as comparing her to his previous partners.
As the footage of their relationship, including this interaction between the two brides, was played, a behind the scenes clip from Hugo Armstrong, who was on the night out too, also aired. This video, which showed Hugo in a corridor talking to the show producers, revealed some shocking things about what Dan had actually said to the boys on that night.
Hugo said: "I don't want to throw any of the boys under the bus, you had Dan being like 'I can't stand her but we just say yes to try and make it to the end. She is the last person I'd be attracted to. She's 100% not my type...' Dude, all that kind of stuff..."
This admission caused Dan to fume and stare Hugo down, viciously, from afar. But his reaction was quickly shut down by a strong Sandy who told him to stop as she said: "I know what you're trying to do".
No final word from Harrison and Bronte?!
Unfortunately, viewers didn't quite get all the juice they were after as one of the experiment's most explosive couples, Bronte and Harrison, didn't get their chance to discuss their relationship with the experts - or at least, not on our screens. And viewers were gutted.
One took to social media to say: Disappointed half of the couples were left off the MAFS reunion with no grilling. They were the best ones to rip into!!" while another added: "Why haven’t we seen half the couples on this final episode? You can’t tell me Brontë and Harrison would of been boring tv #MAFSAU I feel robbed." Read more on that here.
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