There’s two words on everyone’s lips ahead of the Dinner Party – butt dial.
“I received numerous pocket calls from my husband Rupert and I could hear everything the boys were saying, particularly Hugo and Dan,” Evelyn tells cameras.
Evelyn’s ready to go full ‘beast mode’ at the Dinner Party because she thinks Hugo and Dan’s behaviour is “not on”.
“I’m definitely going to hold the particular husbands accountable for this because I have a moral compass and the type of things that were said were pretty disgusting,” Evelyn says.
While Evelyn prepares for all out war, Rupert can’t believe his own dumb luck.
“Umm I’m an idiot, yep 100 per cent,” Rupert shakes his head.
“I feel like a little bit of a rat even though I didn’t mean to do it.
“But it’s one of those things that if you didn’t say it you wouldn’t have to worry about it, so… I guess the truth always comes out.”
Speaking of having something to worry about, you’d think that Dan would fall into that category but he feels “good and refreshed” ahead of the Dinner Party.
This is despite Sandy moving out overnight and Dan being well aware that Evelyn told Sandy about him lying about being out with the boys – when he said he was with his daughter.
He thinks Evelyn is brewing a “storm inside a teacup” and thinks that tonight’s Dinner Party will really be a “non-event”. Hmmm. We’ll see about that one Dan.
Cocktail Hour
It’s not long before Evelyn starts spilling to the other wives what she heard Dan say on the butt dial: “I heard Dan saying some nasty sh–. I know for a fact he was showing them [the boys] how hot his previous ex-girlfriends were.”
“Rupert came back drunk and told me that Dan was holding up pictures of his ex-girlfriends, belittling Sandy saying that his other girlfriends were way better looking than Sandy was.
The experts watch on from the observation room and are appalled, calling Dan’s comments “disrespectful”, “vile” and “misogynistic”.
Alyssa throws her two cents in and confirms that Dan had told Duncan not to mention that he was out at the boys’ night.
While most of the heat is on Dan, Evelyn reminds the brides that Hugo said some “pretty messed up stuff” too.
Tayla and Hugo stroll into the Dinner Party blissfully unaware of all that’s unfolded and Hugo “can’t see anything that there would be drama about”.
But it’s not long before Evelyn bursts his bubble and addresses him – and half the group – about what he said about Tayla.
“I complained about how the first two weeks had been going and I complained about the stuff that was said on the couch,” Hugo tries to hold himself accountable.
But it seems he’s leaving out a few important details.
“You said you couldn’t stand her and you called her a ‘see you next Tuesday’,” Evelyn dishes the truth.
Hugo “doesn’t think” he would’ve called Tayla that name, but fesses up to saying everything else including that “he would want any other wife except for Tayla”.
“I feel pretty blindsided by this, I was out, I was drunk. I thought I was in a safe space with the guys and just vented,” Hugo makes excuses.
Rupert chimes in with this nugget of wisdom: “I think you should just say sorry”. And I think Rupert is the smartest groom of them all.
Tayla is shocked by the news that her husband has been badmouthing her: “I know that I’m blunt, but I tell the truth and I’ve had your back even though you’re probably the most annoying person I’ve ever met in my life.”
“All I’ve said is that you’re not my type and that’s as far as I’ve gone, so to hear that is actually really hurtful.
Of course there’s one other culprit still to enter the room – Dan.
But he’s not worried because he “hasn’t really said anything bad”.
“You guys were there,” Dan looks to some of the other grooms for support. But he’s met with stone cold silence, which is probably an indication that Dan really did say something that bad.
Dinner Party
Dan does his best to take control of the situation by asking Evelyn what she spoke to Sandy about.
But Evelyn plays a more strategic hand and gives Dan the chance to own up first.
A normally calm Dan starts to sweat a little as he wonders just how much Evelyn knows and how much he needs to dob himself in. So he fumbles some very vague excuse about “incompatibilities and misalignment” with Sandy.
“Somehow I don’t think you’re going to tell the truth here, Dan,” Queen Evelyn speaks.
Evelyn asks Dan if he did in fact hold up some photos of his ex-girlfriends and as if by magic, Dan magically regains his memory.
“Ah that’s just what I was about to say,” Dan fools literally nobody.
“Rupert asked me if I have a type and coming in here I never thought I did, but one of the things I’ve learned coming in here is I actually do have a type.”
“And that type is someone who’s quite active and into fitness and all that kind of stuff.”
Evelyn isn’t buying Dan’s nonsense and reminds him she “heard the entire conversation”.
Dan panics at the thought that Evelyn might’ve heard word for word what he said, so he looks for a different way out – he denies that he was even there when the butt dial was made.
But Duncan and Ollie – who were out with Dan – both tell cameras that Dan is being “inauthentic” and “is trying to play the crowd”. Thank you Duncan and Ollie for confirming our suspicions.
After a fair amount of arm twisting, Dan admits he showed photos of his ex-girlfriends but swears “it wasn’t in context in comparison” and “doesn’t understand how it’s disrespectful”.
By some saving grace, Hugo chooses this moment to speak up about his part of the butt dial scandal.
Hugo says he doesn’t remember using that type of language to describe his wife but admits that what he said was “out of order.”
“I was drunk, I know that doesn’t excuse it and I’m going to have to do a lot of work to make it up to Tayla,” Hugo says.
With Hugo putting his hands up as a guilty man, the crowd waits patiently for Dan to do the same.
And he does… kind of.
In a private chat with Sandy he offers her this apology: “I’m really sorry for the way that I made you feel and I really didn’t see that until a mirror was held up and it hurts me to know.”
“I’ve hurt you. I see you, I hear you and I feel you,” Dan regurgitates his memorised lines.
Dan says all the right things, but the experts question how genuine he is.
He also holds himself accountable to the whole group, telling the other brides and grooms what he said “wasn’t acceptable for any other ears”.
But just as he starts to get on track he tells the whole group that he and Sandy had sex.
“Why is he bringing that up now?” John Aiken asks the question we’re all thinking.
Sandy “can’t believe he said that in front of everyone else”.
“That in itself was betrayal to me,” she says.
With his defences dropping left, right and centre, Evelyn tries to get Dan while he’s already down and pulls him aside for a private chat.
“Dan deserves an academy award because the way he is able to maneouver out of any situation is honestly one of the best acts I’ve ever seen in my life,” she tells cameras.
She’s hoping a one-on-one will mean he has less places to hide.
But Dan denies he did anything wrong and does anything to convince Evelyn that he really is “into Sandy”.
“I love Sandy,” he lets slip before quickly clarifying he “loves her as a person”.
Evelyn and Dan play a cat and mouse game and Evelyn admits that Dan is “very good with his words” but she still doesn’t believe him.
Realising he’s not making an ally out of Evelyn, Dan puts an end to the chat: “I think we’re done with this conversation.”
Married At First Sight continues Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm and Sunday at 7.00pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
