Married at First Sight on Channel 9 – A few days away at a Couples Retreat in Byron Bay should leave you feeling relaxed and revitalised, right?
Apparently not if it’s a Married At First Sight Retreat, where the itinerary includes scheduled drama at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Stream every episode of Married At First Sight for free on 9Now.
The couples are back at Skye Suites after the hectic getaway saw personal trainer Jack make an offensive ‘whale’ joke before Eden finally lifted the lid on the secret she’d been hiding – that Sara had met up with her ex.
Heading into the Dinner Party, Tristan is still “emotionally fried” by Jack’s whale comment. “It’s annoying me how much it rocked me,” he tells cameras.
With the whole ‘whale’ incident turning out to be another notch in Jack’s bad behaviour belt, everyone is wondering – what else needs to happen for Tori to say enough is enough?
The answer? Something worse than him calling someone a whale, telling a bride to “put a muzzle on” and offering his wife up to another groom.
Tori says “there’s no denying [she’s] very disappointed in Jack” but “everybody makes mistakes”.
And any minute now, Tori should break out into Hannah Montana’s Nobody’s Perfect.
DINNER PARTY DEBRIEF 5: Dom and Ella explode as Sara’s secret meet-up with her ex is exposed
But while everybody is preparing for Jack to be in the hot seat tonight, they’re in the dark about the shocking claim that Sara has met up with her ex.
“I feel really guilty about what I know. It’s been eating me alive and it’s brought out the worst in my anxiety,” Eden sighs.
“I feel sick.”
EXCLUSIVE: Jack offers an explanation for his shocking ‘whale’ comment
Dinner Party
A loved-up Sara and Tim are the first to arrive, and they’re smooching and toasting Champagne. It’s cute… for now.
It’s only fitting Sara wore black, because tonight is going to be a funeral for the trust she and Tim have in their relationship.
But before we attend the wake, we’re making a pit stop on Jack’s apology tour and we’re getting front row seats.
WATCH: Lucinda runs a spiritual workshop with the group and the results are hilarious
Jack apologises to Tristan
Knowing that the group are going to be quick to berate him, Jack acts fast and pulls Tristan and his papa bear Timothy over to apologise for the whole “whale” debacle.
Clearly this is the first time Jack has ever apologised to someone because as far as apologies go, this one is highly unusual.
As Tristan explains that he’s been “spiralling” since the comment, Jack cuts him off and tells Tristan to “say less” so that he can explain himself.
“I made a stupid comment at the pool, it was a joke,” Jack begins. “I’m going to learn from this because you never know who is around.
“Timothy brought it up again which triggered you…” Sure, Jack. Tell Tristan what he thinks.
As Tristan interjects to give his side of the story, Jack again silences him again saying: “Let me speak”. The audacity.
As a personal trainer, Jack says “this one really hit home for [him]” and he offers Tristan an apology gift – a supplement store gift card. No words.
There’s more from the ‘I’m sorry’ gift store, Jack gives Tristan a key chain engraved with the phrase, ‘you are enough’.
While the experts and Australia are raging at their screens over Jack’s clearly very insincere apology, Tristan welcomes it with open arms.
“I understand that it was a mistake that was made,” Tristan shrugs the whole thing off. Oh sweet, forgiving Tristan. We can’t say we’d have done the same.
Papa Timothy is certainly “not buying” Jack’s apology but he stays tight-lipped because Tristan is finally so happy.
“He’s trying to make himself look better but he couldn’t care less,” Timothy says of Jack’s apology.
EPISODE 23 RECAP: Eden reveals the secret text that’s been tearing her apart
Expert Alessandra and bride Lauren are on the same page, as they both think that Jack’s apology gift is sending the message that there’s something wrong with Tristan.
“Are you kidding me?” Alessandra winces at the whole situation.
And expert Mel Schilling is quite literally banging her head against a table after hearing the lacklustre apology. We think we’re off to do the same.
Sara is exposed
From one personal rebrand to another, Sara is at one end of the dinner table talking about how her and Tim have “made the biggest comeback”.
And as Sara is out on the campaign trail painting her relationship out to be perfect, Eden is splitting at the seams knowing it’s all about to come crashing down.
“Tim needs to know the truth,” Eden finally decides enough is enough.
Eden and Jayden decide to whisk Sara and Tim to the outside lounge for what the couple might assume is an impromptu double date.
But Sara is totally blindsided when Eden gives her this ultimatum: “I’m going to give you the opportunity to tell Tim what you did last weekend otherwise we will do it.
“He’s seen the messages, we will tell him if you don’t tell him.”
Sara oh so casually says, “I ran into my ex,” as if it’s all going to end there.
But Eden didn’t spend a whole week tearing her hair out just for Sara to sweep it under the rug.
After Eden pulls her up, Sara corrects herself and says ,”OK I met up with my ex – but it wasn’t a date!”
Having been lied to in past relationships, Tim just wants the truth from Sara.
Sara isn’t so forthcoming. So naturally, Jayden fills Tim (and us) on some of the important details.
Jayden explains that in Sara’s texts to Eden she asks for a top so she can “look good for her ex” and that there was also a 🤫 emoji. And there’s nothing like a damning emoji to confirm that you were in fact being particularly sneaky.
After hearing it all, Tim is in the dumps of despair. He’s physically in the room but emotionally and mentally he’s checked out, almost as if he’s having an out of body experience.
He’s most likely having flashbacks to when Sara refused to do the phone swapping task and when she cancelled three dates in a row on him. All the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit together.
Sara and Tim are left to their own devices so that they can proceed with the next steps, obviously being for Sara to apologise and beg for Tim’s forgiveness.
But she completely skips the phrase ‘I’m sorry’.
Instead she says, “I don’t know what else to say. Nothing happened but I did hang out with him, yes.”
Fed up with it all, Tim storms off.
“I’m not OK, I feel lied to, strung along, heartbroken. I’ve been played for a fool,” he tells cameras.
“I tried so hard to meet her needs and expectations and it was never enough for her.
“It’s pretty obvious Sara still has feelings for [her ex] and she’s still sleeping with him.
“Whatever she says, in my mind she’s just a liar.”
With Sara and Tim both off in their own corners self-soothing, Eden shares the news with the group.
Everyone is shocked and Jack is chuffed that he is no longer the focus of the groups’ scrutiny and he takes a backseat for the night.
Sara still makes no attempt to locate her husband and instead returns to the Dinner Party to do some serious damage control.
“I didn’t cheat on the guy, I didn’t do anything that terrible but I know the group will make a big deal of it when it really isn’t,” she says.
Sara’s denial is very much giving Bill Clinton circa 1998. Any minute now Sara should be saying, “I did not have sexual relations with that (wo)man.”
And almost right on cue, she does – just not in those exact words.
“I didn’t cheat on Tim, I didn’t do anything with my ex,” she says.
“I didn’t want to tell Tim that I was seeing my ex because I didn’t want him to get insecure.”
While Sara is doing her best to clear her name, she’s lost sight of her husband Tim who she still has not apologised to or located.
But it’s clear that Sara hasn’t learned very much from her PR boss bestie Lauren, because the more Sara tries to explain herself the more she digs herself into a hole.
It soon comes out that she lied to Tim about her whereabouts and told him she was puppy sitting when she wasn’t.
And the cherry on top of this whole disaster? It turns out Sara slept with her ex one month before the experiment – while he had a girlfriend. Yowza.
COMPETITION: Win a $15,000 cruise holiday to see the Northern Lights
And as she realises she’s slipped up and let this fact be known, Sara explodes at the entire group.
“I HAVE NEVER EVER CHEATED ON A PARTNER AND I CAN F–KING CONTEST TO THAT!” she screams.
“YOU’RE QUESTIONING MY MORALS MY CHARACTER BUT HOW MANY OF YOU HERE HAVE CHEATED ON A PARTNER, RAISE YOUR F–KING HAND,” Sara signs off her time at the Dinner Party.
Sara then storms out and demands to go home.
While we might be seeing the back of Sara for now, we won’t be seeing the last of her as she faces the music and the expert at Sunday’s Commitment Ceremony.
Our trusty Season 9 BFFS Dom and Ella have recapped this entire episode too… and you’ll want to hear what they said in the video below.
Married At First Sight airs Sunday at 7:00pm and Monday to Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now. Catch up on every episode of MAFS for free on 9Now.
Stream every episode of Married At First Sight for free on 9Now.
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Recap is courtesy of Lauren Attard at Channel 9
You can read the full recap HERE which includes additional content and video
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