Recap | Married at First Sight Season 12 Episode 21 – the latest episode recap on TV Central from Channel 9. Watch the show on 9Now.
It’s the morning of the fourth Commitment Ceremony and the couples are marking a huge milestone: they’re now more than halfway through the experiment!
However, Lauren and Clint cheers their coffees not to that, but instead to surviving “another boganic Dinner Party”.
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In another apartment, Jacqui and Ryan are feeling closer than ever after they took on Rhi and Jeff‘s alleged crimes against humanity together.
”I feel like we have an intellectual connection, an emotional connection, spiritual connection,” she beams, but nothing can compare to their robust discussions about data centres.
While they’re riding the cloud nine (yes sorry that is a niche data centre joke), the other couples unpack a very difficult Dinner Party.
Many are still processing Paul’s shock confession. At the Dinner Party, he told the group he’d “lost control” and punched a hole in a door after learning Carina had slept with a rapper in her past.
EXCLUSIVE: Evelyn and Duncan react to Paul’s admission at the fourth Dinner Party
The participants could see the remorse on his face, but they all agree there is absolutely no justification for his actions.
Carina and Paul are anxious about facing the experts, but Paul knows he deserves whatever is coming his way.
Awhina and Adrian are still living separately, and while she is intent on getting the experts’ advice following the disastrous lunch with their families, Adrian doesn’t think they need to hear about it at all.
”It’s a touchy subject. Family’s the most important thing, those things should be kept private,” he says.
EXCLUSIVE: Evelyn and Duncan react to Paul’s admission at the fourth Dinner Party
Hmmmmm. It’s not great logic given the very public reality TV show of it all, but he’s adamant.
Down the hall, Tony’s prepping for the evening alone. He hasn’t seen or heard from Morena since the Dinner Party.
Her absence is glaringly obvious as everyone arrives to face the experts – as Tony sits solo for some impromptu Tony Time!
Morena and Tony
Or just Tony?
John Aiken calls him up first to unpack Morena’s absence.
“I feel a little bit… sad,” Tony says.
He shares his perspective on the Dinner Party, when there’s a noise.
Wait a damn minute, someone’s at the door…
“Did you really think I wasn’t gonna come? Did you really think I was gonna give him the last word?” Morena speaks, waltzing into the room.
She sits down and after a lot of awkward blinking, Tony continues sharing his point-of-view.Play Video
Morena makes a dramatic entrance to the Commitment Ceremony
He states Morena is too much of a personality for him and naturally, she’s not real happy to hear that.
From her perspective, she feels she let Tony dull her shine, wasted her time and made a mockery of the experiment.
She is especially frustrated that things went so wrong after they had such a nice wedding day.
“So you feel like there was a connection?” John asks.
“Oh my god, there was a penetration,” she replies passionately.
I don’t think that means what she thinks it does!
Sadly, she felt this deeply penetrating chemistry (apologies) disappear as soon as Tony learned her age.Play Video
Morena says ‘good riddance’ to Tony
The experts are disappointed their relationship has fallen so far from grace, but it’s time for the decision.
Tony opts to ‘leave’, writing “until we meet again” with a sad face.
Morena is more… to the point.
“Good riddance,” her card reveals, before she storms out of the room for good.
Jamie and Dave
Jamie and Dave have had a good week. Although, when do Jamie and Dave NOT have a good week?
Their family got along, they can see a future together and their feelings are growing by the day.
But as they gush about each other, there are whispers from across the room.
Adrian is telling Awhina not to talk about “that family thing”, which she does not appreciate.
Back to Jamie and Dave – it’s real, it’s serious, and it’s ‘staying’ around for another week!
Jacqui and Ryan
Even the experts are perplexed by how well Jacqui and Ryan are going this week. It’s all smiles, and there are no rap sheets to go over.
Hey, it may be confusing, but something’s working.
Speaking of confusing! Awhina and Adrian are still whispering like the naughty kids at the back of the class.Play Video
Adrian asks Awhina not to expose their disaster family visit
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Awhina says, almost speaking over a very important development:
Jacqui and Ryan have been intimate. Twice.
Their decisions are easy this week: ‘stay’ and ‘stay’.
Rhi and Jeff
Family and Friends Week has progressed Rhi and Jeff’s relationship even further and Jeff is likely just days away from being welcomed into Rhi’s family group chat.
”Rhi’s mums got me on the text message already, we’re texting each other,” he says.
Jeff is enjoying spending every waking moment with Rhi and– OH GOD AWHINA AND ADRIAN ARE STILL WHISPERING.
”Don’t do it though,” Adrian says. As they disagree, Veronica takes on the role of teacher and shushes them.
Thank you, Veronica!
Our smiley pair of Rhi and Jeff reveal their decisions, and they’re joint ‘stays’ of course.
Awhina and Adrian
Oh good. It’s time to stop whispering and get it all out in the open… or maybe not, if Adrian gets his way.
”I’m not going to go into too many details, but it didn’t go well,” he tells the experts of their week.
Alessandra is like… but it was filmed, dude. We’re all going to see it.
She asks Awhina for her opinion, and Awhina simply shakes her head – but it’s clear there is more she wants to say.
As Adrian says they want to get back to focusing on the positives of their relationship, Dave says he’s “not buying that”.
He encourages Adrian to see how Awhina is hiding things deep down.
“She looks at you for permission to speak, mate. Ask her,” Dave continues, which Adrian calls “bulls–t”.
That’s obviously a very serious claim, and John asks Awhina if that is how she feels.
“It’s not that I feel like I need permission. It’s that sometimes, I feel like it’ll cause a rift between us if I delve into too much detail about certain things and I don’t want to hurt Adrian’s feelings,” she replies.
She’s confused because even though she doesn’t like Adrian’s recent behaviour, she still has feelings for him.Play Video
Awhina and Adrian ‘downplay’ their marital issues
John asks her straight, four times, why she likes him.
Finally, she answers that she likes the way he looks at her and the love and respect he has for his family.
On the flipside, Adrian likes that Awhina is kind and empathetic.
It’s decision time and no one is surprised that Adrian has yet again chosen to ‘stay’. Then Awhina reveals hers as well: ‘stay’.
Adrian grins, while other participants are visibly frustrated and doubtful of their ability to turn it around.
Veronica and Eliot
They might not be able to agree on the level of vulnerability in Eliot’s confession letter, but at least they can agree their relationship is deep in the trenches.
Eliot shares the details of his letter with the experts and says for him, Veronica’s reaction was “like a knife in the chest”.
As he speaks, Mel watches Veronica.
EXCLUSIVE: The MAFS 2025 stars spill on their most shocking dating stories
She jumps in and asks if Veronica knows how dismissive her body language is. And she does.
“Veronica, it actually feels like you’re being quite judgemental here,” she says.
Veronica agrees but reiterates that she didn’t gain any understanding of him from this story. She wants something else from him, like… his favourite colour?Play Video
The experts ask Veronica to be more ‘empathetic’
The experts, and everyone on the couch, cannot wrap their heads around this.
John calls out her lack of empathy and coaches her to explain why her reaction was wrong, leading to an apology.
Despite the challenges, they both believe they have a lot more to learn – so it’s two ‘stays’.
Lauren and Clint
So far, there’s not a lot of romance blossoming here – and the lack of sparks is not being helped by Lauren walking in on Clint doing something she really didn’t want to see.
Ooooooh, WHAT ONE EARTH COULD IT BE?
”I come home and instantly know something’s not right,” she recalls. “I had to divert my gaze away. I pretty much just shutdown.”
Why does it sound like she walked in on him while he was getting a spray tan in a paper G-string?
”…Clint was doing the dishes,” she finally reveals.
WHAT.
She explains that Clint’s ability to clean up after himself is not ‘Alpha male’ enough for her.
He reckons he’s pretty Alpha, and needs to do some Googling to learn why being able to use a dishwater and fold laundry says otherwise.Play Video
Lauren reveals the shocking reason she’s annoyed at Clint
Meanwhile, Lauren offers an extremely unconvincing “yes” to Alessandra’s question about whether she thinks Clint can step up and be less of a considerate partner.
No one believes her, but Lauren and Clint both write ‘stay’ so at least we’ll be able to find out.
Beth and Teejay
Beth and Teejay are “two idiots who get along really well,” which is not the usual criteria the experts look for in pairings but if it works, it works!
They’re very comfortable with each other, are having a good time getting intimate and are keen to stick around!
It’s another double ‘stay’.
Carina and Paul
There are obviously a lot of uncomfortable things to unpack as Carina and Paul take to the couch.
They recount the story of their argument and Paul’s reaction to the experts, who listen on disturbed by what they’re hearing.
Alessandra quizzes Paul on why he judged Carina for her past, which he denies is the case.
He also says that although Carina apologised to him, he couldn’t take it seriously because it was “I’m sorry, but”.
Alessandra fumes. None of that matters, because there is no excuse for punching doors: “Period, full stop. That intimidates,” she reacts.
Carina says she does not condone Paul’s behaviour, but they are still learning each other’s boundaries. She claims that his reaction shows that Paul has strong feelings for her and that it is indicative of them being passionate Europeans.
Mel and Alessandra immediately jump in, making it clear that this is absolutely not normal behaviour in a relationship.
”This is not how you show love. This is deeply troubling,” Mel tells her.
Carina is really uncomfortable hashing it all out, but reiterates that she is not scared of Paul.
John draws a very clear line in the sand: “This is toxic, inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour that you must see now,” he says.
“Frankly, I don’t feel very good about this. I want you to tell us why the three experts should not kick you out of the experiment right now.”
An emotional Paul expresses his regret and shame. He wants to continue to build on his really strong feelings for Carina in the experiment.
At decision time, they each write ‘stay’.Play Video
The experts confront Paul over his shocking admission
The experts put Paul “on notice”, and explain that he will be able to move forward with help from services offering de-escalation strategies “to ensure that you don’t ever let yourself do this again”.
Tomorrow night, it’s time for the Couples’ Retreat – we’ll see you there at 7:30pm.
A statement from Channel 9 and Endemol Shine on the topics covered in this episode: “Nine and Endemol Shine Australia have treated this matter extremely seriously.
“Our first priority at all times has been the wellbeing and safety of the participants and after extensive consultation with Carina, she wanted to remain in the experiment with Paul. We continue to provide support for Carina and Paul.
“Nine and Endemol Shine take their obligations in respect to the health and wellbeing of the participants of this program extremely seriously. All participants have access to the show psychologist and welfare resources during filming, during broadcast and once the program has ended.
“Nine also have an additional service for participants should they like or need further individual and confidential psychological support. This service gives participants access to clinicians to support those involved in the program in relation to their experiences. This service is available to all participants for as long as they need it, it does not end.”
If you or someone you know were triggered by anything in this episode, visit www.healthdirect.gov.au.
Married At First Sight airs Sunday at 7pm and Monday to Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
Stream every episode of Married At First Sight for free on 9Now
CREDIT: By Chelsea McLaughlin at Nine Entertainment
Please note: This recap first appeared on 9Now located HERE
Please note: This recap was written by Chelsea McLaughlin and made available on TV Central with permission by Nine
TV Central Nine content HERE
Recap | Married at First Sight Season 12 Episode 21
