There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’ but there is in Intimacy Week and this episode marks the beginning of Melissa’s favourite week.
“Sex is back on the table and I cannot contain my excitement,” Melissa squeals.
But Melissa and Josh’s week doesn’t get off to the saucy start she’s hoping for. The pair have a bit of an awkward morning as they fumble through a conversation revolving around bread and butter.
Even so, Intimacy Week has Melissa in a hopeful mood.
“He knows that I like sourdough so maybe this is his way of coming in,” Melissa says, picking up on Josh’s signals.
“All I can do is keep showing up and I need to meet him halfway”.
Down the hallway things aren’t looking as upbeat for Bronte and Harrison.
“There is so much going through my mind right now, in all honesty I should’ve written ‘leave’,” she tells Harrison.
Bronte and Harrison have a massive blow-up
But Bronte is even more confused considering Harrison sent her a text before the Commitment Ceremony that said ‘I’m not leaving’.
“You literally texted me ‘I’m not leaving’ yet you wrote leave,” Bronte says, clearly still trying to process what happened.
Harrison is adamant he said no such thing.
When Bronte goes through her texts she discovers the exact wording of Harrison’s message: “Hey thanks for today it was really nice for us to talk about it all, thanks for sharing all you did, I’m not going anywhere.”
According to Harrison the phrases “I’m not leaving” and “I’m not going anywhere” are not interchangeable so he yells Eureka and claims victory in this lovers’ – or loathers’ – tiff.
But he takes it a step further when he accuses Bronte of the ‘G’ word – yep, gaslighting.
“You’re gaslighting me,” he snaps.
“You’re saying I said something I didn’t say.
“It’s totally different, you’re twisting it.”
Bronte reacts as any normal person would and storms out before her head explodes.
Harrison stands by his case saying, “That is textbook gaslighting, I’m not going to sit there and cop that.”
“I won’t allow Bronte to sit there and play the victim.”
Alessandra’s Intimacy Workshops
While everyone’s feeling hot under the collar from Bronte and Harrison’s showdown, clinical sexologist Alessandra Rampolla thinks it’s the perfect time to run Intimacy Workshops for the brides and grooms.
For Melissa, the Intimacy Workshop couldn’t come at a better time.
“Oh my god I could scream with excitement,” she wheezes.
But Alessandra says “intimacy doesn’t equate to sex” and I’m sure Melissa is disintegrating somewhere in the background.
Alessandra hands out “goody bags” and let me assure you these are not the kind you’d get leaving a kids’ birthday party.
The first item in Alessandra’s goody bag “scares the s— out of” Alyssa who says “the Mormon girl inside her” is struggling with talking about sex so openly.
But Alessandra assures her “it’s something she can get over”.
On that note, Alessandra encourages all the girls to “try out all the goodies in their box” – the cardboard box that is.
Over at the grooms’ Intimacy Workshop, Alessandra opens up their world to a whole bunch of new things, so much so that Josh needs to take notes.
“I really enjoyed Alessandra’s workshop, it was a really good insight into how I want to approach my relationship,” Josh tells cameras.
For others, Alessandra’s workshop proves to be too much.
“I was like a sponge soaking up all the water but eventually if you keep pouring water on the sponge it just doesn’t soak anything up anymore because it’s completely full,” Jesse says.
After Alessandra says that Aussie dudes don’t have game, she leaves the boys with a challenge rather than a goodie bag: to plan the perfect date night for your partner.
Date Night
Some of the grooms are frantically searching Google for ideas while others know exactly what to do.
Ollie nails the brief by recreating his and Tahnee’s Fijian honeymoon and Dan woos Sandy with some Italian cuisine.
Date night isn’t travelling as well for Harrison, who’s currently not on speaking terms with his wife.
Even so, Harrison still plans a date and after texting Bronte to ask her out he’s hit with a firm “no thanks”.
“What in his pea brain would make him think that I want to spend more than two seconds with him?” Bronte tells cameras. Play Video
Harrison takes himself on a date
Despite the rejection Harrison says “whether she likes it or not, Bronte and I are still going to go on this date.”
And they do. Well, kind of.
Not able to convince his actual wife to go out on a date with him, Harrison instead takes a framed picture out for a stroll.
“This has honestly been one of the best dates I’ve had in a long time, we’ve done everything I wanted to do,” Harrison tells cameras.
Jesse is determined to prove to Claire that “he’s trying”, so he organises an adorable tenpin bowling date inside the apartment.
“I was in a bit of a mood from last night’s Commitment Ceremony and for Jesse to plan a playful relaxing date it was so cute,” Claire gushes.
The date does wonders for the couple who open up about their position. Jesse admits “that he’s got a bit of a jealousy thing” and wants to get to know Claire and face his inner demons.
“Mine and Claire’s connection after tonight has taken a healthy step in the right direction,” Jesse tells cameras.
With things looking up for the couple, Alessandra decides to pay them a visit and give them an exercise to further push them in the right direction.
As part of the task, Claire and Jesse have to hug each other for a solid five minutes and feel each other’s heartbeats.
At first Jesse looks like he wants to recoil at the thought of the exercise but admits “after a few minutes he feels himself becoming more and more relaxed”.
With renewed energy, Jesse decides he wants to “restore a bit of dignity” and make up for the last couple of days.
“It’s no secret that I overstepped the boundary on that fateful night,” Jesse tells cameras. And of course by “that fateful night” he means the night he bashed on Janelle and Adam’s door and accused Adam of doing something naughty with Claire.
He gifts Janelle and Adam a box of champers and a box of chocolates to say sorry for the whole ordeal and Jesse feels 1000 tonnes lighter when they accept his apology.
“I didn’t expect them to be so accepting,” he admits to cameras.
“I’ve got nothing but respect for Jesse for coming and putting out the olive branch,” Adam says.
And the unlikely bros hug out all their differences.
Melissa and Josh on the other hand, are not enjoying as much physical touch as Jesse and Adam.
And even after a fantastic date night where the pair constructed a Thor’s Hammer LEGO set, Melissa has woken up on the wrong side of the bed after not receiving many cuddles or kisses from Josh.
Melissa decides to confront Josh over her concerns that he has a problem with intimacy.
“I feel one hundred million billion trillion percent that Josh has an intimacy issue,” Melissa says, placing a bet with the camera man.
Melissa has reached her wits’ end and snaps at Josh: “You have a problem with intimacy Josh and I don’t know how to crack it.
“I’m living with you, I’m dating you. It’s uncomfortable. You don’t kiss, you don’t touch, I don’t know what is wrong.
“What you can’t keep up, does it de-man you?”
Like he did during their last argument, Josh excuses himself to get a glass of water to cool down and in all fairness even I need a water break after Melissa’s latest outburst.
“It feels pretty horrible to feel someone say all these things to you over and over and over,” Josh admits.
“All I’ve ever wanted from Mel is a deep conversation to try and get to know her more.”
But Josh doesn’t think Melissa is capable of emotional intimacy and he isn’t shy to tell her.
Melissa blows up at Josh over their lack of intimacy
The two go round and round in circles and by their fourth lap around, Josh is mentally checked out.
“I just don’t know if I can be in this experiment any more,” he confesses.
“Get married they said, it’d be fun they said.”
Married At First Sight continues Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm and Sunday at 7.00pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
