Married at First Sight on Channel 9 – This episode of Married At First Sight starts unlike any other – with a video diary entry from Ellie.
If past seasons of MAFS have taught us anything, it’s that ominous self-taped confessionals rarely mean anything good.
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Ellie explains that while she was out to dinner with Ben he asked if she thought he was in the experiment for genuine reasons or there to promote his podcast.
“I was like, ‘I believe you’re here for the right reasons’,” Ellie explains.
It seems like it was a pretty nice chat… until it wasn’t.
“He actually mocked me and said, ‘Oh, you’re here for the right reasons’ – it was really high pitched… honestly, it struck a nerve.”
The last time we checked Ben was a tour guide not a ventriloquist, so we’re not sure why he’s attempting a bad imitation of his wife.
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Ellie says she feels “really stupid” and “belittled” following the incident. “The way he treated me was really, really awful,” she sighs.
She wasn’t before, but now Ellie is genuinely questioning Ben’s intentions.
Things are still feeling frosty later that day.
“There was no yelling or anything, but Ellie’s extremely sensitive and it’s hard to have a conversation with someone that’s really emotional,” Ben tells cameras. Is mimicking your wife in a high-pitched voice a winning conversation, we hear you ask? No.
It’s also not a great thing to do to your “extremely sensitive” wife for a cheap laugh. Major red flag. We bet Ellie’s cousin Jordan is sitting at home saying “I told you so!”
“It just makes me feel like I have tonnes of doubts and if he’s not here for the right reasons I will leave,” Ellie makes her stance firm.
Alessandra’s Intimacy Workshops
With Ellie and Ben flappable over their differences there’s no better time than now for relationship expert and clinical sexologist Alessandra Rampolla to hold one of her Intimacy Workshops.
First up: the boys.
After Richard’s very sweet declaration that he and Andrea are making a “soul bond”, Jack takes the talking stick off him and shares with the group the same X-rated secret he unveiled to his wife a day earlier.
“You know they’re rented beds, hey?” Timothy pipes up.
But golden showers aside, Jack says that he’s holding back on being intimate with Tori because he just doesn’t have that sexual energy with her.
“I think she’s sexy, I just don’t have this feeling that I want to have sex with her ASAP,” Jack admits.
Timothy is stunned to hear that Jack isn’t sexually attracted to Tori, noting that it’s obvious that she’s totally into Jack.
“I wonder if she knows,” Timothy ponders.
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Alessandra calls on Ben to share something insightful with the group. “It’s been easy, Ellie is terrific and I think she’s happy with me,” he chirps.
We’re not sure where Ben has been for the past 24 hours, because his wife is quite literally considering leaving the experiment if his intentions aren’t pure.
In an attempt to stop Ben from completely detonating his own relationship, Alessandra reminds Ben that he and Ellie probably need to sort out their differences about wanting or not wanting kids because that could be a deal breaker for her.
“Yeah,” he shrugs, completely invested (not).
When the ladies assemble for their workshop, Alessandra is quick to hear Ellie’s side of things.
Ellie reveals she’s “not feeling really connected to Ben” and explains the whole mocking incident to the group.
“I’m so sorry that happened,” Alessandra says shocked.
The other brides throw in their two cents and they feel “something fishy is going on here”.
With Ben chopping and changing his mind about wanting to have kids, the other brides are also doubtful of his intentions.
Most of the other brides are saddened but not surprised by Ben’s behaviour.
“It didn’t surprise me, no. Ben’s an idiot, he is just this controlling man-child.” Tori says.
Ellie and Ben
Following everything that was aired out at both the brides’ and grooms’ workshops, Ben has returned to Ellie with the most unexpected epiphany.
Ben begins: “I had a phone chat with my sister-in-law and I had my niece and nephew in the background. They were screaming and crying… but it was making me smile. It just made me realise what I want.”
Earplugs? Is that what you want Ben?
Ellie scratches her head as to what the point of this bizarre story is. “Does that mean you’re here for the right reasons?” she asks.
“It means that I want to settle down proper,” Ben says, as if he’s just awarded Ellie a million dollars.
“I do want to have kids in the future. It just hit me today!”
How’s that for convenient timing.
Ellie, like us, is dumbfounded. “WHAT?!” she yelps.
Looking for a silver lining, Ellie thinks that the sheer coincidence of the timing of Ben’s epiphany might mean that they’re on the same wavelength after all. For your sake, we hope so Ellie.
“OK… it’s a bit random but I’m pleased to hear that answer. Better late than never!” she beams.
Tori and Jack
Tori has had the hots for Jack since day dot, and she wants to be on him like white on rice.
Despite this, they still have not consummated their relationship and so to dial up the passion Alessandra has tasked the pair with the genital cupping exercise
“Cup it, don’t touch it,” Tori repeats the rules as a reminder.
For Tori it’s like dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit but Jack “isn’t feeling the surge yet”.
While other couples are cuddling, Tori and Jack are playing throw and catch and we don’t think these are the balls Tori wants to be playing with.
“I look at the other couples in the experiment and they’re sleeping together and I’m like –why aren’t I sleeping with my husband?” she sighs.
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As Tori’s ultimate wing-woman, Alessandra slips another card under their door and tasks the pair with a five minute make-out session.
“Who kisses for five minutes. That’s a long time,” Jack remarks.
Tori clearly thinks five minutes isn’t long enough but Jack bargains her down to two minutes.
The pair get to work and Tori later commentates on the kissing session like she’s writing an erotic novel. We can verify the word “firm” was used in excess.
“The sexual tension is absolutely there. I can feel that and I know that he feels that too,” Tori squeals.
Jack… is not in fact feeling that too.
“Tori likes the attention from me. She likes me to kiss and hug her but it’s not like a big wow factor for me,” he tells cameras.
“It’s not there for me yet, but I 100 per cent like to be desired in a relationship. I love having power and control and I know I’ve got her where I want her.”
I think we may have ran out of red flags.
Cassandra and Tristan
Intimacy Week has been a struggle for Cassandra and Tristan and she says the temperature of things are “a bit cooler than usual”.
With Tristan’s energy at an all time low, Cassandra admits she’s a bit turned off but wants her attraction to come back because Tristan is “phenomenal”.
Not one to lose hope, Alessandra comes knocking.
She asks the pair the all important question: Are they attracted to one another?
It’s a ‘yes’ from Tristan but his own self doubts have gotten in the way and Cassandra is afraid to admit she no longer feels the attraction she once did.
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“His energy, his mood, these thought he’s latched onto,” Cassandra explains the reasons for her subsiding feelings.
“I’m missing Tristan, I’m missing him so much and what we had.”
Alessandra asks the couple to stare into each other’s eyes to try and recapture some of that spark.
And almost like magic, it works!
“I instantly felt better,” Cassandra beams.
”He doesn’t want to hurt me, he doesn’t want to push me away. He’s just as scared as I am.”
We’ve got all our fingers and toes crossed that these two will work it out.
While we do love a happy ending, we also love the drama and there will be absolutely no shortage of it at tomorrow night’s Dinner Party where there’s set to be blow-ups and storm-outs.
Our booking is at 7:30pm, see you then!
Married At First Sight continues 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
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