Recap | Married at First Sight Season 12 Episode 9 – the latest episode recap on TV Central from Channel 9. Watch the show on 9Now.
Well, well, well, if it isn’t time for the participants to finally face John Aiken‘s judgey face.
After a rollercoaster Confessions Week, the couples will sit down in front of the experts for the experiment’s first Commitment Ceremony… and we predict it’s about to get spicy!
Stream every episode of Married At First Sight for free on 9Now
Before they even get there, Jacqui and Ryan start to argue about their past arguments.
It’s argumentception and it hurts my brain.
They’re each convinced that the experts will grill the other, but they’re not the only ones in the firing line.
Billy has a smile on his face at the prospect of calling Jake out for his shocking Photo Ranking Challenge comments, however Ashleigh doesn’t want her husband to be blindsided, so she tells him about her late-night gossip sesh with Sierah.
He takes it… poorly.
Jake claims Ash broke his trust by telling others exactly what he said in front of a camera crew from the reality TV show he signed up for.
MAFS EP 8 RECAP: Ashleigh is horrified as Jake shares the most shocking Photo Ranking ever and Adrian is caught in a lie
The other big question on everyone’s lips is ‘will Tim turn up?’ The groom ghosted bride Katie after storming out last week’s Dinner Party, but she’s hoping the experts will be able to give her some advice on moving forward.
The brides and grooms arrive and Tim is, as Katie expected, a no-show.
Before we know it, John’s giving his speech about how this is a pivotal part of the experiment… but then he’s interrupted.
Firstly, rude!
And secondly, woah.
Okay, grab your popcorn – it’s couch time!
Carina and Paul
The experts are quick to notice that this France and Italy alliance is looking very cosy and they are thrilled about it.
Both Carina and Paul think the experiment has given them a second chance after their real-life date fizzled.
We can always trust sexologist Alessandra Rampolla to ask the juicy questions, and she gets them to confirm they are “absolutely” being intimate.
“It wasn’t the first night of our marriage, I made him wait,” Carina says.
“A little bit,” Alessandra responds, to huge laughs from the group.
In a surprise to literally no one, they each choose ‘stay’ – with a love heart and some French flair.
EXCLUSIVE: The MAFS 2025 stars spill their honest views on cheating: ‘It depends’
Rhi and Jeff
Carina and Paul aren’t the only pair to have known each other before the experiment, and the experts love hearing the details of Rhi and Jeff‘s past.
“I slept over at his house a few times,” Rhi says.
Rhi admits she’s scared to take things further with Jeff again in case things fizzle out like they did in the past, but there is definitely more than just platonic feelings here!
It’s an easy ‘stay’ for both of them, as they hope for a little more romance in their future.
Ashleigh and Jake
Ash and Jake sit down with a continents worth of space between them and the experts waste no time asking why.
“We ended up having a really big blow-up because of the Photo Ranking task,” Ashleigh explains.
“I got quite upset from the way he spoke about some of the women. I know Jake doesn’t say anything with malice, but sometimes it can just come across extremely insensitive.”
Billy calls him out from the other side of the room, saying being disrespectful to women is not a joke.
“The comment I heard you say is she looks like someone that stands at the end of your bed with a knife. I really don’t like that, and I don’t think you need to be disrespectful to women,” he scathes.
Jake tries to say that Sierah has “an intimidating face” but “not in a bad way” and would you believe it, not one person in the room thinks this is a compliment.
To his horror, all of the disrespectful comments he said are then aired to the brides.
Jacqui is horrified after being labelled by Jake as someone with “crazy eyes” and Awhina says his words about her were ”disgusting”.
Jake says his “mouth goes before [his] brain picks up what’s happening”, but that’s not an excuse the experts care for once they learn all the things he actually said.
“You’re an adult and it’s a cop out,” Mel schools him. “You have responsibility for what comes out of your mouth.”
Ash says hearing Jake speak like that goes against everything she believes in and it’s impacted her feelings towards him, but in a shocking move she has written stay.
She wants to see him put his best foot forward next week and try build on what is otherwise a good match.
However, Jake doesn’t want to try again.
“I think trust is the biggest thing in a relationship, it’s not something I expected from Ash to actually voice those things to other people.
“I can’t trust Ash right now, and for that I actually said leave.”
The experiment’s rules are that when one writes ‘stay’ and one write ‘leave’ they stick around for another week, so a deflated Ash and Jake head back to the group.
We’ll have to wait and see if they can move past this major blip.
Jamie and Dave
Jamie and Dave are disgustingly adorable, as they gush about how they can be their authentic selves around each other.
“I’m a big love bug,” Jamie beams. 
There is absolutely no doubt ahead of the decision, but of course, they both have chosen to ‘stay’. Bring on even more sappiness next week!
Sierah and Billy
Despite a really successful wedding and honeymoon, Sierah admits that she’s let her insecurities get to her recently.
Basically, Billy is nice (and hot!) and it’s a very different experience for her.
”This is the first time I actually wouldn’t mind if this worked out, I can actually see it,” she says.
Billy says he loves her confidence, “even if it is a cover-up sometimes”, and the fact that she doesn’t take life too seriously.
They both feel like the other has their back and for that reason, they’d be silly billys (sorry) if they chose to do anything other than ‘stay’!
Jacqui and Ryan
Describing your relationship as a “mixed bag” is not exactly the romantic declaration the experts were hoping to hear out of these two, but we all know Ryan has a thing for brutal honesty!
Then he does something rather unprecedented…
He asks John why the bloody hell they “pretty much ignored what [they] said” during the matching process.
For example, Ryan would like to cook with a partner “and Jacqui hates cooking”.
Meanwhile, Jacqui doesn’t feel like Ryan listens to her. You see, he likes the air con to be cold and she does not, so she has to wear a jumper to bed.
Ahhh, there it is! John’s judgey face!
Despite this, they have bonded over their business savviness and love of… cryptocurrency.
Oh geez.
”We’re both super intelligent people,” Ryan beams.
John says they are focusing on superficial reasons they are not compatible, rather than deeper reasons that they are. Like their crypto chats.
If you are hoping we may be witness to one of those chats, which I am sure are extremely interesting, then you’re in luck – they’re both down to ‘stay’.
Morena and Tony
Tony is adamant that “everything’s good” in his marriage, but we cannot help but clock how far away they are sitting from one another.
He says his wedding day was a dream come true… but he stumbles ever so slightly over the pronunciation of Morena‘s name and after a stern correction, she declares “Tony doesn’t like talking”.
Alessandra says they need to find a balance between Morena’s desire for deep, profound chats and Tony’s more happy-go-lucky approach, and thankfully they’ll have a chance to do just that next week as they both ‘stay’.
Awhina and Adrian
This couch time is dominated by the issue that has plagued them since the wedding day: Adrian‘s uncertainty about dating someone with a child.
Despite his reluctance, he’s realised that Awhina is everything else he asked for.
“I can sit there worrying about all those problems within myself, or I just give it 100 per cent and if I do fall in love, those problems won’t be so big,” he explains.
Awhina is SO happy to hear this and he gets a big round-of-applause from the other participants too.
The experts are pleased too, especially because they also have “palpable” chemistry and are very much down to jump each other’s bones at any opportunity.
They ‘stay’, of course.
Katie and Tim
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for.
Katie gets the experts up to speed on Tim’s actions, from their chat on the night of their wedding to his running back to Melbourne without a word.
She also explains how he told her, more than once, that his ‘type’ was essentially everything she isn’t.
EXCLUSIVE: Watch Evelyn and Duncan’s explosive reactions to the first Dinner Party
”I’m not any of that and I’m OK with who I am, I like who I am, but you don’t want to focus on anything good I have? You’re just focusing on what I don’t have,” she says.
Tim says he told Katie he wanted to build a spark as friends, but he struggled as she read emails while he tried to talk to her on the honeymoon.
“I came here for love, not to do work,” Tim says, adding that he hoped she would reach out to him post-honeymoon.
“When you feel that someone’s not there for you, that’s not a partner I want,” he continues.
Yikes. John asks him why he bothered to return for this, calling Tim’s Dinner Party behaviour “gaslighting 101”.
Oh snap.
”You deflected, you blamed her for everything, you said she broke your trust, you said that you were the most honest of the two of you and ultimately made her feel like she was going crazy,” John points out.
But what broke John’s heart completely, he says, “was hearing Katie go on to blame herself for the downfall of the relationship”.
So now Tim finds himself at a crossroads, either to keep dodging accountability or to learn from this and do better moving forward.
“I feel like it’s a lot on me but there just hasn’t been the other way back,” Tim responds which is… not a great start.
Finally, they each reveal their decision to ‘leave’ and Tim heads to the airport for his now very familiar Sydney-Melbourne flight.
Katie sticks around for a series of hugs and supportive words from the others, before heading off with a smile on her face.
“I know that I am strong, independent and somebody worthy of love.”
EXCLUSIVE: Katie reveals the one thing she wanted from Tim as they officially leave the experiment
Heck yes she is!
We’ll miss her, but the experiment is only just beginning and tomorrow night… it’s Intimacy Week!
We can’t wait to see what kind of sexy (or awkward) fun Alessandra has in store.
Married At First Sight continues Monday through Wednesday at 7.30pm and Sunday at 7pm 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
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Recap | Married at First Sight Season 12 Episode 9
