All the drama that's unfolded behind-the-scenes since the explosive MAFS dinner party.

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It has been a week.

Between a soiled toothbrush, multiple cheating scandals, a faked note and awkward radio interviews, the Married at First Sight drama is out of control, and it’s entirely understandable if you can’t keep up.

What’s of particular interest, however, is everything that’s gone down since this week’s dinner party aired. The dinner party where a) the details of a cheating scandal were publicly aired to all the contestants, and b) one bride revealed that her groom had cleaned her toilet with her toothbrush, and left it for her to use. The fallout has been predictably intense, with contestants sharing truths that weren’t shared on television, passionate defences of their own behaviour, and other cheatin’ scandals. 

So brace yourself, and let’s start at the beginning.

MAFS Experts: UNCUT | Episode 1. This is what really goes on behind the scenes. Post continues below.

The cheating scandal

This story starts with two deeply flawed reality TV couples who were paired together solely for drama, and by extension, ratings. Those couples are:

Hayley Vernon and David Cannon: dysfunctional and constantly fighting, the bulk of their relationship was previously fuelled by ‘non-vanilla sex’.

Michael Goonan and Stacey Hampton: slightly less dysfunctional and while they don’t fight as much, the bulk of their relationship is fuelled by Michael continuing to go out and get drunk, despite Stacey asking him not to.

And now the sh*t gets real.

After a few weeks of semi-married bliss, things start to get murky. While Stacey was in Adelaide visiting her two sons, Michael and Hayley went out partying. In between the drinking and dancing, the couple begin “macking on” with each other. For those unfamiliar with the Australian vernacular: they kissed, a lot.

Listen to Mamamia’s Married at First Sight recap podcast, where we say things we’re not allowed to put in print. Post continues after audio.

“We went from chair to chair to chair. We went out. Kissed. It wasn’t just one kiss. It was happening for the night,” Hayley told A Current Affair.

And thus we had this season’s first cheating scandal. Speaking to Mamamia, Hayley even told us the drama shut down production for two weeks.

“The dinner party was filmed two weeks after the cheating allegations came out. When they found out, they shut production for two weeks,” she said.

The pooey toothbrush

Upon finding out about his wife’s indiscretions, David got mad. So he did something terribly vile and childish.

He and Hayley were living in different apartments at this point, so he went into Hayley’s room under the guise of picking up some clothes.

While at their old apartment, David went into the bathroom where he took Hayley’s toothbrush, used it to scrub away leftover faeces in the toilet bowl, rinsed it in toilet water and placed it back on the counter for an unsuspecting Hayley to use. Everyone – including the show’s experts – were horrified by David’s behaviour, with many coming out to say it could have put Hayley’s health in danger.

How did everyone react?

After this was all aired on television, the cast have come out and reacted in different ways – spilling even more gossip in the process.

Stacey

During Wednesday’s dinner party, Stacey mainly blamed Hayley for Michael’s cheating.

“No one here is ever going to trust their husband around you. You betrayed me. You betrayed every woman in this room,” she said to Hayley.

“Why were you even out with my husband alone? I was home with my children in bed. You’ve just ruined a relationship,” she continued.

“Yes, he’s a d*ckhead. Yes, he parties. But you’ve taken advantage of that. You were encouraging vulnerable Michael.”

She's since explained her actions.

“I think it was easier to take the blame out on Hayley. I couldn’t even look at him,” she told A Current Affair on Thursday night.

“I couldn’t even address him, which is why I addressed Hayley. Because if I addressed him, I probably would have slapped him.”

Interestingly, there have been rumours swirling about Stacey cheating with another MAFS groom, Mikey, for weeks. Speaking to Mamamia, Hayley confirmed the rumour.

“It turns out during the break, Stacey actually sleeps with Mikey Pembroke and Mikey calls me during the break and goes, ‘I feel so bad for you that you’ve been vilified and I’m actually flying back from Italy.'"

“Production actually paid for him to fly back from Italy to attend the reunion so he could confront Stacey.”

Michael

Dialling into KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O on Thursday morning, Michael said his portrayal on the show was purposely done for entertainment.

“It’s a TV show guys. Like yeah, we did fall in love and it was a great journey but at the end of the day it’s a TV show,” he said. “For three months I put the clown suit on for Australia. I dressed up in a jungle, do you know what I mean?”

“I’m saying like at the end of the day, you’re in there for Australia and they’re going to make it an entertaining show,” he continued, when Kyle pressed him for more details. “They’re going to expose the cracks of everything that you’ve gone through. And it’s going to be amplified, it’s going to be blown up and it’s going to be watched because at the end of the day that’s what’s entertaining to watch.”

As it turns out, Stacey was waiting in KIIS FM's green room and had been listening to this live on air. Understandably, she wasn't happy with Michael's words. When asked whether she thought Michael was treating the experiment as "an opportunity to get famous, not as an experiment to find love?" she replied, "Yep".

“Who goes on radio and says, ‘Oh it was a good three months. I had the clown suit on’,” she continued. “I was there to find love. You met my children. What the hell is going on? You’ve just made a mockery of me.”

“I actually fell for the guy and I feel so stupid."

Weirdly enough, it seems as though the couple were still solid after Wednesday night's dinner party fiasco.

According to photos published by the Daily Mail, the couple appeared to be on a date with fellow MAFS couple, Aleks and Ivan, at Sydney's Luna Park. This apparently occured six days after they filmed Wednesday night's dinner party.

However, the question remains: are they still currently together?

Hayley

Speaking to Mamamia, Hayley shared what happened behind-the-scenes of the dinner party.

She says Vanessa saw Hayley and Michael together, and Michael was originally going to deny the accusations.

“Michael wanted to gaslight Vanessa and say she was crazy,” says Hayley. “Vanessa was the only girl I could trust in the experiment but for a split second I was going along with Michael but [I couldn’t] do this to a girl who’s had my back.”

“Vanessa called up Stacey and we came together and said that we were going to pull Michael up on his bullsh*t because he had been denying it,” she adds.

“Our plan was to go into the dinner party and Vanessa was going to say: ‘You know what Michael? Hayley told me the truth’. Instead of that happening, Stacey stood up and [accused me of] lying.”

Since the episode aired, Hayley has alleged Michael left her a note which was given to her by Fox FM producers. The note, published on the unofficial Instagram account @mafsfunny read: "Hayley, you're not the only one I kissed! Plenty more secrets - M."

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Following up to yesterday's post with Hayley's DM, Stacey has revealed Michael's real handwriting. The whole confession is now exposed as a radio station prank. One day someone will make a movie about all of this. #mafs

A post shared by MAFS funny (@mafsfunny) on Feb 27, 2020 at 4:34pm PST

But after the note was shared, Stacey came to Michael's defence, alleging Hayley 'forged his confession'.

"This is fake, sorry. I know his writing," she wrote, commenting on the post. "That's not fair at all, Hayley. You can't forge someone's confession... he is dyslexic. I don't even think much of him right now, but this is weirdly desperate and low."

Hayley responded: "How desperate @staceylhampton saying I forged his confession.

"You are a terrible supposed lawyer... I thought you didn’t argue without fact. You best shut up and get your facts right before you point ur finger again - This is a reply to an inbox screenshot I have from multiple people saying Stacey knows Michael's handwriting and I forged this letter... You're an idiot!"

To be fair, Stacey was correct. In a followup post, the 'note' was said to be part of a prank between FOX FM hosts Fifi Box, Brendan Fevola and Byron Cooke.

As it turns out, when Michael appeared on the radio show the day prior, he declined to leave a note for Hayley, so the hosts took the situation into their own hands.

Going back on radio, Hayley appeared to take the joke in her stride, kind of.

"Nothing is personal on this show. Lucky I love you so much," she joked. "Everything is already sweet. I love you guys."

"I'll tell you what you can do. You can inbox Stacey for me and you can post it on your Instagram, your apology, telling her I'm not some crazy that forged some letter."

David

Later speaking to A Current Affair, David did express remorse for his actions.

“I just thought I deserved the opportunity to at least cut ties and I just felt like I deserved that respect to even at least have that conversation,” he said.

“I feel like for the most part, I did act like a gentleman throughout the experiment and I’ve tarnished my own name by doing that. I regret it.”

We've also been explicitly told when David and Hayley leave the experiment, which is... rare.

Speaking on news.com.au's podcast, Not Here to Make Friends, David said he made "a deal" he would leave the show on Sunday night's yet-to-be-aired commitment ceremony, no matter the results.

“I begged to go home, they wouldn’t let me.

“I’d been spoken to and treated like a piece of sh*t for seven weeks, so I made a deal with the executive producer that no matter what [Hayley] wrote, I’d get to go home. And they were the terms I agreed to stay.”

Speaking to Fox FM, Hayley reportedly arrived to her interview early, so she could share the gossip.

"It's a bit controversial what happens though. I write stay but, for the first time in the show's history, they kick us off because David has a whinge... Spoiler!" she said.

And that's it. You're all caught up. For now.

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