"I probably would have slapped him." Why MAFS' Stacey blamed Hayley for "encouraging vulnerable Michael".

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We’re still reeling from the drama that was last night’s Married at First Sight dinner party.

After a series of convoluted events, news broke of a cheating scandal between Hayley Vernon and Michael Goonan, so of course, all hell broke loose.

It was uncovered that Hayley’s husband, David Cannon, used her toothbrush to clean faeces from a toilet bowl before returning it to the sink for her to use. Later at the dinner party, Michael’s wife, Stacey Hampton, confronted Hayley about her involvement in the affair, putting the blame (mostly) on the 32-year-old.

Michael, however, escaped the majority of the blame.

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

“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.”

MAFS contestant Hayley shares her traumatic past. Post continues below.

Now, the Adelaide-based, mum-of-two has explained why she acted the way she did on MAFS.

Appearing on Thursday night’s episode of A Current Affair, she shared her side of the story. Hayley, David and Michael also appeared during the segment.

“I think it was easier to take the blame out on Hayley. I couldn’t even look at him,” said Stacey.

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

The 25-year-old also said she wasn’t able to trust Hayley.

“You haven’t shown me any sympathy or empathy,” she said of the finance broker, who originally told Stacey she had kissed Michael.

“The way she said it was like, ‘yeah I hooked up with him, let’s go get Michael now.'”

As for whether she continues her relationship with Michael, we’re not sure. During last night’s dinner party, we watched the Adelaide Ice director admit he loves her.

“I’ve loved you since the honeymoon. I really have,” he said during the episode.

Stacey is more critical of his actions.

“He decided to pull the oldest trick in the book – ‘I stuffed up, so I’m going to say I love you’. And I was just thinking in my head, you love yourself,” she told A Current Affair.

“I’m in a situation where I need to look at my self-worth and how much I respect myself and I need to set an example for women out there on how they need to be treated.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Stacey (@staceylhampton) on Feb 23, 2020 at 1:25am PST

As for why David pulled the stunt involving Hayley’s toothbrush, he said that while he wanted respect, it was ultimately a practical joke gone wrong.

“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.”

 

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A post shared by David (@dave_the_cowboy88) on Feb 24, 2020 at 12:45am PST

Previously, Hayley told Mamamia that she and David were already living in separate rooms, even prior to the cheating scandal.

“I couldn’t actually say we were a couple, it was over but that doesn’t justify what happened by any means – that’s really important to say,” she said.

“It was such a high-pressure situation where everyone was feeling very stressed [however], someone going down the path of being physically abusive to someone else is just deplorable.”

She also revealed that a second affair will occur this season.

“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,'” she said.

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

For now, however, we’re just waiting for Sunday’s commitment ceremony to see which couples will remain in the experiment and which will leave.

Either way, we feel the drama is just about to begin.

Channel 9’s MAFS continues on 7pm Sunday night. 

Have you been watching MAFS? What did you think of last night’s episode? Tell us in a comment below.