MAFS week two recap: The good, the bad and the ugly

😃 The Good: Friendships blossom

😔 The Bad: Photo ranking challenge returns

😢 The Ugly: Cheating scandal emerges

Now that the first couples on this year’s season of Married At First Sight have all tied the knot, the next phase of the social experiment has officially begun.

Week two of the reality show saw the 10 pairs attend their first dinner party, move in together in Sydney, and tackle a number of confronting challenges in Confessions Week.

Close female friendships

In addition to the romantic connections developing in the experiment, it appears that there are also plenty of strong friendships growing among the cast. The first dinner party of the season saw Bronte Schofield defend Claire Nomarhas and Melinda Willis stick up for Bronte by questioning her husband Harrison Boon’s intentions for coming on MAFS.

“If you’re coming into this show it’s because you can’t find love, because you’re struggling to find relationships and you haven’t found your person,” she said, arguing that he didn’t fit the criteria because he was seeing multiple women in the weeks leading up to his wedding. “You can find someone dude!“

It appears that Melinda’s close friendships with the other brides have also continued outside of filming, as she has since offered her co-star Caitlin McConville a job as a senior technician at one of her beauty businesses in Brisbane after the show left her with no income.

The close female friendships this year are a sharp contrast to the dynamic last season where Olivia Frazer and Domenica Calarco regularly came to blows.

“I think last year was basically about the brides, and the grooms were kind of going along for the ride a bit,” Tara McWilliams, Endemol Shine Australia’s director of content, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “This year I think we're seeing there's more balance and I think we're seeing more grooms being the focus and their behaviour under the spotlight and how they respond to relationships.”

MORE GOOD:

• MAFS producers reveal secret to the show's huge success: 'Authentic'

• MAFS' Melinda gives co-star a job after show leaves them with no income

• MAFS' Selina reveals surprising details about the show's weddings

Return of the photo ranking challenge

Confessions Week, which first debuted on the show in 2021, returned to MAFS this season and presented plenty of confronting tasks for the couples to complete - including the photo ranking challenge.

The relationship between Caitlin and her husband Shannon Adams seemed to be the most impacted by the relationship exercise when he ranked his wife second in the lineup, only to move her third after further consideration.

“I’m just getting all the honesty out because I think that’s the logic of the task,” he said. “It’s just ‘cos I know more about you and those emotional sides sort of kick in. You know, I haven’t seen these girls without make-up on either and I’ve seen you without make-up on.”

Just when viewers thought things couldn’t get much worse, the personal trainer later admitted to Caitlin through tears that he was still in love with his ex-fiancee, who he shares a four-year-old daughter with.

While Shannon and Caitlin are yet to leave the show, Daily Mail recently revealed that he and his ex Jamea Drake are now back together after reconnecting in December when filming wrapped.

“They were together for about seven years... it was very on and off, but they are happy now,” a source told the publication. “I think Shannon tried to get over Jamea by going on MAFS, but he had second thoughts as soon as he married Caitlin.”

MORE BAD:

• MAFS' Bronte speaks out after explosive voice message leak: 'Holy s**t'

• MAFS' Harrison's 'secret girlfriend' breaks silence: 'Lies'

• MAFS stars' 'biggest complaint' to producers revealed: 'A real shock'

Cheating scandal emerges

There’s been a cheating scandal on every season of MAFS since season five in 2018, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to fans that there’s a similar drama this year.

Wednesday night’s episode began with Jesse Burford detailing how the cast “decided to go out to a pub and have some drinks”, where chaos inevitably ensued. He said he noticed throughout the night that his wife Claire kept getting closer to fellow groom Adam Seed, and they ended up leaving the table at one point “to go outside and be alone”.

The drama escalated when Claire came home late in the night with her phone on loudspeaker, with Jesse assuming she was speaking with Adam. He then stormed over to Adam’s apartment and demanded to see his phone while also telling Adam’s wife Janelle Han that she’s married to a “snake”.

Although viewers will have to wait until Sunday night’s commitment ceremony to learn more about what happened, Daily Mail claims that Claire and Adam did share a kiss during their boozy night out.

The publication also reports that the show’s producers were “fuming” about the incident and subsequently enforced an 8pm curfew on the cast.

“They weren't angry that it happened. They were just p***ed off it didn't happen with cameras around,” one participant claimed.

MORE UGLY:

• Channel Nine 'furious' after MAFS stars spoil ending: 'Over it'

• MAFS fan favourite shocks with steamy 'couple swap': 'Uproar'

• MAFS' Olivia Frazer reveals dark side of lucrative OnlyFans career

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