Cheating Rumours & A ‘Secret Girlfriend’ — The Biggest Scandals On MAFS 2023

From swapping partners to throwing wine on one another, the contestants on Married At First Sight are known to create plenty of drama each season. And once again, the reality TV show has delivered more chaos on set, taking the drama to the next level like never before.

Whether it's been at the wedding, honeymoon or during their two months living together, some of the couples have already clashed or made huge decisions as they've entered new territory with a person they just met at the altar. While it can make for addictive or uncomfortable viewing, it wouldn't truly be reality TV without some incidents that raise eyebrows.

Here's a round-up of the somewhat 'scandalous' moments on Married At First Sight this year.

The drama involving Harrison Boon began in the very first episode. After his wedding to Bronte Schofield, it was revealed that the 32-year-old builder had apparently promised another woman on the outside that he would be with her after the reality show's filming wrapped.

When Schofield confronted him, Boon initially downplayed the claims, before admitting that he'd been speaking to several women just before going onto MAFS.

"I was seeing a number of girls before I came into this," he said. "I'm a single guy in Sydney and I didn't know if [I] was gonna last a week, a month, the entire experiment," he said. "But I'm not in a relationship with anyone. They're just people that I was seeing."

When Schofield said she'd heard there was one particular woman who was expecting him to be with her after the show, he admitted he'd "had a crush" on this woman "for a long time" but only got a chance to date her just before he went on MAFS.

"I told her that I was giving this 100% and it wouldn't be right for us to continue," he said.

While Boon had seemingly talked himself out of this pickle, it was brought up again at the first dinner party of the season. Co-star Melinda Willis told producers she thought "there's more to this story" and she doesn't trust him.

"Am I the only one seeing what the hell is going on?" she asked. "It's like Harrison has gone around and sprinkled some Harrison bullshit into every single drink. And everyone's drinking it like, 'Harrison's the man.'"

After Willis kept pressing for more answers at the dinner table, Boon finally admitted he hadn't given the other woman on the outside a clear indication that their relationship was over.

"I don't feel like I led her on, but I also don't feel like I gave that a solid no," he said.

Episode 2 revealed some rather controlling and judgmental behaviour from groom Jesse Burford. In the episode, he told his new TV wife, Claire Nomarhas, to be quiet "a few times", leading her to second-guess herself and everything she says.

"Jesse actually shushed me a couple of times today, and I did not like being shushed," Nomarhas told producers. "We were in the airport, just getting a few things for our honeymoon, and maybe I laugh loud, maybe I'm a little bit loud when I speak, and he was like, 'Shush, use your indoor voice.' Like, one day in, if you're already shushing me, you're going to have a hard time ahead of you, buddy boy."

When Nomarhas tried to speak to her husband about this later and explain her enthusiasm and willingness to talk comes from wanting to learn more about her new husband, Burford shut her down and said he preferred to sit in silence.

"I don't want to be the needy girl that just always is wanting more," a teary Nomarhas asked producers. "It confuses me — am I literally asking for too much? Do I need to just shush?"

With the couple not seeing eye to eye, they ended up staying in separate rooms. Eventually, Nomarhas decided to visit her husband to see if they could smooth things over. However, Burford was far from willing to extend an olive branch himself.

"I don't chase girls," he told her. "I did consider coming to see you and every part of me was saying no way."

The couple then arrived at the first dinner party separately and barely spoke to one another.

In recent seasons, we've continually seen a 'cheating scandal' emerge, where contestants hook up with one another behind their actual TV husband or wife's back. A new preview for the show has already hinted that there could be suspicions about some of the cast's behaviour, with footage showing Claire Nomarhas enjoying a night out with co-stars Adam Seed (who's married to Janelle Han) and Duncan James (who's married to Alyssa Barmonde.

Popular reality TV podcast So Dramatic! only added fuel to the fire, claiming that a source has told them that Nomarhas and Seed have shared a kiss.

"They have a little snog behind their partners’ backs during a night out," one alleged insider told the podcast.

"A bunch of contestants went out drinking together at a pub and Claire and Adam went off to have a vape together and that’s when it happened."

It only took seven episodes before one of the contestants cracked and admitted they're still in love with someone on the outside. This year, it's Shannon Adams who was caught out when his wife Caitlin McConville overheard him making a distraught phone call to his ex partner who he's had an on-again-off-again relationship with over the past seven years.

When McConville pressed him for answers on what was going on, Adams admitted: "I'm still thinking about my ex… I hate the fact that I say this, but I still love her... I just feel like I’m leading two people on."

After Adams left the room, a devastated McConville broke down in tears, telling producers: "I was just hoping that this time I’d be with someone who could love me… but no, and I’m not surprised".

Melissa Sheppard and Josh White haven't quite seen eye-to-eye on sex from the get go, and tensions reached boiling point during confessions week.

"Josh, I need to confess to you, so that you understand why I'm feeling this way, and why [sex] is important to me. My first marriage, it was a loveless and sexless marriage. So I left," Sheppard said when reading out a letter she had written for her husband.

The couple then watched videos showing how their other half reacted when they saw them for the first time at their wedding. White was less than impressed that Sheppard's focus seemed to revolve heavily around sex.

"He is Thor! I hope Josh has a big hammer. Let's wait and see!" she laughed in the footage. "I've already sized him up."

After watching the clip, a frustrated White told producers he was "shocked" by Sheppard's focus on just sex. m his shoe size, so he's going really good so far."

"The wedding, that was a really important day for me, and now I can't quite shake that I'm just seen as a sex object here," he said.

When White challenged Sheppard as to what other aspects there were to her personality besides a love of sex, she gave him an ultimatum, saying the relationship will "crash and burn" if "the sex doesn't keep up".

Lyndall Grace and Cameron Woods have been one of the fan-favourite couples from the very start of the season, particularly due to their instant connection and compassion towards one another. 

However, some cracks emerged in episode 12, ahead of the weekly dinner party, when Grace expressed her desire to raise an issue at the event. Grace had seen co-star Shannon Adams out on the weekend with another woman, and wanted to alert his wife, Caitlin McConville. But Woods was not keen for any drama on the night, fearing it would impact their relationship as well. 

“Quite frankly I’ve had enough of hearing about it. You can say what you want and you’re your own person,” he said frustratedly to Grace. “I just don’t want it to bring conflict to us and I think you know that. I just didn’t sign up for drama.”

“Neither did I, but I saw it Cam. That’s not my fault,” she responded.

“I didn’t get married to every man and his dog here, I got married to you,” Woods later said, to which Grace replied, “I’m friends with everyone here.” 

Then, speaking to producers, Woods said he was worried Grace was in the social experiment for the whole group (and the drama) as well as him. 

“I just don’t want to get involved in other people’s shit and other people’s dramas,” he said. “It’s not what I do. I avoid getting involved in drama in other people’s situations.” 

In episode 12, both Lyndall Grace and Claire Nomarhas said they spotted Shannon Adams over the weekend with a woman who wasn’t his wife, Caitlin McConville. Given Adams had said at the previous commitment ceremony that he may still be in love with his ex, Grace and Nomarhas were particularly concerned and wanted to flag what they saw at the dinner party. 

“I saw you on the weekend with someone I assume was your daughter and who I assume the other person was her mum,” Nomarhas told Adams as she confronted him at the dinner table. 

“It wasn’t who you thought. It wasn’t my ex and it wasn’t my kid. It was my cousin and my second cousin,” Adams responded. Co-star Melinda Willis then stepped in, asking for clarification before the drama was put to bed. 

“Can we just describe the ex and describe the cousin to make sure they’re different people?” 

At this point the audience saw the show’s experts’ reactions to this.

“What fascinates me in this situation where they’re trying to hold him accountable, is that he’s not really being aware of the fact only a week ago he’s gone to a couch and said, ‘I’m in love with my ex’,’” John Aiken. 

Adams assured the group that the two women he was with were his cousins, and the speculation was put to rest before two other men on the show were in the firing line — Harrison Boon and Dan Hunjas.  

Sandy Jawanda and Dan Hunjas’ romance has been going strong up until now, but co-star Janette Han heard something she wanted Jawanda to know in episode 12. Han said she overheard her husband Adam Seed talking on the phone to another groom, Harrison Boon. She claimed that during the conversation Boon said that Hunjas saved another woman’s phone number during a night out. 

At the dinner party, Han was conflicted about whether to tell Jawanda what she heard, so she called a group meeting with husband Seed and co-stars Tahnee Cook and Ollie Skleton. 

Boon quickly noticed the four contestants were missing from the dinner table, and went over to find out what was being discussed. It was actually Boon who had taken a woman’s phone number, but when he found out that they believed it was Hunjas who had taken a phone number, Boon decided to let them believe that.