MAFS Recap 2024 Episode 19: Ben Pulls A Real-Life Ken & Sings At Ellie

Welcome to episode 19 of Married At First Sight 2024! It's part two of family and friends week, which sees the couples meet each other's loved ones where, unsurprisingly, shit ensues.

I'm still mourning the absence of Leah, who was honestly one of the only good voices of reason in this show. But I can't mourn for long because we check in with Ellie, who is still dealing with a missing groom. At this stage, I'm kind of like, uh, you can just not come back my dude.

Finally, Ben returns — with a guitar and a pillow in hand. You really can't make this stuff up. In what world does a bloke bolt from an experiment but is like, first, let me get my acoustic guitar. Odd. Very odd.

Ben reckons he wants to make the relationship work and Ellie is guzzling his shit up. The two agree to "give it a go", but everyone at home really just wants him to go.

Then we're back with the rest of the couples who are about to meet each other's family and friends. Tim raves about how good his relo is with Sara now and then we're cursed with a flashback of Tim's dipshit friend, who did the worst best-man speech of all time.

Bro saunters down in a backwards cap, concerned if Tim is being "restrained" or "well fed". They finally all meet and this guy is really playing into the shitty bestie role. Almost too well. Old mate asks time to "blink twice" if he's okay, and Sara is just looking at him like he's a little bunny and she's a lion. After Best Man hones in on the whole "relax" comment for about 18 minutes, Tim finally tells him to shut it and says the relo is actually heaps good. Then finally, we're rid of this guy and I, for one, couldn't be more grateful.

The new couples need to endure that photo ranking challenge, which thankfully, they don't mess up (unlike someoneeeee). Meanwhile, Michael and Stephen are tasked with the 'confession letter' task, which leads Stephen to confess that he's still grappling with his father cheating on his mum when he was younger and how he doesn't have a relationship with him anymore. Stephen cries as he reads his letter, and I want to climb through the screen to give him a big, big cuddle.

Meanwhile, we check in with Timothy and Lucinda who are glowing after a magical intervention from Lucinda's spicy papa. The two of them are playing a little game together and they've moved back in together (although in a separate room, which Lucinda has dubbed the 'man cave'). Lucinda saunters around in a dog mask and I'm just wondering where the heck she got it from.

Back with Ridge and Jade, they undertake the phone-checking task, which Ridge passes with flying colours. Michael and Stephen also do the values task and have almost the exact same value alignment, which is nice to see!

Then it's time. We're back with Ben, who has decided that instead of making any real, actionable changes in his behaviour, will just write a song on his acoustic guitar. Ben reckons he releases his emotions through music, and comes up with some fab lyrics like, "I was unaware of my fucked up behaviours until you pointed them out on the couch." Wow.

Ben goes through and explains all the lyrics to her, and Ellie starts crying. I was hoping she was crying because the 'lyrics' were really bad, but unfortunately, it was because she was moved. However, we don't actually get to see him perform the song, which is devastating. I'm here just waiting for the full reenactment of the Ken scene from Barbie.

As a brief interlude, we check in with Cassandra and Tristan, who prep to meet each other's families. Taking a leaf from Lucinda's dad's book, Cass' dad asks the couple how their sex life is, to which there is a lot of nervous laughter. Tristan says he finds Cass attractive and is trying to get out of the friend zone. It's all cute, if not a little boring.

Because we need some more ~dramahhh~ we check in with Andrea and Richard, seemingly minutes right after a huge fight. Richard is pissed about Andrea having a conversation with his besties on the phone last night for two-ish hours, which is odd. To Richard, the issue is that this says that she's... not trying? Richard says her wall is up and nothing is shifting. Andrea says he's dramatising things and making it sound worse than it is.

In almost perfect timing, their family and friends head on over right after their fight, which is just *chefs kiss* television. Richard sees his daughter and immediately starts crying, which sets off some red flags for his daughter. Richard hopes that their loved ones' presence will be a nice intervention for the two of them, while Andrea spills the details about their big fight. Andrea says about how Richard's detailing of their sex life has kinda given her the ick, and as a result, she's put her walls up. Richard's sad because he thinks Andrea's not really into him anymore and starts crying at the table. God, this really is a shit lunch, isn't it?

Andy's friend says that she's got a bit of baggage and that she retreats if she doesn't feel respected and man, this is a good friend. Calm, level-headed, advocating for her mate while also giving Richard a greater understanding of her. We love to see it. After a pep talk from the loved ones, Richard and Andrea seem to get on the same page. Hoooray!

Just as you think the ep will end on a wholesome note, we're back with a frantic Ellie and Ben, with Ben leaving the apartment. He sassily says to the producer that he doesn't need his help, and it's another beautiful fourth wall break. "She wants real, she wants honest, here I am," Ben poetically says. When the producer tries to find out what's been going on, Ben quips back that they've missed "hours" of footage and "isn't going to get it", not divulging the details. Better luck next time, toots!

However, in his silence, he forgets that Ellie will spill the deets, and spill the deets she does. She says that soon after his odd guitar session, Ben started writing things he didn't like about the relationship and Ellie. Ben says that Ellie is "emotional" AGAIN, and at this point, I'm literally wondering if he knows any other terms to describe women.

Finally, Ben speaks and says he just wanted to be honest and tell her how he feels! Ellie says that Ben:

- Didn't like that she wears makeup.
- Didn't like that she was 32 and he was 39 (he thinks there is a generational gap).
- Didn't like that she was from the Gold Coast.
- Didn't like that she was sensitive and emotional.
- Didn't like that there was no good conversation from her.

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessshhhhhhhhh.

Ben says that she's emotional yet again, says that he wants to finish his dinner, and says that the whole thing is horrendous timing. Oh. My. God. Ellie's frustrated because she's been trying to save the relationship and doesn't think she can come back from this. "I'm not doing this anymore," she says. "I'm so done. I'd rather be single than spend another night with Ben."

Then it's the end of the episode, with the fourth dinner party of the experiment on the horizon, featuring a tiff between Timothy and Jayden, Cassandra and Tori going at it, and a revelation from Ben. Let's just hope that the revelation will be that he's done with making podcasts.

Ben's jump from shitty Ken ballad to making an itemised list of the things he doesn't like about Ellie. Sheeesh.

Honestly, it goes to the boos with the least screen time — Jade and Ridge. These two are slaying this experiment.

Ellie, for giving the RECEIPTS about her tiff with Ben.