It’s your Married At First Sight 2021 recap for episode 17! In this ep, Bryce embarrasses Melissa on the commitment ceremony couch by reminding her she’s his 4th hottest in the experiment behind Bec. Meanwhile, Alana and Jason are having relationship issues.
Alana is worried because she feels she likes Jason more than he likes her. I feel at this point like the producers are just making some tepid drama between them to keep them interesting since they just seem like a happy couple who are secure in their relationship.
When everyone gets to the commitment ceremony, Bryce tells James he’s always been about being honest in the experiment and feels like he’s being targeted unfairly. Melissa tells the girls she doesn’t want to confront Bryce.
Belinda and Patrick are first on the couch, and they talk about how they’ve progressed with intimacy and now make out heaps. They’re so cute you guys! Mel brings up how James rudely called Belinda “frigid” at the dinner party, and Belinda says she felt it set her back a bit because she got so offended. The experts look like they’d enjoy slow-roasting James over hot coals, to be honest.
James apologises but not before Alessandra roasts him for his misogynistic terminology. Bravo!
Patrick tells the experts his feelings are growing for Belinda, and it’s all very cute. They obviously both decide to stay.
Booka and Brett are next, and while they talk about some incompatibility stuff they’ve noticed, like the whole Brett-joke thing at the wedding this week, they both choose to stay.
The world’s happiest couple, Liam and Georgia, of course also both choose to stay. They say how shocked they are that the experiment has come so easily to them. Bec and Jake are also on Cloud Nine right now, both choosing to stay because things between them are far better than they used to be.
Alana and Jason let all their problems out on the couch. Alana tells the experts about how she feels more invested than Jason, and Jason says their spark has gone and seeing the new couples is making him feel like his feelings aren’t developing as fast as he feels they should be. But they both write stay so they can work on things.
Kerrie and Johnny are next, and Johnny tells the experts about how Kerrie’s ex texted her to see how the experiment was going, and how their subsequent conversation really helped their bond develop because of her honesty. They’re doing well, and both write stay.
Jaimie and Chris are next, and it’s so awkward guys. Jaimie is like “well I haven’t dated a FIFO worker and I went to Uni so we come from different worlds” and Chris just sits there uncomfortably. She’s very polished in her responses, but they’re also super formal and stiff, which John points out. They agree and say they are still working things out between themselves, and both decide to stay.
Joanne and James are next – they’re clearly VERY over but not before James tries to convince Mel and the other experts that he’s been trying super hard all week to fix their relationship. Midway through Joanne stops him and tells him to “cut the shit”, telling the experts about how he disappeared one night and then lied to her.
John cuts in and tells James his behaviour is classic gaslighting, then explains how he needs to stop this going forward with any partner because it’s so damaging. In the end, they both of course write leave.
Then we get to the couple we actually want to hear from – Melissa and Bryce. Bryce tells the experts about the “lies” going around that he has a girlfriend outside the experiment. He then tells them Bec started it, before Bec tells everyone what she’s already said – that they had a conversation in the gym, and that Bryce told her he’d put her at the top of his hotness list, and that he had a girlfriend outside the experiment.
Bryce says the first part of the conversation happened but the second part didn’t – then John asks for the entirety of Australia what we want to know – why the hell would you even bring that up with Bec? To me it feels PAINFULLY clear that Bryce was trying to hit on Bec, but he says it was just casual conversation. Melissa is like:
Eventually John drills it down for him, explaining how regardless of the girlfriend rumour, him telling Bec he thought she was hotter than his wife is embarrassing for Melissa. Yeah, no shit! Bryce promises to try harder to speak with more tact, essentially. That drama certainly isn’t over – but they do both write stay.
Tomorrow! Some sort of awful cinema experience to meet the parents since it’s Covid.
