'Married at First Sight: Australia' recap: Vanessa and Chris quit their marriage, David hears Hayley made out with Michael while partying, Cathy and Josh reach breaking point

Married at First Sight: Australia featured Chris and Vanessa choosing to quit their marriage and leave the experiment, David hearing a rumor his wife Hayley was "making out" with Michael Goonan during a night out of partying, and Cathy and Josh reaching a breaking point in their relationship during Thursday night's Season 7 episode on Lifetime.


Season 7 of Married at First Sight: Australia -- which premiered in Australia in February and aired it's finale Down Under in April -- starred 12 couples, including one same-sex couple. But the Lifetime version of the show features 10 couples.

However, after two Commitment Ceremonies, only eight couples remained in the experiment.

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The nine couples included Stacey Hampton, a 25-year-old law school graduate, and Michael, a 28-year-old company director; Mishel Karen, a 48-year-old teacher, and Steve Burley, a 52-year-old barber shop owner; Natasha, a 26-year-old financial analyst, and Mikey, a 28-year-old operations manager; and Josh, a 28-year-old truck driver, and Cathy, a 26-year-old logistics investigator.


The rest of the couples were Hayley, a 32-year-old finance broker, and David, a 31-year-old truck driver; Connie, a 27-year-old retail assistant and aspiring marine biologist, and Jonethen, a 27-year-old projects officer; Vanessa, a 31-year-old pharmacy manager, and Chris, a 37-year-old youth worker; and Aleks, a 26-year-old real estate agent, and Ivan, a 31-year-old real estate agent.

The two couples who chose to split at the second Commitment Ceremony were Poppy, a 38-year-old photographer, and Luke, a 38-year-old maintenance supervisor, as well as Tash, a 31-year-old bartender, and Amanda, a 34-year-old strength coach.

Thursday night's Married at First Sight: Australia broadcast began with the couples planning to spend time with their loved ones four weeks into the experiment.

Stacey was going to meet Michael's mother for the first time, and he said he was looking forward to that. Michael was also going to meet Stacey's best friend Brooke, whom Stacey considers family and dubbed a straightshooter and strong woman.

Michael and Stacey had gone through huge ups and downs in their relationship, including fights over Michael's drinking, so Stacey predicted Brooke wasn't going to go easy on him.


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Hayley and David weren't on good terms because they got into an argument after the second Commitment Ceremony. The couple apparently watched a movie together and Hayley kept talking and making comments, which annoyed David, who asked his wife to basically sit still.

Hayley accused David of being melodramatic and "storming out of the room," but he said he just needed to get away for a minute and then once he returned, Hayley was "abusing [him]."

The couple slept in separate hotel rooms and then reunited the next morning to talk.

"Hayley is Hayley, and I am just over it. I am over these constant confrontations," David complained to the cameras, later adding, "I am certainly at the end of my rope."


Hayley pointed out their communication styles were so different and she needed to learn how to talk to him without offending him.

"David is simple, right? Simple to the point where he doesn't get my bluntness," Hayley said.

Jonethen and Connie also got into an argument because they had made plans to go bowling but then he never came home and allegedly went out drinking with the boys instead. Connie admitted she felt very disappointed and "let down."

Jonethen told Connie that had she never texted him the thumbs-up emoji, he wouldn't have gone out with his friends to begin with, but Connie told the cameras her response was clearly angry and sarcastic.

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Jonethen started talking about how Connie could have a nice bonding moment with his mother that day, and Connie yelled, "Shut up, Jonny. You are such a smartass!"

Stacey was then shown meeting Michael's mother Julie, who called Michael "a character" who "likes to do his own thing." Julie, however, considered her son caring, kind and supportive, and so she thought he'd made a great partner for someone.

Brooke then joined the dinner party and wanted to make sure Michael had signed up for the show with the right intentions. Michael immediately told Brooke that he genuinely liked her friend but he and Stacey had three arguments up to that point.

"Why would you choose to stay out drinking instead of going home with her?" Brooke asked Michael at one point, putting him on the spot.

Brooke acknowledged Stacey was ready to settle down and wasn't into partying anymore, and Julie admitted Michael had some bad habits. Stacey just told Michael to never disrespect her and she'd be okay with him going out, and Michael agreed he'd be more communicative with her.


It appeared Michael's mother believed her son had met his match.

Meanwhile, Connie's sister Charlotte and disapproving mother Rina stopped by Jonethen and Connie's apartment for lunch, but Connie and her husband were still tense and arguing.

Rina told the cameras Jonethen wasn't good for her daughter, and Connie eventually broke down at the table about how hard marriage had been. But Jonethen's mother Lorella had hope for the newlyweds, saying they needed to compromise and find a path on which to travel together.

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"If you're really unhappy in this, Connie, then come home. Get your stuff and just go," Rina told her daughter.

Mishel woke up after the second Commitment Ceremony and was back to wearing her wedding ring. She said they were "in a really good place" after discussing their relationship with the experts, and she felt appreciated because Steve made an effort to listen to her.


Steve woke up very sick with stomach issues so Mishel jokingly disinfected their entire apartment before making him a healthy lunch.

Joining Steve and Mishel for brunch were Mishel's daughter Eva and sister Betty as well as two of Steve's closest friends, Victor and Mike, since his family was on the other side of the world.

Eva set out to make sure Steve was treating her mother with the respect she deserved, and Mishel said the conversation felt very tense and exaggerated.

Mishel laughed about how she hated her husband one day but thought he was cute the next. She also told the group Steve tended to have a confrontational tone or attitude. Steve explained he never intends to come across aggressive but he has a loud and expressive voice.

"He does overpower the conversation. I don't love that for my mom. I want my mom to feel like she is being heard and she's being respected," Eva told the cameras.

Mishel gushed that Steve was loyal above all else and she couldn't complain about that at all.


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"If I were to walk away from Mishel today, I would miss her like crazy," Steve said.

"I would miss him too," Mishel acknowledged, before laughing about how she felt a completely different way the previous week.

When Hayley and David went to lunch with family members, David was hoping to receive advice from her father Dale and sister Beck on how to handle Hayley. The show's expert John said Hayley and David tended to tally points and struggle with compromise.

David was noticeably upset at lunch, and everyone could sense the animosity. David said it had been "a real tough one" and one thing that drove him crazy was how Hayley always interrupted him and cut him off when he attempts to talk.

"I want a partner who makes me feel like an equal, and I don't feel like that's the case," David said. "I've been really, really patient... but now I feel like we're back to square one."


David received validation at the lunch because Hayley's relatives recognized Hayley talked too much and didn't respectfully and quietly listen to what David had to say.

David expressed how he just couldn't win with Hayley and really needed help because he was so frustrated.

Hayley's father admitted his daughter was strong-willed, and Beck explained to her sister that she needed to correct her behavior -- but Beck also David to get to know Hayley better so he could realize she had good intentions and just moves and talks at a fast pace.

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Later on, Eva sat down with Steve and asked him if he and Mishel were on the same page. Steve said he saw the strong exterior side of Mishel but had yet to see her be vulnerable side.

Eva cried saying Mishel had been cheated on and hurt by so many men and so it was hard for her mom to open up to Steve. Eva cried about how she and her mom didn't have an easy life, and Steve supported Eva and was very sweet to her.


Steve promised Eva that he thought "the world" of her mother, and Steve checked some boxes for Eva in that moment. Eva could picture her mom's relationship lasting long after the experiment.

Being around Mishel's family, however, raised some deep issues for Steve, who got emotional while thinking about his son. Steve cried about how he hadn't seen his son in so long, and Mishel comforted him and allowed him to express himself.

"I just want someone in my life, that's all, who loves me for who I am," Steve said.

"He's just sensitive, he really is, and I like that," Mishel noted in a confessional.

Mishel felt she and Steve had found intimacy that night and they didn't really need anything else. Mishel could see that Steve was "a nice, kind man" who deserved a sincere chance, and she said she appreciated his openness and vulnerability.

Meanwhile, Vanessa and Chris were sleeping in separate rooms ever since he came down with the flu and Vanessa was missing intimacy in their relationship. She said they were more like "roommates" and started feeling like she "wasn't enough" for Chris again.


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"I don't know what more I could do for the guy. I cook, wash and clean... This is not enough for me. This is not enough for any normal girl in a relationship -- hell no," Vanessa said, adding that she felt "unappreciated" and "undervalued."

Vanessa cooked lunch for their friends while Chris went to the gym, and during the lunch gathering, Vanessa said Chris liked to spend a lot of time alone and needed too much space.

One person at the table flat out asked Chris if he liked Vanessa and really wanted to "make a go" of their relationship, and Chris confessed things had "turned to sh-t."

"If you are attracted to me and you want to make this work, then bloody do it!" Vanessa griped.

"I think you're being wrong in saying I'm not trying at all," Chris countered, adding that Vanessa "barking" at him pushed him further away.


Vanessa needed more reassurance and affection from Chris, and she got so frustrated that she walked away from the table and stormed out of the room.

"I'm so over it!" she vented.

Vanessa complained that Chris was "destroying" her and definitely "not trying," but Chris insisted he genuinely cared for his wife and was attracted to her and that Vanessa was the one who seemingly wanted to quit.

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Chris broke down into tears at the table and said he wasn't attracted to the way Vanessa was acting now. He wasn't sure how to proceed in the marriage, as Vanessa cried to her friend about feeling humiliated and rejected.

Once Vanessa calmed down and returned to the table, Chris addressed the group and noted, "I didn't come here for this sh-t... If we can't make this work and we can't understand each other, then I am done and out -- 100 percent out right now."


As for Cathy and Josh, they had barely spoken since the second Commitment Ceremony, when the couple exposed a riff over Cathy's jealousy and trust issues.

Josh complained about being ignored for three days, saying he felt like he no longer existed to Cathy. But he wasn't about to give up on his marriage.

But Cathy worked hard on preparing a traditional Thai dish, paying homage to her heritage, and the pair agreed not to talk about their issues in front of their friends and family.

Ivan and Aleks were shown meeting up with a group of their family and friends at what appeared to be a winery. Ivan worried his parents Michael and Joanne, whom he dubbed "quirky," were going to make things awkward, and Joanne did harp on whether the pair had been intimate yet.

Ivan and Aleks were also bluntly asked if they had slept together yet, but neither person answered. Aleks then admitted she wasn't ready yet although she and Ivan had "chemistry," and Ivan pointed out what happened in the bedroom was no one else's business.

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Joanna thought Ivan was "spellbound by Aleks," and the couple's loved ones hoped to see their relationship work out long-term. Aleks even said she could "definitely" see herself falling in love with Ivan.

After the second Commitment Ceremony, Natasha and Mikey slept in separate rooms, and Natasha said she needed to apologize for cracking a joke about Mikey's sexual performance. It took her some time to come around and see how her comment had negatively affected Mikey.

Mikey told Natasha she could try to earn his trust back but her actions were going to have to speak louder than words. Natasha told her husband that he's an "amazing" person, and Mikey promised to communicate better about his feelings.

Mikey decided to move back in with Natasha, and she called the situation really nice.

"Love is definitely complicated, but I feel like Mikey and I defy the odds time and time again," Natasha told the cameras. "So who knows what this week will bring."

During Josh and Cathy's lunch gathering with Josh's mother Mandy and aunt Sue as well as two of Cathy pals, Josh gushed about his attraction for his wife but then he brought up how Cathy got jealous at one of the dinner parties -- and Cathy's jaw dropped since they had agreed to not talk about that.


Cathy explained what really bothered her was Josh threatening to leave over the trust issues he thought she had because she had been cheated on and hurt in the past.

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Josh then announced he didn't feel like he existed to Cathy and she often ignored him, and the lunch quickly became tense and awkward for everyone involved. Cathy also insisted she had been "distant" but never ignored Josh.

Josh claimed Cathy ignored him for two or three days when he was making an effort, adding, "I felt so bloody rejected."

Josh's relatives said that didn't sit well with them, and then Mandy scolded Cathy and said, "Don't ever ignore my son again."

Cathy accused Josh of villainizing her and totally disagreed with Josh's perspective on the situation.


One of Cathy's friends asked Josh not to hold Cathy up to unattainable expectations because it seemed Josh wanted their relationship to always be as perfect as when they started getting to know each other. The girl pointed out marriage is not always smooth sailing.

Mandy begged Cathy to work on her marriage because she wanted her son to be happy, but Cathy hoped the group could see where she was coming from as well.

"I want to move forward with Josh, but I am annoyed he villainized me in front of his family. I just need to cool off and I want to cool down a bit and then come back to the situation and see if Josh has more to say," Cathy told the cameras.

Mikey and Natasha's lunch welcomed each of their parents as guests, and Mikey acknowledged there were a lot of positives but he and Natasha had days when they wanted to "rip each other's hair out."

Natasha told her parents and in-laws she and Mikey were in "a healing phase," and then Mikey admitted he wasn't sure whether he wanted to stay in the relationship because Natasha tended to change based on the people she's around.

Natasha's mother Michelle said a person needs to give Natasha time and peel back her layers to discover what she's really like. Michelle noted it was hard to watch her daughter cry and could tell she was "hurting."


Natasha's father suggested the couple should "call it quits and go home" because there wasn't much dignity or respect left in the relationship, and then Natasha ran out of the room bawling her eyes out.

Once Cathy and Josh reunited, Cathy said she felt really attacked, but Josh assured his wife that his mother really liked her. Josh said the past few days just "killed" him, and Cathy was starting to understand why he felt rejected.

Josh asked Cathy not to throw up walls when she's upset, and Cathy obliged to working on being more open and vulnerable.

Cathy appreciated how calmly and sweetly Josh spoke to her, and his approach allowed Cathy to communicate with ease.

After their lunch, Vanessa and Chris spent a night apart to reflect on their fractured marriage. Vanessa told Chris when they reunited that if he wanted to go, he should go.

Vanessa said her correct match would never make her feel this way, and so she and Chris determined they should no longer be partners and stay married.


"We really needed to bond and make a connection, but we started to rub each other the wrong way and we just started to argue. So once it becomes that, there's no point," Chris explained in a confessional.

Vanessa cried and said she has a lot of love to give.

"There is definitely someone out there who will adore me and give me the affection I deserve and the love I deserve," Vanessa said.

"And I just feel like I've given it my absolute all... If you're not getting what you need, you need to leave for you. No one is worth losing your [happiness]."

Later on, David apparently found out Hayley was out on the town with friends and allegedly cozying up to one of the other husbands in the Married at First Sight experiment.

Hayley was still out at 1AM, and David said she was with Chris and Michael.


"I was told that Hayley is macking on with Michael. Hayley is making out with Michael. My darling wife is making out with another husband," David revealed.

David left the couple's room and said Hayley's behavior was certainly going to come up at the next dinner party.

"Why am I smiling? Because I just want to go home and put this nightmare of a marriage behind me," David told the cameras.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski