Married at First Sight star Zack Freeman admitted to cheating on both Michaela Clark and Bao Huong Hoang in a private phone call that was recorded and then publicly released by one of his former lovers.
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("Decision Day" had featured Zack asking for a divorce from his MAFS wife, Michaela, and Bao choosing to also divorce her MAFS husband Johnny Lam).
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Days after Where Are They Now? aired, Elena Guevara, a 21-year-old cosmetology school student who relocated to Houston from Ohio this fall, insisted that -- unbeknownst to either woman -- Zack had been dating Elena and Bao at the same time and having a sexual relationship with Elena for over a month.
Elena publicly exposed Zack and tried to prove he had spent a month-long period from late October to late November cheating on Bao with her, and now, Elena has posted excerpts of one of her private phone calls with Zack in which he confirms her cheating allegations and also admits he was unfaithful to Michaela during their marriage.
In a nine-minute video Elena uploaded to her YouTube channel earlier this week, Elena played clips of her secretly-recorded, 30-minute conversation with Zack, who only found out he'd been recorded after the fact.
"There are women claiming they were hanging out with you while you were filming for the show," Elena says in the recording.
"Yeah, yeah," Zack replies. "Yeah!"
Elena, who laced the recorded audio clips with her own commentary in the YouTube video, clarified how she's convinced Zack had been dating other women going all the way back to when he was married to Michaela and going through the Married at First Sight process.
"I think you need to come out and say [the truth] and take accountability for what you did. I honestly think that would help... Anger and problems aside, you have to take some accountability. You're 28," Elena says during the phone call.
"You can't just get to posting again, like, posting a picture of you holding a dog... You have to own up to what you did, and I think people would have a lot more respect for you if you did that."
Zack responds, "Got it. Umm, but I have owned up to what I did -- to Bao."
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"But you haven't owned up to it to me," Elena laments. "You told me that it was my fault and you wanted to jump off a balcony because of me."
"I was!" Zack responds with a laugh, adding, "I told you how what happened made me feel. It's making me sick."
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Elena told the camera she's upset Zack only seemed interested in owning up to his mistakes with Bao, as if Elena and the other women aren't "real people" and their feelings are not valid since they never appeared on a reality TV show.
"You portrayed this image that you're such a great guy when you were lying to me, and lying to Bao and lying to all of these people," Elena complains to Zack.
"Did you think about the consequences of doing this publicly?" Zack asks. "And not just for me, but for Bao?"
But Elena snapped at Zack how he clearly didn't think about the consequences of his actions when playing multiple women at once.
"Why did you do it though? Why go public? We could've handled it privately," Zack asks.
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Zack replies, "I'm not making excuses for my actions at all. All I'm saying is you made this public and that's on you."
Elena vented about how Zack wouldn't accept fault in the situation and was "trying to flip the script" since his public image is "tarnished now."
When Elena asked Zack if he had seen the public backlash in his Instagram comments from this scandal, Zack asks, "Are my followers [count] going down?"
Zack, however, didn't seem concerned about the criticism, telling Elena, "You know that's going to go away, right? People aren't going to hate me forever. But you still think I need to make a public apology?"
"I think you should take accountability for your actions, because that's all that people want," Elena repeats.
"Yeah," Zack replies. "Yeah."
Elena accused Zack of wanting to manipulate his followers into thinking he's still a great guy.
"This really f-cked with me. I moved here for new beginnings... It's just not been what I expected," Elena says.
"Well, I'm hoping you'll just leave this in the past right?" Zack asks.
"It's not that easy. I'm sure it's easy for you, but... mentally, it's taken a huge toll on me," Elena says, adding, "All of this is your fault."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, look, yeah, what I did is my fault, but this going public is NOT my fault!" Zack shouts.
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"This is not my doing. [Fans] need to go get your beloved Zack, [who], for some reason, people feel is this 'great guy,' who really just put on an act," Elena gripes.
"I am a great guy, so stop that," Zack concludes.
Elena apparently chose not to post certain parts of her conversation with Zack due to intimate and private details she didn't want to share with the public, seemingly about their sexual relationship.
According to Elena, her relationship with Zack began when one of her friends who watches Married at First Sight suggested he contact him on Instagram as Elena was new to Houston and her friend was confident Zack's marriage to Michaela hadn't worked out given MAFS had repeatedly shown the pair clashing.
Taking her friend's advice, Elena sent Zack an Instagram follow request on October 25 while his profile was still private due to his Married at First Sight contractual obligations.
She then also sent Zack a direct message saying hello, which allegedly prompted Zack to send her his phone number and request they begin text messaging as he couldn't accept new follower requests while his Married at First Sight season was still airing. The pair allegedly hung out at Zack's apartment for the first time later that same day.
At the time Elena allegedly contacted Zack, Episode 14 of Married at First Sight's thirteenth season had just aired, showing Zack and Michaela having their most explosive fight of the season while the cast was on a couples retreat weekend.
Rumors that Zack and Bao were involved in a post-show romance had also already begun circulating online in September, when the pair had been spotted enjoying a romantic dinner together followed by subsequent museum and club dates.
But as someone who wasn't a Married at First Sight fan, Elena has claimed she hadn't heard the rumors that Zack was dating Bao -- and that even after she began seeing him, the only MAFS footage she watched were clips that Zack would occasionally show her when they'd be hanging out at his apartment during dates.
Zack allegedly told Elena they couldn't go on dates in public because he couldn't spoil the fact his marriage to Michaela ended with him asking for a divorce on "Decision Day."
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"I assumed I was the only one he was talking to. He told me that he wanted to be serious with me, and he told me that I was perfect and I was his dream girl and I had everything he's ever looked for in a girl," Elena told India and Michelle.
"And so, he was the only guy I was with, and so I assumed he was doing the same."
Elena's friends then allegedly warned her in late November of Zack and Bao's post-show romance, which was evidenced by a photo Bao had posted on her Instagram account showing Zack had spent Thanksgiving with Bao and her family.
Elena said she tried to confront Zack about his relationship with Bao on Sunday, November 28 and he denied it.
"I tried to have an adult conversation with him about everything. I even tried to confront him about Bao on Sunday. I asked him, 'Why did you not tell me that you were dating someone?' He said, 'I'm not,'" Elena claimed in an interview.
Elena therefore publicly commented on Bao's photo, wondering if Bao knew Zack had been cheating on her, and also reached out to Bao via an Instagram direct message that same day.
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Bao allegedly answered Elena's message on Monday, November 29 and the girls discussed the matter for 20 minutes in an Instagram audio call.
"I told her everything, and she was honestly in disbelief and clearly very hurt," Elena claimed.
Elena said once Zack was caught, he "played the pity card" and allegedly tried to get both Elena and Bao to feel sorry for him. However, Elena said Bao and Zack broke up over this.
Elena also posted screenshots of her text messages with Zack on Reddit after Bao and Zack supporters allegedly attacked her for her comment that Zack was cheating on Bao, and then conducted a couple of follow-up interviews with YouTube personalities.
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Neither Bao or Zack have publicly confirmed Elena's breakup claims yet, however Bao has stopped following Zack on Instagram.
In October, Michaela spoiled how her relationship with Zack had ended.
"Look Y'all, I am legally married (only because I'm contractual obligated to be) but very estranged," Michaela wrote in a series of posts on her Instagram Stories.
"I have not spoken directly to that man in months."
Michaela also told her followers on Instagram of Bao and Zack, "This honestly has nothing to do with me. So please stop dragging my name and mentioning me. I wish them the best."
Michaela, however, commented on how Bao had broken "girl code," and she subsequently threw some not-too-subtle shade at Bao and Zack after the Where Are They Now? special aired on Lifetime.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
