Married At First Sight star Dave Hand has slammed fellow groom Clint Rice as ‘gutless’ after a chaotic fireside argument.
The drama erupted on Tuesday’s episode at the cast retreat when Lauren, 37, was called out for her ‘snobbish’ behaviour by fellow bride Jamie Marinos.
The verbal stoush saw Clint step in to defend his wife, despite her earlier claiming to the other brides that there was ‘no spark’ between the couple.
Clint continued to badger Jamie telling her to ‘listen more and speak less’ which prompted Dave to stand threateningly and say: ‘Don’t speak to her like that, mate.’
When Jamie joined her husband, Clint said: ‘Jamie, sit he f*** down.’
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Dave called out Clint’s behavior in the episode as ‘gutless.’
‘Him being one of the oldest males, you’ve got to have a bit more respect for the group and the women there,’ he said.
‘I thought it was pretty gutless. Fair enough, he’s backing his wife, but it’s pretty immature of him to go: “You know what I’m just going to disregard what she [Lauren] said”.
‘Clint can have his own opinions and he can do that without being rude to the whole group,’ Dave added.
Dave also didn’t hold back in his assessment of Lauren’s off-colour comments.
‘We’re on a national TV show. If she has that attitude, imagine what she’s going to do on the outside world behind closed doors,’ he said.
‘For me it was take it with a grain of Clint Rice but it’s terrible behaviour.’
Dave said that all he wanted from Lauren was an apology for calling women in the group ‘drunk bogans’ and his wife a ‘troll’.
‘I started the night off just asking for an apology,’ Dave said.
‘That’s all we wanted. I thought I was pretty calm to be honest – it just went south pretty quick.
‘You put your back up against the wall like that and lean into those shitty comments, definitely people are going to get high-strung in that environment.’
Elsewhere in the episode, Dave confronted Clint over Lauren’s earlier comments regarding the lack of spark in their relationship however Dave’s protests fell on deaf ears.
He said he was surprised that Clint continued to back his wife.
‘I thought it was clear as day to see what Lauren was up to. He [Clint] just didn’t take the tip-off.
Dave added: ‘I had to spill the beans. I took the chance and I went with it.
‘I gave him an opportunity to see through Lauren’s s*** and he’s a little puppet who is controlled by Lauren. Its a shame.
Speaking about his bride’s reaction to both Lauren’s comments and Rhi Disljenkovic and Carina Mirabile not backing her, Dave said that Jamie was ‘hurting’.
‘Jamie is a sweetheart – I know that she gets worked yup and she takes things on board,’ Dave said.
‘I know that she was hurting, probably not so much about Lauren’s situation but the group as a whole made her pretty upset. Of course I’m going to back my partner in.’
With the dinner party promising even more drama on Wednesday night, Dave said that viewers should prepare for even more chaos.
‘Going in, I was pretty fired up. I could see how fired up Jamie was. That’s what you do for your partner, you’re going to back them in,’ he said.
Without giving too much away, Dave added: ‘I’m looking forward to the intensity of tonight. strap in and Get the popcorn.
Married At First Sight continues Wednesday at 7.30pm on Channel Nine.