Married at First Sight’s Jacqui Burfoot made a tearful plea for an apology from fellow bride Rhi Disljenkovic on Wednesday’s episode of the reality hit.
In one of the most explosive dinner parties ever seen on MAFS, an angry Jacqui, who has been matched with Ryan Donnelly, lashed out at Rhi over the ‘texting scandal’ which disrupted Sunday’s commitment ceremony.
Speaking to producers ahead of the confrontation, the controversial bride, 29, revealed she was miffed at Rhi who used her time on the couch to talk about how Jacqui messaged her husband Jeff Gobbels behind Ryan’s back.
Rhi, meanwhile, felt justified with her statements to the experts, claiming Jacqui’s request for Jeff to secretly meet up with her without his bride created ‘drama’ between her and her husband.
‘I’m upset at Rhi because she spent her time at the commitment ceremony throwing s*** at somebody else which is disgusting and I think it’s against humanity,’ Jacqui said in her chat.
‘People deserve to know the truth and her assumptions are getting in the way of truth and justice.’
She added: ‘Tonight I have some things that I want to address to the group about Rhi.’
Things got ugly once the dinner party was underway when it came to Jacqui’s decision to confront Rhi.
Fighting back emotion Jacqui began: ‘There’s something that’s been weighing on my mind a lot and I feel like I need to address it and kind of stand up for myself on this one.
‘So I guess the last time everyone saw us was at the commitment ceremony and I got really disrespected.
‘I’ve been crying a lot this week. Just based on what you did Rhi.’
Amid interruptions from around the dinner table, Jacqui continued: ‘Taking your relationship time at the last commitment ceremony to throw shade and humiliate, ridicule and say mean things about another bride. I would really like some respect – you really hurt me, you did.
‘You spent that time basically discrediting me which I felt undermined the very purpose of these commitment ceremonies which is actually to work on your relationship.
‘I feel like the whole texting Jeff situation you took it too far and I felt like that had nothing to do with your relationship. And I apologised for that and I feel like I didn’t owe you an apology.’
The whole dinner party erupted in shouts as Rhi attempted to fight back and give her side—but Jacqui was having none of that.
‘Can you just let me speak. You’ve had your chance,’ an angry Jacqui responded. ‘You humiliated me in front of everyone, now let me speak.’
After Jacqui claimed her text to Jeff ‘had nothing to do with’ Rhi’s relationship with her husband, the dinner party appeared shocked.
‘I was sorry why are you still ridiculing me and shaming me?’ Jacqui said.
Reflecting on the controversy in an interview with producers, Rhi described Jacqui’s drama as a ‘you’ issue and not a ‘me’ issue.
At the dinner table, Jeff was outraged over Jacqui’s demand for an apology. ‘You are the one that started this Jacqui,’ he told her.
In the end Jacqui got her apology, but not before Rhi took the opportunity to have a final say on the texting scandal.
‘The drama that you have now introduced in our relationship is quite heavy on our relationship which we discussed multiple times,’ Rhi explained.
‘[At the commitment ceremony] I just wanted to explain what happened and I’m really, really genuinely sorry that made you feel bad in front of everybody,’ she added.
Jacqui, immediately calmed down and replied: ‘Thank you that means a lot.’
In a post-dinner party chat she appeared pleased with the apology which was ‘for behaviour I thought was unacceptable’.
She added: ‘Perhaps she’ll get the message and she will just stop and it will disappear. I do think she’ll be more careful about what she says and that’s all I was asking for. I’m quite happy to be honest.’
Many of the dinner party goers appeared to take Rhi’s side in the stoush, with a few not failing to notice how cheerful and happy Jacqui was after her violent confrontation.
It comes after Daily Mail Australia reported exclusively on the contents of the text messages at the centre of the scandal.
In the shocking messages, Jacqui reached out to Jeff, asking for wife Rhi’s number so she could ‘clear up anything negative’ she may have heard.
‘I genuinely have no ill feelings towards her and haven’t said anything bad to anyone else—only positive, that she’s such a nice person!’ she wrote, attempting to downplay any tensions.
However, her true motives became clearer in further texts, where she admitted she was carefully planning how to control the narrative on camera.
‘I’m deffs putting myself first and I think the best way to do that is to let him continue to show himself on camera over time,’ she wrote.
Daily Mail Australia understands Jeff immediately told his bride Rhi about the text exchange, and Ryan was only told about it for the first time during an intruder wedding.
Married At First Sight continues Sunday at 7pm on Channel Nine.