Season 17 of Married At First Sight will officially go down as a season to remember for all the wrong reasons-– and we still have two episodes to get through.
As The Ashley told you earlier this week, the current season of ‘MAFS’ has been nothing short of a dumpster fire, with three of the couples having already called it quits prior to the latest episode.
Despite remaining couple Becca Haley and Austin Reed dealing with intimacy issues this season due to Austin refusing to consummate their marriage, the pair opted to stick it out on Decision Day, albeit, somewhat apprehensively.
However, things took a turn for the husband and wife the following day.
“Did you come into this experience for a friendship with a producer or for a marriage with me?” Becca asked Austin, while sitting among the other ‘MAFS’ castmates. Austin–- who appeared surprised by Becca’s comment-– assured his wife that he “definitely came into it for a marriage” with her.
Becca proceeded to call out Austin for “going out with a producer” the previous night, which Austin denied. When asked who he did go out with, Austin claimed he went out with his friends, and that “we all ran into each other.”
“And then what? You just, like, saw [the producer] for a little bit and then left?” Becca asked, to which Austin responded, “I don’t know, Becca.”
When Becca insisted that Austin did know, he told her that she’s putting him “in a tough position.”
“Oh, I’m putting YOU in a tough position? I’m not the one in a tough position?” Becca said. “When literally yesterday I said that a large reason why I was saying maybe no to our marriage was because I cannot tell what is reality and what is fake with you.”
Becca went on to claim that Austin hasn’t been honest with her and has jeopardized the sanctity of their marriage.
“What does that have to do with a producer?” Austin replied, to which Becca told him that has “been the rift in our relationship.”
“On top of religion, on top of intimacy, on top of everything else,” she continued. “And I made that clear to you. And you decided that the path forward and the path to healing was to go spend time with her.”
While Austin maintained that he only “ran into” the producer, he admitted to Becca that he didn’t think it would be a problem.
“That says everything,” she told him.
In what has proven to be true Season 17 fashion, Becca and Austin ultimately called it quits.
Fans were quick to react to the (surprisingly) wild episode on social media, with many begging for more information about the aforementioned producer.
“So let me get this straight, on the night of decision day he did not spend with her he went out and partied with the infamous producer all while the experts and Austin gaslit her into believing she should stay married,” one person wrote.
“Who is this producer!!?” another asked. “I’ll bet Austin has had a relationship with her since the show started. It would totally explain how he has no desire at all for Becca.”
While any inappropriate contact between Austin and the unnamed show producer was not confirmed, it wouldn’t be the first time those lines have been crossed in ‘MAFS’ history.
As fans of the show may remember, former couple Jon Francetic and Molly Duff married and divorced during Season 6, only for Jon to confirm in August 2018 that he and Dr. Jessica Griffin— were dating, despite the ‘MAFS’ psychologist being one of the experts who helped match Jon and Molly.
Jon and Jessica reportedly began dating about five months after Jon and Molly announced their decision to divorce. The couple went on to get hitched in 2022 and are still currently married.
New episodes of ‘MAFS’ air Wednesdays on Lifetime.
Watch Becca confront Austin over his alleged night on the town with the producer below.
RELATED STORY: A ‘Married At First Sight’ Spin-Off Featuring Singles 55+ is Coming to Lifetime
(Photos: Lifetime; Instagram)
12 Responses
No one will ever know for sure what went on behind closed doors with Austin and Becca. Although I would never put up with a man who treated me disrespectfully, I don’t see that Austin did that to Becca. When you are young you are somewhat nieve about what you want in a relationship, you expect perfection in your spouse, but no one is perfect and there is no such thing as a perfect relationship. You have to compromise. That comes with every marriage and that is what Pastor Cal tries to teach these couples. I think Becca is questioning her decision to end her marriage. You can see is at the end of tonight‘s episode . you see her second-guessing her decision to wanting him out of her life. In my opinion she should second-guess it. Austin appears to be a great guy, one who is a little bit immature and needs to be taught how a woman should be treated, but in the same respect I can see that he truly loves Becca and realizes that he made some mistakes in their relationship. They both need to shut out their friends and shut out the other couples and decide for themselves ( and only themselves) what they want in their marriage and how hard they want to work on saving it. Although I can understand that Becca wants to feel desired by Austin and therefore tells him she can’t wait anymore for sex, Austin doesn’t view Sex in the same way. He wants to be in love and have a deep emotional connection first. It’s funny how women are always usually telling men this but when the situation is reversed they can’t understand why it’s coming from a man. I think their relationship has great potential and they both just really need to work on their communication and mutual expectations. I really think they would make a great couple.
He must have had first sight of the producer slightly after he first saw Becca. That shit happens lol. I am not surprised in the least considering the context of the show and more and more of these horrid metoo stories come out. It sounds like it is rarely the case that people on these shows don’t sleep with casting or production. Yuck.
Mess! Seems like everyone was concerned of cameras instead of their relationships
I actually read a very interesting tidbit on another site. If it’s true it makes more sense to me how at least these last few seasons have gone. According to several former cast mates the women apply for MAFS. But the men are recruited. That kind of jibes with the fact that the majority of the men act like they want to be anywhere but there. If that’s true that sucks for the women that go into this thinking they have a shot at love.
It’s the same here for our MAFS in Australia. They get tens of thousands of applicants but cast 20 people they recruited off instagram with a high number of followers.
Every year we have people obviously mismatched who stay week after week for more screen time and more insta followers.
The genuine tens of thousands of ‘ordinary’ people don’t get a look in.
Gemma, your post reminds me of another thing that needs to change. The “experts” (LOL!) always try make the couples force things to work when the two people are clearly incompatible or one has zero attraction or interest in the other. They pretend you can “decide to love” the person, which is stupid. Love isn’t something that you talk yourself into. They should acknowledge that it’s a crapshoot and they failed when it’s obvious that two people they matched have absolutely no chance of making it work. It’s cruel to pretend they can (or should) “decide” to make it work. I’ve always hated that about the show!
The ones that make it have an instant connection like Danielle and Bobby, Ashley and Anthony, and Austin and Jessica. There was no “work” with those couples because they were right for each other. The fundamentals were there right from the start. It’s fun to watch when they have couples like that, but like I said before, it’s just luck when they do correctly match people.
Ashley – folks on Reddit are saying that Becca initially said no on decision day but the producers and “experts” begged her to say yes so the season wouldn’t be a complete bust. Con you confirm or deny?
She was an emotional wreck on decision day, like borderline nervous breakdown. She told them she needed time to regroup and re-center herself, which she shouldn’t have needed to say since it couldn’t have been more obvious. They pretty much pushed her into continuing with the marriage because her liar husband lied yet again and said he was willing to keep trying. So yeah, basically she was in the lion’s cage and the “experts” told her on decision day to put her head in its mouth. So yes, what you saw on Reddit is true.
I need to add that this show sucks! It’s sucked forever! There were a few good seasons here and there but I think that was luck and nothing more. It’s almost like Groundhog Day with the same shit episode after episode, then it’s decision day. There’s so much that’s a snoozefest, it’s simply not worth watching.
There’s an Australian version of the show where a lot goes on in each episode. It’s a million times more interesting and eventful than the American version, which desperately needs either be revamped or cancelled.
Agree. It was a novel concept at first and I genuinely enjoyed it. As seasons went on it got more and more “streamlined” and formulaic. Couples began to shop for dresses and tuxes in the same store, and they all married at the same venue, and they vacationed at the same resort. They added one obvious psycho per season to keep me hate watching, but once I noticed how group-oriented it was, I had to dip.
Personally, I was glad to learn that he was straight! I was beginning to have my doubts. Pretty crappy of him to have strung Becca along all that time. It was obvious her heart was in it. He put on a good act but the fact that he wasn’t ready to have sex with her was as big a red flag as you can get. Simply made no sense at all. Hope the whole truth comes out about him and the producer!