MAFS 2023: A Complete Timeline of the Claire and Adam Saga

We all know that “Married At First Sight” is no stranger to a cheating scandal, and the issue seems to have reared its head once again. The so-called scandal rocked the experiment tonight after Jesse accused ‘wife’ Claire of having secret phone calls with fellow groom Adam.

And while, as viewers, we weren’t shown any footage of the alleged infidelity, we wanted to unpack what went down between Claire, Adam and Jesse.

But now the plot has thickened. Claire and Adam initially denied any wrongdoing, making Jesse look like the insecure and jealous partner.

Then, we got confirmation straight from Claire’s mouth that she did, indeed, kiss another groom. Now, everything’s out in the open. Claire is trying to make amends with Jesse, while Janelle is confronting Adam over his lies. Here’s how it’s all played out so far.

A Refresher: Jesse Confronts Adam Over “Secret Relationship” With Claire

It was 1.15am, and Jesse was furious.

“I just lost my s**t. I was literally at a point where I could not control my anger,” he fumed. “I’m not happy, like why the f**k would you do that?”

What was it that made him so angry, you ask? At the group drinks, Jesse had become suspicious that Claire and Adam were engaging in a secret relationship.

According to Jesse, he’d seen the pair flirting at group drinks, watched them both leave the venue, and then caught Claire on the phone to someone who Jesse believed sounded like Adam in the early hours of the morning.

Jesse then said that he’d confronted his ‘wife’ over the phone call, recounting that she’d frantically tried to hang up, while pretending to be on the phone to “the girls”.

Furious, Jesse then stormed over to Janelle and Adam’s apartment, banged on their door and demanded to look at Adam’s phone, but Adam refused.

A New Development: Claire Admits to Hooking Up With Adam

After making a complete turnaround in their relationship during Intimacy Week, guilt began to kick in for Claire, who’s been “carrying this big secret” about the night in question.

“It’s hard because I feel so guilty. He doesn’t know the truth that I’m carrying this big secret. I just can’t hold it in… it’s been really hard to be dishonest, I don’t want to hold it in anymore,” she told cameras.

To gain some clarity over the situation and get things off her chest, Claire confided in Sandy. Finally, Claire revealed that she and Adam did, in fact, kiss during that night out. Yes, that same night the pair accused Jesse of being “out of line” and “paranoid”.

The bride broke down in tears, saying she had “disrespected this whole process” of the show.

“It’s only fair that I call myself out on my bulls**t as much as I call out others on theirs. I feel really awful for hurting Janelle and for hurting Jesse,” she said.

Claire told Sandy how Adam was adamant about keeping things a secret, but Sandy urged Claire to tell Jesse as soon as possible.

Claire Pulls Jesse Aside

And that’s exactly what she did next. Jesse was soaking in the joy of the wedding day of the new “MAFS” couples before Claire decided she couldn’t keep it in any longer.

Terrified, Claire took Jesse outside the reception to come clean.

“I feel like it would be really unfair of me, and wrong of me, to call people out on their bad behaviour when I have also not been perfect and I’ve acted outside of integrity. I’ve broken your trust,” she began.

“That night that we all went out and Adam and I went outside, we kissed.”

Jesse was shocked, angry and devastated as he tried to process the new revelation.

“That is classic. I knew it, you know. I just knew something was just so suss with that,” he replied.

“Part of me was just like ‘have I got this wrong, am I a sensitive, jealous guy?’, now I know: I’m not. My suspicions were absolutely founded.”

Jesse cannot wait to see Adam, and frankly, we can’t wait to see what happens next.

Claire Addresses the Cheating Scandal

After coming clean on Monday’s episode, Claire appeared on the “Fitzy & Wippa” show and expressed regret over the incident and revealed that the kiss only lasted “two seconds, three max.” While the bride stressed that she was “definitely not on the phone at any point to Adam” during the night Jesse raised his concerns, she wished she had come clean in the first instance about their kiss.

During the interview, when asked about who initiated the kiss, Claire admitted that “it was a mutual”, but still wondered if she should “just blame Adam?”

Reflecting on the situation, Claire admitted that she should have been honest from the start, but her fear of Jesse’s reaction got in the way of her telling the truth.

“I think as much as I should have been honest at that time, I think I let my fear of Jesse’s reaction kind of overtake knowing what I should have said, which is the truth,” she told the hosts.

As for where she stands with Adam, it seems like things lasted as long as their so-called kiss. When asked if she’s thought about kissing the groom again, Claire was quick to say: “No, I’ve thought about punching Adam.”

“… Nothing really more comes of this, in terms of Adam and I,” she added.

The Showdown: Jesse Confronts Adam (Again)

The following morning, Jesse made his way over to Adam’s apartment to confront the groom. Mind you, Adam had no idea what was about to hit him.

Jesse invited Adam back to his room, where things got pretty heated between the pair.

In Jesse’s room, Adam remained calm and refused to engage. Instead, Adam made his way back to his own apartment, but Jesse wasn’t done.

“Say you f***ing kissed her,” Jesse said repeatedly to Adam.

Adam tried to deny things (once again) at first, before Jesse revealed that Claire came clean about everything.

“It was one stupid little drunken kiss that happened,” Adam said.

“It’s not an excuse,” Jesse butted in. “You still hooked up with my wife, you dogged me and you dogged this whole experiment.”

Claire heard the commotion and interjected, admitting that both were at fault, saying that they knew “it was completely wrong” after it happened. The tension eased at that moment, before Jesse asked if Janelle knew the truth yet, which she did not.

Adam Comes Clean to Janelle

Adam had told Janelle that she had nothing to worry about. But she did, indeed, have something to worry about. Finally, Adam came clean to his ‘wife’ about the infidelity.

“To me, it was absolutely nothing… me and Claire had a little kiss downstairs,” he said, before attempting to justify it by blaming their troubled relationship.

However, Janelle was devastated. In shock and disbelief, Janelle exited the room. While she managed to keep her composure until she reached the hallway, Janelle soon broke down in tears.

“I just put all my trust in him. This happened weeks ago, why is it coming out now? He had all this time to tell me. I just feel like an idiot for trusting him,” she told cameras.

“And then he’s trying to tell me we weren’t in a good place, we were in a good place. It’s like he’s trying to blame me… you kissed her, I didn’t kiss her.

“This has completely caught me off-guard, I just feel numb.”

Feeling lost and hurt, Janelle headed to Jesse for comfort. As Jesse shared everything he knew about Adam’s cheating, Janelle’s anger towards Adam grew.

Soon enough, she had a plan of attack: confront Adam at the upcoming Dinner Party, and bring him down.

“I’m gonna roast the s**t out of him at the dinner party, I’m gonna roast the s**t out of him at the commitment ceremony. I don’t give a flying f**k anymore. He’s not coming out of this unscathed, not for one second,” she told Jesse.

But for now, she’s demanded Adam move out of their apartment.

Janelle Drops a Bombshell at the Dinner Party

After vowing to take down Adam at the dinner party, Janelle wasted no time. The bride quickly raised the issue during a toast, before turning the floor over to Adam and Claire. The idea was for them to make their apologies, but it… didn’t necessarily go like that.

Adam took the lead, but instead of offering an apology to his ‘wife’, he was full of rambling excuses.

Instead of offering a heartfelt apology to Janelle, Adam focused mainly on making amends with Jesse. Then, he tried to shift the blame, saying that he and Janelle were in a bad place when the kiss happened.

“Things had happened on our honeymoon, things had been said… it wasn’t a real relationship. The last two weeks have been a real relationship,” Adam told the group. “I just wanted to get out of the experiment, because I didn’t want to be here.”

He added, “I’m not gonna put my hand up and say I was a cheat when I wasn’t a cheat. Yes, I kissed Claire, but I wasn’t cheating at the time.”

Finally, Janelle demanded to speak. When she did, she delivered the biggest bombshell of all: “I kissed him goodbye before he left and he had sex with me that night.” Funny thing to do when you aren’t in a good place with your partner, Adam.

The group was rocked, and Adam sat back in his chair, defeated. When pressed by the group, Adam was ultimately forced to admit that Janelle’s version of events was true.

Claire Owns Her Mistake

Claire was full of remorse and headed to the Dinner Party with the single goal — trying to make things right with Jesse. She was armed with a letter of her deepest thoughts, hoping it would help her express herself better.

After the whole Adam debacle at the dinner table, it was Claire’s turn to explain herself. But she took a completely different approach to Adam and owned up to her mistake, apologising unreservedly to Jesse and the group.

“I f***ed up and I’m just really sorry,” she finished saying.

Jesse was clearly moved by her sincere apology.

“I can hear Claire breathing really slow, she’s trying to calm herself down… Her body language alone, I can tell she’s nervous,” he told cameras. “Mad respect to Claire for [having] the balls she has to come in and own it the way she has and to cop the flack. That’s owning your mistakes and giving a genuine apology.”

Later, Claire took the opportunity to speak privately with Jesse and gave him her letter while offering another heartfelt apology. Surprisingly, Jesse was moved by her words, and he admitted it was the “best apology [he] ever received”.

And in another shock turn of events, the pair snuck out of the dinner party together.

Adam Speaks Out

After getting absolutely grilled by the group at the dinner party, Adam took matters into his own hands. Appearing on KIIS 101.1’s Jase & Lauren on Thursday morning, the groom claimed his ‘wife’ Janelle isn’t as innocent as she seems.

“We were gonna leave the experiment before the first commitment ceremony, but talks went on behind closed doors,” he said. “Janelle put it to me like, ‘We should stay in the experiment, no one is going to remember the first couple that leave.’

“That’s my biggest regret, not leaving when I wanted to leave.”

He also made revelations about Claire, saying she tried to keep things going with him.

“There was no more experimenting with Claire … Claire did try and experiment with me a couple more times,” Adam admitted.

“Yeah, she definitely did. But you know, that wasn’t gonna come out. Few messages and that, trying to meet up with me and whatnot,” he said.

Stay tuned, because this saga is clearly far from over.

Janelle and Adam Call It Quits

After a whirlwind week, it was time for Adam to face the experts at the commitment ceremony. Janelle was the first to speak, sharing her shock over Adam’s actions.

“The cheating was one thing, but it was all the actions that followed that made it worse,” Janelle told the experts. “It was the lack of accountability, the lack of apology that felt so shocking.”

When Alessandra asked Adam why he seemed more focused on making peace with Jesse than Janelle, he was speechless. Alessandra held him responsible for his behaviour, and didn’t let anything slip by.

Adam tried to explain that the kiss wasn’t premeditated, just a “stupid drunken kiss”, but it fell on deaf ears as Lyndall pointed out his flirtatious behaviour that night. Despite the room trying to make Adam see the gravity of his actions, he showed no remorse. At this point, things were just going around in circles.

The experts ultimately concluded that Adam wasn’t taking ownership of his mistakes. In the end, Janelle and Adam both decided to leave the show. Adam walked out of the room, and no one went after him.

Claire and Jesse Give Things One Last Chance

It was Claire’s turn to face the music, and she knew she had it coming.

When asked what motivated her to come clean, she admitted: “Last time we were seated on this couch Jesse said that he was beginning to develop romantic feelings for me. I found myself keeping him at arm’s length because I was carrying that guilt and shame. I knew I’d done the wrong thing.”

Meanwhile, Jesse admitted to feeling worthless after Claire’s infidelity was revealed.

As Melinda and Alyssa tried to hold Claire accountable for lying to Jesse and Janelle’s faces, a heated argument erupted in the room.

“It’s the betrayal, it’s the gaslighting… I think it’s way past just kissing,” Alyssa fumed.

On the other hand, Sandy defended Claire. Sandy argued that Claire was remorseful and accountable, unlike Adam, but her fellow brides weren’t having any of it.

When it came to a decision to stay or leave, Jesse admitted that he had nothing left in the tank to give and wanted to go home. The whole situation made him question his worthiness for love.

“I’ve been single for seven years, I haven’t had good relationships… Just reaffirming a lot of things,” Jesse tried to articulate before getting emotional.

Claire, however, chose to stay to make amends, and John suggested that Jesse try to give it another week.

Only time will tell if the broken couple can turn things around.

“Married At First Sight” continues Monday — Wednesday at 7.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.

“MAFS” 2023: A Complete Timeline of the Claire and Adam Saga