MAFS NZ Episode 5 recap: the couples go on their honeymoons and have their first group dinner together

We’re now in Bali, where the six couples are starting their honeymoons and soon to meet together as a group for their first dinner party.

“With wedding days done and vows exchanged the couples are now entering a new phase of the experiment. Where better to nurture each other and build on relationships than in beautiful Bali?” the narrator asks.

“This is where we really need to see our couples trust the process and trust that the experts have put them with the right person,” Dr Trisha warns.

First to arrive at the Swiss Belresort Watu Jimbali in Sanur is Monique and self-confessed geek Fraser. Monique is trying to treat the honeymoon as if they’re not really married because it’s all a bit too much, too soon, and she wants to get to know Fraser slowly. He hopes they have enough time.

Ottie and Gareth are straight into the pool with cocktails and they’re definitely setting themselves up to be the “wild ones”, talking about nothing being off limits and pushing each other’s boundaries. Ottie suggests a tattoo pub crawl for their first night out.

Ksenia and Wayne are third to arrive and, not to disappoint after warning Wayne on their wedding night to sleep with one eye open, Ksenia is giving her husband a really hard time. We’re not sure why she thinks it’s funny to joke about knocking him out with her surfboard and driving him off a cliff in a golf cart but Wayne suggests hopefully that she’s mysterious and will keep him on his toes.

Dr Trisha cuts in here to explain the honeymoon is a “really difficult time” where you begin to “see the real person and the communication skills and the willingness to trust the process”.

Ksenia rationalises on camera, “Yes we’re married but we’re still strangers. You can’t rush into having sex… third day you say I love you, fourth day you’re having children. It’s not natural.”

But when Wayne, who is just trying to make conversation lady, asks his new wife where she likes to go for Christmas is it really necessary to reply: “Can [we talk about] something more interesting? Your kind of chatting is freakin’ boring.”

Ksenia would rather Wayne list 10 things he likes about her because she could reel off 100 about herself just like that. He comes up with five and we’re impressed because we’re struggling to think of one.

Ksenia struggles to come up with one thing about Wayne, too, but there are no surprises there.

Moving on to Ottie and Gareth now, who seem to be getting on well.

Well, we thought so, but what is it with Ottie’s obsession with grim stuff? She tells Gareth a story about how she once almost bought a set of giraffe’s legs to make into a table and then she says she wants to go to an open grave cemetery for fun.

He’s just keen for a swim.

But “fun and games” is how she rolls, man, “and if people don’t want to play my game they can get out of my way.”

Next up we join Fraser and Monique for a walk and Fraser loves the way Monique is as clutzy as him. They sit on a rock and make up a story to tell people about how they met and even though it’s much more interesting to reveal that they married at first sight, they agree to say they met on Tinder. Monique looks like she’s starting to change her mind about the story when Fraser says they should say they accidentally swiped right on one another and then she looks even more doubtful when he suggests they say their first date was at McDonalds.

She’s also quite bothered about finding out that Fraser once wore three-quarter-length pants.

At the end of Day Two in Bali fourth couple Yuki and Dan arrive. They are so loved up Yuki asks, “is it just a dream?”

We have high hopes for this couple who walk around holding hands and wearing matching sarongs.

Dan says their relationship is blossoming and we see it too and we are so happy.

Last to arrive in Bali are Sam and Tayler and Julia and Dave. You can see straight away that Dave has a spring in his step but Julia is not herself. In tears and out of earshot of Dave she opens up about not feeling attracted to him and we feel awful for her because you can see that he really likes her and she doesn’t want to hurt him. We thought they looked pretty cosy after their wedding night…

Sam and Tayler, on the other hand, look happy and relaxed. During an afternoon drink at a bar they open up to one another about previous relationships and Sam is moved when Tayler becomes emotional about his ex partner. Tayler felt a lot for this man, but wasn’t attracted to him and felt unable to stay with him. He reveals this to Sam but says he never told his ex partner and now he feels upset because he’s just revealed it on national TV.

We can see how good Tayler will be for Sam in showing Sam how to allow himself to be more vulnerable, and Sam sees this too.

From one extreme to the other, we now switch back to Wayne and Ksenia and what will become known as “the barracuda conversation”.

“Sit down,” Ksenia orders her new husband as they lower themselves into chairs at a beachside table for lunch. “Put it back,” she orders, when he attempts to pick up and read a menu.

“Why don’t’ you have barracuda,” she continues.

“Because I don’t like barracuda,” Wayne replies, with great courage.

“You’re having barracuda… You’ve got no choice,” she insists.

Away from Wayne Ksenia explains on camera, “He feels that he’s so much into me I don’t need to do anything. He’s already in love with me and what else. He told me yesterday that I was cold blooded. So, you know, maybe I am.”

A weird exchange follows between them that could be about barracuda or could be about something deeper like people being ugly on the outside but nice on the inside. But we’re not really sure. We’re just feeling really uncomfortable and worried for Wayne.

The barracuda arrives, Ksenia dumps it on Wayne’s plate and then explains, again to the camera, that Wayne is probably the nicest guy she’s ever met but she’s anxious about introducing him to her parents because they’ll love him so much they will never let her let him go.

Wayne may sound long-suffering and meek but at this point he is really starting to get pissed off and is not afraid to show it.

“I’m trying to figure out why we have been put together,” he tells the camera.

And now it’s time for the dinner party. Each pair gets ready in their luxury room and we see each couple dynamic play out.

Sam and Tayler dress the same and they are adorable and cute as buttons. Ksenia criticises Wayne about his checked shirts and his man boobs and he bites back and we cheer him on.

Ottie is confident she and Gareth will do great because they’re both fun in a social setting. Julia looks wretched. Yuki and Dan hope no one is having a horrible time and we can’t pinpoint anything remarkable about Fraser and Monique’s getting-ready footage. The dinner party is a different story though.

First, the introductions: Ottie and Gareth pronounce Sam and Tayler to be a beautifully-matched couple and Dan and Tayler instantly bond when they discover they’re both sparkies. Julia and Sam are drawn to one another and you know they’re going to be best friends and tell each other everything. Sam instantly picks that Wayne and Ksenia are not happy, and then it’s into the dining room to eat together.

Monique considers herself social but at the table withdraws to observe the other couples.

Fraser responds by overcompensating for her silence and proudly announces he used to have a mullet. The group laughs nervously and, spurred on, Fraser blurts out that he once had a job as a billboard wearer.

Monique can’t believe it and you can see she is willing him to disappear in a puff of smoke, but Fraser has more. He worked as a billboard wearer MORE THAN ONCE.

What, more than once? the group choruses back.

Monique is not sure whether she and Fraser are going to work.

Tomorrow we find out what happens at the rest of the dinner party.

Married At First NZ airs on Sundays at 7pm and continues Mondays and Tuesdays at 7.30pm on THREE.