A controversial comment from Bec rocks the Married at First Sight Retreat Week – but Rachel says what viewers didn’t see on camera was the behind-the-scenes “campaign” that left her feeling even more betrayed.
“She was going from room to room talking to other cast members trying to make out I was overreacting,” Rachel, 35, tells TV WEEK. “That felt a little bit campaign-y. That’s what upset me. She wasn’t even trying to understand or reflect on why I was upset.”
Rachel learns that Bec has taken the inappropriate comments one step further behind her back. (Credit: Nine Network)
The comment Rachel was accused of “overreacting” to came during a toast on the first night of the Retreat, when Bec was celebrating milestones across the couples.
Referencing Stella and Filip, she said, “We’ve had I love you’s.”
About Juliette and Joel, she added, “We’ve had couples come back from the brink of hell.”
Then, turning to Rachel and Steven, she joked: “And we’ve had finger banging.”
“To make a joke of it like that just felt really disrespectful,” Rachel explains. “It made me feel stupid.”
But Rachel says the fallout went far beyond a single comment. Bec’s alleged “campaign” against the team leader didn’t just destroy their friendship – it also had a ripple effect on Rachel and Steven’s relationship.
“It definitely rattled things for Steven and I and put a bit of a wedge between us,” she reveals. “It does take us back and we did need to work through it. We shared something and celebrated it, and then it became a bit of a joke.
Rachel and Steven have to work to rebuild trust after Rachel feels blindsided by his conversation with Bec. (Credit: Nine Network)
“It puts your relationship in a spotlight and when we’ve already got someone who struggles with insecurities around intimacy – well of course that’s going to affect our relationship. Of course that’s going to bring that part of our relationship to a halt because we no longer feel comfortable to be intimate. We didn’t want to be made fun of again.”
Trust was shaken further when Rachel later learned that Bec and Steven had privately discussed putting the comment behind them – without telling her.
“I was blindsided,” Rachel says. “I cried a lot. I was so depleted and came back from the Retreat a shell of a human.”
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Lucy Croke