THE GIRLS’ NIGHT FROM HELL!
With a week to go, tensions between the brides are running high
For weeks, rumours of chaos and drama have surrounded Married at First Sight Australia’s
upcoming girls’ night. And speaking exclusively to
Woman’s Day, it’s clear the brides are at war!
“I was attacked … I’m still traumatised!” tells Hayley Vernon, who says that fellow brides Elizabeth Sobinoff and Stacey Hampton left her begging the show’s production team to be removed from set.
“It was one of the worst nights,” tells Hayley, 32, who insists the unlikely friends conspired against her. “I only agreed to return that night to seek vengeance on Stacey.
“I wanted to call her out for crucifying me over making out with Michael [Goonan], when she’d done far worse with Mikey,” says Hayley, alluding to rumours the mum-oftwo had slept with Mikey Pembroke, 29 – claims Stacey, 26, strongly denies.
According to body builder Hayley, she was “set up by producers”, who forced her to wait hours until she could join the festivities.
“By the time I was allowed into the dinner, the girls had started filming and had been plied with drinks.”
While free-flowing booze is no rarity at a MAFS dinner party, Hayley says the show’s producers made an unprecedented decision to allow cocktails and spirits during the dinner, a decision Hayley maintains was designed to cause chaos.
While Stacey admits she “stooped to Hayley’s toxic level” during the explosive night, which screens on Three, the blonde beauty says she was triggered by Hayley’s heartless comments about her kids and personal life.
“She mocked me for being a single mother! She couldn’t fathom that I had a legal degree and two kids,” Stacey fumes. “She accused me of getting my degree out of a cereal box and suggested
I have nothing to show for myself, only that I had a family.
“I was extremely triggered by those comments. My brother died when I gave birth to my son ... it was a rough time.”
Hayley maintains she felt bullied by Stacey, who was “making her out to be a fool”.
She counteracts, “Stacey was hiding behind this facade ... using her two kids as a means of deflecting every horrible thing she had said about me behind the scenes,” adding that Stacey went on to accuse her of being a sex worker!
“It was just grubby,” sneers Hayley, who denies the outrageous claim.
Stuck in the middle was fellow bride Mishel Karen. The 48-year-old says she made several attempts to “make peace” with the feuding brides during the hostile night, but was shut down by producers.
“I was taken off set! I was literally whisked up into a room and banned from speaking,” explains Mishel.
And despite Hayley only just meeting Lizzie for the first time that night, the bold brides were also clashing heads from the get-go.
“Lizzie was an absolute antagonist towards me – those crazy eyes from last year were back!” declares Hayley. “She was screaming and shouting in my face while defending Stacey. It didn’t make sense.
“It was all too much – the other girls were in shock. I remember Connie [Crayden] being so overwhelmed, and
KC [Osborne] almost fell off her chair.”
Fellow bride Poppy Jennings, 38, also says she was on the receiving end of Lizzie’s intense spray. “She kept probing me about Luke [Eglin], like the minute I sat down she wanted to know everything,” she says.
“I just lost it and told her everything … every single detail about why I had to leave. But, of course, I was taken off set and hushed,” says Poppy, who reveals the show’s producers only allowed her to join the dinner’s conclusion to say goodbye to the girls.
Meanwhile, Lizzie says, “I regret that I lost my cool”, after previously admitting she went “too far” on the intense night.
But Stacey says it wasn’t Lizzie who went too far. “Hayley infuriated Lizzie by disrespecting me as a mother!” explains Stacey, who was almost in tears throughout the night. “I wanted out of there but the producers kept throwing me back into it. Thank God I had Lizzie.”
‘I was taken off set. I was literally whisked up into a room’