Vanessa Romito was noticeably missing from last night’s final dinner party, leaving many Married At First Sight viewers worried her time on the series was so traumatic, she refused to return.
WATCH: MAFS’ Michael hits back at Vanessa ‘lying’ about cheating video
However, one of her pals has since set the record straight, claiming she didn’t feel the need to inject herself into any more drama after it backfired on her the first time.
“Vanessa pretty much made her mind up before landing in Sydney – and producers allowed it under their duty of care,” the source told Daily Mail Australia.
“She made it clear she didn’t want to be in a setting as dramatic as the dinner party after filming the girls’ night in November, so they let her sit it out. She wasn’t apart of any integral storylines so it had no effect on the episode.”
Vanessa became a key character on the series when she claimed she had solid evidence proving without a shadow of a doubt that Hayley Vernon and Michael Goonan locked lips during their boozy night out. However, viewers turned on the star when she shockingly revealed there was no video after all.
Meanwhile, former Married At First Sight star Jessika Power has seemingly accused intruder bride Lizzie Sobinoff of being a puppet for the show’s producers.
Speaking exclusively in a video recap for New Idea, the 26-year-old congratulated her former cast mate on finding love, before accusing her of being somewhat of a “producer’ pet”.
“I’m really excited to see [Lizzie] and Seb are moving in together but I have to say, have the producers thrown her in there as a bit of bait for the other contestants?” Jess began.
“I feel whenever she’s in a one on one position with anyone, she’s kind of like “tell me what’s wrong, tell me what the secret is, tell me what’s going on.”
The blonde beauty then questioned whether the show’s producers are trying to get Lizzie to bait information out of the other contestants in order to make the show more exciting.
“I’m like, come on, there’s a producer pet there if ever I’ve seen one,” she added.
Jess concluded by saying: “Lizzie, focus on your own relationship doll not everybody else’s.”
Later in the video recap, Jess also gave a shout out to jilted brides Mishel and Connie, who she praised for finally putting themselves first over their respective grooms.
“I think Mishel and Connie have really taken this experiment as something to learn from and come into their own as women,” Jess began.
“It was exciting to see Mishel walk into the dinner party. She looked amazing, she looked happy, she looked like she’s centered and knows what she wants.”
Jess went on to say that it was priceless watching Steve’s reaction to Mishel walking into the dinner party by herself as he obviously wants her back.
“[Steve], you had her there all along. She was putting herself out there and you just couldn’t give it so sucked in, and good on you Mishel,” she concluded.
