Claws come out during Married at First Sight NZ's tense cocktail party

What's the best way to help six separate relationships work through their issues and find happiness with each other? Throw all 12 people in the same room and keep the alcohol flowing, according to last night's Married at First Sight NZ.

The six couples have now spent a week together and tonight saw them head to a cocktail party to catch up with their fellow contestants for the first time since before their weddings. No couple knew how the others had gotten on with their marriages, and things swiftly got tense.

Claire and Dominic arrived to find Angel and Brett looking loved-up, and positively stoked that they were looking loved-up. Both couples shared a laugh at how much they'd laughed in the past week. 

Lacey turned up alone. Angel followed her to the bathroom to chat. Claire arrived to also offer support. Lacey revealed that Luke sleeps on top of the duvet with his clothes on, which is quite weird. The girls agreed. Angel made a joke about how she'd jump under the covers with Lacey ("Don't tell Brett!"), and promptly gave herself the biggest laugh of the night.

Lacey got a much-needed pep talk from Dominic on Married at First Sight NZ. 

Soon, everyone had arrived; Luke made things awkward straight off the bat by giving Lacey a handshake - but then, who knows how you're supposed to greet your wife of one week that you've already split up with?

Ben and the girls had a huge goss about their husbands, which was almost uncomfortably mean.

"I'm just not into him, he's not my type," said Ben.

"I feel that way about my one as well," said Vicky. "Mine always tries to kiss me."

"Same as me, I'm like, nah," replied Ben.

Granted, it's the first chance these people have had to compare their common experiences - but after a week of Aaron's gracious tolerance of Ben's icy indifference, it was a little unsavoury to see Ben speak about him negatively.

At least these two can build a weird friendship based on their shared spousal annoyances. Vicky said it was the most fun she'd had all week.

Gossip was abounding at the MAFS NZ cocktail party. 

But the cocktail party swiftly became all about Lacey and Luke. After Dominic gave pep talks to both of them, Luke decided it was time he tried to engage with Lacey. This did not go down well.

It was a painful argument to watch. For a start, Luke was extremely reactionary, responding with shouts when Lacey accused him of being fame-hungry. But Lacey also refused to hear Luke's side of the story.

"You lied to me and to all of my friends and family. Your friends told all of my friends why you're on this show, and I know you think it's a joke, but I don't think it's a joke," Lacey said.

"The fact that all of your friends and family, including your dad, told my dad that the only reason you were on this show was so that you could become a famous comedian - it's not a joke to me."

Multiple times, she told him: "I'm not pissed off, I'm disappointed."

Luke became more and more exasperated as Lacey became more and more fired up, and the conversation swiftly fell apart. It looks like the troubles are far from over for these newlyweds.

Next week, the couples undergo counselling. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, and whether Luke and Lacey will be able to patch things up. But first, can someone get these people proper vessels for their beer?

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This article was first published on NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.