Sam and Ines might betray Elizabeth. But it's their words that will have a lasting impact.

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The seeds of a cheating scandal were planted on Monday night’s episode of Married at First Sight. 

Ines, who’s been unimpressed with her husband Bronson since she first discovered he had an eyebrow ring and once made a living as a stripper, slid into Sam’s DMs during the “yes week” challenge.

Sam is married to Elizabeth, but he took off for a week after the wedding to attend a “funeral” when he realised his wife is a human woman who talks and has feelings and opinions, and is not a teeny, mute mannequin.

LISTEN: Clare and Jessie Stephens debrief on the latest episodes of MAFs. Post continues after audio…

When Sam saw Ines’ message on Instagram, he weighed up his options for about 0.4858 seconds before responding. While their partners were out, the pair began to discuss the possibility of meeting up.

Meanwhile, their significant others spoke about forgiveness and moving on, and decided to give this season’s most controversial contestants a second chance despite the horrible things they’ve said and done to them.

On Tuesday night’s episode, Ines and Sam will meet up. They’ll talk about how attracted they are to each other, they might even hook up.

The storyline will probably play out similarly to last season’s cheating scandal between Dean and Davina (and Tracey and Ryan).

It will eventually all come out, probably during a very tense commitment ceremony. Bronson and Elizabeth will be left feeling betrayed and humiliated on national TV. Ines and Sam won’t fully understand the consequences of their actions.

But they will all get over it and move on. By the end of the season, the scandal will have blown over. The cast and the audience will have moved on to the next scandal, and the next.

However, there’s one thing that will probably stick around. One element to this whole cheating scandal that could be doing more damage than we can even imagine.

And that’s how it’s making Elizabeth feel about herself.

Over the past two weeks, we’ve watched both Sam and Ines say horrible things about Elizabeth behind her back.

Upon meeting his bride, Sam immediately commented on her weight. He said he’s never dated a woman “as big as Elizabeth” but that he could probably get her running in the mornings.

He later said he was trying not to think about how she looks, and was instead focusing on who she is as a person.

At the first dinner party, when Ines first saw Sam and Elizabeth together, she said Elizabeth must have been “kidding herself”.

The next morning, when Bronson said Elizabeth was a “very attractive woman” Ines looked incredulous, rolling her eyes and almost laughing.

Later, when Elizabeth came over to Ines’ apartment to apologise, she referred to her as a “large, noisy bird”.

Their comments have been cruel and unnecessary, bordering on bullying.

By now, Elizabeth is probably over any betrayal she felt when her fake husband of a few days cheated on her with another reality TV contestant.

Sam might be a distant memory. Ines, a weird moment in time that she laughs about with her friends.

But their words will have a lasting impact.

As she watches the show along with the rest of Australia and follows the coverage around it, Elizabeth will find out exactly what they said about her. Every nasty comment, every jab at her body and her personality, unfiltered and broadcast on national TV.

And that’s particularly cruel.