MAFS couple Rachel and Steven hint their relationship is in trouble as they make shocking admission about the couples retreat from hell

Rachel Gilmore has broken her silence after a crude joke about her intimacy with husband Steven Danyluk turned a major relationship milestone into one of the most uncomfortable moments of Married At First Sight's explosive retreat week.

Speaking to Daily Mail, the bride, 35, revealed she was left feeling 'singled out', 'embarrassed' and 'really silly' after what should have been a happy moment with Steven spiralled into chaos when fellow bride Bec joked about their sex life.

Steven also weighed in, admitting the remark initially seemed funny before the fallout quickly turned 'very pear-shaped' and ended up driving 'a massive wedge' between the couple.

Rachel said she only opened up to the group because sharing milestones inside the experiment felt natural at that stage of filming.

'We've got to remember, this is not a normal social situation, right? We are in an experiment that is about relationships and sharing milestones around intimacy and where your relationship is at is really normal in that setting,' she said.

'I wanted to celebrate it. Because we have been a slower burn and I do think there were questions around mine and Steven's intimacy.'

'It was just like a nice kind of celebration moment that I wanted to share with the group to say, 'We are actually really good. Our relationship's so good.'

But things quickly took a turn for the worse.

'When the lovely punchline came out, I was just like, polarised. I was in shock, to be completely honest,' Rachel said.

'I was so shocked by what had just been said because in my mind, I'm like, where has this come from?'

She insisted there had been no private conversation beforehand that could have led to the joke.

'Bec actually found out when the group found out,' Rachel continued.

'The only other person that I had spoken to about it was Alissa… but even when I was speaking with Alissa, I used the language of our intimacy levels have increased.

'I never actually spoke about details because I don't believe we should have to or need to. The language I use should be the language that's respected.'

Rachel said the joke left her feeling exposed in front of a group she still barely knew.

'We're in a group of people, which, yes, we're all friends, but we are all still new friends, and I felt singled out for an intimate act, and embarrassment, bit of shame, all these things, and overall, I just felt really silly,' she explained. 

She also felt unsupported in the immediate aftermath, saying many of the cast tried to dismiss her reaction instead of validating it.

'When I left, a lot of people were coming at me being like, "It's just humour, it's just a joke," and I felt like in that moment, I'm like, guys, I'm allowed to actually feel quite shocked and have my feelings about this,' she said.

'I did feel support, but it was support in the way of like, 'It's a joke.' It wasn't support in the way of like, 'Your feelings are valid. It's okay. Go get some rest and it'll all be okay.'

Rachel confirmed Bec later apologised at girls' night, but said the apology did not fully land.

'Bec did apologise. She actually did apologise at girls' night,' she said.

'What I find though is Bec was apologising for the words used, it was not an apology for how they had made me feel.'

'It felt like she didn't want to listen, she just wanted to respond to me and basically tell me, get over it.' 

The bride also rejected any suggestion she overreacted.

'I was being made out to be too emotional, too sensitive, but at no point did I yell at Bec. At no point did I yell at anyone,' Rachel said.

'Yes, I became emotional and yes, I might be direct in the way that I speak and clear in my communication, but at no point was I screaming at her about this.'

The incident also had a direct impact on her marriage.

'Retreat in general impacted mine and Steven's intimacy,' Rachel admitted.

'It very much put our relationship on ice and put us back because Steven also struggled to understand why it had upset me as well, even though I could clearly articulate why.'

'I just feel like I spent retreat trying to explain myself. We all have feelings and people's feelings get upset at different times by different things and I don't feel like anyone should have to explain that. It should be respected.'

Rachel said it also hurt watching later scenes by the pool, including talk of a T–shirt and merchandise related to the joke. 

'That really hurt to watch back,' she said.

'As soon as I left, a joke was being made again about this and she knew the joke had upset me.'

'To pile on again with the joke and merch, it really hurt because I was like, you are now essentially just making a joke about me and continuing to invalidate me.'

Despite the tension viewers are now watching play out on screen, Rachel insisted she and Bec have since repaired their friendship.

'At the end of the day, Bec and I are friends,' she said.

'Bec and I are friends and I am so grateful for her friendship.'

'That moment was months ago. The forgiveness was given then and we've really grown our friendship from there.'

She also admitted there are things she would do differently if she had her time again. 

'I think I wish I took charge of the situation more in terms of just approaching Bec and taking her to the side and just being like, right, let's just squash this now,' Rachel said.

'That's probably one of my biggest regrets, is not actually running after her and saying, right, let's just resolve this because I hated fighting with her. She's my friend.'

Rachel also reflected on the shifting dynamics within the group, revealing she now looks at some retreat alliances differently.

'With Gia and Juliette, when they were speaking to me, I genuinely thought that they were coming to me with empathy and sharing these things with me out of concern,' she said.

'I can see now a bit of mustard was laid on these things.'

'Looking back, there might have been a bit of like, if we can get Rachel on side, then that will instantly pull other girls across as well and isolate Bec. And I'm really glad that I was able to snap out of that.'

She added: 'In that moment, I did genuinely feel like Gia was like, she's my friend and she was like, I can see that Rachel's hurt and I didn't like that. I feel like where they get lost is when I say it's done and drop it and it continues to go.'

Rachel made it clear she is ready to move on from the ordeal.

'I just can't wait for it to be over. Let's move on to next week, shall we?' she said.

Steven, meanwhile, told Daily Mail the retreat was a major turning point for the couple.

'This is the big week for me and Rachel,' he said.

'It was all going well until Bec decided to say a comment, and it went very pear-shaped very quickly from then onwards.'

The groom admitted he initially laughed along with the remark in the moment.

'My initial reaction right as Bec said it, I sort of played into it and laughed with it because me and Rachel have had this big slow burn and we sort of had this focus on our intimate life,' he said.

But he quickly realised the situation was much more serious than he first thought.

'When it actually settled in and hit a couple minutes after that, especially after seeing Rach, I was like, "Oh shit, no, this is not okay." This is not funny, and this is quite offensive.'

Steven said Rachel was justified in being upset at first.

'The first night Rachel had every right to feel that way, that special moment that she brought up with our relationship was made a bit of a joke,' he said.

But he also admitted the drama snowballed as the retreat went on.

'As the retreat goes on, it definitely just gets a little bit too much for me personally. I think it's blown out of proportion by then,' he said. 

Steven said the fallout became increasingly difficult because he felt torn between supporting his wife and navigating the friendships he had formed with the other grooms.

'It's a very difficult situation because I want to support Rachel and validate her feelings because she has every right to feel this way,' he said.

'But as the retreat goes on as well, I don't want to feel like that I'm turning against her or anything and I'm sort of like, 'Can we move on a little bit?'

'Me and Danny had just formed this fresh friendship as well… so I'm watching a friendship crumble there. Me and Danny have formed the friendship, becoming fragile, because our wives, it's just a mess.'