MAFS Matt claims he didn’t cheat on wife Gemma… insisting they were ‘broken up for 7 DAYS’

Married At First Sight’s Matt Murray has claimed he didn’t cheat on his wife Gemma Rose during the show, despite spending the night with co-star Whitney Hughes during the couples’ retreat week.

Insisting that he and his wife had ‘not been together for seven days’ at the time of his new romance, the barber, 32, recently took to Instagram to offer his point of view on the situation, firmly explaining there was ‘no betrayal.’

It comes after MailOnline exclusively revealed that the tattooed hunk will spend the night with Whitney, who married Duka Cavolli on the show, during next week’s bout of episodes – while their partners remain under the same roof.

Chatting to his 32.3K followers, Matt firmly explained ‘There was no cheating, there was no betrayal. Me and Gemma had not been together for seven days, and we’d been apart more than we’d ever been together.

‘Which is a bit s****y because it kind of ruins the series a bit, doesn’t it? But yeah, we weren’t even talking. Specifically after the episodes this week – so before we go to the getaway, I had specifically asked production to go home.

‘I didn’t want to be here anymore and I had bigger things to deal with back at home than me trying to make something work and I was asked to stay until the next commitment ceremony, otherwise it wouldn’t make sense to the audience,’ he concluded.

But despite Matt’s denial in branding the incident ‘cheating’, a TV insider told MailOnline that his wife Gemma ‘broke down in tears’ during the retreat.

The insider explained: ‘Whitney and Matt truly shocked the other members of the cast by cheating on their partners – not only because of the hurt it caused but the circumstances too.

‘The pairs had gone away to a couples retreat and were there to focus on their relationships, but Whitney and Matt had other ideas.

‘Gemma, who thought she had met the love of her life in Matt, was devastated, while Duka had put his all into giving his marriage with Whitney a chance.’

MailOnline has contacted E4 for comment.

Matt and Gemma got off to an electric start upon their first meet, with an instant attraction and connection on their wedding day.

But things quickly took a turn as the latter’s sexual advances and descriptive remarks pushed Matt away – as he branded the behaviour ‘too much’.

And following an icy honeymoon, during which Matt accused his wife of ‘pleasuring herself at a restaurant dinner table’, this week’s episodes saw the pair hit even more obstacles as they struggled to move past their differences.

While next week will show the cast as they head on a couples’ retreat, where Whitney and Matt will turn their attention to each other rather than their partners, with their attraction reaching a boiling point.

Whitney and her husband Duka married in the show’s first episode, but their relationship was doomed from the start.

Personal assistant Whitney was on the hunt for a ‘massive brick house of a man’ but described her husband Duka as a ‘shed.’

She was met by criticism from viewers after she failed to give Duka a chance, even confessing at the altar that she was tempted to ‘run.’

Whitney said: ‘I’m hoping when I walk down the aisle I see a massive brick house of a man, he’s got to be tall, have a thick, luscious beard, I’m not going to settle for anything less than perfect…

‘I wanted a man to tower over me like massive, like a brick house, compared to a house maybe he’s like a shed.’

The show sees a panel of ‘dating experts’ pair singletons together based on values, personality, looks and lifestyle – with the new couples only meeting for the first time at the alter.

The couples must then live life as a married couple, fast-tracking the dating process into a relationship as they navigate getting to know one another and being a married couple.