'I finished last night's MAFS feeling sick. It had absolutely nothing to do with the men.'

I finished watching last night's episode of Married at First Sight with a sour taste in my mouth. I felt uncomfortable. I felt disappointed, and frustratingly, not surprised.

Not because it was dramatic, but because it was familiar.

Wednesday night's episode was the last of 'Revelations Week'. Producers had the brides and grooms split into two separate groups and share their red and green flags about their relationship. We all know how this usually goes.

What I didn't expect was to go to bed feeling more grossed out by the women's behaviour towards each other than by anything happening between the couples. It is a specific, visceral type of discomfort to watch a group of adult women regress into a high school clique in real time.

It sounds ridiculous to put into words, given I don't know these women from a bar of soap. But watching them gang up on another bride took me straight back to high school.

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When mean girl behaviour breeds, you can see it happen in real time.

This isn't to say these women are bad people. It's about recognising how easily nastiness can fester. There's a reason gossip and bitching can feel intoxicating — it's easy, it's fun, it can feel bonding. I understand how it happens.

But my goodness, it is ugly to watch.

Brook is married to Chris, who said in his audition video that three things turn him off a woman: fake tan, being clingy and being overweight. That's a whole issue in itself, but not the one I'm unpacking here.

Brook has been clear she'll call him out on his bullsh*t. She prides herself on speaking her mind, which, before this episode, I quite enjoyed. I found myself thinking "go girl" more than once as she pushed back on Chris's comments.

But during Wednesday night's episode, that candour became something else. What had felt refreshing started to come across as mean-spirited interruptions and recreational cruelty.

When Stella said her partner didn't get on her nerves, Brook dismissed it.

"I don't believe you," she said, as Gia chimed in beside her.

There has to be. Sorry, I'm calling bullsh*t."

It wasn't a conversation; it was an interrogation.

The comments escalated. Faces were pulled. The tone shifted from honest to nasty.

Brook (left) and Stella (right). Image: Nine.

"Brook surprised me. Just the way she was speaking [was] pretty disrespectful," Rebecca said.

"I definitely saw a different side of Brook," Stella added.

Gia fits the familiar reality TV mould. She's fiery, blunt and sometimes asks things way too personal. She doesn't seem overly concerned with how she's perceived.

As former MAFS post-producer Alexandria Funnell put it: "Gia is just there to be the villain and be the screen-time."

What made her and Brook's dynamic hard to watch was how easily it became a team effort.

Gia and Brook. Image: Channel Nine.

Before Alissa even began sharing her green flags, Gia and Brook exchanged a look.

"Let's do it," Gia said. They were on.

From there, Brook repeatedly interrupted with snide comments and questions. Gia backed her.

Together, they undermined, mocked and questioned Alissa's relationship.

"This is a showmance," Brook said.

"Stop with the facade though," Gia agreed.

They weren't looking for "revelations", they were looking for cracks to stick their noses in.

Brook talking while Alissa is up the front. Image: Channel Nine.

Alissa said it felt like Brook was coming at her.

A familiar dynamic played out later in the episode, when Brook and Gia turned on Stella during a disagreement with Mel, accusing her of not being a "girl's girl".

"I'm not going to lie," Stella said. "I felt a little bit attacked."

Watching it unfold felt familiar. I was badly bullied in high school. A small group of girls found it easy to pick on me. I lacked confidence, followed the pack and hadn't yet come out of my shell.

In hindsight, it's something I'm strangely grateful for. It gave me thick skin. I don't carry bad blood towards the girls, now women, who were involved. But it also made me deeply aware of how these dynamics form, and how easily people get swept up in them. There's a reason they say it's a lot easier to be mean than nice.

From what I know and believe to be true, those who feel the need to put other women down or search for cracks in someone else's happiness, usually do so from a place of insecurity or longing for something they don't have.

We assume people grow out of this as they find that confidence or what they are looking for. But as last night's episode reminded me, some people never quite do.

I don't know Gia or Brook. I don't know what has been edited in or out. But I do know the feeling that lingered after I finished the episode last night.

There is a lot of talk about toxic masculinity on this show, but we need to start talking about the toxic way we use honesty to justify bullying. I'm just so glad I'm not in that room anymore.

Feature image: Channel Nine.