Harry Jowsey is caught in a cheating scandal in "Perfect Match" season two. Here's what was shown on the show and what the cast have said.
Courtesy of Netflix
Harry Jowsey and Jessica Vestal broke up in the "Perfect Match" season two finale after he was accused of kissing another contestant.
Harry was obsessed with Jessica from episode three, and the pair became one of the more consistent couples of the season.
But in episode eight, Harry begins flirting with Melinda while at a party without Jessica. Harry offers to carry Melinda twice in the episode, and the second time, Harry allegedly kisses Melinda.
The "kiss" apparently happens off-camera, turning the incident into an argument between Melinda, who is adamant that the kiss happened, and Harry, who says it didn't.
The next day, Melinda tells Jessica that she and Harry kissed, causing a big fight between the three contestants.
Fans were hoping to find out the truth during the cast reunion in the season two finale, but Harry never confirms what happened.
Harry does apologize to Jess for his behavior, at which point the show cuts to a series of clips from the party that seem to indicate he and Melinda deliberately attempted to kiss out of view of the camera.
In one of the clips, Harry asks the production crew if they caught the kiss on camera.
The scandal became one of the biggest controversies of "Perfect Match" season two, especially since the audience never sees the alleged kiss.
Here's what we know so far about the kissing scandal between Melinda and Harry.
Courtesy of Netflix
The kissing scandal begins in episode eight after all the couples are split up and sent to separate parties. The boys' party is ambushed by a group of female contestants who are trying to tempt the men away from their original partners.
Frustratingly, "Perfect Match" never reveals if the kiss happens in the episodes released on June 14. Either it occurred off-camera or the producers have decided to withhold the footage.
But we do have some potential witnesses. In episode eight, Holly Scarfone and Justin Assada were talking to each other right next to where the kiss is thought to have happened.
Holly is actually the first person to claim they kissed.
Justin says: "Woah, what's going on there? huh"
Holly replies: "Boys' day. They kissed."
The camera also pivots to Stevan Ditter, who seems to be looking in the direction of Harry and Melinda.
Stevan and Justin both say they didn't see anything, though they could be trying to defend their friend.
Netflix
The camera then goes back to Melinda and Harry, and Harry begins to talk about his great relationship with Jessica.
When Melinda mentions the kiss, Harry denies it, laughs without looking directly at her, and walks away.
Harry doubles down when they get to the rest of the group, saying that Melinda is making up the kiss to boost her fame.
"No one saw it," he tells the rest of the group. "That was fake news. I did not kiss her. Where's the video evidence?"
Later in the episode, the original couples return to the house, and Jessica finds Harry crying in his bed.
Harry tells Jessica he hasn't been the best example for her or her daughter Autumn.
Harry says he was too playful during the boys' party and carried Melinda to the toilet at one point in the day. Harry never mentions a kiss and instead accuses Melinda of trying to lie about what happened earlier in the day.
Jessica and Harry have a brief argument, as she doesn't initially believe him but Jessica eventually forgives him.
Netflix
At the end of episode eight, the female contestants from the "boys' party" arrive in the house to give them an opportunity to steal any of the men.
All the women decide to congregate around a table to reveal if any of the men cheated during the boys' day out. Melinda immediately tells Jessica that she and Harry kissed three times the day before.
"He just kissed me," Melinda says. "And then does it again, so I kissed him back."
Harry and Dom Gabriel walk past, so Jessica asks Harry to comment on Melinda's story. Harry again denies kissing Melinda, saying that no one saw anything.
Melinda then turns to Brittan Byrd, who was nearby during the incident, to support her claim. Brittan says Melinda's makeup was on his nose.
Jessica begins questioning Melinda's motives for kissing Harry and not telling her this information privately.
The pair argue over this for a minute before Jessica says she will ask for both sides of the story before deciding whether to stay with Harry.
Meanwhile, Harry walks away and complains about the situation to Dom. Harry tells Dom that Melinda set up the conversation about the kiss and says Melinda was the one who tried to initiate a kiss, but he turned away.
Ana Blumenkron / Netflix
Jessica spends most of episode nine asking multiple contestants about what she should do about the Harry situation.
It is not the first time Harry's loyalty has been questioned. Harry has a poor dating track record, and multiple contestants have brought this up to Jessica.
Jessica speaks to Alara Taneri, Stevan, Dom, and Bryton Constantin, who all defend Harry. Jessica also speaks to Harry for his side of the story.
Harry denies the kiss but adds another element to the story.
"I did look at her stomach, and I said, 'It'd look good if you were pregnant.' But it was not in that sense," Harry says.
When Melinda speaks to Jessica privately later in the episode, Melinda says Harry wanted to have sex with her.
"He was like, 'I'm 30 years old. I'm ready for some babies.' He goes, 'You ready for some babies? I'll put a baby in you,'" Melinda says. "He goes, 'They'll come out handsome and tall and athletic.'"
Courtesy of Netflix
Harry and Jessica sit down again at the end of the episode to discuss the kissing incident.
Harry says he has been vomiting all evening because of the stress of the situation and apologizes again for the incident. However, Jessica is still not convinced Harry is telling the whole truth.
The episode ends with Harry making another plea for Jessica to match with him.
@melinda_melrose All i know is the truth #theperfectmatch #perfectmatch #netflix all will be revealed
♬ Ye world full of lies runaway - Mediocrity menace
Ahead of the season two finale, Harry and Melinda appeared to joke about the kissing scandal on social media.
In one of Melinda's two TikTok posts about the kiss, she captioned the video: "All I know is the truth #theperfectmatch #perfectmatch #Netflix all will be revealed."
Meanwhile, Harry shared an Instagram reel of him wearing a T-shirt that said "I ❤️ gaslighting" while reading a book titled "gaslighting."
Courtesy of Netflix
Harry seemed to suggest that he lied about the "kiss" in the latest episode of his podcast, "Boyfriend Material with Harry Jowsey," which aired on Tuesday.
Harry said he was a "gaslighting king" during episodes seven to nine of "Perfect Match." Harry never addresses the kiss directly but said he would talk more about the situation next week.
"I just want to let you guys know it's a lot worse than you think, so buckle up," he said.
Later in the episode, Dom appeared as a guest on the podcast and said he didn't agree with Harry's "gaslighting" and "lying" during the kissing drama. But Dom said Harry's actions wouldn't have been as serious in the real world.
These comments seem to indicate that Harry kissed Melinda and lied about it.
Harry also said there were "no hard feelings" between him and Melinda, implying they've made up.
Harry added there was no excuse for his behavior, and listed multiple reasons for his actions.
Harry said he wasn't in the right headspace when filming "Perfect Match," and he was drinking a lot before and during the boys' day outing.
"There was no limit on that alcohol," Harry said. "I was so fucking drunk that I don't remember leaving that place. I don't remember the second half of that night. All I remember is like the shit that went down and then being back at the house with food poisoning."
In last week's episode of "Boyfriend Material," Harry said he didn't remember much of the show because he was always drunk.
Later in this week's episode, Harry said that someone in the "Perfect Match" production team told the contestants to create drama to make the series more interesting.
"There was someone on the team that came up to both the girls and the guys and said, 'Hey, if you guys don't do anything or create any drama, we don't have a fucking show,'" Harry said.
Representatives for "Perfect Match" did not immediately respond to a comment request from Business Insider outside business hours.
In "Perfect Match" season two, episodes eight and nine, Harry looks very sick and tells Jessica he vomited because he was worried about their relationship.
On his podcast, Harry said he just had food poisoning from undercooked salmon that he made.
"It looked like I was vomiting, crying, and freaking the fuck out from Jess," Harry said. "But, in that moment, I was just violently ill."
Harry said he should have spoken to Jess after the boys' party and taken accountability, but at the time, he was blackout drunk, sick from food poisoning, and had a victim mentality.
"I was only thinking about myself," Harry said. "Looking back at that, there's a lot of shit I would have done different."
Netflix
The beginning of the season two finale returns to the conversation between Jessica and Harry, in which she tells him she doesn't know whether to trust him.
Though she believes Harry wants to change, Jessica says she doesn't want to settle for a man who makes her question the truth, so she doesn't match him. Both Harry and Jess then leave.
At the end of the finale, the cast, excluding Justin, reunites to discuss their relationships and vote for a winner.
Before the vote, host Nick Lachey gives the cast a chance to speak about their journey. Harry takes the opportunity to say he is disappointed with his behavior on the show but grateful for the experience and for his relationship with Jess.
"Obviously, I'm disappointed in the whole situation, and I made some silly decisions, and I embarrassed myself and wasn't honest with someone that I really cared about," Harry says.
The show then cuts to numerous clips from the party in episode eight. There is a clip of Harry telling Melinda he wants to get her pregnant, followed by clips of Melinda and Harry whispering about doing something off-camera.
Melinda says, "No Cameras. Go ahead, no one's looking," while a camera is pointed at a tree.
In the next clip, Melinda and Harry can be seen on-screen again, and Melinda says, "Treacherous kiss. I wanted to just dog your face out."
Harry replies, "Oh yeah, I wanna fuck you."
Ana Blumenkron / Netflix
Later, Harry tells Chris Hahn that he's done "something really bad" but refuses to say what he did on camera.
In the final clip, Harry asks the production crew, "Did you guys get footage of me and Melinda kissing or not? I didn't mean to do it."
These clips suggest that the kiss happened, but Harry and Melinda tried to do it off camera.
The show then cuts back to Harry's speech, where he says it is important for men to own up to their "fuck-up," but he still doesn't admit to the kiss.
When it's Jessica's turn to speak, it seems she believes in Harry but is not ready to date him again.
"I think Harry is a good man. I think he wants to do better," Jessica says. "But is he the kind of man that I want to lead my life right now? No, but I don't regret it."
