- ♪ Get up, get up, get up, get up ♪
♪ We about to get it started
[cheers and applause]
♪ Let's go
- Hello, "MAFS" family, and cheers to a brand-new
episode of the "Married at First Sight: Afterparty."
I'm your host, Keshia Knight Pulliam,
and I am so excited to chat about tonight's episode
with Lauren, Austin, and Michael.
Michael, you and Chloe returned from your honeymoon
on tonight's episode.
How was it going on vacation with your stranger wife?
- We had a really good time with each other,
but it was also very intense.
- Mm, mm-hmm.
- So I think we're both trying to roll with the punches
but also really enjoy each other's company.
- Yeah.
I mean, you guys are doing really good.
So, Austin, we saw your Russian spa day on tonight's episode.
Would you ever do that again?
- I would do it again.
It was a lot of fun.
It was my first spa day ever.
- OK, well, that's not how massages normally go,
just so we're clear. - That's fair, yeah.
- When I saw the hats, I was like,
oh, this is going to be good.
This is going to be good. - It was a wild experience.
- OK, so, Lauren, after some back and forth,
what ultimately made you decide to go on the retreat?
- Clare's my girl so we kind of had this deal that we'll
both go and kind of just fade into the background
and let the couples do their thing.
- OK.
- Well, I tried to fade into the background.
- [laughs]
Well, with that, it's safe to say this weekend
getaway was one for the books.
That's why we're calling tonight's signature cocktail
the Couples Collision Cooler.
- Wow.
- This cocktail consists of gin,
cucumbers, mint, and sliced lime, topped with tonic water.
- Cheers, guys. - Cheers.
Mm.
OK, guys.
Let's get started.
Michael, on tonight's episode, you and Chloe
talked about her emotional breakdown
on the final night of your honeymoon.
Let's watch that back.
- I think last night was a good insight.
I mean, it's a good model for us that, you know,
you took the initiative of taking that leap of faith
and like, you know, telling me how you felt
and not having a real indicator of how I could potentially
react because we haven't touched
on too many things like that.
- You made me cry, geez.
- But for the record--
- You're like, let me just say all the right things
that you want to hear.
- For the record, it was a good cry, right?
- Oh, it was a really good cry.
- Tell me about that.
Have you just always known the right thing to say?
- Honestly, no.
I think in my younger years,
I was more in the mindset of like if we got
into a challenging conversation,
I'd get into the mode of like waiting to speak, right?
I would think of something and be like,
oh, I really want to say this.
- Oh, so you'd stop listening?
- Not intentionally, but that would happen.
-Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- So what I've learned as I've gotten older
is that if you're just in that moment to receive it,
then naturally the words will come to you.
- You know, that's the most important part
of communication that a lot of people
don't realize is listening.
You know, I love to see it.
So, Lauren, seeing this exchange
between Chloe and Michael,
how do you feel about it?
- As the resident crybaby of the bunch,
I'm glad that she-- that you put
her at ease about her tears.
And I always say it's not really the conflict
that erodes relationships.
It's the how you bounce back from it.
And I think that was a great bounce back.
- So we're going to change subjects.
We're going to go on a lighter note.
Michael, what are you learning about Chloe
during these first few days of marriage that, you know,
make you believe that this can truly be your forever wife?
- I think the thing that stands out to me
is just how empathetic and caring she is.
- Mm-hmm.
- I mean, one of the things that I knew going
into this is that that's an area--
not so much the caring part but the empathy part--
I know I have a lot to learn in that space.
So that right off the bat made me feel like there's--
there's really something here that could make us last.
- I love it.
Well, while Chloe and Michael were soaking up the final
moments of their honeymoon, the other spouses and non-spouses
embarked on the couple's retreat.
Take a look at this clip.
- I am looking to really kind of just turn the page
on everything that's happened.
Honestly, Lauren, I am glad you're here.
I'm glad you showed up.
It makes me feel better in a way
that I don't really know how to explain.
But I'm happy you're here.
- Glad to be seen.
[dramatic music]
- The shade in that "glad to be seen."
- You know, I'm just trying to keep it cute.
- It's cute.
- I'm not mad at you.
- I knew Orion was coming.
He told me he was planning on coming.
- OK.
- Him coming wasn't the factor of me not wanting to come.
-OK.
- It was more so just "why am I here on a couples retreat,"
you know? - Got it.
So in that moment, I'm just sitting here thinking, like,
we don't really got to do all that.
We already had the Lauren-Orion show.
- Right, it's over. - It is over.
- I mean, what do you really think?
What does Orion want?
Like, what does he want to gain out of a conversation?
- Child, you tell me. [laughter]
I genuinely never know what he wants.
I never know what he's thinking.
I honestly thought this was going to be like one of those,
hey, and keep it moving type of couples retreat with him,
but not overly talkative.
Because all we do is talk.
- I feel you.
- I just don't want to talk anymore.
- You just be getting exhausted, like--
- I talked more in that 10-day relationship than I think
I did in some long-term--
- Not in that 10-day relationship!
- Like, I'm a really fun gal.
And I just feel like all I do is
cry and talk and cry and talk.
And now I just really wanted to just have fun with everyone,
him included.
- Yeah, absolutely.
So on a lighter note, this house is pretty fabulous.
- Yes. - So I know you know.
Whose house we all at?
Because you knew.
- Yeah.
He was a professional football player for the Denver Broncos--
- OK.
- And one of my all-time favorite players.
And I actually, through like a distant connection,
knew his personal chef.
So I like would see her stories of his house.
- And you're like, that's the house.
- And I just knew, yeah, when we walked downstairs,
I was like, oh, my goodness.
Austin, before the couples retreat,
you mentioned to Becca that you wanted to work on intimacy.
But that plan was quickly derailed.
Take a look at this clip.
- I really don't know what happened.
He just rolled out of bed and went.
[dramatic music]
He had said, so just so you know,
I'm going to go sleep in the big bedroom,
and you can come if you want.
But it didn't feel very inviting.
- Austin, so can you help us understand what was happening?
Like, how many drinks you had, what was going on?
- I was fangirling about being in one
of the Broncos players' house.
When I expressed to Becca that like I was like I
want to do this.
Like this is important to me even if it is
for like some stupid reason.
- Even if you don't understand.
- Yeah, and, and she was hesitant and unwanting
to go in there.
At least, that's how I was taking it.
- OK.
- I was for whatever reason very
intent on being in that room.
- No, no, no, I get it. I get it.
My husband wouldn't have had to invite me.
I would have been right down.
We would have been right there.
Even in the closet.
We would have been we would have enjoyed
the whole suite, let me say.
- Absolutely.
- So, Lauren, did you experience this whole march
down the hall with the covers?
- I didn't see it.
But I did hear some banging.
So what I can only assume was Austin maybe hitting a couple
walls on the way down.
Sorry, you were drunk.
I don't think that you meant any harm.
I just want to start there.
But no woman wants to hear, yeah,
you can come if you want.
- Yeah.
- It doesn't sound very inviting.
And she let me know that if he would have walked up
behind her and said, hey, babe, like, let's go to the bedroom,
or like in some type of way that made her feel desired.
It wasn't that she didn't want to sleep in the bed.
She wanted to feel wanted. - Right.
- And I think that you were just out to lunch.
- Right. - I agree with that.
- Clearly, you'd had a good time that night.
And if it's going to be your first time
you don't want to have half-drunk sex.
- No.
- One person's drunk, one person's not.
And that could be a whole other situation--
- Totally.
- --that could have also gone really, really bad.
- Yeah. - Yes, precisely.
- Well, Austin, you and Becca swiftly resolved
the bed debacle and topped it off
with an intriguing spa date.
Let's watch that back.
- Ready?
- Uh, yes?
- Gentle beating.
Help exfoliate.
- I was expecting a couple's massage just
at your typical American spa.
So this is different.
[screams]
Probably didn't look relaxing,
but it was relaxing.
I think a spa day is a great couple's activity.
Just like any activity that bonds you is amazing
and massages are bonding.
[laughs]
- OK, I have so much to say about this.
Let's start with this hat.
Do they sell these in the gift shop?
- You know, it's just for customer use.
- OK. - But I just loved that thing.
So I asked him about it.
I asked him if they sold any and they're like no,
but like, we will get you one.
We are happy to give you one.
- So you have one? - I have it, yep.
- Is it on your hat wall?
- Hanging on my hat wall.
- Did you have to make a special little hook for it?
Yep, did the whole nine.
Just have it like hanging over everything else.
- OK, understood.
So did you know what you were getting yourself into?
- Oh, not even-- not a clue.
I've never gotten a massage. - OK.
- But much less have I been beaten with eucalyptus
in a sauna that's a billion degrees and then like have
honey rubbed all over.
- Did the man rub the honey on you?
I'm just curious. - No, the man did not.
No, no, our masseuses did.
- Because that was a very interesting scene
when he was like, so, I can't wait
to beat you in these little--
I was like, ooh, this could go left really fast, pause.
- The funniest part?
He wasn't even an employee.
He was just a regular. - What?
- Stop [bleep] with me. - I'm not kidding.
He just-- - He's a volunteer whipper.
- Time out, he volun--
he didn't even get paid for this?
- He didn't get paid.
The owners asked him if he wanted to be there because he
is-- he's such a regular that he has taken it
upon himself to do that for just guests
that come in like day to day. - That's his kink.
- Is that a service that they offer or is that just
the service that he offers?
- That's a service that he offers on-- all on his own.
Yeah.
- Are y'all not reading between the lines?
- He's in there every single day, every single day.
- Colorado's a strange place.
Michael, Chloe got candid about your fashion choices
during your meeting with Pastor Cal.
Let's watch that back.
- I'm not used to a man wearing my earrings.
[laughter]
- OK, don't be PC with me.
Is it-- is that OK with you?
- It's, um, it's-- it's--
- Because if you don't want him to wear your earrings,
it's OK. - It is OK.
You could say no.
- It's not that it's my earrings.
It's not that it's my pearl necklace.
It is just he is vastly different from any other man
that I've ever been in a relationship with.
- OK.
So I have a question for you.
There's a balance with your masculine and feminine side.
- Sure.
- But it doesn't feel a effeminate,
if that makes sense.
How do you identify?
Are you straight? Are you whatever?
- Sure. - Do you mind me asking?
- No, no. - OK.
- By all means, no, I'm straight.
- OK. - You know, I've always--
from a sexual preference, I've always been,
you know, a heterosexual in that regard.
You know, and credit to Chloe, I don't feel like she
has any concerns with that.
I think I've been very clear about my sexual desires
with her.
So I never felt like that was ever
called into question by her.
- So, how are you clear about that?
- Oh, I tell her. - OK.
- And like even though we're still
wanting to build that emotional connection
first before having sex like--
- OK. - We're fooling around.
We're also we're walking around naked all the time, like--
that comfort is there.
- OK. - We have that comfort.
We just know all right let's continue to build
on this emotional momentum.
- So she knows that you are sexually attracted to her.
- Yes.
- And do you feel she's sexually attracted to you?
- I do. I do.
But I also respect the fact that like I'm
a-- you know, I could be a lot to take in,
if I'm especially being outside the norm for her.
- OK. - But I feel it.
- OK, have you always been so fashion forward?
Like you to me, like, I know you live in Denver.
Where are you from originally?
- I'm from Southern California.
So I grew up in Orange County.
- OK, OK, OK. Making more sense for me.
- Yeah, and I lived in LA for about a decade
before moving to Denver.
- OK, so what would you say is your most
unique piece of clothing and/or apparel that you have?
- They are a pair of sneakers that kind of look like boots.
So if you took a sneaker and you
kind of stretched it out to like a wrestler boot.
- It looks like a Moon Boot.
- It does look like a Moon Boot.
And it's of this color.
- It's pink. - Yes.
- Understood. OK.
Got it, got it.
So what do you guys think?
- The one thing I really appreciate both of them
is there is that level of understanding.
And they want to understand each other on a holistic view.
And yeah, Mike is a lot. [laughs]
But like she can see past all that.
And you guys are here for the right reasons
and you are willing to accept the other person
for who they are and not just be at that surface level.
- How about you, Lauren?
- I really admire the fact that you guys
are both voicing the fact.
Or more so Chloe that this is uncomfortable,
I'm not used to this, but I'm going to try.
I personally don't think your fashion is that jarring,
but that's probably because of the men that I date.
- Sure, yeah.
- I think that we all have masculine and feminine energy.
And I think you do a good job of expressing that and still
staying true to yourself.
- Thank you.
- So how do you feel about your marriage
after this conversation? - Oh, I'm feeling--
I'm feeling good. - OK.
- I think the only thing that we talked about a little bit
after is he did allude to like, look, you
guys are going to go on this couples retreat.
You know, some of the other couples,
they're trying to navigate some choppy waters right now.
That is kind of the first indication to Chloe
and I that, oh--
- Everybody isn't doing as well as we are.
- There's, there's some challenges out there.
- Yeah, OK.
So, Michael, on another note, you
got a little turned on when Chloe
was changing her duvet cover.
- I want to like push you in it and like tie it.
- That's not kink!
That's murder.
- I feel like I need a cigarette after watching that.
- [laughs]
You want to tie her up in there.
- Yeah. - OK.
- She was deep in it, ass up, like, what?
I'm just watching, so--
- Oh, my God.
- OK, I just set myself up, y'all, for that one, but OK.
Tonight's episode ended with a shocking twist
when Emily got into an ATV accident.
Let's watch that back.
[upbeat rock music]
♪
- Is she all right?
[bleep]
- Can you call 911?
[bleep]
[dramatic music]
♪
- Yeah, guys, we got lots of blood.
She's cut her head open.
- There's a lot of blood, guys.
- Wow.
Lauren, are you OK?
- Yeah.
- What's-- what's--
- It's just Emily's my friend.
And to hear her say, am I going to be OK, because she
genuinely doesn't know.
It's just so much.
It's--
- Yeah, it's hard to watch. - Yeah.
- It's hard to watch.
- And we joke about Emily being accident prone a lot
because the girl is.
But this is beyond anything that I think any of us that
know her could have fathomed.
- Yeah. - You know--
- It's terrifying.
- Yeah, it's absolutely terrifying.
- Yeah.
Austin, tell me-- tell me what's going on with you
right now as you watch it.
- I mean, it's just-- it's hard and wild
to see the footage of it.
- Yeah.
- Because we weren't there.
We didn't see it with our own eyes.
So seeing like what happens and I
remember her saying like, she couldn't see out of her eye.
Like it was covered in blood.
- She said she couldn't see out of her eye?
- Yeah.
- She didn't know if it was permanent damage
or just the blood--
like she, and that's why hearing her say, am I OK,
that was-- what a scary feeling to have to internalize.
- Yeah.
So I know you had not arrived yet at the retreat.
And so we're all seeing this for the first time
on tonight's episode.
What is your reaction?
- I probably have to borrow from your sentiment.
Like to imagine being in a place where you're asking
like, am I going to be OK, is horrifying and scary
on so many different levels.
- Yeah.
- So I think to me that's like my visceral reaction.
Like I couldn't even imagine having to ask that question.
- Yeah, so what do you think is going through Brennan's head
at this point?
- I mean, I think he had good instincts.
- For sure.
- You know, he--
and I would like to say that any one of us
would have those.
It's hard to know until you're put in that situation.
But his knowledge and like pursuit of getting to her
and making sure she's OK, like putting pressure on the wound,
making sure like they contain as much of it--
blood as possible.
Like I think that was the absolute like correct decision
making on his part.
- That's definitely one of those moments
that are life altering in a lot of different ways.
We hope that Emily is healing and that she is doing well.
I know we have to tune in to next week's
episode to see exactly what happens
and what she goes through.
So I'm interested to see how her and Brennan come
out of this on the other side.
Unfortunately, that is all that we have time for tonight.
But the couple's retreat continues
on next week's brand-new episode
of "Married at First Sight."
Here's a sneak peek.
[upbeat music]
- Hi, everybody.
- Next time on "Married at First Sight"...
- Ah!
- I would really like to build a bridge because
I am missing our connection.
- This is some bull[bleep].
- It doesn't feel good to have to beg to be wanted.
I was hoping tonight would end on a good note,
and now I feel like that's not happening.
[dramatic music]
♪
- I'm just praying and hoping that everything is OK,
but I'm here, in sickness and in health.
♪
- Wow, that is intense.
You guys had a lot going on.
I know if retreat is the right word.
But, Lauren, Austin, and Michael, thank you so
much for joining me tonight.
To everyone at home, tune in next week
when I'll be sitting down with Chloe, Lauren, and Austin.
I'm Keshia Knight Pulliam. Good night.
- ♪ Pull up, pull up, pull up, pull up ♪
♪ 'Cause life should be a party ♪