[dramatic music]
- Today is the grand [bleep] finale.
♪
- There are liars and there are truth-tellers.
♪
- You were the master. I was the puppet.
♪
- There's two sides to every story.
- Tonight...
- He deserves to know how angry you are with him.
- Things tend to fly off the handle.
- The entire Denver cast has returned.
- I'm feeling super [bleep] excited,
and I'm ready to [bleep] it up.
- Relationships are still tense,
and emotions are still at an all-time high.
- Just go ahead and walk in and find a seat.
- Hello, hello, hello.
- I just need to be on my right-hand side.
- This is your last chance to voice your grievances,
tell your side of the story, all right?
And they have a lot to hash out.
- What did she do that made doubt creep into your mind?
- Just say it.
- Which should have taken priority, the optics or us?
- I wanted marriage. - With me?
- This is my first experience with being gaslit.
- I was manipulated by you. - [sputtering laugh]
- Who wouldn't want to make out with me? I'm sorry.
- They are finally ready to share everything
you didn't see during their mind-blowing season.
- Us four girls, have been lied to you so many times.
- You told me that if I left you,
you would make my life a living hell.
- [cries]
- It's a powerful two-part reunion
that you don't want to miss.
- The horse is dead, so it's time to stop beating it.
- Keep poking the bear and I'll bite the [bleep] back.
- Clare shared that she was in love with her boyfriend.
- Stop making me feel like I'm a piece of [bleep].
- You were [bleep] someone else.
- Continue to lie.
- I never [bleep] anyone. - Please, please.
- Hold on for a second.
- I'm not dealing with this [bleep]. I'm done.
- And it all starts right now.
- I'm just disgusted with everything today. [sobs]
♪
- This is the "Married at First Sight" Denver reunion.
- ♪ Sometimes you got to bite the bullet ♪
- Good evening, I'm Kevin Frazier,
and tonight is the "Married at First Sight" Denver reunion.
Now, this season was
a wild ride from the very start.
It really has been a roller-coaster of emotions.
But it's about to take even more twists and turns tonight.
All right, let's welcome the Denver cast.
They are all here tonight.
Becca, Austin, Clare,
Cameron, Lauren, Orion, Chloe,
Michael, Emily, and Brennan.
You all look wonderful tonight.
How's everybody doing? How's everybody feeling?
- We're excited. - We're good.
- Excited. Brennan, you feel good?
- I feel great. - OK, I like that energy.
Ladies, how often do you talk?
- Every day. - All day every day.
- We live next to each other.
- Yeah, we're neighbors now. - You're neighbors now.
Right, I heard that. - Yeah.
- And how about the guys? Do you guys communicate at all?
- There's small conversation in our group chat,
usually just kind of like, are you guys going this weekend?
Or you know, small things like that.
- I feel like we don't really talk that much, like--
that's my feeling. - How dare you?
- What about-- what about the besties?
- With the exception of Michael here.
- How dare you? - He is my homie.
We, like, we do hang.
We don't live too far away from each other.
We like to get together, and sometimes Cam joins us.
- By the way, Cameron, how are you feeling?
Give us a health update. - Things are going well.
It's fine, you know, like, I'm not--
I'm not sounding the alarm or anything.
But yeah, it's just--
it's something I'm going to have to deal with.
- Have you gotten back on a bike yet or no?
- I did a couple times this summer, yeah.
- Oh, that's great. - Yep.
- Emily, how are you doing?
- Ooh, that's a long question.
Um, I'm doing well.
Today is actually the first day without my cast,
so that's exciting. - Aw.
- My head's healing.
I'm really happy to look like this and be in one piece.
- Yeah, even afterwards, seeing your face and everything,
I was like, oh, my gosh. - It's scary.
- You can never tell that it happened.
Look at this, look at this. - She looks beautiful now.
- Thank God for plastic surgeon and Botox.
- We're going to get into all the details of your marriages
in a moment.
But tell me why the pink dresses today.
- I think for us,
it's about standing strong and the female power.
- And knowing that we're more
than just characters on a screen.
And we find power in standing in solidarity
and wearing the pink.
- Chloe, you're not in pink. Why?
- So these ladies were able to form a really awesome bond.
And I think, really just from a timeline perspective
and coming in as late,
we just didn't get an opportunity
to bond in the same way.
They look beautiful,
and I'm glad that they are standing up
for female empowerment. I think it's wonderful.
- All right, here's the thing, you all look wonderful.
But we have heard that since the cameras have gone away,
this has become the most contentious cast
in the history of "Married at First Sight."
We have never had a season where the spouses
don't sit together with their exes even.
[suspenseful music]
What's been going on?
- I think that there was a lot that happened
on camera and more so off-camera for our season.
And I think for at least the ladies in pink,
like, a lot of our husbands were more concerned
about optics than about their marriages.
And that was extremely difficult to be a part of.
And so I think now since optics are still
a part of the picture,
there's still not trust there to move forward yet.
- There seems to be a lot of tension
between this side and that side.
Why?
- I think there's some unresolved things.
- What's unresolved?
- I think it's really hard having to be sitting here
with people who treated you poorly
and haven't taken any accountability.
Some people hid. Brennan, Cam, you did, too.
And they ran away from the problem.
So it's just an uncomfortable situation being here,
and-- - How did I run away?
I think that's a direct accusation.
- Yes. - I can address, right?
- You can-- - Please, please, please.
- How did I run away? - Right after--
- Where were you? - How did I run away?
- Let me please answer the question.
You ran away because after your marriage,
you pulled her aside and said you're not attracted to her.
So you ran away emotionally.
That put her in a really vulnerable spot.
- Oh, interesting.
- Secondly, you physically left--
- Wait, hold on, stop.
Did you pull her aside and say, I'm not attracted to you?
- Absolutely not. - Yes, you did.
That's why there's tension.
- There's tension because there are liars,
and there are truth-tellers. - Yes.
- That's why there's tension.
- Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
- There is so much tension
because we have perpetually been lied to.
Us four girls have been lied to so many times.
And it's difficult in this situation
because we know that nothing
is actually going to be resolved from this.
We just all have to know that
all of us sitting here know the truth.
- Also, I think there's a sense of silencing,
like Brennan deleted my diary cams. It's like--
- Deleting or asking you to delete them?
- What? - [whispering] It's the same.
- Deleting or asking you to delete them?
- It's the same thing.
Like you were sitting on the bed while I'm in the bathroom,
you're like, I won't go to sleep until these are deleted.
Like, that is putting me in an uncomfortable position,
and it's controlling.
So there's a sense of silencing
in addition to just straight up lying.
[tense music]
- Brennan, did you work to deceive this process,
to change the outcome of this process
by deleting things or not showing things?
- No, we live private lives.
We have-- - Wait, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You can't live a private life on a public television show.
- I mean, there's--
there's things we talk about that we want on camera,
and there's things we don't and that's something we all do.
None of us have been on a reality show.
We were like, no idea what to expect.
So we thought, let's all band together.
Let's not give the producers the control
to spin the narrative however they want.
We're like, let's take control for ourselves
and tell our story the way we wanted to.
Our goals, collectively, was to get through this together
in the best possible way.
So when we said, let's come up with a plan,
it wasn't, oh, my God, she's going to look bad,
I'm going to look great, it was how do we both look great?
Was it wrong? Yeah, maybe.
Was it right? I don't know.
But we all agreed and that was the plan, and--
- But why wasn't it about making a marriage successful
rather than who looks great? - Or just being yourself.
- Why are you making it seem like it's such a bad thing
that we united together to come up with a plan
that benefited us all?
- That was a control mechanism. - OK.
You guys could have said no at any point.
- OK.
- You guys all were like, yeah, that's great, let's go with it.
And now all of a sudden, it's all of our fault.
It's like you can't have your cake and eat it, too.
- But why were you more concerned about
strategizing with the optics? - We weren't.
We were just like, how do we get through this all together?
And then we-- - Get through what?
- The filming.
There was a production element
that we're all trying to navigate.
- But for us, the difference is
which should have taken priority, the optics or us?
Like, the strategy or the marriage?
- What is the strat-- what was the strat--
- We felt it was--it was the men trying to strategize
with us about how to look good,
how to get an Instagram following after this,
how to get a business, like, how to do whatever after this.
They acted like it was a game of "Survivor."
And we honestly just went in hoping for marriage.
- Well, that's what I want to know.
Who came to get married, and who came to actually just--
- Everyone's going to raise their hand but Orion.
[laughter]
- Orion, did you come into this to get married?
- I did. - You believe that?
- No, because on day two of our marriage,
he let me know that while he was excited to find a wife,
he applied for the show for selfish reasons.
And the selfish reason was to highlight his community
and showcase Indigenous people to the world.
He told me that almost verbatim.
So I was a consolation prize.
♪
- Hmm.
- Oh, man, I love the lies that are going around.
So I said, I've never had a platform like this before.
You didn't like that. And so I said I'm sorry.
Let me backtrack.
You know, when I say platform, you know, it's exciting for me
because, you know, you're my wife,
you know, right there-- right then in that moment.
And it's exciting to document all of it
because it would be our story at the end.
And that's what I said.
♪
- Austin, you said you came to get married.
- Yeah, of course, I came to get married.
I don't care about being on TV or having social media.
Like that's never been a priority in my life.
- Is that why you plugged in cameras to have a conversation
about optics with me?
- No, I plugged those in so that some of the stuff that
hadn't been caught on camera when we had a disagreement
could be caught on camera.
- I will say this that every time
this happens, when everybody plots and plans,
you screw up the whole experiment.
This show is thought through.
The experts spent an inordinate amount of time
trying to match you up with somebody
who can be your partner for life.
And when you try to deceive the process,
you end up getting screwed.
I swear to you each and every time, it is without fail.
It happens all the time
because everybody tries to outsmart this show
that's been around for a long time.
And all it's about is seeing you
go through an authentic experience.
That's it.
And it's hard watching yourself on TV--
- On the note of outsmarting, I think it's important
that we know that, like, Cameron was like the initiator
of "planning" for all of this.
- And I also think it's important to state that
I know that their stories add up
because of what Cameron said to me privately.
Cameron pulled me aside at the honeymoon and said, Lauren,
I know a way we can get out of this.
- Did the same thing to me.
And I want to speak to my experience
because my experience was so off-camera.
Off-camera, we were strategizing.
On camera, we were executing the strategy
in which you created.
Yes, I went along with it.
What other options did you give me?
I wanted to be your wife and do right by you.
And doing right by you meant
following what you were-- your lead.
You were the puppet--
like you were the master, I was the puppet.
- Nice Freudian slip, I was the puppet.
- Can I just say-- - No, no, no, no.
- Hold on, let Cameron-- - You're so condescending.
- Let Cameron respond, please. Let him talk.
- Yeah, yeah. - Go ahead, go ahead.
- Yeah, I mean, it's--
this is my first experience with being gaslit like this,
like, just in general in my entire life.
- Oh, my God. - OK.
- They we're all going along with you and your plan.
- Please take the lead, Cameron.
Oh, I don't know how to do this on my own.
- Yeah, because guess what? I was manipulated by you.
- [sputtering laugh] - I just--hold on.
I want to let him talk for a second.
- So first of all,
I think maybe some context is worthwhile, right?
- Yeah.
- Wedding night, Clare and I, we had a lengthy conversation.
We talked about what we would like in a partner.
I got what I wanted.
She didn't. - Mm-hmm.
- Right?
So things are rocky day one, right?
- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- But things took a turn pretty badly pretty quickly.
The second night of the honeymoon,
after hours of crying,
Clare shared that she was in love with her boyfriend.
And I say boyfriend because
it's my understanding that it was active.
[dramatic music]
You were [bleep] someone else.
[dramatic music]
- You are lying. - Those are your words.
- You are lying.
- Those are your words.
- You are making things up, Cameron.
- [sputtering scoff]
You told me on our honeymoon that right before our wedding,
you had sex with him.
And not only that, but that you were in love.
Those were your words. - You are lying.
- In love.
- I'm not putting this past you.
If he got that-- - Hold on.
Hold on. OK, so hold on.
Clare, was there a boyfriend--
- No. - During your marriage?
- No, there was not. There was not.
- Was it-- - Mm-hmm.
- Right before? - It was a year. I told him.
He said when was the last time you were in love?
I said a year before filming.
And I said things didn't work out.
This is what happened.
Literally the night after the wedding,
he's talking on and on
about how no one got what they wanted with their matches.
Brennan didn't get this,
Austin didn't get that, on and on.
I didn't get what I wanted.
And I said, hmm, what do you mean by that?
And he said, well, you know, I asked Pastor Cal
for someone tall and slender.
And in that moment, two plus two is four.
I'm not what you wanted.
And maybe that was me reading between the lines,
but that is offensive.
Also, we shouldn't have been having
a conversation about our attraction
or our type day one.
That should have never been a conversation brought up.
Who brought that up? You did.
And then on the way home from the honeymoon,
he sends me a text saying, like,
I know a way out of this.
We can act like this never happened
if you want that to be the case.
- If you want?
I wanted to be married to her the whole time.
- If you want, why would you even ask that?
- I've got this person--
I've got this person telling me that she's attracted
to exactly the opposite of me.
- No. - Were you attracted to him?
- I was, up until--
- You were attracted to him because it seemed like--
- Literally the first time she's ever said it, literally.
- I was very attracted to you.
At the wedding, I was giddy, I was happy.
- You've never once said that until now.
- OK, OK. - Is that true?
- You can believe what you want.
It is true, and I told you that.
- Clare tasked me with figuring out how to make--
it seemed that we are not attracted
to each other in a way that makes sense.
She was very scared of the-- the optics.
She told me all the reasons why I can't tell the truth,
and I went along with it, and--
- Sorry, that's exactly what you did to her,
the exact thing that--
- Now, do you understand gaslighting?
- No. - Oh, my God.
- Um, so she said how are we going to get out of this?
You need to come up with a plan.
And I came up with our difference of religion.
She straight up said I don't care about religion.
I don't care about how my kids are raised.
And I went along with it. We were in it together.
- So what you're saying is this was never authentic.
What we were-- - Ever. Never.
- Seeing on that show, it was never authentic.
That it was-- - It was not.
And that's the saddest part of it.
- The reason why I went along, we went along with it...
- OK.
- Was because I realized very early
that my marriage wasn't going to work out, right?
- Why? I wonder why.
You drove me away and then you left.
You self-sabotaged. - Day two? Yeah, OK.
- So you're taking no responsibility for this?
- I will say, when you're controlled
and you want something to work, you go along with it.
We came for a marriage.
I thought it was a team mentality.
It was me and you together.
And then the second-- - But it was.
- But it was all to fulfill the narrative that you wanted.
- But what is my narrative?
I literally have none, except to be married.
- That you wanted to leave.
- Yes, because I'm married to someone who hates me,
who despises me.
- We had to talk her out of her--
- We were friends.
Why would I--why would you-- if I actually despise you,
why would you say, move in? - Because I had--
- That doesn't make sense.
- I had to put together all these things
that ended up being lies, right? The--the--
- [whispering] Oh, jeez.
- Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
- We're not going to see eye-to-eye on this.
- What's it like watching all this?
- In a lot of ways, heartbreaking.
You know, despite all of us not working out,
it's challenging to sit here and see this much contention
and just genuine-- I don't want to say hate.
But, like, it's a very strong negative emotion
that they seem to spark each other with.
And that's-- that's very challenging.
You know, and--
I mean, yeah, the outcome for Chloe and I was the same.
We didn't work out.
But I--I hope that I don't spark
a negative emotion like this out of you
because I can 100% say that that's not what I feel.
I would never want you to feel this way.
I would never want to be the catalyst of that kind
of emotion for you. - I hear you.
And I think that's great that you say it.
You still haven't told her why you said no on Decision Day.
But I understand what you're saying.
- It's also guys came in at a different timeline.
Like, the entire strategy sessions,
like, you guys missed.
- So hold on. - [sighs]
- Are you saying that you were in cahoots also,
that your relationship with Austin was not authentic,
that this was all perpetrated for the cameras?
- Personally, I don't know what was real between Austin and I.
It was a very unique situation.
I think the question is why did we go along with it?
- Why did you go--and do you wish you hadn't done that?
- Oh, my God, yes! - Of course.
- I--every single day, I'm like, why--
I am myself through and through with everything that I do,
whether it be my career or my friendships or anything else.
But with this, I just wanted to make our marriage work.
And I was doing what he asked me to do.
- Hold on. Austin, did you lead your wife?
- I mean--[sighs] I didn't think of it as, like,
leading at the time.
You know, I thought we were a team, and that, like,
we wanted to get through this in a way that we both
felt comfortable and were able to.
I was in this 100%. I wanted marriage.
I wanted a wife.
- With me? - Yes.
- Let me just ask this, were you attracted to your wife?
- I was.
- You were attracted to your wife?
- Yeah, I was attracted to her.
- OK. I mean, I just thought I--
looking at what happened and took place between you two,
honestly, you owe her that answer
if you were not attracted to her.
- I was attracted to Becca.
I'm not still attracted to Becca.
I was.
- Thank you for clarifying that now.
- Sorry, no offense, but like, after...
- No, I shouldn't-- - Everything that has--
- I'm glad you're telling the truth.
- That's true.
- OK, listen, there are clearly a lot of unresolved issues
with everybody in this room.
But right now, we have to take a break.
Throughout the night, I'm going to be sitting down
with each and every one of these couples
to go through all the highs, the lows, the disagreements.
What's the truth? What's a lie?
We will break down their relationships,
and we'll also hear how things have changed in your lives
since Decision Day, OK?
There's so much more to come.
When we return, I'll be joined by Cameron and Clare.
And we'll get to the bottom of this, OK?
We'll continue to work on this conversation.
Don't go away.
[energetic music]
- You wanted nothing to do with me.
So stop making me feel like I'm a piece of [bleep]
when all I wanted to do was care for you.
And you didn't even give me the space for that.
And now you are lying about it.
- And later.
- Do you know how you did me dirty
or, like, how you didn't treat me well?
Like, do you know that?
You did that because you wanted to avoid me saying anything
that was negative about you.
Like, you manipulated me.
- OK.
[tense music]
- I'm having a revelation.
My life is going to be so much better without Brennan.
And he never deserved to be married to me.
You are a one, I am a ten.
We are 12 and twos.
- What I notice is interesting is
they'll take, like, a granule of something true
and then build around it
all of the things that support them.
- Yeah.
- It's very well done, very well done.
- Are we surprised? - No.
- No, no.
I just thought that, like, he was remorseful a little bit.
- Dude, he is--
- So I thought remorseful Cam was going to show up today.
I was very wrong.
- If you come up with a narrative--
if you're the girl, you come up with a narrative,
and you accuse someone of that narrative,
it's impossible for the defendant to accuse back.
- Right. - It's perfect gaslighting.
- Ooh, I need to like take deep breaths.
I'm really scared.
- Don't be scared. [bleep], Cameron.
- I know, I know. [bleep] that guy.
- [bleep] him. - [bleep] that guy.
- Eh, [bleep] crazy.
- OK, great. Girls, just pray for me.
Let's go.
[tense music]
♪
- Here we go. Ready?
♪
Welcome back. I'm Kevin Frazier,
and this is the "Married at First Sight" Denver reunion.
It has already been a wild ride.
I think it's important
that we bring back out Cameron and Clare right now
so we can continue the conversation with them.
♪
- Thank you. - There you go.
Cam, you can sit right there.
I want to pick up where we left off.
Cameron, on the wedding night...
- Yes.
- During that night, did you feel
that your marriage was a viable marriage
and that things could be worked out?
- Yes.
- Hmm. - So you felt comfortable?
Did you feel comfortable after that night?
- Yeah, that night, I was like, very, very excited.
I was texting my sisters, my mom, like,
I am very excited about this situation.
I think they chose very well.
- You did make it clear that
you were not attracted to him at first.
- Yes. So at the wedding, I was very, very hopeful,
and I was attracted.
And then it was the day after the wedding
that he had this conversation
that I felt rejected in that moment.
And I started to pull away
when he said that I was not his type.
- But I didn't say that. - You--you did.
- Just so we're clear. - OK.
Well, we realized that
you're not going to tell the truth, so that's fine.
- What did he say when he said that you weren't his type?
- We sat down and you were babbling.
And you said, I asked for someone tall and slender,
and I didn't get that, which, as a woman,
I understand you're not openly saying,
I'm not attracted to you,
but I read between the lines and I fell on the defense.
I think I built a wall in that moment to protect myself.
It wasn't completely up,
but I started to get on the defense mode
because of the passive/aggressive comments
like when we woke up next to each other
and him just being like,
I completely forgot you were there.
Like, you don't say those things
when you're trying to build a foundation
for a strong relationship.
You were saying, oh, yeah, I just ignored the fact
that you were in my bed.
It's like, that's--how was that supposed to make me feel?
Because I felt invisible.
- I believe I did hurt your feelings in the conversation.
- And I told you, but--
- I don't understand why you're just not telling the truth
because the truth would just be easier.
- [scoffing] OK.
- So this conversation that we had...
- Mm-hmm.
- After the wedding night, it was spawned by the initial
wedding night conversation of what did we ask for?
I said to her that I asked for European, slender.
- Mm-hmm.
- She asked me for, like, 30 minutes, 45 minutes
what do I mean by the word slender.
And she was pointing at girls and trying
to get me to understand-- - No, I was--
I was just trying to understand am I your type or am I not?
- Exactly.
- I should have asked you explicitly.
- I give you that, I give you that, I give you that.
She was of the opinion
that I called her a small, flat-butted lady.
That's what I--that's--
- This is not even relevant to our marriage.
I'm sorry.
- But you're claiming that it is.
You're saying that this is the very beginning of you not--
- Let's do this. Let's do this.
Let's jump to a clip for a second real quick
because I want to show this clip of Clare
at "Afterparty," her reaction to Cameron telling the guys
how he felt about Clare.
I want you to watch this.
- The attraction that you all have with your partners
was immediate, and that's fair to say, correct?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- That's where we differ.
It hasn't been that experience for us.
- I'm really attracted to Clare.
I think she is very attractive. - What? Oh, I'm thrown off.
- While we aren't the most intimate people yet, like,
I'm very much looking forward to us getting there.
- What?
- OK, Clare.
- I am so confused that he is telling you guys this,
which maybe he felt more comfortable,
but not telling me this directly.
- Why did you tell the guys you were attracted to Clare
but not tell Clare you were attracted to her?
- I did. - Mm-mm.
- When did you?
- Day one. - Mm-mm.
I mean, every day.
And then, you know, anytime I--
anytime I gave a direct compliment,
it was, you know, do not give me compliments.
- Your compliments-- OK, all right.
- But like--but-- but you didn't say--
- I like your ass. Yeah, I don't--
- But you didn't you didn't say thank you, first of all.
- That's all you ever said, which is fine.
- OK. - But it's like, OK--
I mean, any random dude on the street could say that to me.
I'm sorry, like, you are my husband.
- OK, but I'm your husband. - Right.
So don't you want--
- Keep going. Finish-- finish--finish your point.
- There's a moment that stands out to me.
I think it was the fourth day of the honeymoon.
And I said to you I think I'm falling for you.
And you said, don't say that.
- That's not what happened, Cameron.
See this, I want to let go, but when--
I can't in these moments.
- Let's just be honest, we're getting nowhere with this.
It's time to move on.
Did you--when Cam was sick, did you go visit him?
- Yes. - No, never.
- I tried--I tried several-- - She canceled every time.
- Every time we organized, she canceled.
- Look through our texts. - Yeah.
You said, your energy stresses me out.
I don't need it right now.
- Yeah, after you canceled multiple times on me.
- I tried to call you five different times,
zero response.
You wanted nothing to do with me.
So stop making me feel like I'm a piece of [bleep]
when all I wanted to do was care for you.
And you didn't even give me the space for that.
And now you are lying about it.
- You want to talk about text messages?
- Hold on, hold on. Hold on. Take a second.
- [sobbing] I just can't believe he's lying about this.
- Are you OK?
Because I know you shouldn't be getting riled up.
- I'll survive. Thank you. - OK, all right.
Just checking on both of you.
- [sniffles]
- OK, let's talk about something else, all right?
I want to show you another clip.
All the couples got together
for their one-month anniversary.
And it seemed like you two were on the same page.
Watch.
- On the count of three, say, you want a divorce...
- Oh, no! - No!
- Or you want--
- That is absolutely not what I was trying to get to.
- Or you want to keep trying.
- I'm scared. - One, two, three.
I want a divorce. - Separated.
- OK, same thing.
- Separation. - Same answer.
- Was that real or was that all a plan?
- It was all planned.
Everything that you see is planned.
- Cam, was it real or was it an act?
- So, to me, getting the divorce, absolutely real.
The reason why I kept saying we kept missing each other
was because she kept telling me you have to do it,
you have to do it.
And I didn't want to do it.
So I would get on in front of cameras,
and it would be on me to follow the plan, right?
- Mm-hmm.
- And--and I would-
eventually, she would just not commit with me.
- This confusion that I'm talking about
is the fact that I literally was dealing with
two different human beings, the one that was strategizing,
the one executing.
I still don't know who you are.
I don't. I really don't. At his core, I don't know.
- OK, I hear what you're saying.
I hear what you're saying.
But the whole thing was such a deception.
And you both were a part of that deception
that, of course, it turned into a [bleep] show
because you tried to deceive the process.
- Mm-hmm.
- And by trying to deceive the process, you screwed yourself.
Fair to say? - Yeah.
I wish I would have just not. - We--we actually--
I think we had like maybe a glimpse of
maybe where things could have gone, so--
- When?
- Just in the timeline, in the timeline, there's this, OK?
So we kind of like, we have a little bit of a reset
after this, after this moment. - Mm-hmm.
- Then a few weeks later, there was a moment.
And this is kind of what I've been coming back to recently
in that whatever it was, I don't know, two weeks,
something like that, I--
we--I feel like-- like--like we just--
I don't want to say we had, like,
the best relationship ever,
but like, I can look back on that moment,
and I can see a glimpse of what could have been.
And I admit, and I've been expressing this to Clare,
I do wonder what-- what could have been.
And I wonder if we threw something away, like, why--
why don't we have a chance?
- What do you mean?
So you're saying you still want to try it now?
- There was a lot of things that had to happen for me
to marry Clare-- sorry, serendipitous.
- Mm-hmm.
- Kind of like just one after the other,
just one-in-a-billion chance,
and I'm just the kind of person that if that's good luck,
if marrying Clare was good luck,
it does seem pretty dumb to-- to just be like,
yeah, OK, fine. It's over.
I never want to talk about it.
- So what you're saying right now
is that you would like to try again?
- I want to start fresh with the opportunity to try again.
- Um-- - Did you hear that, Clare?
That he is saying, he's saying that actually,
he wants to try this again.
He wants to try and forge a relationship with you.
And I know it's contentious and it's ugly right now,
but you know what, let's look at the future.
Is there any planet where
you would sit down and start anew and fresh?
[tense music]
- I think that if he had come here today
and was truthful and took accountability
for certain things that he still has not,
and if I knew-- - Like what?
Like what hasn't he taken accountability for?
- The fact that I don't know who you are
outside of the lies, the manipulation, control,
the fact that six weeks ago, you asked to get back together,
but moments before, called me a sociopath.
You said, you're a sociopath.
Less than five minutes later, I'm still in love with you.
What do I do with that?
- What does that say that he says
he's still in love with you?
- Calling me a sociopath?
- No, no, I'm asking you-- - I asked--
- what does it say-- hold on, hold on.
What does it say that he says, I'm still in love with you?
How do you unpack that?
- I--I--in my head, I'm thinking,
he never was in love with me.
But OK, if that's what he means,
I will take his word at face value.
If he actually loved me,
he would have treated me so much differently.
- But do you think that there could have been
a world where there was so much confusion created,
and there were so many games... - That's what I'm saying.
- And manipulation--
- Has strategizing not been a part of our story,
we could have made this work.
- Here's the thing.
You have an opportunity here today to say,
OK, let's sit down and just have an honest conversation.
There are things that you two may never agree upon.
But let's look forward now.
Let's put all that crap in the past.
[tense music]
- I--I just don't have enough trust with Cameron.
- Can I earn trust?
Can I--
- You haven't shown me that you're deserving.
- Do you agree with me
that the experts are good at making matches?
- Sure. I--I-- - OK.
- Again, this is-- - So, nothing?
- You convincing me to stay with you
is a part of your manipulation tactics
that I am not falling for. I'm sorry.
I've seen enough of who you are.
- Hold on, hold on. - I cannot win that one.
- Let me just ask you this-- do you feel like you're being
manipulated right now? - Always.
- [sputtering laugh]
- Every conversation I have with him,
I feel like I'm being manipulated, truly.
- [softly] Oh, my God. - Truly, Cameron.
I don't know who you are. I don't know who you are.
- I don't think you understand what manipulation means.
- You--OK, all right.
- Do you--do you feel like he is controlling you right now?
- Yes. I think he's condescending.
I think he's controlling.
I think he's trying to make it seem as if you care about me
when if you did, you would show me differently off-camera.
You have done nothing to show me anything off-camera.
- OK, so let me--let's-- let's get to this point.
If you don't want to get back together, you feel it's toxic,
and you're being manipulated, which is--
they're legitimate reasons,
because if that's how you feel, that's how you feel.
Then are you ready to put this in your rear view mirror
and let it go?
- Yes, I'm going to put this behind me.
I'm going to respect you in the ways I always did.
But I'm never going to put myself back in that situation.
- And you never should be in a situation where you feel like
you're being controlled or manipulated.
But I will say that, yes, you all need to move forward.
Now it's time to move forward. - I'm ready, I'm ready.
- To have a new life into--
- So getting back together would
be taking many steps back.
- There you go. - Yeah.
- See, that's you.
Now, that's her just being-- and say what you feel.
If you think getting back together--
- It's freeing. I didn't get to do that during filming.
- But if you feel it's a problem
and you don't want to get back together,
just pull yourself out and move on with your life.
- Yeah. I've spoke my truth. - OK, that's your truth.
- Mm-hmm. - OK, and that's fair.
Cameron, do you hear what she's saying?
- I do, I do. I mean, it sucks that you've just
been dragging me along the last couple of months.
- Wait a minute.
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on,
hold on, hold on, hold-- - But I heard you.
I heard you. I heard you, that's all.
- I said it's healthy if we heal separately.
I told you that. - I heard you, I heard you.
- Like let's just now just stop taking shots at each other
and let's change topics.
What have you been up to since filming stopped?
- [chuckles softly] Well, I graduate
from my master's next week, which is really exciting.
I've just been working hard in school, interning,
getting all my hours, just traveling,
spending time with my family, my friends,
and just regaining that sense of who I am.
- Are you ready to date again?
- I actually am seeing someone.
- Oh, you are seeing someone. - Mm-hmm.
I actually am seeing someone.
So yeah, he's great and I'm happy.
- So you could tell him that.
You could have said to him, hey,
I'm actually seeing someone.
- I just wasn't responding to him.
- OK, OK. - Mm-hmm.
- Cam, what have you been up to since the filming stopped?
- So I've started a new job in finance, actually.
- You are? - Yeah.
And yeah, otherwise, things are good.
- Mm-hmm. That is fantastic.
And is there anything that you would
like to say nice in parting?
- I want to say something that's not manipulative
or misleading, so--
because any time I say something nice,
it's manipulative.
I agree that we've been through a lot.
And I want to say that no matter what
I say or what I've been saying,
I really do hope the best for you.
And if the best for you is removed from me,
then that is what I would like for you.
- Thank you. Thank you.
And I just want to say
that I think there were glimpses where I--
I felt like I was getting to know you at your core.
And I--it--it seemed like there was
someone that was really great.
If we had gotten to know each other without all of this,
it may have looked very different.
And I don't think that you are a horrible human being.
I think that it was a storm that did not go well for us.
And I think-- I wish you the best
is ultimately what I'm trying to say.
And I'm--I'm letting go of all the past.
And I hope you do the same
because we deserve good futures for ourselves.
- That's what today is about, is healing and moving forward.
- Mm-hmm. - All right?
- Thank you.
- At the end of the day,
we hope that you both go on and live happy lives.
And ten years from now, you look back at this
and you say, what a wild experience.
I once did this, you know.
But we don't want the bitterness, you know?
Is it done? - Yeah, it's done.
- It's out? It's out? - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- It's out? Is it out? - Yeah.
- OK, and I really do wish well for the both of you.
And I'll see you again out here a little bit later on the set.
But you know what, let's move on and live life and be happy.
It's too damn short, OK?
- Thank you. - All right.
- Like, they just have so much confidence
to just say whatever [bleep] [bleep] they want to say.
- If I was such a liar and I was this awful person,
why would Cameron ask to get back together with me?
- Because Cameron's story is the craziest of them all.
- OK, here we go, Jim.
- So I should go first. - Yeah.
- We are back, and you're watching
the "Married at First Sight" Denver reunion.
I'm Kevin Frazier, your host.
And tonight we are really just trying
to figure out what was real and what wasn't from this season.
It has been a wild ride so far.
Let's bring out our next couple, Becca and Austin.
Hello, hello, hello. - Hi.
- Hug it out, hug it out. [Becca laughs]
- Hey. - Hey, hey.
[upbeat music]
First question, what happened this season?
What was real and what wasn't?
- That's a big question.
Between Austin and I, I think
it's hard for me to differentiate
what was real and what wasn't.
- But you admitted that you were
in on the pact to kind of make or manipulate this process.
- We were on a pact of it's us versus everything else.
And then the teamwork then started to misalign
when he was lying to me.
Like I just couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't.
- It seemed like there was a connection between you two.
Everything was going well,
and you kind of really locked it down.
I just want to show you a video clip.
It's a great moment between you two.
So let's watch this first, then.
♪
- Whoo!
- I'm glad we made it to a month.
- [laughs] - Proud of us.
We're rock stars.
- And excited to celebrate every single month
until we die.
- [laughing] Oh, my God, that sounds great.
- Kiss me. - I'm not freaking out inside.
- [laughing] You married me!
- All right. - I'm freaking out inside.
That's what you signed up for, bro.
I hate you.
- I love liking you.
[laughter]
- That's my new favorite.
[laughter]
♪
- Was that moment real? - Yeah.
- It was?
It was a real moment between you?
- Yeah, I think I protected Austin a little bit
by not talking about an argument
that we had in the car afterwards.
And I understand part of it,
which is that this process is really exhausting,
and it does bring out a lot of emotions.
But at times, it was hard for Austin
to really express how he felt about me.
And if you were to play the raw footage of that,
it took a lot in that moment.
Austin was tired.
It took a lot in that moment for Austin to--
to be super lovey with me.
[dramatic music]
- Were you really feeling lovey with her, or was that--
did you have to get pushed there?
- No, I mean, I was myself,
and I don't act in a way that, like, isn't me.
I don't. - Mm-hmm.
- I respect what she says and, like, how she remembers it.
I remember it being a really enjoyable day.
But to her point,
all filming days were a lot of effort,
a lot of, you know, like, time and energy,
and, like, that on top of everything else
that you're navigating not only about your relationship,
but like your normal life, like your job and all of that,
like, it's an exhausting process.
- It is a tough process. There is a lot going on.
And I don't think anybody in the world is prepared
to when you get dropped in there.
It kind of overwhelms you.
But it is also, they're there to document
this thing you're going through.
You claim that Austin was very different off-camera.
What do you mean by that?
- I mean, on-camera, there was a lot talk about
how we would progress intimacy.
And off-camera, it didn't match.
And it started to get to a point
where I started to see that
I was kind of living in a fantasy.
- I feel like it almost started to break you a little bit.
- I started to be honest on camera
and talk about the fights that we were having
and the issues that we were having
instead of just pretending like things were normal
because that's what you wanted to do,
was pretend that things were normal on camera.
- No, I didn't want to pretend things were normal.
I just wanted us to have, like, a conversation.
And then, like, if we-- at any time you're like,
I want to talk about this on-camera, I was like,
OK, we'll do it.
- [sighs] I wouldn't say it was that easy.
- As you started to see those problems creep up,
what's going on with you?
And what is the reason that, you know, it just--
it seemed like you avoided intimacy with your wife?
- It wasn't--[sighs]
That I was, like, avoiding intimacy.
Obviously, the sexual connection, like,
wasn't happening at the same, like, rate
for her as it was for me.
And like I-- - But it never happened.
- Yeah, I mean--
- So there was no rate, it never happened.
- Right, so you know, there was a point where
we acknowledged that it was an issue.
- Mm-hmm.
- I wanted to, like, work on it.
But adding pressure and anxiety to something that, like,
is supposed to be comforting and, like, vulnerable,
like, it's hard to get into that state.
- It wasn't just sexual intercourse.
Like, I was looking for intimacy in many other ways.
I heard at "Afterparty" that you said
that there's a six-month rule when it comes to sex.
- Let me ask you this--what is normally been your timeline
between dating someone and it growing
to a more intimate level?
- I mean, I would say, like, three to six months,
like, from the beginning.
- From the beginning? - Yeah, yeah.
- Why didn't you share that with Dr. Pia?
And did you communicate that to Becca?
- I thought Becca and I were on the same page about that.
- It wasn't a six-month rule, but Keshia asked me to, like,
put a number on how--
- Which I asked you to do many times.
We tried so many times to talk about
what past relationships had looked like for you
and what timelines looked like for you.
And I never got
a straightforward answer like that.
And so it's frustrating to hear it now.
It would have been so great to have that
because I don't think I would have pressured you like that.
If I would have known, but instead what I was getting was
on-camera you were telling me that you want to work forward,
that you want to do these things,
and then off-camera, you weren't.
So what you feel like was pressure
was me following the carrot that you were dangling.
One time, we were hugging fully clothed
not a sexual moment at all.
It was just an intimate kitchen moment
while we were cooking dinner,
and you pushed me off of you and called me a horny girl.
[tense music]
And, like, I even asked
after a hot tub one night if we could shower
with our bathing suits on and you said no.
Like it--it wasn't about sex.
It was about intimacy and intimacy looks--
- It was about physical intimacy.
- Also emotional.
- You know, there's two sides to every story,
and I respect where you're coming from.
And I'm sorry that, like, I didn't give that to you.
I felt that we had emotional intimacy.
I felt that we had a lot of levels of intimacy--
- I think we did, too,
but I think I led it and you avoided it.
- Like, we did like, kiss and make out
and, like, hug and, like, cuddle and, like,
do other things in the bedroom.
Maybe not like every night, but,
like, we definitely were physically,
like, into each other.
And it takes a while for me to get to the point
where I'm ready to fully give myself
to another person in a sexual sense.
And that-- as we were getting to that,
I feel like we got hit and, like,
slammed with, like, a wedge in between us.
- What was that wedge?
- Um...
the wedge was the, like, barrage of, like,
why aren't you guys being more sexually intimate?
- To me, the wedge was
you going out with that producer and lying about it.
[tense music]
- Fair.
- That came out later in the season
that there was a producer... - Yeah.
- Who you felt was interjecting in your relationship.
Right? - Yeah.
What about literally, you and I,
the sanctity of our marriage, and honesty--
- What does that have to do with a producer?
- Because that has been the rift in our relationship.
And you decided that the path forward
and the path to healing was to go spend time with her.
- I told you, ran into them. It just happened.
- You didn't run into them, Austin.
And the fact that you even were lying about it
right here with me right now and you are continuing...
- [sighs]
- To lie about different aspects of it
tell me that my intuition was correct.
[tense music]
I didn't get invited. I didn't know about it.
And then on top of it, they lied to me about it.
- OK. Why didn't you invite Becca?
- [sighs] Well, this was after Decision Day.
There was no, like, let's go out and celebrate.
Didn't think it would be an issue,
and that was stupid on my part.
- And then you lied about it on top of the issue.
- I have acknowledged many times
that, like, I made a mistake.
And I'm sorry about it.
- When I watched this season, Austin, I will tell you
it comes off in many ways as if you see her suffering.
- And I expressed that to him, too.
It's not just like--
he knew that. [chuckles weakly]
- I mean, I'm sorry to hear that I made you suffer.
That was never my intention.
- You said it was always your plan to get through this,
say yes on Decision Day no matter what,
and then figure it out after that.
- But wait a minute. Was that true that you said,
we're going to go through this
and we're going to say yes no matter what?
- I mean--[sighs] No.
I said that I wanted to get remarried
because I wanted to have, like,
both of our friends and families, so.
- So he's saying he wanted to have another wedding.
Was that it? - No, but it's OK.
- What a [bleep] note to end this on.
I thought we were getting to a better place.
- If I'm being honest,
I just don't think that you were ever the partner for me,
and I was never the partner for you.
And I think you still have a lot of growing to do.
And I don't think that you were ready
to be married to someone like me.
- [chuckles]
- What I'm trying to figure out is
what is at the core of this breakup?
- For me, I was realizing that
I wasn't going to be a priority,
that whoever Austin needed to appease in that moment
would always be the priority, and it wouldn't always be me.
- If he had made you a priority,
would you still be together?
[suspenseful music]
- There were many ways that I wasn't made a priority,
so it would have taken a lot.
- It's hard to play, like, the "what if" game.
- Yeah.
- That's one thing that we had got propositioned a lot.
And we're always like, what if anything happens?
Like there's no way to... - I mean--
- To have this hypothetical game of--
- I do know that I want a husband that desires me,
and I deserve that. - Mm-hmm.
- And I think I need someone who is honest with me
and who always puts me first,
especially doesn't lie to me.
- Is there any chance of reconciliation?
- I know I'm not the person for him.
I--I know that for a fact. I think he knows that now.
I think he knew it all along, to be honest.
I'm--every time that you ask him,
I do expect him a little bit to just be like,
no, I wasn't all there.
And it would almost feel like a relief to me
because I wouldn't feel so crazy, but--
- Mm-hmm. - But yeah.
- Was it a relief in the end when it--when it ended?
Were you relieved in a way? - No.
- You were not? - I mean, no.
I wanted us to work. - Mm-hmm.
- I tried to make that happen. I didn't do the best job of it.
But like, Becca and I have gone our separate ways,
and that's OK.
- I just think if you wanted it,
you would have made it work and I would have been the priority.
- Going forward, are you ready to move on
and have you moved on with your life?
Are you seeing anyone new?
- No, I am not seeing anyone.
- But you are taking care of yourself?
- Of course, yeah. - Yeah.
What about you, Austin? Have you moved on?
Are you dating anybody?
- Um, I'm not dating, like, anyone specifically.
You know, I've gone on dates since.
And I moved on. Yeah, like, I've moved on.
But like I do want us to move to a place that, like--
I don't know if you feel the same way,
but, like, I think just sitting down,
and, you know, talking to you through in that,
like, we're getting there.
- I think I still don't trust you.
- OK.
- What would it take for you to trust him?
- The cameras to go away
and for two or three years from now...
- [chuckles] - For him to just--
- OK. - I'm just saying like, I--
I just don't think that in this process,
in this time frame, I'm going to see it.
- How does it make you feel when she says that?
- No, I got no issue with that.
I mean, I respect her and her decision
and, like, what she said to me.
I was hoping that we could have a conversation, you know,
more shortly after our reunion as opposed to a couple years.
But you know, if that's the way it's going to be,
then that's what it's going to be.
- Listen, it is never good when one of these marriages
ends up in divorce.
We want everyone to come together,
get married, and everything goes well.
But I want to thank you guys for sitting out here
and kind of taking us through your relationship.
And I feel, there was a little bit of honesty out here.
But I don't feel like we really got to the bottom of what
really happened and what people really felt.
And I think that's too bad.
And this was your chance to straighten it out,
but we'll all get back together--
- Well, you're asking me to-- - I'm asking you to be honest.
- I'm being honest. And then you're questioning whether--
you're questioning my honesty, which is offensive.
- No, no, no, let me just say this--
- You haven't been honest through the process.
- But let me say this. Let me say this.
I know you think that
I just got a bunch of cards in my hand, and that...
- No, I don't.
- I don't hear what's happening.
But I'm part of this process.
So that's why when I question you about something,
I'm giving you an opportunity to put it out on the table.
You don't want to, it's cool.
- Thank you for giving us that opportunity.
- Yeah, thanks, guys.
- Sorry. - Oh, sorry, guys.
[somber music]
♪
[Becca sighs] - Thank you...
- OK.
- For giving me the space to do that.
- Of course. Always.
- Austin came in afterwards and it was really hard
because-- - It's OK.
- I'm going to start crying because he just, like,
holds me and cries, and like...
- He was crying? - I just feel bad for him.
Yeah. - What'd he say?
- He just said that, like,
he thinks that I could have gone even harder on him,
and he thanked me for not.
- I think when he's around, you just--
you start to question and, like, I see that a little bit.
- I think it's because you kind of still care about him.
- I kinda do. Weakened little puppy.
- You care about him, though.
- But it's because he's a good person.
- Yeah, but we all have that. - You did great. She did great.
- All right, let's get going. Here we go.
Boys and girls, here we go.
- I've got to get out of here. - Bye, Chloe.
Thanks for hanging out.
[upbeat music]
♪
- Hello and welcome back
to the "Married at First Sight" Denver reunion.
Joining me next are Chloe and Michael.
Now, these two got a later start
than the rest of the crew.
But they really did hit the ground running
and seem to have an instant connection.
While it seemed like all was going well in their marriage,
Michael shocked us all, and I mean shocked us
when he said he wanted a divorce on Decision Day.
All right, let's get to the bottom of what really happened.
Come on out, Chloe and Michael.
Hey, hey. - Hi.
- Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back, welcome back.
- Thank you so much. - Right down here.
Good to see you again.
- Good to see you again.
- Oh, guys, guys, guys, there was so much hope.
It felt so right. Everything seemed so perfect.
What the hell happened? What happened?
- I mean, that's-- there's a lot to unpack.
- Before we go there, let's go back to the beginning.
- Let's.
- Michael, what were your first impressions
of Chloe when you saw her?
- So one of the things that I was really hoping for
was, like, a really sweet woman that just radiated, like,
positivity and that sweet nature.
And that's my first impression of her.
Like seeing her walking down the aisle,
like, any nerves that I had, like,
immediately just evaporated once I felt that from her.
This is that sweet woman I was hoping for.
This woman has those intangible qualities
that I was dreaming about that--
and I could feel it coming off of her.
- You felt like the match was a win, right?
- I did. - OK.
Chloe, what were your first impressions of Michael?
- Well, my first thought was
I am so glad I didn't choose that pink dress because...
[Kevin laughs]
- We would have just been a pink canvas...
- Right, right, right. - Ready to take on the world.
Yeah, no, I was just taking him all in.
I was taking them all in once I came to
because I think I might have blacked out from the walk
to the ceremony. [chuckles]
- You did get nervous as you-- - Yeah.
- As it got closer to the moment...
- Whoa, yeah.
- You started to really understand
what you were doing.
You were freaking out a little bit?
- I was freaking out because, I mean,
I came in 100% committed to my marriage.
There was nothing that was going to
deter me aside from a monster.
There was nothing that was going to deter me
from being a yes on Decision Day...
- Mm.
- Because I didn't come in to quit.
And so for me, I started to freak out
because I came in taking the sanctity of marriage
so seriously and knowing that the man that was standing
at the end of that aisle was the man that
I was going to fully commit myself to
until I had a reason not to.
- Yeah, you pushed yourself with this relationship.
- Yeah. - How was it for you?
- Um, fully transparently, it was the hardest thing
that I've ever done in my entire life.
To be on and, you know, surrounded by cameras
and production and all while trying
to navigate a new relationship,
it was just more than I was prepared for.
- You didn't realize
you married more than one person, right?
- I married a whole team of some of the most extraordinary
people you will ever meet in your life.
- Yeah.
- But it was really more than I bargained for.
- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- And so I think navigating it in the beginning
was something that I was challenged with emotionally
in ways I just wasn't expecting.
- So you guys finished the couple's retreat.
You go home.
And Chloe, you decided then to go home.
- Yeah.
- With the dogs being so old, I hate to go and visit
and then leave again so quickly.
So what I was thinking about was
taking just the next few days to be at home with them.
[tense music]
It has been go, go, go.
I feel like everything is moving so quickly,
we don't actually have an opportunity to just process.
- Yeah, true. - Yep.
- That's true.
- I think we just need that time.
- Mm.
- Kind of give us a chance to kind of
take a deep breath then. - Mm-hmm.
- If you think that sounds good.
- Mm.
- What was going through your mind when Chloe says to you,
I got to go?
- Even though she's very socially engaging,
she is more of an introvert.
And the nature of always being on and--
and having these conversations knowing that they're
for public consumption, like, I started to pick up that
it's probably a little bit more draining for her than myself.
- Mm-hmm.
- So I really wanted her to know that
I support her in that, that I don't take it personally.
It's not like I felt she needed time specifically away from me.
She just needed time to gather herself.
- Chloe, if Michael had said to you, don't go.
I need you here with me. Don't go.
Would you have stayed?
- Um...
so full transparency, not only would I have stayed,
but that was what I needed to hear.
Because what I didn't share and I should have,
was that I was not feeling, up to that point,
that Michael was actually invested in this marriage.
- Hmm.
- I was feeling like Michael
had his own reasons for coming in,
but they were not to be married to me.
- What was--what made you feel that way?
- There were just things early on.
Like we had just gotten married.
- Mm-hmm.
- We were on the high of the reception,
surrounded by people that we love.
We're sitting in the car
waiting to be taken to the hotel.
And we're getting to know each other.
And I asked, so what's my new last name?
And Michael's response was,
oh, there won't be any reason to change your last name.
So I'm thinking, OK, so maybe he's just a modern guy.
And he thinks that I can keep my last name
if that's what I want, but it stuck.
And then finding out that his mom didn't know.
I came from a place of truly understanding that
there could be cultural differences
and truly understanding that
you're going to have to things out from your first trauma
with your first match in the way that you need to.
So I tried to look past it. - Mm-hmm.
- But I feel like if you're fully committed
to marrying somebody,
it doesn't matter what trauma it might cause to your family.
Your family needs to know that you're married.
Like, why am I stepping outside of my comfort zone so far
and giving 175% to someone and something
not feeling like it is genuinely reciprocated?
- So in regards to the last name,
I'll be quite honest--
I don't recall stating it like that at all.
I recall stating like, it could be Shiakallis-Brown.
You don't have to change your last name.
But I remember stating it in a pretty open-ended manner.
But that would be my retort to the last name.
In regards to my mother not knowing,
it's not that I didn't tell my family.
I didn't tell my mother.
My mom already had a lot of reservations
and concerns when I did this the first time.
And it was something that I wanted
to broach with Chloe early on.
At the time, the way I interpreted her response
was that it was a full support.
Now granted if she would have communicated to me
that it bothered her, I probably--
I probably would have challenged it to a degree.
I'm not saying I would have just been like,
OK, well then, I'll go and tell her.
There probably would have been more of a dialogue.
But at the time when we had that discussion,
I didn't pick up on that at all.
I didn't feel like Chloe was just
placating me or giving me lip service.
I really thought that she supported--
- And I wasn't, and I wasn't. I wasn't placating.
I wasn't giving you lip service.
I was fully supporting you from a cultural perspective,
which is what you asked and that's what I delivered.
And when I say that it was not until
his no on Decision Day
that I started saying, wow,
so maybe this is why he didn't tell his mom.
Maybe it really was the fact that
he didn't intend to stay married.
- Let's get to that.
Let's get to Decision Day and what happened.
When did doubt start to creep into your world, Michael?
- I think a little bit before our one-month time frame.
- What did she do that made doubt creep into your mind?
- You know, honestly, and I think this is probably the--
the area that it's going to be difficult to articulate.
- You are not going to hurt my feelings.
This is our opportunity
to literally say the things that have been on our minds.
Since Decision Day, a lot of time has passed.
- Mm-hmm.
- I've had a chance to sit with it.
Hopefully, if you've sat with it,
you know exactly what was the nail in the coffin.
You're not going to hurt my feelings.
Just say it.
[tense music]
[suspenseful music]
- I didn't have a list of, like,
things that I could pinpoint to Chloe specifically
and say like, if Chloe would have done this differently,
I would have said yes.
If Chloe wouldn't have done this,
this would have changed my mind.
It's not because of her. That's the problem.
- Did you just not want to be married?
- No. - Because that's OK.
There--I--listen, I know lots of people.
I know married people who don't want to be married.
- No, it's not that I didn't walk in just saying like,
oh, like, I don't want to be married.
- Then when you walked into Decision Day,
why didn't you want to at least try it?
- I didn't want to try it because I didn't feel
we built a strong enough foundation
to "try marriage" after Decision Day.
- And I think that's where we came in
with different expectations and also different intentions.
And I think the difference is Michael was coming in
committed enough to go through the process,
but not committed enough to say,
we're going to give this 100%
until we've decided that we're not right for each other.
- And Michael, I just want you
to understand this, first of all.
The reason I'm asking so many questions about this
is because it seemed perfect.
[chuckling] I really need to understand what was wrong,
why you said no.
- I mean, her mentality was different than mine.
I should have been more transparent
of having that collaborative dialogue
of like, look, I'm still struggling to be at a place
where I could say, like, yes, we're going to say yes
after Decision Day.
What can we do about this?
I need your help,
or this is what I think a solution can be.
I didn't do that.
And that is going to be a regret of mine,
and that is a glaring problem.
- When you say it's a regret of yours,
do you regret saying no on Decision Day?
- I regret saying no on Decision Day.
- Do you wish you had said yes?
- I wish I was in a place where I could--
where I felt more comfortable saying yes, definitely.
Like I said no based on how I felt at that time.
But I regret that that's how I felt.
- So do you regret not giving it a try?
- I do regret not giving it a try
because when I hear the things that she had concerns about,
when I hear what her mentality was going in,
and when I hear where our key differences were,
those were opportunities where we could have been aligned.
- Chloe, hearing this,
do you wish that you could have a second chance?
- No. - Why not?
- No.
[tense music]
I don't know how often this season I've been quoted
saying what's meant for us will never pass us.
But what is meant for us will never pass us.
And with him saying no on Decision Day,
it just tells me that our levels of commitment
were in two different places.
He said no.
It was the universe's way of saying...
[clicks tongue] He's not it.
And they plucked him up and they moved him out of the way.
And there's no regret there.
I gave 175%.
- You sound like a woman who's moved on.
- Yeah. - Have you met somebody else?
- No, absolutely not.
My next relationship is going to be...
[soft dramatic music]
With the soulmate
that my heart has been calling out for in this lifetime.
And I know that that's not Michael.
And so for me, I'm just in a place
where I have fully healed.
- Michael, have you moved on?
- Yeah, from a healing process, I feel like I've moved on.
If you're asking if I'm currently dating someone,
I'm not. - Mm-hmm. OK.
- But I do feel like I'm in a good space
to be a better person for this and hopefully a better spouse
and ultimately a better husband if that's what awaits me.
- By the way, what's new in your lives?
- I mean, I definitely feel like one of the--
one of the things I took away
and that I feel much more confident actively practicing
now is being that empathetic person.
It's like Chloe, for me, was a great example of that.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know, that's something
I'm always thankful in regards to our experience.
She really showed me how to be more of an empathetic person.
So that's something I've tried to take into my personal life
with all my relationships.
I took a new position at work,
which has been, you know, engaging in its own way.
I still have been trying to keep up with my travel,
so nothing crazy-new.
I mean, you notice the biggest new thing, so.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's new in your life, Chloe?
- Gosh, I feel like just this renewed sense of self.
I have gone through just this awakening of my spirit.
And I feel like
the world is brand-new in so many ways.
Seeing just how expansive I can be
and how expansive this process has allowed me to be,
and knowing exactly how it ends, I'd do it all again.
- All again? - In a heartbeat.
I am a transformationally different person today.
And it is freeing and it is beautiful
and it is exactly what I want for you.
So I don't feel anything other than appreciation toward you
because you have given me the gift of knowing that
what is meant for me will find me.
- [exhales deeply] That was beautiful.
- Yeah. - All right.
Well listen, it's been great catching up with you two.
You really were a breath of fresh air
in this season of instability and turmoil.
[Chloe sighs]
And even though the marriage didn't work out,
we hope that you both find peace and happiness
and that you enjoyed this experience.
- Mm-hmm. - I'd do it all again.
- ♪ Hot pink, hot pink, I get it ♪
- Let's go. - Oh, yeah.
- ♪ Hot pink, big bucks, can you see that ♪
[laughter] - Whoo!
- I need gum.
- All right, here we go.
- [laughs] - Look at these badass bitches.
- OK, ladies come on in and take your seats.
[upbeat music]
- We like this side. - Me, too.
- I always get to sit so close. I love it here.
- Can I have a card to fan myself in?
- Yeah, you can, sure, yeah. [laughter]
[indistinct] - I'm telling you guys.
- Go ahead. Get it.
- [laughs] Sorry, I just need a minute.
You guys know the drill.
- All right, here we go.
Welcome back to the Denver reunion.
As you can see, it is the ladies only right now.
We have a lot to discuss.
So let's get right into what was
a wild roller-coaster ride.
First of all, I noticed that there is real anger here.
What is at the core of this?
- At the core of it for me is just feeling like
each of us deserved better in some way or the other.
I don't think any of these men were ready for this process.
- I think beyond that,
it's just about not giving my power away
and realizing that I can keep that for myself.
- And I want to say it's not just anger.
Like for me personally, it's been a lot more sadness.
Like, I want to be angry.
It's hard for me and I just feel a lot of sadness
for myself, for the situation, and for Brennan.
- Yeah, you feel sadness for Brennan, too?
- Yeah, I do.
- But I think the thing that
I was holding on to was just telling the truth.
We were not as truthful to our core selves.
And we were not living in an authentic way,
and that ended up hurting us a lot.
- Mm-hmm.
- And so the first step to healing
is reversing that and speaking our truth.
And so here we are.
I will continue my healing,
but this is pivotal to my healing.
[somber music]
- As we go back and unwind this,
what really do you think was the root cause
of everybody getting together and saying,
we are going to job the system?
- I truly believe that the whole reason this started
is because their maturity level
and them not being ready for marriage
and we had the right, correct mindset
of what this is supposed to be.
- As strong women-- you are strong women.
You stand here and you say this.
Why the hell didn't you just tell them, no, you're wrong?
- I think that's a tough question.
And I think the reason being is
I wanted to protect, first of all, the marriage.
But I also didn't want people
to see Cameron in the same light that I did
and taint other people's view of him
because that wasn't fair.
But at the same time,
I wasn't doing myself service by keeping that in.
- Do you think in any way that they were also
trying to figure it out, that they were confused,
and they were-- - No.
- They didn't know what they wanted to do?
- It's hard to feel that way
because they always had a overarching goal,
that it seemed like-- and the goal was never us.
The goal was never marriage.
But at the end of the day, I feel like
we just got a bad batch of men. - Yeah.
- I hear you saying a bad batch of men.
But I don't want to--
I mean, I don't want to throw it all on them.
I'm saying, if there had been more authenticity
and pushback from the beginning,
they would have had to say who they were.
- Or better perspective to say
instead of placing all the onus on the men is that...
- Thank you.
- We weren't seeing clearly ourselves,
and we allowed ourselves to just go with the flow...
- And that's not us.
- Even though the flow was rockety-rickety.
And we just let ourselves do it.
And that we just did a disservice.
It's not all on the men. - No.
- I mean, we allowed ourselves to get treated poorly.
- I thought one of the interesting parts
of this season, outside of Chloe and Michael,
was that there was this lack of physicality
in the relationships and in any of your marriage.
It was the weirdest thing.
What do you ladies think about that?
- What do you think? - It wasn't about that.
- It was the Sahara Desert in season 17, baby.
- [laughs]
- I do think that there likely was some conspiring happening.
- Hold on. It's funny you say that because we do have a clip.
- Oh, God. - Where y'all talk about that.
- Oh, God. - Check this out.
- Oh, God.
- Like, I feel like a conspiracy theorist,
but, like, there are patterns in that, like...
how is it that each of you were like,
we're not going to have sex in this marriage, all of you?
- It's not--
That is a conspiracy theory. - One, it's not a priority.
- That is a conspiracy theory. That wasn't like a--
- Gaslight. - A thing we talked about.
- I'm tempted--like, what I want to do right now is like,
say, like, well, let me see your phones then,
and see the guys' group chat.
[suspenseful music]
- The conspiracy theory is hilarious to watch back
because I think it's-- it is all as wild to us
as it is to everyone else.
Like, and that's what is hard to articulate
is that as confused as anybody may be about the situation,
we were just as confused. - We were equally confused.
- No, no, because watching it, I honestly was like,
there's something going on behind the scenes.
- Yeah. - Yes.
- Somebody's getting it in behind the scenes.
- No. - There was nothing?
- No. - No.
- It was ludicrous. I'm sorry.
- [laughing] Listen, Chloe, right?
What are you thinking looking at--
listening to all this because
you added the only spice to the season?
- [laughing] I just kind of thought, you know,
truthfully, I just had the mentality
that you cannot make the decision
to keep a marriage going
unless you've had an opportunity to consummate.
So I just assumed everybody had.
- No, sex was off the table for me, baby girl.
- [laughs] - Gone.
- Early off the table, right?
- It's not for lack of effort. - Yeah.
- I don't want to belittle anybody
for having a different speed... - No.
- Or wanting emotional connection
or any of that stuff, but these men were also
running away from emotional connection to lead to sex.
- Exactly.
- It was that every step to sex was cut off.
- And typically, when you're rejected,
it hurts no matter what. - Yes.
- But when you're rejected without reason...
- Reason. - Mm-hmm.
- Time and time and time again, it starts to really...
- Wear on you. - Mess with you, yeah.
It makes you wonder if you're giving
too much into the process, but that's what the process is.
That's what marriage is. - Right.
- But now looking back,
I think we're happy that we didn't
because that would have been another element of--
- Connection that we probably didn't need.
- Connection, intimacy that I don't think we needed to...
- That they deserved.
- Carry on our healing journey,
nor did they deserve it.
- Emily, do you think that there was a part of you
that felt that everything was going to work
after the accident and how Brennan was there for you?
- Yeah, that's really hard. Um...
I don't want to get emotional.
- We were emotionally there for her. I'm sorry.
- Yeah, like, it was tough.
I was really vulnerable.
Like, that was a really hard moment for me.
And I think, like, I might have--
I don't know if we both did, like, catch feelings.
But I also saw a side of him, vulnerability that I never saw.
- Mm-hmm.
- And it was like a huge mind[bleep], like,
everything was a mind[bleep].
And sadly it makes me sick to say, like, I think he--[sighs]
Used my accident to come out of this on top looking good.
And I'm just happy that that didn't happen.
- But I do want to say
I think it's beautiful that you're--
- [sniffles] - You OK?
- It's really sad. It's just really sad.
And this is why I'm always sad. - She's good, she's good.
- Yeah.
- [sniffles] Like having that on TV, like--
- All good, all good.
- My broken wrist, hair extensions,
like, come on, universe.
Like it's literally, the universe being like,
get away from this guy. - Right. It's all good.
- Listen, your take away from this experience
your friends that you have for life.
- Yeah. [sniffles]
- Ladies, thank you for kind of exorcising this--
- Oh, we didn't cover a lot.
- Huh? - We didn't cover a lot.
- I know. It's--
- What didn't we cover that you wanted to cover?
- To me, I would like to focus on
the Cam and Brennan thing at the end.
Like, I didn't kick Brennan out
because I found out he was texting Clare's friends.
He was trying to hook up with my best friend.
It was about him
never being in the process from the beginning.
- And I will tell you this:
we are covering that with them sitting right here.
- OK. - Cool.
- We're going to cover that with them out here.
When we all get back together-- - That's great.
- There are subjects that we are going to cover
and we are going to talk about.
[chuckling] But really, thank you for coming out here
and telling your truth, because I think
it was very important, you know.
[suspenseful music]
- Yeah, unfortunately, I feel like the girls
are all still experiencing a lot of hurt.
And it's hard for--
- Because they're just looking for something to blame.
- Seek the truth.
But don't feel like you need to...
- Explain myself.
- React in a way where it gets combative.
- Yeah.
- Man, it is tough, though,
I will say, holding that composure.
♪
- Thank you. - Yep.
- [whispering] Let's go get 'em.
♪
- Water? - No, I'm good. Thanks.
- OK.
Welcome back to the "Married at First Sight" Denver reunion.
As we continue to unpack everything
that has happened during this tumultuous season,
let's bring out Brennan and Emily.
Hello again, hello again, hello again.
Hey.
Um, we had a chance to talk with everyone here.
But we wanted to have a chance
for just the two of you to talk.
- Mm-hmm.
- And talk to each other
and kind of hash this out and get to the bottom of things.
Brennan, I'm going to let you start.
- Yeah, I think ultimately, you and I were just
not a match for one another.
There was just differences in our lifestyles
and differences in what we wanted.
So when I felt that the experts didn't match me correctly,
I did not start to trust the process.
And that is--
- You did not trust the process or you didn't try?
- Yes, because I felt slighted...
- Yeah, you didn't trust or try the process?
- By the experts--
- You felt slighted getting me, Brennan?
- You are who you are.
You are a great person-- like, all that is great.
You just weren't for me. And that's OK.
[dramatic music]
- All I'm saying is that
you know exactly what you signed up for.
And you avoided it by deflecting
and saying nothing and making sure I said nothing.
And if I said one tiny, negative thing,
that's what you punished me for.
- What did I punish you with? Like, I--
- If I did something wrong, you left.
If I did something wrong, you yelled at me the next morning.
If I did something right, you would stay over.
If I did something right, you got lunch with me.
It was-- - [sighs]
Kevin, I just want you to know this is yelling to her.
It's extremely exaggerated.
- Well, one of the things that
was important in your relationship
was the visits by the experts in therapy.
- I loved the expert visits.
- So let's take a quick montage and look at these.
- Yes, let's do it.
- You are able to identify
that you're not feeling the romantic chemistry.
- I'm not going to say anything
that won't help anything but do damage.
- So when you're squinting your eyes and looking like that--
- [chuckling] Oh, no. - See?
- What does that mean? - Explain it--explain--
- I'm talking to her, though. - Yeah, I know.
- But wait. Let me talk to her. - Yeah, I get you.
- OK, so let me talk to her.
- So we--
- Brennan, I'm talking to Emily.
- I feel like the last talk you were here
is when like everything went, like, backwards again.
And then I feel like there was more pushback
from your recommendations.
- Would it feel productive to talk about that now?
- I don't think so.
I just don't know where this is coming from.
- Yeah.
- We had, like, such a good day playing soccer.
So I think we're in a good place now
and moving forward and not really dwelling
on the past like we agreed.
♪
- Brennan... - Mm-hmm.
- Why were you resistant
to having an open and honest conversation with Dr. Pia?
- Because I was way too concerned
with how it would make Emily feel.
- You were concerned about how it made you feel.
- [sighs] What--me telling the truth.
- I told you a million times I'm a big girl.
- OK.
- You could have said the meanest things,
and I'd be like, great.
You saying something mean is actually progress for us.
- So that was my first time in therapy.
And where I felt the conversation was going,
we already had resolved.
It didn't know that you didn't feel that way.
So in my head, I'm like, this is a free therapy session.
Let's take advantage of this and actually focus
on the problems that we needed to address.
So I do apologize for the scene with Dr. Pia.
That was not-- - Which one? Both of them?
- Yes. I was not trying to control the situation.
I misread the intent of it.
Um, I misread the situation.
- I hope you can, like,
genuinely see you are controlling.
I don't want you to say you're controlling
if you don't mean it.
I hope you can actually look at that and see the control.
What you did there hurts more than you saying hurtful things.
- And that was the theme
of what I was trying to apologize for
is that I didn't express myself in a way that was conducive
to us ending or staying together.
- I don't think you understand how confident
and how I don't give a [bleep] about a lot of things
and you're acting like I need protection,
which is now a trigger word for me because you're like,
I was protecting her.
No, you were protecting yourself.
That's what it was.
- How was I protecting myself by not telling my truth?
- Yes, you were because you don't want to be a [bleep].
You want people to say--
- I just didn't want to hurt you.
- I told you to hurt me
because that would give me some inclination to why
you're behaving the way you were.
- My parents didn't raise me to hurt people.
- Well--
- I was always taught to do right and do good by people.
- You didn't do good by me. - And I'm sorry about that.
I genuinely--
- Do you know how you did me dirty
or like how you didn't treat me well?
Like, do you know that?
You did that because you wanted to avoid
me saying anything that was negative about you.
[tense music]
Like, you manipulated me.
- The fact that you want to go down this road
of, like, saying I was a bad person, it's like
it's so hard to believe
because we had a conversation with Pastor Cal.
And we were supposed to tell each other
ten things we liked about each other.
And you listed well over ten things.
- I love how witty and funny you are.
I love your weird voices and when you make me laugh.
I love how protective you are of people
you care about and of me.
I love that you are a loyal person and stayed loyal to me
in this crazy process.
I love that you have continued to open up to me,
to be vulnerable and honest.
I love that you are dependable
no matter what the circumstance is.
And I love how driven and motivated you are.
- Wow, thank you.
And the moment that changed
between week five to week eight,
and this is an eight-week process, is the accident.
We were in a great place.
And the only thing that changed was a malicious rumor
that completely tore us apart for reasons I--
I can't explain.
- Are you talking about the double date thing?
- Yeah.
- We found out that you tried to go
on a double date with Cam.
- Yeah, that's not true.
- What do you mean it's not true?
- Why can't you just take ownership
to anything you [bleep] do or even I don't know, say sorry?
- Yes, it does.
- Such a random unsubstantiated rumor that made absolutely...
- Rumors, plural. - No sense.
- Sorry? - Rumors, plural.
- There was more than one? - Yes.
- Ah, that's--oh.
- You say that rumor, but you say those rumors.
- Correct. - What other rumors were there?
[dramatic music]
- Next week, the "Married at First Sight"
Denver reunion comes to its dramatic conclusion.
- What's the accusation?
- That he was [bleep] other people.
- You told me that if I left you,
you would make my life a living hell.
- I hope you never treat a girl the way you treated me.
- Do you care whether you two have a friendship?
- God, no.
- The horse is dead, so it's time to stop beating it.
- The women are just like, you're lying, you're lying.
- Everything we say can't be a lie.
- I figured I'd bring some receipts.
- It turns everything into a mind[bleep].
- It's not enough. This [bleep] sucks.
- Go ahead, continue to lie.
- Please, please.
- OK.
- That [bleep] don't fly with me.
- I'm completely conflicted.
- I was shocked, truly shocked.
- Does that, like, translate to you?
- Emily, you yelling at me doesn't change anything.
- I'm, like, just [bleep]--
I'm not dealing with this [bleep].
This is [bleep] up. I'm done.
[tense music]
- No more camera. - Do you want--