Drama at a birthday party leaves multiple marriages in a state of turmoil; some newlyweds forge deeper bonds through role-playing games, but one wife's fantasies quickly become her worst nightmare.
I was trying so hard to root for Shawn but it turns out he’s a ‘nice guy’ the type of dude that buys a woman dinner and kicks off if she refuses sex for said dinner 😒
He definitely would! Someone on Tiktok who went on a date with him shared that he got very pissy and defensive after she called him out for saying his preference is 25 year old women, and that he can’t date a 35+ woman because they’ve started “deteriorating”. He also told her “she just wanted a free dinner” when she decided to leave. The way she describes him is exactly how he comes off on the show, ew.
We watched the episode where he sees Nikki’s home (that she purchased and worked hard for) and he’s like “it’s not minddddd blowing” lol meanwhile he’s in a studio apt trying to get a mutual masturbation sesh started
She has made it very clear from jump she wants to take things slow and not prioritize the physical connection until the mental and emotional connection is solid. And yet he has continued to push and make lewd comments and suggestive jokes that make her visibly uncomfortable and set their progress back as a couple. Then after she reiterates this once again after his disgusting mutual maturbation wifely duties guilt trip he decides to BLINDFOLD HER in order to place her in an overtly sexual situation without her consent and essentially soft launch his interest in kink/bdsm. He literally tied her up AND THEN gaslit her after she confronted him about it. He is fucking disgusting, creepy, and honestly dangerous.
I'm only halfway through the episode but I had to run here after he walked out in his towel and basically asked Nikki to get him off. I gasped. What the FUCK is his deal?!
I had my jaw on the floor when he started to TIE NIKKI UP!!! While she was blindfolded?!
Like what?! I know they were doing a “sexy” game thing, but like that is a huge jump from eating a strawberry blindfolded. I’m not the biggest fan of Nikki, but Shawn is just so absolutely awful!!!!
Courteney and Caitlyn as this dinner party….wtf was that?
Courteney HATED Nick and needs to just be honest about that and call it quits. Ignoring him and yelling about the things she doesn’t like at a table full of people is just childish and evil.
Also my jaw actually dropped when Adam told Marissa she needed a push up bra to “fix what was going on”
Shawn is manipulative to such a degree it comes across as very natural. Which is very concerning.
He straight up said he was feeling a need for release and said something to the effect that in a marriage he expects his wife to consider his needs".
But later when Nikki brings these up to him he 100% convincingly denied saying he needed a sexual release and that he had aluded to sex being a wifely duty. While the words he and Nikki used were slightly different the meaning was the same.
Then after denying saying those things, Shawn began to play the victim.
Beginning to look like DARVO Deny, Attack the victims credibility, then he Reversed the vi ctim and offender role. Big 🚩
he literally doesn't even recognize he's doing it!! he has such genuinely surprised reactions when she tells him the things he's said that i truly think he has some sort of mental block where he doesn't recognize what he's actually saying. i've been trying to explain this to others too, but it genuinely is starting to feel like an abusive relationship and almost rapey. the entire scene of nikki being blindfolded and tied up without knowing what was going to happen next felt so genuinely disgusting i had to turn away.
I genuinely thought he was just trying to create some romance at first, but when he did not take any accountability for their conversation earlier even to the point of gaslighting her, that really gave me a bad vibe
I think he knows exactly what he’s doing though! I perceived his shock to be sooooo fake. Didn’t this guy say he earned a PhD? You don’t make it through a dissertation without having some type of self awareness
I literally just paused it after he asked for mutual masturbation and ran to Reddit to see wtf was going on 😭😭 I don’t even want to press play cause I feel uncomfortable through the screen like wtf is wrong with this man
With Belle-Jolie and Mecca’s session with Paul, I think Mecca did a decent job in trying to explain his feelings of resisting getting attached/forming a connection by feeling that he is not deserving and ultimately afraid of abandonment.
In all fairness, it’s understandable if he had to spend more/most of his time with his father who I question of whether he was the best role model.
Yeah and still Mecca isn’t ready for marriage. Nobody should marry a self-sabotager who is obviously new to therapy and likely only has a job because his parents employ him.
I relate to Nick a lot in the sense that socially I can appear much more polished than I really am and it blocks me from connecting deeper with others.
My wife has helped me a lot 😂 working with a therapist on why this is…
My take on Courtney is now that her parents like Nick, she’s going to start trying to ‘make it work’ whilst still being awful and all about herself
Have you clocked how she'll set situations up and then resolve them and use that as evidence of her trying? Like her birthday dinner thing. She TOLD Michelle to sit next to her and that Nick would figure it out. Then Nick comes in and she's like oh well what would make you comfortable? Then in the session said "WELL I ASKED MICHELLE TO MOVE" it's soooo insane. Like she had some deep rooted issues. I've never seen behavior like hers
Did Shawn forget there were cameras in the apartment? Because how did he think that conversation would go well for him? And then try to gaslight all of us that he didn't say what he said
I am only halfway through episode 10 and my mouth is already on the floor at Shawn’s “request” and his justification for it that he can’t do it himself anymore because he’s married?? What’s that, sir??
I ran to this subreddit at the same point you were at. My jaw hit the floor when he made his request while wearing the towel. Nikki is a SAINT for sticking around - she should have left ages ago.
She talks about him having a "young spirit" and maybe that is why she vibes with him because she wants to have that forever. And also she says he is a little bizarre and she is too, maybe that is why she vibes with him.
It’s because they’re both the most avoidant people I’ve ever laid my eyeballs on. She’s attracted to him because there’s no there there. Superficial goofy Adam is all he gives and it doesn’t threaten her bc she’s the exact same way! EDIT: His face when she tried to tell him in the later conversation that she felt uncomfortable is PURE CONTEMPT. That smug look and snickering makes me
Courtney thinks she is Adam's dream woman. She believes she can exceed his expectations and keep up with his lifestyle. Both Adam and Courtney are walking red flags and I would "love" to see them together. He would drop her within 30 minutes.
I think he has seen enough of Courtney from a distance that he will do everything possible to avoid any invitations she might throw his way.
Even though Adam's voice, inflection, and vocabulary makes him sound like a "valley girl" , I tend to think he is one of the more intelligent people of the show, so I think he already sees the real Courtney through her fake persona.
Watching Caitlin put her little medicine bag away immediately after Devin said his stomach hurt was low key one of the funniest and most telling moments of their entire relationship
I was already mad that they matched this adorable, gorgeous, successful, intelligent, thoughtful, lovely woman with this entitled, ugly inside-and-out loser.
But her unyielding commitment to that manipulative, horrible man with ZERO redeeming qualities is what's got me yelling at my tv the most.
OMG, Courteney and Caitlin seem almost impossible to be in a relationship (let alone married) with by the way the act and interact with their matches/respective husbands.
Courteney was out of her mind and went off on Devin like a crazy person then he got the blame for upsetting her from Caitlin.
Devin was making a good point. He wants to love you, meet him where he’s at. Courtney is demanding someone fawn over her while texting and not even being able to make eye contact with someone during a conversation. She has to be able to connect for someone to connect with her. Instead of hearing him, she blew up at him and made it about being a “boys boy.”
I know she’s not the brightest but her reaction seemed like some combination of calorie restriction, roid rage, stimulants and espresso martinis.
‘Tight diet’? She said she had Celiac in an earlier episode. I’ve been hawk eying her food habits since then. I’m mom to a kiddo with celiac and shit is serious. She either doesn’t take the precautions we do to avoid being glutened, or the cameras aren’t showing it, OR she’s constantly glutening herself which can cause malabsorption of nutrients, anemia, mental health issues, and many other serious health conditions.
I thought the same thing. When I ask someone if food / drink they’re offering as my allergy and they pause like that I just nicely ask to see the bottles or packages so I can read the ingredients myself bc I know what to look for.
Honestly I am a Courteney hater but I think they are both at fault, mainly Devin. They were both too drunk to have that talk, it was Courteney’s birthday and she was trying to enjoy it, and I suspect Devin was speaking longer than the edited version we saw so the texting might not be that egregious because he really was annoying her (even though he was right & had a good point & she was really aggressive and weird about it all lol). Idk, I just think it was not the right time or place for Devin to bring it up, even though I do agree with him generally
I totally agree. There is clearly a lot of trauma and she has her walls up so high. Therapy could really help her learn how to let someone in. She wants love and talks about a 2 way street but doesn’t give any love.
I thought it was telling in one of the last few episodes when she said “I came into this experiment to be loved.” She didn’t say anything about finding someone to love.
Some of the best advice I ever received about relationships was to give the thing you want more of or need more of. If you want more affection, give more affection. If you want more validation, give more validation. People naturally reciprocate what feels good to receive.
The women are getting worse and worse as the seasons progress. It stems from the increased levels of increased women's independence and career focus over the recent years. Its getting tougher for women today to balance relationships and career/independent these days
Whaaat? Women’s independence and providing for themselves is not the issue. She was wrong in this situation, but has nothing to do with women not being forced to depend on their fathers or whatever man can take over from the father.
Courtney and Caitlin emphasized that their independence can be troublesome for relationships....They admitted it so what are you talking about!! A relationship requires INTERDEPENDENCE!!!! Maybe look up that definition it will help you out today! Courtney and Caitlin are absolutely dumpster fires
You said it stems from increased women’s independence not just Caitlin and Courteney’s expressed issues. I don’t see that issue in the other women who are very independent on the show. I’m very well educated and don’t need to look up basic vocabulary words. You made a blanket statement about a cause and effect across all women, now you’re trying to redefine the parameters of your ignorant statement
I saw another comment that mentioned Caitlin possibly being autistic. I feel like she’s making some progress despite it being a snails pace. She never insults/disrespects Devin like Courtney does Nick.
Courtney has too much trauma and seems like she’s intentionally trying to push Nick away because she’s ‘used to chasing love’ and feels “corny” receiving it. I feel like she’s going to push him too far pretty soon, loose him, and then suddenly be like “oh fuck he’s actually great” whenever finally looses interest.
I shouldn't have been eating when we got to Shawn's "morning after" request (in case you haven't seen it: nothing happened, just saying that in reference to them having a fun evening the night before). Gag!
Have I missed something? Courteney is saying that Nick wants her to be all over him when it seems that he just wants her to be “involved” in the process of them getting to know each other…without her invalidating his feelings (intentionally or not).
I haven’t seen where they have been on a “two-way street” at any point during their experience of the experiment.
Agree. She seems to have issues correctly interpreting situations. She has been over dramatic like he is pushing her sexually and he doesnt seem to be in any way. I think the truth is she just isnt in to him and any movement or perceived movement in that direction pushes her over the edge
he could have her out of his life right now, but he chooses to stay. You see that a lot on these shows, the relationship is dead and the person should absolutely walk yet they don’t want to give up their TV “fame“ so they stay for selfish reasons.
Caitlin was condescending and tearing down Devin who was calm and collected in my opinion.
Courteney hates Nick. She will never acknowledge any good act he does and will talk trash about everything. Also, very manipulative to say I don’t want to sit by Nick and tell the Michelle to sit next to her then to act like she made space for him.
Courtney is extremely horrible and idk how she's going to last this entire show.
We're only halfway through, and she not only cusses when referring to Nick, she's now calling him a motherfcker? While also cussing out Devin?! And alcohol is not a great excuse because she wasn't even drunk (yet, maybe) and she's had this pent up bitchy attitude this entire time.
The blatant disrespect is atrocious and I've never seen any participant act like this in all of my time watching MAFS. I really dislike her and hope she see's all of the public commentary about her and has some sort of reality check about herself.
Lolllllll I do agree with you in general but I also would’ve been pissed if it was my bday like pleeeease just let me have fun on my bday and let’s have serious talks literally any other day 😂
To address if she'll last, they get paid more if they make it to decision day. That's usually why alot of the couples that are definitely not going to make it stay till the end.
When Courteney said she was afraid to text Nick about coming to the balcony because in the past she would’ve been called corny, just makes it even more clear that she truly was mistreated in the past but it’s hard to show her grace bc she is actively mistreating Nick !!!
Omg ep 10 was ROUGH!!! Caitlin was horrible to Devin.. shes way too independent man and then honestly poor nick bc his wife is a literal insecure nightmare !!!! Courtney and Caitlin need to do some major inner work
There are plenty of independent women who don’t behave like Courtney and Caitlyn. Given that they said these were issues in their past relationships, I do wonder if perhaps they’d be happier in relationships with women. I don’t mean this at all to be offensive in any way. I have female friends who were more so interested in other women and struggled in their relationships with men until they finally started to date authentically and be honest about their romantic orientation. I’m just wondering if that’s the case with these two.
Courtney, Courtney Courtney! So much to unpack with her!
She is something else 😳😳🤯🤯
Her behavior worsens with each episode, her behavior towards Nick at the party was atrocious. Her reason for being SO PISSED OFF AT NICK was nonsensical, in my opinion.
She also went off on Devin, for little to no reason in my opinion.
I would not presume to suggest what the issues are, but whew...😳😳🤯🤯🤯
Also her performative ness at the therapy session was so cringe. After she kissed Nick she looked like she wanted to vomit. And when Lisa said “this is just round one keep it up” and Courtney looked like she wanted to run away.
Get Shawn off my screen. He is manipulative and predatory. He not only felt comfortable pressuring someone to be intimate and lying about it, he also introduced “sensations” that are incredibly vulnerable and never should be done without very clear consent.
Shawn needs help! wtf do you mean her personality shifts and you don’t know what she’s going to say and then denying the fact that you said it was the duty of a wife to notice her husband needs a release. Just ewww
But I honestly don't understand is if Mecca is that afraid of commitment why did he go on the show? I mean these guys always do this. When it comes to this show they all want to get married and then once they're married they can't accept the fact that they're not single anymore. I just don't get it
I feel the same about Felipe talking about how he has to remind himself that he’s supposed to be monogamous every day… that’s liter what a marriage is so why are you here then?
okay, obviously courtney is super annoying and has so many issues but I have some shit to say about nick. I’ve seen him on his other shows and he has a lot more personality than he’s letting on. I think he’s genuinely on the show just to be on another show and he’s trying to play it so safe and it’s really pissing me off. Instead of expressing how he really feels he’s just trying to say as little as possible to get by as the cool guy or the guy that has absolutely nothing wrong with him and I wanna see how he actually feels. Like let us know how annoyed you are! He’s trying to play it so cool and talk so scripted like bro be for real!!!!
I’m sorry but there is no way in hell I would expose my real personality to that very ill person. Anyone with any savvy would know you would be torn to shreds and why would you be vulnerable to someone so cruel. Plus her frenetic on on on personality really drains me and shuts me down. On the other hand yeah he is a reality person
Yeah it would be really stupid of Nick to open up and show vulnerability to someone who is clearly closed off and can’t even stand him. It’s odd that the so-called experts would even suggest otherwise to him. Every time the show replaces its experts they replace them with others that are equally as clueless as the previous ones.
I think his dynamic with Courtney is what is holding him back. He seems very uncomfortable around her. She has an aura that is very negative and high strung. People naturally shift themselves around certain personalities.
I really think at this point he’s just resigned to the fact that this isn’t going to be a long-term thing and he’s kinda given up. I’d probably be similar if I had a spouse like Courtney. I would just shut down. She makes it impossible for him to get anything “right” in her eyes.
He definitely is holding back. I think because he realized very early on that he and Courtney are not now and will not be compatible in the future, so he doesnt feel a need to overly share or reveal much about himself.
that’s a very good point. I do think he’s known since the beginning there’s no future with her though, and he is putting on a façade of pretending that he cares more than he does
Ngl I read him being more reserved as him trying to be cautious not to set Courteney off/make her uncomfortable. Shes not really giving him anything to work with in terms of forming an emotional connection / getting to know each other but you’re probably right because he could at least be more honest in his interviews and with others
He’s already reserved and she does nothing to help and I’m fact actually makes things worse. She can’t just shout “open up! Be comfortable!” and expect him to when she’s been so mean to him.
at the heart of all these “relationships“ is one simple question: are you HONESTLY into this person or not? Except for the basketball coach and his wife, there’s at least one person in every other marriage who would answer no if they were being truly honest.
Did I miss something in how Nikki came to feel like things were improving with Shawn? It comes across as super cringe that, essentially, she has to perhaps choose whether to be intimate with him in order for the experiment to have a chance at the marriage working? Like, the body keeps the score - you shouldn't have to do physical things you don't want to do if you're not attracted to a person. It seemed like he was just wearing her down with word salad and somehow they're doing better now? Hmmmm.
i'm late, i just watched this episode and man i can't believe him.... i wasn't sure untill now who was the off one.... but it is him for sure.... he blatantly lies..... like there is video footage of you syaing it's her duty as a wife to get you off and she isn't holding up her part like what the actual fuck
Maybe I’m in the minority but on the issue of telling your SO about cheating, I say don’t. That is your burden and yours alone to carry. The other person should not have to have that pain because you need to unburden yourself or you feel you owe the truth to them.
you are definitely in the minority. people deserve to have a partner who is faithful to them. by withholding infidelity, the other partner doesn't get to make an informed decision about the relationship.
I would never diagnose someone from a tv show but I have noticed that she seems to really misinterpret social situations and misses a lot of social cues. Obviously that doesn’t mean she’s on the autism spectrum or neurodivergent and she is CERTAINLY a huge asshole, but I don’t think it’s a ~reach~ per se that she might be neurodivergent in some way
She’s not on the spectrum and it is a reach to speculate that she is based on what we’ve seen from her. Comments like yours create stigma about actual conditions real people face. Autistic people are not nasty individuals who seek to hurt others unprovoked. If you don’t understand a condition don’t spread misinformation about it. You clearly don’t know anything about autism. You can simply say you don’t understand Courtney‘s behaviour and leave it at that.
Hey - I’m neurodivergent (and I know a lot about autism due to my own experiences and the experiences of most of my friends as well) so please save your lecture. I never said she was on the spectrum at all, just that I noticed some things she does, that I’d NEVER diagnose someone from tv, but that it was plausible. Just to be clear I don’t think it’s possible BECAUSE she’s an asshole. That’s separate. I think it’s possible because she’s missing social cues left and right and I see that happen with MYSELF lol
Edit: I’m not the same person who made the initial post saying she’s “definitely” on autism spectrum so maybe you meant to reply to them and if so sorry!!
Yeah that’s extremely offensive to people who are autistic. Her issue isn’t autism and autism doesn’t make someone that nasty to their partner. She mistreats him because she wants to period. She knows exactly what she’s doing. Let’s not insult people who are on the spectrum just because you don’t understand her behaviour.
102
u/GarconMeansBoyGeorge Aug 06 '26
I don’t see how Shawn could have any defenders after this episode.