Married At First Sight relationship expert, John Aiken has had enough.
He’s not buying claims that Steve Burley and Mishel Meshes’ sexless, affectionate marriage is ‘magical’ and ‘mythical.’
And he’s calling for the pair to admit that they’re just friends, after the pair claim that they will become intimate in the future.
MUST WATCH: MAFS’ Steve admits he isn’t attracted to Mishel
At Wednesday’s commitment ceremony, Steve insisted that he and Mishel had cranked up the romance, after the experts advised them to do so – but did that included sharing a bed and consummating their marriage?
Dr Trisha looked hopeful, asking the pair, ‘Did you share a bed together?’
‘No we didn’t. No we haven’t,’ Mishel admitted.
‘So you didn’t share a bed, but did you move the relationship forward?’ Trisha quizzed, wondering whether they had done the deed.
‘Yes. We sit and we watch TV and we’re cuddling quite intimately,’ Mishel replied – that’s a no in regard to sex.
Trisha wondered, ‘Did you have a passionate kiss?’
When Mishel responded ‘no’, the doctor told the single mum that it ‘sounds like a very comfortable friendship,’ not a marriage.
‘We are very comfortable together,’ Mishel said, clearly not understanding what Trisha as getting at.
Trisha explained: ‘We’re right at the end of this experiment. It’s been quite a few weeks now, and you’ve been stuck on first base.’
‘It’s progressed in terms of physical touch and stuff like that,’ Steve insisted, before admitted that nothing ‘sexual’ was going on between him and his wife.
‘We haven’t gotten to that stage.’
Trisha was getting impatient. ‘Will it ever happen?’
The came the weird stuff. Steve said: ‘Umm, maybe it will, maybe it won’t. Both of us have realised this week that maybe the physical attraction for me is starting to materialise slowly but surely, but for Mishel, she’s pulled back a little bit from that.’
Mishel explained to the experts that a comment her mother made during her home visit has been plaguing her. The comment was in regard to Mishel and Steve not being a suited married couple, and that they appeared to just be friends. Her mum believed that they would go their separate ways after the experiment.
‘I love him and I can’t imagine my life without Steve and I’m sure that he can’t either,’ Mishel said, to which Steve declared: ‘Fact!’
‘We might not have a normal sexual relationship, but if it’s not our time to have a romantic relationship during the experiment, then it could be at another time. Maybe this was not our time, but I don’t feel that it will never be a time,’ she said as tears welled up in her eyes.
Steve added: ‘Who knows what may happen in the future, it may not be our time now, it may be tomorrow! I don’t know. A lot can happen in a few days in this experiment.’
The rest of the cast rolled their eyes. They wanted the truth.
Expert Mel Shilling jumped in. ‘You’re almost talking like it’s going to be some magical, mystical thing that’s going to happen to you… Steve, do you think you’ve done and said everything you possibly can to make this relationship work?’
‘Good question. Big question, I guess,’ Steve replied.
Steve said that if they’d both let their walls down earlier, perhaps they would be more advanced in their marriage.
John had had enough with Steve and Mishel’s weak answers. ‘I’ve gotta call it for what is it, you guys started out as friends and eight weeks on you’re still friends,’ he began.
‘You haven’t gotten out of the friendzone at all. You are essentially two people that haven’t gotten on board the process, it’s the same conversations we’ve had the last four or five commitment ceremonies and you need the feedback. What I’m saying is, let’s call it, it’s friends not lovers. It’s not going anywhere now and it ain’t going anywhere in the future. I’m calling BS on this.’
Mel gave her colleague support by going in on Steve. ‘Steve… it’s about breaking old habits, doing things a little bit differently, yet we’re not seeing that from you. We’ve talked about the fact that this is married, at first sight, it’s not mates, at first sight. You know that the aim is to move toward that romantic goal. But each week when we talk to you about that, Steve, there’s an excuse why you’re not going there.’
Steve was clearly agitated. ‘What’s the excuse? What’s the reason?’ he snapped at the experts.
Mel said: ‘What is the reason you’re choosing to not have sex with your wife?’
Steve began to lose his temper. ‘Because I’m clear. I’ve said it all along from practically day one, that I’m not attracted. And I was trying to find the attraction.’
‘And you’ve said that’s shifted, but you’re not passionately kissing or choosing to sleep in the same bed,’ Mel hit back. ‘That stuff is not developing here.’
‘I’ve clearly said I’ve wanted stability in the relationship because it’s very up and down. I’m loving the fact that we are the way we are now,’ the Englishman explained, to which Mishel added: ‘I just want Steve in my future.’
But, ‘it’s not going anywhere past friends,’ John insisted.
Steve replied: ‘I’m a little frustrated by that comment.
‘Contrary to what people think. I’m here for one reason, and one reason only, and that’s this woman beside me… I strongly believe that one minute without Mishel in my life would be a minute wasted.’
They both decided to ‘stay’ in the experiment.
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