Judged her whole life by others because of her ethnicity, Married at First Sight Australia bride Selina Chhaur says she was blindsided by her new husband Cody Bromley’s admission that she “wasn’t something I normally go for.”
WATCH: Cody tells Selina he’s not attracted to her on their honeymoon
In the emotionally charged episode, which aired tonight, Chhaur confronted Bromley about the real reason he isn’t attracted to her, sparking a race row that reverberates through the other couples and leaves the experts stunned.
“It came as a massive shock to me and it was really upsetting,’’ Chhaur, 32, tells WHO. “He did judge the book by its cover.’’
After getting off to a rocky start, during which the personal trainer from Sydney’s Northern Beaches admitted that he was struggling with the lack of sexual attraction to his bride, hairdresser Chhaur decides to “address the elephant in the room’’ and asks if it’s because of her nationality.
“I asked him the question, that was actually really hard, and I guess I was a little naïve thinking that no it wouldn’t be that… and it was,” tells Chhaur, whose parents are Chinese and Cambodian.
“There’s all different ways you can look at this but my thing was I think, sadly, he did judge the book by its cover and didn’t make the effort, as much as I was making, to get to know me further.
“I gave him the benefit of the doubt because I didn’t think it was still a thing so I asked and well, I asked for an honest man and he didn’t fail to disappoint on that front. He was definitely really honest.’’
Bromley, 30, awkwardly explains that he “isn’t racist by any means’’, but admits that her nationality “probably did” affect his response to her.
After admitting that her race probably did affect his initial attraction, Bromley couldn’t backtrack fast enough. “I feel horrible,’’ he said. “I feel like I f–ked up.’’
Whether Bromley’s backpedalling can save the relationship remains to be seen, but it requires the experts to get involved and help the pair.
Australian-born Chhaur says that regardless of what viewers think of the confrontation, she’s proud of herself for being brave enough to call it out and make it part of the national conversation on race.
“I’m a proud ethnic woman,’’ she declares. “I almost felt like I needed to get my flags out and wave them around with pride. I hope people can see how hard it was for me to ask that question. It did take a lot so I’m very proud of myself.
“People of all ethnicities, we do have things that are said to us and we do brush it to one side. At least now it will build awareness for people to be a bit more consciously aware of how they say things.
“At the end of the day [it was said] at the very early stages [of the relationship]. I had to take his word for it when he said he didn’t mean it that way.’’
Married At First Sight Australia airs Monday to Wednesday, 7:30pm, and Sunday, 7pm, on Nine Network and 9Now.
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