The fourth season of reality show Married at First Sight seems to be simmering with massive secrets, alleged flirtations, miscommunication, and rows. The show is a “social experiment”, where the sociologist Dr. Pepper Schwartz, communication and relationship expert Rachel DeAlto and marriage counselor Pastor Calvin Robinson play cupid and fix up six complete strangers.
The participants get to meet their would-be spouses first at the altar, after which they get married and start a journey together. The three couples then set out on their honeymoon and discover each other.
After returning from their honeymoon, the couples live together and lead their daily lives as a married couple in Miami. At the end of the show, the couples decide whether they want to stay together or get divorced.
Already after five episodes into the fourth season, the marital life of the six participants does not seem to be a bed of roses. The 32-year-old flight attendant Heather Seidel disapproves the smoking habit of her husband, 35-year-old account executive Derek Schwartz, to which he says that he could also easily make an issue out of her alcohol consumption, but according to him that would be acting prematurely.
The bickering continues further in their honeymoon in Puerto Rico, when in an attempt to put their back-and-forth behind them, they hit the beach to take surfing lessons.
Derek’s hope that the big, blue ocean would bring him closer to his wife was in vain, as he got infuriated when the surfing instructor held Heather’s hand during the lessons, which led him to accuse Heather of flirting with the instructor.
According to the flight attendant it was an innocent gesture, and the instructor was simply helping her navigate through the waves. The account executive is enraged to catch his wife ticking a bug off the surfing instructor’s bare chest. According to him Heather is neither a hand-holding person – nor does she like bugs!
The newlywed couple shared some quality romantic time inside a cave where they were hiking, but the détente was cut short when Heather walked out of the cave leaving Derek behind. The reason she sites for her cold behavior is the consideration for other tourists; she did not want to obstruct the way. After the blow-up, the newlyweds leave in separate cars and skip on their assigned pillow talk.
A heated situation forces the sulky couple to arrange for a video conference with Pastor Calvin Robinson. After listening to both the sides, the marriage counselor advises Heather to “let her wall down” and he had the couple look into each other’s eyes and say “You are not my enemy”.
Apparently, an optimistic Heather learns to make a truce with her husband and finds a remedy: to drink plenty of alcohol. This opens up a new side of Heather and Derek also ends up giving off flirtatious vibes.
Earlier Derek had stated that he felt himself be judged, cornered, insulted and rejected by Heather. He said he was stuck with Heather in the marriage, to which Heather had to say that she felt like she was talking to “an emotional teenage girl.”
According to Derek the marriage is not working, as Heather is not compromising and is disrespectful. He is on the verge of giving up on the marriage, to which Heather agrees. Heather is not romantically interested in Derek.
The 33-year-old social worker, Sonia Granados and the 32-year-old vacation rental manager Nick Pendergast are spending their honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, surfing kites, riding ATVs and dancing salsa.
For them, it is more important to build their relationship and to grow intimacy than the physical aspect, albeit a salsa lesson concluded in a kiss. They are having fun betting on each other’s activities, and a sporty loser Nick has already treated Sonia for her victory.
Although they had a row as Sonia said she sometimes could not understand him, Nick told Sonia that she was overthinking and that she needed to slow down a bit, because they were progressing in the relationship at different paces.
The couple has resolved the fight and Sonia find Nick’s gifts on their one-week anniversary as a nice gesture. During their pillow talk activity they reveal their wish of reading each other’s mind, but Nick has admitted that he is very comfortable with Sonia and likes her a lot.
The 29-year-old boat interior designer Tom Wilson was concealing a 400-square feet secret from his better-half, the 24-year-old real estate agent Lillian Vilchez during their honeymoon in Jamaica: that is his renovated tour bus near the beach where he lives.
On several occasions, like zip lining in the jungle and horse riding in the ocean, he hesitated from letting the cat out of the bag. Although the couple shared some personal moments, Tom is scared that he has intense feelings for Lillian and is falling in love with her but that she would be disappointed by his house.