Married at First Sight featured the couples celebrating their one-month anniversaries and Jaclyn Schwartzberg and Ryan Buckley hitting a rough patch in their relationship during the ninth episode of the Lifetime show's sixth season on Tuesday night.

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The six strangers who agreed to marry at first sight were Jaclyn, a 29-year-old teacher turned sales representative; Ryan, a 29-year-old firefighter; Molly Duff, a 25-year-old commercial insurance adjuster; Jonathan Francetic, a 28-year-old U.S. Army veteran and former financial associate; Shawniece Jackson, a 29-year-old entrepreneur and cosmetologist; and Jephte Pierre, a 26-year-old second grade teacher.

Matched by Married at First Sight experts Dr. Jessica Griffin, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, and Pastor Calvin Roberson, Jaclyn married Ryan, Molly walked down the aisle to Jonathan, and Shawniece became a wife to Jephte.

The broadcast began with the pairs approaching the one-month mark in their marriages, which was about halfway through this extreme experiment. Each couple made date plans together, ate a piece of their frozen wedding cake, and everyone -- except Molly and Jonathan -- exchanged gifts.

Molly and Jonathan were coming off a heated argument, but Jonathan decided to surprise his wife with white and purple flowers, which were the colors of their wedding. Jonathan also said he opted for a white bouquet to represent a surrender flag.

Molly thought the gesture was really sweet, and they both forgave each other for the fight about a lack of physical intimacy in their romance. Molly, however, asked Jonathan to take the topic off the table entirely so she would no longer feel stress or pressure about sex.

Jonathan wanted to continue trying to make his marriage work, and Molly said they were headed in the right direction as long as they appreciated each other's commonalities and the fact they could have fun together.

"In trying to be the best husband I can be, it comes down to putting the wants and needs of the marriage ahead of my own, so I'm going to do the best I can at that and certainly leave the door wide open for her to get to know me better," Jonathan said.

Molly noted that, on paper, Jonathan checked off everything she wanted in a spouse, including the fact he's adventurous, funny and hardworking. So she definitely intended to keep putting effort into their relationship.

Molly then met up with Jaclyn, and the two girls spent some time together chatting and looking through pictures. 

"Ryan is someone I'm compatible with in a lot of ways, but there have been a lot of highs and lows," Jaclyn said, adding that Ryan's work schedule -- and his many commitments -- would be the reason why they wouldn't work out in the end.

"I know Ryan wants to make this work, and now it really comes down to if he's going to do the things he says he's going to do going forward, and that is making time for me. If he does, I'll be hopeful, but if he doesn't, I can definitely see this going in a bad direction."

For their one-month anniversary, Ryan cooked Jaclyn breakfast in bed and gave her a gift certificate to receive a professional massage, and he also took her to a field so they could play a little soccer together.

In turn, Jaclyn gifted her husband an adorable scrapbook of some of their best photos.

Instead of buying each other extravagant or expensive gifts, Molly and Jonathan decided to enjoy a date together. The couple went apple picking and drank beer, and then they worked as a team to bake an apple pie once they got home.

"Obviously I want more physical contact, but I'm going to be patient because I value my marriage and right now, I think it's important to have fun in anything you do," Jonathan said.

Molly and Jonathan also talked about how many kids they'd like to have, with Jonathan joking about wanting 6-9 kids and Molly stating firmly, "Two." She could definitely envision a future with her husband and said it "looked really good."

Meanwhile, Shawniece and Jephte's connection was growing and strengthening every day.

They exchanged gifts for their one-month anniversary, and Shawniece gave her husband socks and a new dress shirt.

Jephte laughed at the gift but appreciated her effort, and he gave her a sweet snow globe with a married couple inside that had "one month down and forever to go" engraved on it.

Jephte also gave Shawniece a large canvas sign that read "Mr. and Mrs. Pierre," knowing she loves to receive sentimental gifts. The sign made Shawniece break down into tears at the table because it signified how seriously Jephte truly took their marriage, and she felt like she was a real part of his family.

"We are finally at a comfortable place," Shawniece told the cameras. "I feel like we've come a long way, so I hope we can grow in love and be happily ever after."

The couple later enjoyed a romantic dinner on the patio of a restaurant, and they playfully discussed what they should name their future children. Shawniece pointed out that she liked the name Jackson for a boy, but Jephte insisted their first son needed to be called Jephte Jr.

Although Ryan and Jaclyn shared a great one-month anniversary outing, Jaclyn was angry because Ryan chose to go out with his friends one night shortly afterward.

"I'm not happy about this. Ryan is already gone two nights out of the week, and so for him to -- every night, it seems like -- ask me around 11PM if he can go out with the guys and come back at whatever time, it just seems like that's going to be a really hard thing for me to ever get used to," Jaclyn said.

"After our date at the soccer field, I thought Ryan was ready to make me more of a priority in his life, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I don't want to be married to somebody who isn't home sleeping with me on most weeknights."

At this point in the process, Shawniece was falling in love with her husband and Molly was becoming more attracted to Jonathan every day, but Ryan and Jaclyn were beginning to encounter some serious problems in their relationship.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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