'Married at First Sight' recap: Brennan asks Emily to just be friends, Chloe is revealed, and Cameron needs surgery

Married at First Sight featured Brennan and Emily bickering and growing further apart in their marriage, the experts choosing Chloe as Michael's new match for matrimony, and Cameron discovering a heart problem that made Clare feel guilty during the Season 17 episode that aired Wednesday night on Lifetime.


Married at First Sight's seventeenth season was filmed in Denver, CO, and stars Emily and Brennan, Clare and Cameron, and Austin and Becca.

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Orion and Lauren already chose to divorce, but they continue to appear on the season every now and then.

And the season's fifth intended groom, Michael, had unfortunately been jilted at the altar by his match. Michael, however, was just rematched to get married for the second time.


The MAFS season already featured strangers meeting at the wedding altar and enjoying a honeymoon, and now they'll be spending about two months moving in together and navigating the joys and struggles of daily life together.

And at the end of the experiment, Married at First Sight's Season 17 couples will reach "Decision Day" and have to decide whether to remain married or decide to end their marriages and divorce.

The couples were matched by Married at First Sight experts Pastor Calvin Roberson, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, and Dr. Pia Holec.

The Married at First Sight broadcast began with 27 days to go until Decision Day.

Clare woke up in her apartment alone, and she said it was hard to deal with her separation from Cameron.


Emily told the cameras that after the cast had gathered for dinner the previous night, Brennan apparently wasn't really talking to her.

"He was upset with me acting crazy last night, whatever that means. He's putting up a wall and trying to find a reason for this to not work," Emily vented in a confessional.

"And while he says he's not running, which he's done in the past, to me, it feels like he is and he just doesn't know it, which is the issue."

Emily said the past couple of weeks had been very "hard" for her and it seemed like Brennan wasn't listening to her or didn't fully understand her feelings. Emily said she couldn't picture herself loving and being married to a man who didn't express himself or put more effort into their relationship.

"I just have a problem with the way he makes me feel and talks to me sometimes, and it's really sad," Emily concluded.


Meanwhile, Becca invited Austin to watch her take professional photos of a family with a baby.

Becca wanted to share her career and passion with Austin, and Austin could tell that Becca is "really great" with children. Seeing Becca interact with a baby was really important to Austin.

"Even though we have different religious beliefs, seeing her in her element opened my eyes to how good of a parent she could be," Austin shared with the MAFS cameras, "and I hope that we can come to sort of some agreement about religion. If we could start a family, it would be really awesome."

Dr. Pia then checked in with Clare to make sure she was doing okay and that she and Cameron had exhausted all options before separating.

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Clare explained to Dr. Pia how Cameron had "some health concerns" going on at the time and so she wasn't feeling her best. Clare broke down into tears and admitted she felt "guilty" and "sad" that Cameron was in this position and didn't have any family around to comfort and support him.

"He's been so stressed about all of this, maybe it's caused him to have these health concerns. It's not fair," Clare cried to the MAFS expert.

Dr. Pia said she would be very surprised to learn that Clare had caused Cameron's health crisis, and Clare noted that she's well aware it wasn't her fault but she still felt very sad for him.

Cameron had apparently asked Clare not to worry, but Clare intended to support Cameron in any way that she could and have her family be by his side as well.

With 26 days to go until Decision Day, Cameron revealed to the Married at First Sight cameras that he had developed a heart condition. Cameron said he was going to need a procedure done on his heart in the next couple of weeks.


"Did the stress of my separation from Clare lead to this heart problem? Ehh, you know, it's probably something that was going to happen," Cameron explained in a confessional.

"Maybe it accelerated it. I haven't been doing any [filming for the show]. If I get my heart rate over 100, it will be causing permanent damage to my heart."

Emily then invited her friend Lillie over her apartment for a salad, a bottle of wine, and a chat.

Emily said she didn't deserve Brennan's lack of responses and miserable looks during group outings.

Emily complained about how she felt drained and it was "embarrassing" that Brennan wasn't putting any effort into their marriage. She also couldn't believe that Brennan couldn't tell when she was angry.

"I'm never going to win," Emily said. "But he came up with a solution."


The couple's apartment cameras caught Brennan telling Emily that they should focus on being friends and just take the pressure off of being married and trying to spark a physical connection. Brennan was proposing "a reset" of sorts, but Emily didn't like how it was entirely on Brennan's terms.

When Lillie asked Emily why she kept trying with her husband when he had clearly shut down, Emily explained that she thought Brennan cared for her and that something had just suddenly switched where he put a wall up.

Emily apparently had hope she and Brennan could get back to the happy place they had been in during their honeymoon.

Lillie advised Emily to use the show as a growing opportunity and to work on herself, and Emily noted how if Brennan couldn't at least respect her as a friend, then she'd have to leave him.

Dr. Pepper then revealed that the experts already had "the right woman for" Michael in their pile of applicants. Dr. Pia, Dr. Pepper and Pastor Cal decided on a brunette beauty named Chloe, a 39-year-old senior director of development in the nonproft sector.

Chloe said she's an animal lover, a minimalist, and a recovering perfectionist who had always worked hard to have the perfect job and perfect car.


"I realize now I spent so much time on the destination, I didn't have any fun with the journey," Chloe told the cameras.

Chloe always wanted to prove she's super capable and successful and didn't need anybody.

The strong and independent woman had dated men who were perfect on paper -- including a five-year relationship and a two-year relationship -- but Chloe said she was actually excited to relinquish control and let fate play a role in her life.

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Chloe shared how she's an empathetic person who just wants to love and be loved. Dr. Pia called her warm and calm, and Dr. Pepper dubbed Chloe sweet, silly and smart, which are the exact qualities Michael had been looking for.

Chloe said she was ready to be with "a good man" whom she can grow old with and give her whole heart to.


Dr. Pepper crashed one of Chloe's outings with her friends and revealed that she was going to marry at first sight.

"We're sure that she should've been standing at the altar the first time," Dr. Pepper told the cameras.

But the experts chose not to share the "unique circumstances" of Michael's first marriage on the show with her beforehand.

"[We feel that] would create a lot of unnecessary doubt about the potential of the marriage," Dr. Pepper explained.

"If she came into the marriage with uncertainty, she might put up walls that would prevent her from getting to know who Michael really is and hurt their opportunity to have a lifetime together."

With 25 days to go until Decision Day, Austin and Becca bought two fish together to start expanding their little family together.


And Clare met up with her cousin Kobi. Clare revealed how she and Cameron had separated and now she was "hit with the reality of that." Clare said they both needed time to be alone because they were in their heads and being together simply didn't feel right.

Kobi said the experiment went a lot better than it could have gone, since Cameron and Clare got along and had a mutual respect, and Clare agreed. Clare realized that maybe she and Cameron were meant to meet and be friends, even if they weren't meant to be romantic partners.

"He was all the things that I asked for. He's goofy, smart, athletic, genuine, outgoing and a kind person. It's just the compatibility part [was missing]. I'm mourning the loss of what I thought could be an eternal marriage," Clare vented to her cousin.

Kobi said maybe the pair's friendship could eventually develop into something more, and Clare replied, "Who's to say?!"

Emily and Brennan were then shown meeting up with Dr. Pepper at a coffee shop. Brennan said he and Emily had tried to the best of their capabilities and he didn't know what to do other than reset and just enjoy each other's company.

Brennan said it's okay for them to take time for themselves during the process and he wanted to focus on their friendship rather than their marriage. Emily, meanwhile, was just going along for the ride.


When asked to rattle off good things about Emily, Brennan hesitated and finally said she's caring, awesome to hang out with, and fun. Emily was quicker to call Brennan loyal, caring, smart, funny and trustworthy.
"I like your list better than his list," Dr. Pepper joked.

"That's usually how this goes. I use more words," Emily replied, which made Brennan flash a confused and annoyed face at his wife.

Dr. Pepper asked the pair to at least build an intimate friendship, meaning they'd have to be vulnerable and continue sharing things about themselves, and so Brennan and Emily agreed to do the fishbowl game -- in which they'd ask each other a bunch of questions -- and keep opening up.

After all, the pair had already established a strong emotional connection.

"If we're going to do this reset, we really have to do it and do it right from the start," Emily noted.

Six days before Michael and Chloe's wedding, Michael got rid of the gifts from his first failed wedding, and Chloe went shopping for her wedding dress. She ended up choosing a form-fitted dress with long, off-the-shoulder sleeves and lace details.


"I know I'm going to like him. I can feel it with every fiber of my being. I know that the experts have matched me with someone they feel wholeheartedly is my person... but what if he's got this vision of the wife that he was expecting [and it's not me]?" Chloe vented to her pals.

"It's such a scary thought. I want, more than anything, for him to say, 'She's exactly what I want.'"

Chloe said she never would have married a stranger five years ago, but she also never felt like she deserved something more than the way she felt in her wedding dress in that very moment.

With 24 days to go until Decision Day, Austin and Becca went out for lunch with Austin's parents, whom he's very close to, at a restaurant where Austin used to work as a server.

Becca received the stamp of approval from Austin's parents, who gushed about how Becca had been "a very pleasant surprise" for them who was blowing them away.

"We are thrilled -- beyond," Austin's mother said.


And Becca agreed marrying Austin on the show was absolute best-case scenario for her.

Meanwhile, Emily and Brennan played the fishbowl game in their apartment complex's hot tub.

Emily shared how she had resentment issues with her father because he had pushed her too hard when she was younger, and Brennan told Emily that his parents didn't deal with issues well and he was also estranged from his sister.

Brennan said his relationship with his sister was causing him more suffering than happiness and he was trying to focus on his happiness. Emily, however, didn't ask Brennan for more details or to elaborate on what happened.

Emily asked Brennan to reveal something he had given up on -- and wish he hadn't -- but Brennan asked to pass on that question. Emily revealed she had given up on her dream of being a news anchor.

Brennan found the fishbowl game "hard," and he also said it wasn't easy to talk about these things on-camera because he only wanted the good to show.


Emily expressed fear this reset was going to backfire and they'd end up not even being civil in the end.

With that being said, Brennan said he needed to "tap out" because he was losing consciousness.

"We were in here for two hours the other night. You're fine," Emily snapped.

"Do you want me to faint?" Brennan asked.

"Oh my god, you're fine. Jes-s Chr-st! Suck it up!" Emily countered.

Brennan attempted to explain to Emily why he didn't feel well, but she thought he was just trying to get out of the conversation, and she vented about how his attitude made her "feel like sh-t" and he was "being dramatic."


Emily proceeded to read the next question out loud, "What have you fought the hardest for. Tell me the story."

Emily announced, "Honestly, probably for us in this marriage."

"Yeah, same," Brennan said. "Our story has been one for the books."

Emily also revealed that she's a sensitive person because she really cares and only wants to do things with good intent, and Brennan said he's sensitive about people questioning his character.

"Obviously I want her to be supportive and caring and nice, but you know, she wasn't. It was not a great feeling," Brennan complained after the game.

The episode ended with Emily and Brennan fighting over whether Brennan had truly felt like he was going to faint. Emily thought the situation was just too hard for Brennan, and she was tired of things always being about Brennan and his appearance.


Neither Brennan or Emily thought their spouse had their back.

"I'm not giving up, but I don't think we can even properly have a marriage. When he's still answering questions the way he is and acting the way he is, it's validating all of my thoughts. I don't know what the f-ck is going to get through to him at this rate," Emily lamented in a confessional.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski