'Married at First Sight' reunion: Brennan was "held hostage" and reveals why he didn't like Emily, Cameron shows receipts, Emily and Clare break down

Married at First Sight: Denver Reunion Part 2 featured Brennan finally revealing why he wasn't attracted to Emily and saying his wife held him "hostage," Emily and Clare lashing out and bawling, and Cameron showing receipts during the Season 17 episode that aired Wednesday night on Lifetime.


Married at First Sight's seventeenth season was filmed in Denver, CO, and the show stars Emily and Brennan, Clare and Cameron, Austin and Becca, Lauren and Orion, and Michael and Chloe.

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

Orion and Lauren chose to divorce early in the process, and then Michael and Chloe got married much later into the process than the other four couples.


On "Decision Day," three couples -- Clare and Cameron, Emily and Brennan, and Michael and Chloe -- chose to divorce. Becca and Austin opted to stay together on Decision Day, however, they split the very next day after a big argument.

The Married at First Sight reunion was hosted by Kevin Frazier, and he called this season "the most contentious" one ever. The couples even refused to sit with one another on the stage.

All of the ladies, except for Chloe, wore pink in solidarity and to show their strength and bond. They all claimed their husbands cared more about the "optics" of how they'd look on TV instead of their marriages.

"At the end of the day, I feel like we just got a bad batch of men," Lauren announced at the reunion.

Emily added, "I think we're happy that we didn't [have sex]... They didn't deserve it."


Below is what happened on Part 2 of the Married at First Sight: Denver Reunion.

EMILY and CAMERON

Cameron told Emily that their relationship was in a great place until a "malicious rumor" spread about him wanting to go on a double date, but Emily corrected Brennan and claimed there were multiple rumors.

"I mistakenly read some texts on your iPad while you were watching TV. You told both Cam and Austin that you wanted to have sex with [my former best friend] Lilly," Emily alleged.

"You DMed Clare's friend the night in the hot tub when you said the same night that you wanted to move in with me, and then you called Cam wanting to go on a double date. That wasn't just affecting me, it was affecting our friend."

Brennan called those "unsubstantiated rumors." He then accused Emily of trying to make out with his friend and then lying about the fact she had made out with an Australian guy one night in a bar. Brennan explained how he had to ask Emily multiple times to tell him the truth.


"I was scared to tell you because I didn't want that to be your easy out," Emily explained. "Lilly told you that, and that was the second time you protected her."

But Brennan said he didn't even hear about the Australian guy from Lilly.

Brennan told Emily that she should have asked him about what she had heard, but Emily said she was choosing to trust Brennan at the time and not question her best friend.

Emily told Brennan he had given her false hope because going back to the night in the hot tub, Brennan said he didn't know what he was going to say on Decision Day. Brennan admitted he regretted saying that because he meant that he just wanted to say "yes" to staying friends -- but not to being spouses.

"You're a grown-ass man. If you wanted to leave me, you could've f-cking done it," Emily snapped.


"You told me that if I left you, you were going to make my life a living hell," Brennan claimed.

Emily called that a lie, and then when Brennan slightly rephrased the sentence, Emily said she didn't remember saying that.

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Brennan then shared how Emily was negative in their marriage and would say she "hated" everything, but Emily insisted she's the most positive person ever and even turned her ATV accident into a positive.

"You didn't respect me, you didn't care about me, you did not take my feelings into account at all. It was always about you," Emily said.


"Because I wasn't attracted to you," Brennan began.

"I honestly don't believe that either," Emily interjected.

"Okay," Brennan sighed. "Because I didn't want a romantic connection with you, I was trying to find any possible way I could savor anything out of this experience, but it was challenge after challenge."

Emily repeated how she'll never believe that Brennan simply wasn't attracted to her because they had made out every day on their honeymoon.

"That's a lie -- a blatant lie. We made out one time," Brennan said.

"If that helps you sleep at night, then fine. I mean, who wouldn't want to make out with me?!" Emily responded.


Brennan essentially called Emily delusional.

"I'm an 8.5 and you're a 6. If we were at a bar, you'd never approach me," Emily said.

Brennan called Emily "hilarious" and said she tried to justify everything she believed, which made it impossible to communicate with and get through to her.

"I hope you never treat a girl the way you treated me," Emily complained.

"There was a constant toxic negativity at all times that you created because you could not let me go," Brennan said.

He continued, "I tried to leave so many times. I should've done what was best for me instead of doing what I thought you wanted me to, and that was my biggest mistake."


"I agree," Emily said, wrapping up the fight.

Emily revealed she wasn't dating at the moment and hoped to find her person later in life, but Brennan shared how he was in a happy relationship. Brennan said he had good communication with his new girlfriend and they were always open and honest with each other.

"I hope I find her because I want to warn her to run when you repeat the patterns," Emily said.

"I should've ended our relationship in Week 2. I don't know what else you want from me," Brennan said.

Brennan added, "We were in such a hostile environment. I didn't want to be with you, and you kept holding me hostage. And you're wondering why I reacted the way I did... We are not actors, I am a real person."

Brennan yelled at Emily that she was treating him terribly and trying to belittle him and make him feel like "a piece of dirt."


Emily insisted she was just expressing facts, but Brennan completely disagreed and argued that Emily had to grow up. He slammed her by saying that she was acting like a college girl, unable to handle criticism or have a mature discussion.

Kevin pointed out how there was "deception" that led to mistrust and dishonesty, which made all the relationships go south, and so everyone in the cast was to blame.

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During a commercial break, Emily proudly walked offstage and announced, "I'm 'delusional' baby!" She then vented to her female co-stars backstage how Brennan was "a psychopath."

Lauren told Clare and Emily backstage how they had lived through the gaslighting and manipulation and now it was time to tell their truth.

CAMERON SHOWS KEVIN "RECEIPTS"

The men from Denver joined Kevin onstage, but Austin was missing because he was apparently feeling sick from a stomach virus.


Kevin announced how it was hard for him to decipher what was real and what wasn't.

Brennan declared how a person can want to be in a successful marriage but not want to be in a marriage with a specific person. He insisted how it's impossible to enter Married at First Sight with the wrong intentions because the casting and filming process is so intensive.

Brennan acknowledged how he had done himself a disservice by trying to protect Emily's feelings and that he wished he had been more transparent with his wife. Brennan said he regretted not telling his truth the entire time.

Brennan then asked Kevin to challenge the women on their stories because there were many lies laced in. Brennan repeated how he had only kissed Emily once on their honeymoon, for example, and that the women's alleged facts weren't lining up with one another.

On his contentious relationship with Lauren, Orion said it was "unfortunate" and he had been hoping they could be civil with each other going forward.

Cameron then insisted his heart condition was real and he never used it as an excuse to leave his marriage to Clare. In fact, Cameron brought "receipts" -- in the form of an EKG -- of the day when his heart stopped multiple times and he had received shocks.


"[My condition] is not hereditary. It's a purely stress-induced trauma to the heart -- literally a broken heart. Me announcing my divorce to the group, it was that night I went into a flutter," Cameron declared.

Michael also promised viewers that his first marriage with a runaway bride was not staged.

While the women were backstage, Lauren called the MAFS17 grooms "low-budget men," and Emily boasted about how the ladies were out of their league.

EMILY DOESN'T ACCEPT BRENNAN'S APOLOGY

Michael apologized to Chloe for not giving them a platform to find a solution, and he told his former wife how she deserved the best.

Brennan insisted he had begun the Married at First Sight process with good intentions and he took responsibility for not expressing his full truth to Emily, who said she appreciated that but didn't believe him or think it was genuine.

"If you were really sorry, you had a lot of opportunities to tell me that before this [televised reunion]. I feel like when it's benefiting you, that's when you decide to fake apologize," Emily snapped.


"This is the toxic energy that you bring, and it is genuine," Brennan clapped back.

And Clare slammed Cameron by saying her marriage was built on a rocky foundation of "lies, deceit, hatred and resentment," and she added, "I can't act and do what you want me to do and act and play this dance... Believe me or don't, I don't care!"

EMILY AND THE HOST GET INTO A HEATED EXCHANGE

Emily announced how no one was believing Clare and people, including Kevin, were digging and digging deeper into her story.

When Kevin asked Emily what she thought he was digging for, Emily said no one was showing Clare grace.

"I feel like she's disrespected and dismissed," Emily complained.

"Emily, stop," Kevin said.


"Does that, like, translate to you?" Emily asked the reunion's host.

"Emily, hold on, stop. Stop for a second. You yelling at me doesn't change anything. I'm not going to get rattled because you're yelling at me, okay? I'm going to talk to you and tell you the truth," Kevin declared.

Kevin went on to accuse Emily of "disrespecting the show," which Emily firmly denied.

"You disrespected this show, you disrespected the people watching, and you disrespected the people who work for this show," Kevin said.

"The truth is, everybody was a part of this deception... I believe you were deceived by your husband and it led you down a road that ended up hurting you, okay? But I also believe that everyone went along with this scripted thing and that hurt the process too. It's unfortunate you couldn't have paused and said, 'Whoa, this is crazy and wrong!'"

Becca said the women did that eventually and it was taking some serious courage for them to open up and be honest with home viewers. Lauren agreed that the women didn't feel like they could talk about these things during the experiment, while they were still married.

BRENNAN EXPLAINS WHY HE WASN'T ATTRACTED TO EMILY

Brennan said early in his marriage, there were hurdles with Emily that he just couldn't get over.

Brennan recalled thinking Emily was pretty and cool when they first met at the wedding.

"An hour later, I'm talking with your friends and they're telling me that you get ghosted all the time, you love one-night stands, you're selfish," Brennan alleged.

Emily didn't think that was true, but Brennan insisted one person had told him all of that.

"So I'm already feeling turned off at this point," Brennan explained. "Next day, we talk, and you have no idea where your money goes -- alarm."

"I make more money than you, okay?" Emily snapped.


"No, you don't. You lied about that, so that was cool," Brennan argued. "That, for me, is not what I was looking for in my future wife... I held those negative feelings towards you, and I admit that, but those were internal feelings I needed to overcome."

Becca explained to Brennan how that drove Emily crazy because his behavior made her question her reality. She claimed it turned marriage into "a mindf-ck" for Emily, and Becca was apparently speaking from her experience with Austin.

Brennan confessed that was a fair assessment because he could've been honest about his feelings early on.

Lauren gave Brennan the benefit of the doubt, suggesting that maybe Brennan stayed silent about his negative feelings towards Emily because he went into the process believing that divorce wasn't going to be an option for him.

Emily broke down into tears, saying that she wished Brennan had told her the truth right away. Emily also wasn't about to apologize for being herself, and Brennan told her that was 100 percent fair.

ORION AND LAUREN SHARE THEIR CURRENT STATUS

Lauren told Kevin that she was focusing on herself after her failed marriage, traveling internationally and spending time with family and friends.


Orion apologized to Lauren for judging and sex-shaming her during their honeymoon when Lauren revealed she had sex two months prior.

Kevin confirmed that Lauren hadn't been matched for the process yet, at that point, and so Orion clearly felt bad about the way he had treated her. Kevin and Orion agreed that Lauren's life prior to being engaged was her life and her decision -- and that it had nothing to do with Orion.

When asked if he had given up too easily on the relationship, Orion admitted he had given up too easily on "the process." Lauren verified how Orion viewed the process vs. the marriage differently.

Orion explained how he had never given the experts the opportunity to fix the issues in his marriage, and then Kevin finally got him to admit that he did, in fact, give up on his "marriage" too quickly.

Lauren shared, "I'm sad about the partner I was matched with... [Marriage] requires two willing participants, and I don't think he was ready for marriage."

Lauren confirmed that she and Orion no longer spoke and that she had no intention of building any type of friendship with him. Lauren said she hoped Orion would get what he deserved, and she refused to elaborate on that jab.


Orion, however, thought he and Lauren were a good match and that they could've worked out had he stuck with the process. Lauren, on the other hand, disagreed and wasn't happy with the experts' match for her. Lauren didn't think she and Orion were "equally yoked."

Orion concluded, "The horse is dead, so let's stop beating it."

Lauren then hinted that she was dating again, but she wouldn't confirm that there was a new man in her life. Orion, meanwhile, was dating a woman pretty seriously.

"I am seeing somebody. I am, for a couple of months now... It's going really well," Orion shared.

"[Thanks to Lauren], I learned to not generalize the things that I say so it doesn't come off as gaslighting. There were times when I misled Lauren... and [what I was saying] was not making any sense."

Orion had been hoping for a better outcome with Lauren, but she clearly wanted nothing to do with him.

THE EXPERTS TALK ABOUT THIS FAILURE OF A SEASON

Kevin asked the experts how they felt about all the deception and how the Season 17 cast had attempted to rig the system.

Dr. Pepper said she had no idea the cast had come up with a plan to feed the experts what the cast wanted them to hear. Pastor Cal said he was just trying to build happy marriages and if people weren't honest with them, then it made their task nearly impossible.

Dr. Pia admitted she was disappointed and couldn't help a couple if she didn't have all of the facts and all of the information.

Becca apologized to the experts for not getting to know them in an authentic way, but she explained how she didn't feel like she was "in a safe space" to show her true self. Becca admitted she was confused and had been "trying to protect" the person she liked.

"We didn't feel like we could advocate for ourselves [during the experiment]," Clare announced, adding how the women felt silenced by their husbands.

Dr. Pia asked for more details on why the women essentially felt scared to speak up, and Becca alleged the men had wanted to look good on-camera and the men's heightened anxiety made the women question if they should also feel anxious.


Emily explained how the women wanted their marriages to work so badly, that's why they didn't speak out. The women thought trusting and going along with the men's plan would build trust help their marriages to survive.

"Are you saying all the men were controlling and manipulating?" Pastor Cal asked.

"Yes," the women agreed, before Becca added, "From Day 1."

Clare called Cameron the ringleader of the group, placing blame on him for creating fake storylines, but Dr. Pepper pointed out how this cast was comprised of strong and successful women who could've stood up for themselves.

Chloe confirmed that she and Michael were sheltered from all the drama and didn't have the same experience, and all the women agreed they were learning and growing.

CAMERON IS PUT IN THE HOT SEAT

Dr. Pepper asked Cameron why he had come up with the plan to fake storylines and how he convinced the other cast members to go along with it.


"Who did I convince, exactly?" Cameron asked the expert.

Dr. Pepper explained the women's allegations and how they thought Cameron was the ringleader who had come up with the idea.

Cameron called the women's allegations "lies," saying he never concocted a plan or told the women how to handle their marriages in any way -- and Brennan nodded his head in agreement.

Cameron, however, took accountability for his part in it all and for essentially fooling the experts.

"They're throwing these coordination and collusion [accusations at us]; they're the ones showing up in color-matching outfits," Cameron complained.

"It's awfully convenient that exactly what they're doing is exactly what they're saying we did. But I understand your grievance, Dr. Pepper, and I am ashamed. It just makes me feel like I've learned nothing in my life... I know I lied to your face, Dr. Pepper."


Dr. Pepper thanked Cameron for his apology, and then Pastor Cal confessed he was "completely conflicted" because he had been told the men were strategizing, only to hear from the men the total opposite.

Amid the confusion, Dr. Pepper shut down the true vs. false conversation, and she just wished the entire cast the best. Dr. Pepper hoped everyone learned from their mistakes and could move forward as stronger and better people.

Dr. Pia and Pastor Cal asked the cast to reset, re-evaluate and reflect on themselves and their part in the mess.

Brennan then apologized to Dr. Pia for being "controlling" during the experiment. Brennan said he felt backed in a corner and was trying to be protective, and he confessed to not having given the expert a fair chance in trying to help his marriage with Emily.

Dr. Pia thanked Brennan for recognizing that and taking ownership of his behavior.

EMILY AND CLARE HAVE EMOTIONAL BREAKDOWNS

When the entire cast reunited onstage again, Clare and Emily called Brennan and Cameron liars. Emily told the men that they should be ashamed of themselves and keep their heads down.


On the topic of Brennan allegedly asking Cameron to go on a double date with him, Cameron started to explain how it was his idea, and then Clare and Emily both started crying. Clare accused Cameron was lying about "everything" and that Brennan wanted to have sex with her best friend.

"You, [Brennan], told Cameron, and then Cameron lied about it," Clare cried. "I don't expect you to tell the truth at this point."

Cameron asked for clarification on what he should tell the truth about, and Clare shouted, "That [Brennan] was f-cking other people!"

"Whoa!" Brennan replied. "First you said I 'wanted' to f-ck someone else. Then you just said I actually did f-ck someone else. Which one was it?"

"Either way, you're in a marriage, Brennan!" Clare shouted.

Brennan insisted he never had sex with someone else, nor did he ever say that he wanted to have sex with someone else.


"You said you wanted to f-ck my best friend to both Austin and Cam," Emily reiterated.

"That rumor was clearly not true," Brennan said.

"It doesn't matter," Emily replied.

"It doesn't matter? It doesn't matter," Brennan vented. "Facts don't matter."

Clare gave Brennan and Cameron permission to "keep scheming," but Brennan said they were the ones talking about their plans 24/7 throughout the whole process.

"We're not coordinating anything," Brennan said.


Lauren clarified how the women wearing pink wasn't a form of "scheming," and she called Cameron out for having made a pact.

Cameron told Lauren that she clearly couldn't take "a little jab" when that's all the women were doing against the men.

"Keep poking the bear, and I will bite back. Stop playing, Cameron, because you don't scare me! I promise you, try me if you want," Lauren said.

As Clare and Brennan continued to argue, Emily walked offstage and lamented about how she was "disgusted" by everything that happened that day. Brennan continued to claim that he never lied or hit on anybody, but Clare wasn't buying it.

Cameron went on to explain, "Brennan and I went Union Station. There were two girls at the bar. From my perspective, my marriage was plainly over and Brennan was on the rocks."

"My marriage was plainly over," Brennan interjected.


"And so I thought it would be funny to say, 'Hey, in a couple of months, we can approach those two,'" Cameron recalled.

"That was it," Brennan agreed. "There was no action. This was just a malicious rumor."

"And that's just my sense of humor," Cameron added.

Brennan also claimed that if Clare was truly a good friend to Emily, she would have asked the two men what really happened. Clare had no response and concluded, "I'm not doing this with you. I'm not playing the game."

Clare went on to accuse Brennan of calling one of their friends "cute," and then Emily rejoined the conversation in tears.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski