Married at First Sight star Airris Williams has explained his "internal battle" with Jasmine Secrest and why he was moving slowly with her in the physical department during their honeymoon.
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Airris, a 39-year-old software engineer dubbed "Reformed and Ready for Love" by Lifetime, was matched to wed Jasmine, a 31-year-old cheerleading coach and beauty queen dubbed "Queen Without a King," on Married at First Sight's currently-airing Nashville season.
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While Airris and Jasmine had a successful wedding and got off to a great start in their marriage, Airris found himself holding back during their honeymoon in Jamaica.
While Airris led Jasmine to believe he was suppressing his high sex drive so they could get to know each other on a deep level first, there was more to it than that.
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During the February 8 episode of Married at First Sight: Afterparty, host Keshia Knight Pulliam shared with Airris how women want to feel desired and attractive when they're in a relationship or marriage, even if sex isn't being had.
Keshia therefore flat out asked Airris, "Does lack of attraction have anything to do with why you're moving so slow with Jasmine?"
"Yes," Airris confessed. "Yeah."
Airris explained how his "emotional connection" with Jasmine was "going good so far" but he was lacking a spark.
"For me, it's the physical attraction. Right now, I'm trying to deal with that but I don't know how to say it," Airris said. "Because I'm not trying to ruin the honeymoon."
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Airris went on to explain, "I'm having, like, an internal battle during this honeymoon of, like, how do I go about this?"
But Airris clarified, "I find her attractive; I think she's an attractive person. I mean, she's actually won beauty pageants! She's not, like, a non-attractive person. That's not what I'm saying."
Keshia said it sounded like "sexual chemistry" was the missing piece for Airris and Jasmine, and he agreed.
"Yes, right," Airris said.
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During the Afterparty episode, Airris watched back a Season 16 clip of Jasmine giving him a massage in Jamaica.
"I feel like this is the most touch we've done since meeting each other... Besides cuddling, we haven't rubbed each other down or anything like that," Jasmine tells her husband in the footage.
"Right, I mean, I feel like it's just a normal progression of you met a stranger a couple days ago, so things are just moving at a comfortable pace for the both of us," Airris replies.
Keshia noted how it seemed Jasmine was ready to take their relationship to the next level at this point.
"I know it! Three days and she's ready to take off," Airris boasted.
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Airris' Married at First Sight co-star Domynique Kloss, who also appeared on Afterparty as a guest, admitted Jasmine's face looked "irritated" in that clip.
Despite calling himself "a sexual person," Airris wasn't making moves on his wife.
In addition to not being physically attracted to Jasmine, Airris explained, "I want to be all the way there. I don't want to just have, like, meaningless sex."
"Of course I signed up and I agreed to be married, but I want to make sure this is going to work," he said.
In the spirit of being positive and optimistic, Airris listed the qualities he did love about Jasmine a week into their marriage -- including her calm demeanor.
"I'm a very chill, mellow person, and she has, like, a perfect balance," Airris said.
"She can turn up when she needs to and kind of turn me up a little bit -- turn up my energy levels -- but when we're in the room and the cameras are gone and we're away from the other couples, there's a very calming and peaceful environment... [That's] very important."
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Airris acknowledged he and Jasmine were "still learning about each other" and "trying to figure each other out." But he promised that he was going "to see it through" with Jasmine.
On last week's episode of Married at First Sight's sixteenth season, Airris opened up to the other guys in the cast about his feelings -- or lack thereof -- for Jasmine.
"On a scale from 1-10 of being attracted to me, I feel [Jasmine] is at, like, a 12. And I feel like I'm at, like, a four or five," Airris confessed.
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"And I feel bad, almost. I almost feel guilty... My type is a little bit different than what I got."
Airris told the cameras that Jasmine is "dope and amazing," but he's "a butt man" and Jasmine's butt looked "a little too small."
Airris complimented Serena Williams' backside, for example, and he told Keshia on a January episode of Afterparty how his celebrity crush is actress Lauren London.
"I like thick, athletic women, but I've [also] dated super slim women that I've found absolutely gorgeous," Airris explained on the talk show last month of his typical type.
"So I can't really narrow it [down]; I just kind of know it when I see it."
Airris revealed during the January 4 episode of Afterparty that his most serious relationship was six years before he joined the Married at First Sight 16 cast.
Airris had been loving the single life, and he told Jasmine on the show how he's never been in love before.
Airris told his wife on the show that he just needed more time and he thought they were moving in the right direction.
Airris assured Jasmine that he was ready and willing to deal with peaks and valleys in their relationship, which provided some relief and reassurance for Jasmine.
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