Married at First Sight star Amber Bowles' castmates and even MAFS expert Pastor Calvin Roberson share many viewers' beliefs that Amber's best friend Raven is probably in love with her.
ADVERTISEMENT
During Wednesday night's episode of Married at First Sight: Unfiltered hosted by Jamie Otis, Amber's co-stars Deonna McNeill and Jamie Thompson watched back a Season 9 clip in which Raven was shown telling Amber that she didn't deserve to be someone's second choice or a backup option when talking about her husband Matthew Gwynne.
RELATED LINK: 'MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT' COUPLES NOW: WHAT COUPLES ARE STILL TOGETHER? WHO BROKE UP? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
Raven said he didn't like the idea of Matt hanging out with his friends all the time and therefore advised Amber to make sure her husband knew her worth.
Otis then asked the following viewer question, "Is it just me or is Amber's friend Raven totally in love with her?"
ADVERTISEMENT
After Otis admitted she agreed with this particular viewer's perspective, Deonna and Thompson shared their thoughts.
"I'd go with yes," Thompson noted.
"Yeah, same!" Otis shouted. "What do you think, [Deonna]?"
"I don't know," Deonna quietly replied, as if she didn't want to admit her opinion.
"Oh, I think he's so into her," Otis pushed.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I think he's in denial," Thompson said.
Pastor Cal also appeared during the Unfiltered broadcast and shared his two cents on the subject.
"Yeah, there is something there," he explained. "I don't know if she's returning the sentiment though."
RELATED LINK: 'MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT' STAR AMBER BOWLES: I HAD SUSPECTED MATT GWYNNE WAS CHEATING ON ME (EXCLUSIVE)
Otis had Pastor Cal's back on that statement, adding, "I don't think she feels that way towards him at all, but I definitely think he feels that way towards her."
ADVERTISEMENT
Raven also applied for Married at First Sight's ninth season and was actually one of the candidates the MAFS experts were shown considering for the North Carolina-based season during the casting special that aired on Lifetime prior to the season's premiere earlier this summer.
Raven appears to really care about Amber and have her best interest at heart, so many Married at First Sight viewers have been wondering whether the pair ever dated or why Raven has remained in the friend zone.
"Raven and I have been friends for 14 years, and we care about each other deeply," Amber told Reality TV World in an exclusive interview earlier this week.
"At this point, he is like a brother to me. We have never dated and never will."
During Married at First Sight's latest episode that aired September 4 on Lifetime, Raven was the person who informed Amber that Matt may have been unfaithful to her.
ADVERTISEMENT
"The other night, I was out at a bar and I saw Matt with another girl. They were definitely focused on each other and it didn't look good," Raven shared.
"They looked together?" Amber asked, trying to hold her tears back.
"Yeah," Raven replied. "I'm sorry. It's not something I wanted to have to tell you."
RELATED LINK: 'MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT' STAR AMBER BOWLES: I WAS SHOCKED MATT GWYNNE DIDN'T END OUR MARRIAGE ON RECOMMITMENT DAY (EXCLUSIVE)
Amber broke down into tears because she hated the idea of giving up on her marriage since she liked Matt so much and wanted their relationship to work out so badly. She wished Matt had just been honest with her.
"You don't deserve it," Raven insisted. "This has nothing to do with you not living up to something. It has something to do with his effort back into this and back into you."
Amber wondered, as a result, what Matt had been doing behind her back throughout the whole eight-week experiment, especially considering he had spent "so many days and so many nights" away from her.
Raven told the cameras it didn't feel good to tell Amber her husband was "potentially being unfaithful to her." Raven acknowledged the news was devastating for Amber, but he thought it was unfortunate Amber kept attempting to rationalize things Matt had done to hurt her.
Otis also reiterated her belief that Raven has feelings for Amber during Lifetime's September 5 broadcast of Married at First Sight: Couples Couch, which features former MAFS couples offering commentary on encore broadcasts of the show's episodes.
"I think Raven's in love with her," Otis said as she watched the episode with her husband Doug Hehner, whom she married on Married at First Sight's first season.
"Why aren't Raven and Amber dating?" asked Doug.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I don't know," Otis replied.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHAT COUPLES ARE STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY KNOW? (PHOTOS)
"Raven cares so much for her," Doug said.
"Yeah, like Matt doesn't look at her that way," Otis noted.
"Raven's nice. What's wrong with Raven? I vote Amber and Raven," she continued after watching Raven reveal Matt's apparent infidelity to Amber.
Several other former Married at First Sight couples also made similar comments during the Couples Couch broadcast.
"Look at how he's looking at her," MAFS Season 8 star Kristine Killingsworth said as she watched the show with her husband Keith Dewar. "Look at how they're looking at each other."
"I don't know, I think they need to be more than friends," Kristine continued.
"He loves her," Married at First Sight Season 5 star Anthony D'Amico told his wife Ashley Petta as they also watched the scene air.
"Is Raven available?" Ashley asked.
During the Married at First Sight Season 9 casting special, Raven, a 28-year-old operations manager for an IT services company, told the experts he was open to marrying a stranger because there is a history of arranged marriages in his family, including his grandparents.
"I jumped for the opportunity to apply for Married at First Sight because I've been in the dating pool and it's not necessarily the greatest, fun thing to be in all the time," he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
"And I'm getting near my 30s where I'm ready to kind of establish and grow with a partner and figure out what my life is going to be and kind of move to the next phrase."
RELATED LINK: 'DANCING WITH THE STARS' PROS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: WHO'S DATING OR MARRIED TO WHOM!? (PHOTOS)
The casting special also showed Amber discussing her relationship with Raven when Raven happened to call Amber while Married at First Sight expert Dr. Pepper Schwartz was visiting her home.
"I've known him since high school, we ran cross-country together. I've known him since I was 14," she told Dr. Pepper while the MAFS expert inspected Amber's living environment prior to her casting.
"We kind of did the [application] process -- we started it together. So we're best friends basically."
"That's amazing," Dr. Pepper replied.
ADVERTISEMENT
During their matchmaking deliberations, the Married at First Sight experts considered matching Raven -- whom the show labeled "Mr. Figuring It Out" -- with a woman named Matlin, but ultimately decided Amber and Matt were a better match instead.
"Raven stole my heart, he is a Southern gentleman," Dr. Viviana Coles gushed.
"He's adventurous, he's a very likeable guy. He believes in arranged marriages, his grandfather was an arranged marriage," Dr. Pepper said. "But my reservation is he's living with a few guys kind of like you would when you first got out of college."
"Yeah," Pastor Cal replied.
"We haven't had much luck in the past with people who say they are going to change," Dr. Pepper said.
"You're absolutely right. People often say they are going to change but they don't," Pastor Cal answered. "This is a lot of pressure. And that's why I'm concerned also with [matching] Amber and Matt."
ADVERTISEMENT
"Because [Matt] told me he's giving up his life as a basketball player overseas," Pastor Cal continued.
"But how do we know he's not going to get this sweet deal and leave and be gone for ten months out of the year again? I have to admit I have a concern. The last thing we would want to do is put Amber in a marriage where her husband was hardly around."
However, Dr. Pepper assured Pastor Cal that Matt had told her he was retiring from professional basketball and was looking to start a mobile auto detailing business in Charlotte.
RELATED LINK: 'MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT' COUPLES NOW: WHAT COUPLES ARE STILL TOGETHER? WHO BROKE UP? (PHOTOS)
Married at First Sight's currently-airing ninth season also stars Deonna's husband Gregory Okotie, Thompson's wife Elizabeth Bice, and Iris Caldwell and husband Keith Manley. "Decision Day" is right around the corner for all four couples.
Interested in more Married at First Sight news? Join our Married at First Sight Facebook Group!