Married at First Sight star Amber Bowles says she stayed in her tumultuous marriage to Matthew Gwynne because she held out hope he would change or come to realize her worth.
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RELATED LINK: 'MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT' COUPLES NOW: WHAT COUPLES ARE STILL TOGETHER? WHO BROKE UP? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
"Hope," Amber replied. "Hope is keeping me in the marriage. I'm hoping that maybe Matt will change."
Jamie then pointed out there was only one week left in the experiment at this point, however. (The Unfiltered broadcast aired immediately before Married at First Sight's Season 9 "Decision Day" broadcast, when Amber and Matt both agreed to get a divorce).
"Yeah, but also, I don't give up," Amber said. "So for me, staying in this marriage is me not quitting."
Jamie then switched focus onto Elizabeth Bice and asked Amber's Married at First Sight co-star what she liked about her marriage to Jamie Thompson.
"Sex," Amber replied on Elizabeth's behalf with a laugh.
"I don't know, I just have somebody to hang out with and do fun things with. It's like having a best friend and you have sex with them too!" Elizabeth shared on Unfiltered. "It's fun."
Amber also said she let her standards go by repeatedly allowing Matt to stay out all night and not come home.
"Not coming home, I thought, would be my dealbreaker, and I feel like I really let my standards go on that one," Amber admitted. "It wasn't fair to me."
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
As Married at First Sight viewers probably recall, Matt once disappeared for 24 hours without texting or calling Amber to inform her of his whereabouts or whom he was spending time with.
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Not only that, but Matt stayed out all night without his wedding ring, which Amber had found in his nightstand next to their bed.
Matt later found out his behavior had crushed Amber considering she was already struggling with abandonment issues -- stemming from the fact her mother had left when Amber was young -- and so he insisted he would never stay out all night again.
However, Matt subsequently didn't return home after allegedly going out with his friends at least two more times during the brief eight-week experiment.
The night before "Decision Day," Amber learned from her best friend Raven that he had spotted Matt leaving a bar one night with another woman.
Amber had also heard from a fellow teacher at her school that Matt had asked another woman out on a date via text. She said she was devastated and humiliated by Matt's behavior throughout the season.
Earlier in the Unfiltered broadcast, Amber also said she felt the sweet comments Matt told her as they had enjoyed a "romantic" final dinner at a brewery before "Decision Day" were basically a stream of lies.
RELATED LINK: 'MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT' STAR AMBER BOWLES: I WAS SHOCKED MATT GWYNNE DIDN'T END OUR MARRIAGE ON RECOMMITMENT DAY (EXCLUSIVE)
"It's hard to know if his words are genuine because his actions haven't really matched the words," Amber explained.
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"Matt's full of sh-t! I'm sorry," Elizabeth added, before calling Matt out for disappearing hours on end and not coming back to his shared apartment with Amber at night several times.
"Just the fact that I know he was out and about and wouldn't come home for Amber and he left his wedding ring [behind]. One plus one equals two, and that equals that. He just sucks!"
When Amber had her last dinner with Matt before "Decision Day," Matt acknowledged they had a lot in common and then explained what he liked most about marriage.
"I like having somebody in your corner all the time, having somebody that you know has got your back and you don't have to do stuff, like go grocery shopping, alone, and you don't have to be alone all the time," Matt explained to Amber.
"Yeah, I enjoy my solitude, but that's one of my motivating factors to doing this, is because I did get lonely a lot of times."
Amber smirked at this point in the conversation, and then Matt continued, "Being married, you've got your person to do whatever with. That's what I like about it."
Amber seemed to appreciate the irony of the situation given she had been the lonely spouse in their marriage, always waiting for Matt to come home late at night or at least call and text her when he was gone.
Like Amber and Matt, Keith Manley and Iris Caldwell also divorced on "Decision Day" -- but Keith was the only person in the relationship who wanted to call it quits, as Iris had been hoping to stay married.
Elizabeth and Jamie, however, opted to stay married, as did Gregory Okotie and wife Deonna McNeill.
The Season 9 reunion special for Married at First Sight will air September 18 on Lifetime and feature updates on the current status of each relationship.
RELATED LINK: 'MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT' COUPLES NOW: WHAT COUPLES ARE STILL TOGETHER? WHO BROKE UP? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
