Married at First Sight star Kirsten Grimes has accused Shaquille Dillon of "retaliation" in their marriage and pridefully choosing to divorce her to feed his ego.

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After eight weeks of the extreme marriage experiment, Shaquille and Kirsten met with Married at First Sight experts Pastor Calvin Roberson and Dr. Pepper Schwartz on Decision Day to reveal whether they wanted to stay married or go their separate ways.

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Kirsten announced how she "would love" to stay married to Shaquille and continue their journey together as spouses, but Shaquille -- who got very emotional -- completely shocked Kirsten and the experts by asking for a divorce.

"I just could not understand, for the life of him, his tears on Decision Day when he tells me 'no,'" Kirsten said on the June 7 episode of Married at First Sight: Afterparty.

"I don't know, I guess it was just hard for him to internalize. If I was wanting to tell somebody 'no' and I feel deep down we could maybe have something really great together, it would probably hurt me too, I guess."

Shaquille told Kirsten on Decision Day that he had been feeling "alone" in the marriage and there were times when he believed Kirsten "wasn't there" for him.

He also criticized Kirsten for not being a nurturing and compassionate wife.

When asked if Shaquille's ego was involved in his decision to get a divorce, Kirsten shared, "You know, a part of me feels like a piece of his ego was involved."

"Because if you go back to the very beginning of our marriage," she recalled, "when I said that I wasn't really attracted to him and we all know attraction grows -- which it started to, in our marriage -- I feel like that was a punch on his ego."

Kirsten said when looking back on the situation, "I'm like, 'Sure, of course he's going to want to tell me 'no' on Decision Day because that's, like, a strike back, for any man.'"

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Kirsten admitted that Shaquille rejecting her on-camera "kind of felt like retaliation to me."

Kirsten elaborated, "Because I did ask him several times, like, 'Can we talk about Decision Day? What do you think your decision will be?' And he didn't want to have that conversation with me."

"If you can't discuss Decision Day with me and then we come on Decision Day and you say 'no,' clearly that's an ego thing," she concluded.

Shaquille previously confessed on Afterparty that he wondered after Decision Day if he had made a mistake in letting Kirsten go.

Married at First Sight's experts, Pastor Calvin Roberson and Dr. Pepper Schwartz, certainly thought so, with Pastor Cal telling the cameras Shaquille probably wouldn't be able to find better than Kirsten.

But based on Shaquille's comments that aired on the latest Married at First Sight episode, he was just hoping to become friends with Kirsten and stay in each other's lives.

Kirsten, meanwhile, called Shaquille when his grandmother died to offer her condolences, but she didn't seem interested in talking to him on a normal basis or seeing each other outside of Married at First Sight cast gatherings.

Shaquille therefore criticized Kirsten for playing a "back-and-forth game" when it came to their friendship.

"It definitely makes me a little upset that he said he's not going to play the 'back and forth game,' because it's not about that," Kirsten snapped on Afterparty.

"It's about allowing somebody to heal and understanding if we can ever come together again and be on a great, cordial space -- that's it."

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Kirsten's co-star Gina Micheletti also appeared on Afterparty and said Kirsten was often -- and unfairly or inaccurately -- portrayed as a wife who didn't care or wasn't fully invested in the process.

"After watching her go through the process, it's clear that she might've had a little bit of a guard up, but she really was trying and she really was giving her all and investing in her own way," Gina said.

"We all still have hope that they'll stay together, but that's for a different day. I could see them both having valid points about how they were feeling."

Kirsten noted on the topic of potentially becoming friends with Shaquille one day, "If it happens, it happens. And we'll go from there."

On a recent episode of Married at First Sight's sixteenth season, Shaquille teased he may eventually try to win Kirsten back.

"You never know what happens," Shaquille told his friend Tasha.

"You never know if we just needed some real-life time apart to really think about what we wanted and needed in the marriage," he continued. "What if that time does happen, like, 'Let's start off as friends. We're still married. We're not divorced yet!... Let's go from there.'"

Shaquille also said of Kirsten in a confessional with a big smile, "She's going to find her Prince Charming. She's going to find her person. It may be me again one day. You never know where God may lead us."

But when the entire cast met up for a gathering at an axe-throwing bar, Kirsten announced how she had no desire to ever give Shaquille another chance.

When MAFS star Jasmine Secrest asked the former couple if the door was totally closed or just closed for "right now," Kirsten noted, "It's a door closed, because when you have a chance at something, you take your chance. And if you miss out, it's gone."

Kirsten also told Shaquille that she had no plans to call or text him. Kirsten claimed when she's done with something, she doesn't communicate with that person or look back.

"If looks can kill, I'd probably be dead right now," Shaquille joked on Afterparty.

"But I definitely appreciate her for even saying how she felt. It's going to take her time -- she's not going to text and she's not going to call. I have to give her time, and I have to give her grace."

Shaquille and Kirsten later met up alone for a conversation, but the chat didn't change the status of their relationship. In fact, Shaquille left the talk thinking Kirsten had been cold to him.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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