Married at First Sight star Mark Maher has defended his pal Olajuwon Dickerson, saying that Olajuwon never belittled Katina Goode.
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Olajuwon and Katina, both 29, were matched by Married at First Sight experts Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Dr. Viviana Coles and Pastor Calvin Roberson to wed on Season 14 of the Lifetime reality series.
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Once Katina and Olajuwon moved into a Boston apartment together, Katina immediately felt pressure to cook several meals a day for her husband and live up to his high "standards" of how an ideal wife should behave and contribute.
Olajuwon proceeded to question, "Is she enough woman for me -- as a wife?... I need to see where you are as a woman... If you're not going to cook, what are you going to do? Are you going to clean?"
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He also told Dr. Viviana earlier in the season, "The cooking and the food, that's what I need in my wife... When it comes to our marriage and caring for the other person, the effort isn't there."
Olajuwon eventually let up on his expectations of Katina, but Dr. Pepper remained concerned.
During the April 6 episode of Married at First Sight: Afterparty, Mark and Olajuwon watched back a clip from the latest Season 14 episode of Olajuwon's one-on-one counseling session with Pepper, when the couples only had 17 days to go until "Decision Day."
"I have heard that you told [Katina] that she's got no life skills, that she's behind you in terms of maturation. So I'd like to hear your side of that," Pepper tells Olajuwon in the footage.
"If anybody wants to say something, they can say it to me, because I don't play those games. And this is my life. I don't even think it's funny," Olajuwon says.
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"I don't think that's funny at all either," Pepper clarifies.
"I don't think it's funny at all," Olajuwon repeats. "Dr. Pepper, like, you're pointing me out to make me look like the bad guy, but I'm really bothered about all this. I'm really serious."
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When asked if he believes Olajuwon had spoken down to Katina or acted superior, Mark replied, "I don't think Olajuwon belittles Katina."
"I think he's passionate about how he feels in the moment," continued Lindsey Georgoulis' husband. "But I don't think he is, in any way, ever -- ever -- trying to belittle Katina."
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Mark acknowledged Olajuwon's "passion and love for Katina is so great" that "it may look a way."
"But he's really just passionate about how he feels for her," Mark reasoned, "and he wants to get out, like, 'Hey, this is how I feel!' He's just trying to deliver it in a way that only he can deliver."
Married at First Sight star Steve Moy -- who is married to Noi Phommasak on the show -- also joined the men on Afterparty and pointed out how they were all "learning and growing" through the process.
"The consequence of delivering your message in a different way does have an affect on another person," Steve shared.
"And in the experience I've had with Olajuwon, once he understands that, he apologizes and he takes accountability for it."
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Steve added of Olajuwon, "He might not realize he's doing it in the moment."
Mark told Keshia how he could tell that Olajuwon cared for Katina when he spent time with the couple.
"You can tell Katina loves him," Mark said.
"And Olajuwon is always praising Katina when we're out. He's never belittled her. He might get loud, but he's like, 'This is who I am! I am Olajuwon. I can't be anybody else.'"
Mark went as far as to say how it's "frustrating" when Olajuwon gets knocked for his passion or accused of treating Katina poorly.
"I know he's passionate and I know he's got a lot of love for [Katina]," Mark insisted.
Steve also said how Olajuwon seemed to recognize he can deliver a message to his wife better. Just like Olajuwon had expectations for his wife in terms of cooking and cleaning, Katina expected Olajuwon to handle conflict calmly and rationally.
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"You see her working and you're willing to work on it too," Steve told Olajuwon.
After Olajuwon's heated therapy session with Pepper, he went on to slam the expert after playing a game of volleyball with his Married at First Sight co-stars.
Unbeknownst to the couples, Pepper and Pastor Cal were watching and listening from a different room with the hope of seeing everybody interact and offering the spouses some "course correction" if necessary.
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Olajuwon insisted Pepper had "the wrong perception" of his dynamic with Katina, who laughed in the moment about the idea of her husband belittling her.
"[Pepper] said, 'I heard, I heard,' so I had to remind Dr. Pepper that it's cool that you 'heard' but I'm a grown man and I don't do that 'he said, she said' game. I feel like as an expert, you shouldn't [listen to that]... Dr. Pepper didn't help me, not at all," Olajuwon said.
"Ninety percent of it was a waste, I'm going to be honest with you. I felt like it was a waste because I could've met with an expert and really talked about something that helps my marriage, but I didn't."
He added, "It was more of me catching Dr. Pepper up because she had no clue what's been going on, and she made it clear."
Pepper said from the other room, "Keep talking, Olajuwon."
Olajuwon added how production was clearly "bringing negative sh-t" to Pepper's attention, which resulted in Pepper talking about things that wasted his time.
Pepper, however, later explained to Olajuwon how production had been watching him every single day and she just wanted to hear his side of the story and give him an opportunity to set the record straight.
Olajuwon in turn told the cameras that he was happy Pepper cleared the air but he wasn't going to shape his relationship with Katina for praise from the experts or to please America or anybody else.
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