Married at First Sight star Noi Phommasak has explained the root of her tension with Steve Moy and what was causing her frustration.
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Noi, 33, and Steve, 38, were matched by Married at First Sight experts Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Dr. Viviana Coles, and Pastor Calvin Roberson to tie the knot as strangers on the Lifetime reality series' fourteenth season.
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During the March 30 episode of Married at First Sight: Afterparty, Noi watched back a Season 14 clip of a playful but tense discussion she had with Steve over chores and whether to split household duties.
"We'll keep on splitting [the dog] Sushi duties and we'll both split the bathroom duties. Perfect," Steve tells his wife.
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Steve could tell Noi "wasn't stoke," and she snaps, "No, I think you should do it all while I'm working."
"Well, I don't know about that," Steve replies.
"Yeah, I think that's fair," Noi notes.
"I don't think that's the right play here," Steve counters.
"Then you can kiss my ass," Noi says.
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"Whoa! Getting fiery on a Saturday morning, huh?!" Steve jokes.
Afterparty host Keshia Knight Pulliam pointed out how Steve handled the end of that conversation well, adding, "That really, really could've gone left."
When asked to share her thoughts on that footage, Noi told Keshia, "It's actually really funny."
"We have this banter where we talk to each other like this, so that's why he was laughing. I was joking," Noi insisted.
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Keshia, however, said this situation seemed comparable to Noi and Steve's previous fight about over-cooked noodles in that the first fight wasn't really over the noodles and this one didn't seem to really be about the chores.
Noi agreed and explained, "I think I'm getting frustrated with him asking me to do things, more things, around the house while I haven't asked him to do anything extra than what he's already doing."
Keshia teased Noi for having asked Steve to get a job many times, which prompted Noi to clarify, "I did ask him, but I didn't pressure him to do that. But I did ask him."
Noi and Steve fell hard and fast for each other and appeared to be the strongest couple on the show at the one-month mark, but Steve's refusal to get a full-time job and Noi's struggle to fight fair and communicate her feelings began presenting problems in their relationship.
Noi admitted on Afterparty she was starting to pull back from Steve with three weeks to go until Decision Day because they were "starting to have a lot of arguments and disagreements."
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Noi putting walls up was evident on last week's episode when she said she wouldn't want to live with Steve after "Decision Day" because she wouldn't feel comfortable totally combining their lives after only a couple months of being married.
While Noi was working full-time as a talent acquisition coordinator, Steve -- a former sales engineer who claimed he was in a good place financially and had a lot of savings -- was cooking for the couple, taking care of Noi's dog Sushi, and cleaning their Boston apartment.
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But Noi felt uneasy about Steve's lack of drive from a career standpoint, especially since she envisioned welcoming three children with him someday and always thought her husband would be a provider.
While out to lunch one day with her sister, Noi lamented, "Another thing that really rubbed me the wrong way -- he's like, 'Why don't we do this hypothetical situation where Noi picks up more elsewhere to see if she can, because I don't think that she can. You're already so tired from working.'"
Noi vented, "What?! I'm going to pick up more housework so you can have less?! And then what else are you going to do?"
Noi said she'd be happy if Steve even worked a part-time job, and she suggested that Steve didn't have his stuff together and she never thought she'd date -- nevermind marry -- a man like that.
Meanwhile, Steve thought he was contributing heavily to the marriage, and he kept insisting he would support Noi and always be secure financially. Steve has said that if he needed to take a job for money, he absolutely would.
"I'm contributing three or four times as much. I'm not asking [Noi] to contribute more, so in the now, I don't think there's a problem," Steve explained to his co-star Mark Maher on the latest Season 14 broadcast.
"But I think there's a perception problem and I think there's a future problem."
Steve told Mark that he needed his wife to be clear about her expectations for their lifestyle and believe in him. Steve thought he had proven -- through "verbal and physical expressions of love" -- how committed he was to Noi in their marriage.
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Married at First Sight's fourteenth season also stars Mark's wife Lindsey Georgoulis, Jasmina Outar and Michael Morency, and Katina Goode and Olajuwon Dickerson.
The season's fifth couple, Chris Collette and Alyssa Ellman, divorced only one week into the process.
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