Married at First Sight star Olajuwon Dickerson has revealed that his mother put him in his place about his expectations regarding Katina Goode constantly cooking for him in their marriage.
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Katina and Olajuwon, both 29, were immediately attracted to each other upon marrying at first sight and enjoyed their honeymoon in Puerto Rico, but once the couple 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.
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Olajuwon questioned at one point, "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?"
He also told MAFS expert, Dr. Viviana Coles, during a counseling session, "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."
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On the March 30 episode of Married at First Sight: Afterparty, host Keshia Knight Pulliam asked Olajuwon if anyone in his family didn't approve of his marriage to Katina.
"No, everybody supports it," Olajuwon noted.
"My biggest supporter and the biggest leader in my life, my mom, that is somebody who I actually [listen to], like, 'You say, I do.'"
Olajuwon continued, "When I let go of [Katina] cooking, it was because of my mom. She definitely told me, 'If you can't make it, stop b-tching at her that she can't.'"
Olajuwon laughed and added, "I wish she was able but she couldn't get on-camera."
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Olajuwon therefore stopped hounding Katina about cooking and cleaning for him all the time, and Katina said on a previous episode of Afterparty that she didn't give her husband the power to determine her worth.
"I definitely feel like our relationship is a work in progress. I don't need him to make me feel like I'm enough because I know that I am," Katina said with pride.
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Katina, however, admitted that those scenes were tough to watch back because she felt bad for herself in those moments.
"I know who I am as a woman. I know I'm a solid woman, and I feel like I deserved that type of judgment, especially from my husband," Katina said.
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It appeared Katina and Olajuwon were falling in love one month into the extreme experiment, but Olajuwon then dropped a bombshell on his wife during a nice dinner out with three other Married at First Sight couples.
"It makes me question, 'Is this marriage somewhat real?'" Olajuwon said in front of the group.
Olajuwon was angry to discover a dating app on Katina's phone, one she claimed was "old" and she had just forgotten to delete.
Despite Katina's reasonable explanation for the dating app, Olajuwon called it "spit in my face" and "f-cked up," and he needed time to cool down, which made Katina worry about how he'd handle conflict and disagreements in the future.
But Katina ultimately apologized and the pair worked through their issues.
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Olajuwon confessed he must learn how to control his emotions better but they were "good" again and had agreed to a fresh start. Olajuwon said with a little effort, anything is possible, and Katina told her husband that she appreciated him.
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Olajuwon said he was working really hard to build trust and develop a deep connection with his wife, but he and Katina had yet to consummate their marriage with only three weeks to go until Decision Day.
"He's a good man," Katina noted to her sister-in-law. "He's funny and he has a really big heart, so you know what? I'm like, 'Here I am! It is what it is!'"
Katina hinted that she'd like to stay with Olajuwon on Decision Day, adding, "I did marry someone who is committed just as much as I am, and no matter what obstacles are put in our way, [I think] we'll be able to overcome them together."
Meanwhile, Olajuwon called Katina "brilliant" and "funny," and he thought they had come a really long way. Olajuwon even went as far as to say he "loved" their marriage.
Married at First Sight's fourteenth season, which currently airs on Wednesday nights at 8PM ET/PT on Lifetime, also stars Jasmina Outar and Michael Morency, Lindsey Georgoulis and Mark Maher, and Noi Phommasak and Steve Moy.
The season's fifth couple, Alyssa Ellman and Chris Collette, decided to get a divorce only one week into the process.
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