Married at First Sight viewers will see Paige Banks meet Chris Williams' pregnant ex-fiancee Mercedes Myrick face-to-face on the show's next episode, and Paige has explained why she even agreed to the awkward conversation to begin with.
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Married at First Sight's upcoming twelfth-season episode airing Wednesday night at 8PM ET/PT on Lifetime is going to feature Paige, Mercedes and Chris all sitting down together for an uncomfortable chat about the past and the future.
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"I was never interested in meeting with Chris' ex fiancee," Paige told Ebony in a statement.
"There was no curiosity or intrigue in it for me in the least. The only reason I even agreed to the sit down is out of respect to the process."
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Given Chris had already asked Paige for a divorce at this stage in the experiment, Paige clarified, "This meeting had nothing to do with Chris."
"I've made it very clear that I'm committed to the MAFS experience and to the journey -- and that's the only reason I accepted Chris's invite to meet the soon to be mother of his child," she concluded.
Ebony obtained an exclusive clip of the love-triangle meeting, and both Paige and Mercedes appear to have handled themselves with class and grace.
"So, yeah, how far along are you?" Paige politely asks Mercedes.
"I'm about seven weeks now," Mercedes confirms.
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(As Married at First Sight fans probably recall, Chris told Paige at the start of their Las Vegas honeymoon that he had discovered his ex-fiancee was about six weeks along in her pregnancy.)
"Okay," Paige responds with a warm smile. "How are you feeling?"
"First and foremost, Paige, I just want to let you know I have no ill feelings towards you at all," Mercedes insists.
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But Paige asked Mercedes how it felt to find out Chris had suddenly signed up to marry a stranger on television.
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"Did you know about the process and stuff?" Paige asks.
"No," Mercedes admits. "I found out after I told him I was pregnant... So I think 'shocking' is probably an understatement. I think I was more just, like, confused. I am still confused. There's a lot of confusion."
Paige said she "could only imagine" because Chris had clearly slept with Mercedes only seven weeks prior.
"Y'all had a moment and then bam! He's married," Paige points out and laughs.
Mercedes reiterated how she was feeling "a lot of confusion," and then Chris explained his intention for asking the two women to meet.
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"[This was] not for any drama. I just wanted there to be clarity and just clear the air or whatever because this is my wife and this is the mother of my child," Chris says.
Chris told Paige during their Las Vegas honeymoon it had been six weeks since he last interacted with his ex, whom he had been engaged to just three months before marrying a stranger in Summer 2020 on the show.
Chris claimed he and Mercedes had split in May 2020, but he told his buddy and fellow MAFS star Vincent Morales, "That wasn't the last time we had sex, for sure."
Chris said Mercedes had known about her pregnancy "for a few weeks" but didn't tell him right away.
"You think she's being honest with you?" Vincent asked.
"I don't know if she's being honest," Chris replied. "I'm almost 100% confident that it's mine."
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During a nice dinner out in Vegas with Paige, Chris revealed that he had been intimate with his ex-fiancee when they reunited for her father's funeral arrangements -- even though they were broken up and not on good terms at the time.
Chris's decision to introduce Paige to Mercedes raises some questions since Chris had already asked Paige for a divorce and didn't seem to care much about her in the show's latest episode.
On top of that, Chris said he was still in love with his ex-fiancee and wanted to reconcile with her so they could raise their child together in the same household.
"I was like, 'You didn't even give this a chance.' [Chris] wants to move forward and get a divorce! He already spoke to, like, a divorce attorney and everything. Like, I cannot believe this sh-t at all... I jut feel f-cking disgusted right now," Paige lamented on last week's MAFS broadcast.
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"I feel disgusted for having any type of intimacy with this man. F-ck that! No! I am done, period! I'm done. This is bullsh-t!" Paige shouted.
"All that m-therf-cker dramatic-ass sh-t he done dragged me through? F-ck you! F-ck that b-tch!"
During a subsequent chat between Paige and Pastor Cal, the expert noted Chris must have had sex with his ex during the MAFS casting process for the timeline to add up, and Paige replied, "Exactly! When we were knee-deep in this process. So I am thoroughly confused."
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Paige also revealed she and Chris continued to have sex during their time together on the show.
Chris, who joined the therapy session late, explained the idea of another man raising his child was "tough" and this experiment made him realize that he was still in love with his ex.
"So I think it's best to separate and to divorce," Chris shared.
Pastor Cal reminded Chris that he had broken up with his ex "for a reason," but Chris argued that his ex-fiancee was "an amazing woman."
After a tense conversation, Chris whispered something in Paige's ear that made her smile.
"Chris is whispering in my ear that his fear is falling in love with me," Paige told the cameras.
Paige left the therapy session feeling totally confused and emotional, and she asked herself, "Are we really, really done?"
Following viewer backlash about Chris' treatment of Paige, MAFS expert Dr. Pepper Schwartz slammed Chris's actions as "offensive" and "appalling," saying it was "a bad call" to cast him on Season 12 and there are "no excuses" for that.
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And Pastor Cal admitted he and his fellow experts were "flabbergasted" to learn about Chris's ex being pregnant.
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