Married at First Sight star Shaquille Dillon has dished about taking his relationship with Kirsten Grimes to the next level several weeks before "Decision Day."
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Kirsten wasn't attracted to Shaquille and was very hands-off at the start of the experiment, but once she found herself liking Shaquille's personality and wanting to grow their connection, she suddenly wanted to be kissed, touched and showered with attention.
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Shaquille, however, became frustrated with Kirsten's lack of vulnerability, and he often vented about her mixed signals, which left him wary and reluctant to make a move on her physically.
However, once the couple passed the one-month mark of marriage, Shaquille decided to try a new approach and stop holding back.
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During the March 22 episode of Married at First Sight: Afterparty, Shaquille watched back a Season 16 clip of himself rubbing body paint all over Kirsten in their Nashville apartment.
"Do you have any type of direction?" Kirsten, wearing a bikini, asks her husband in the clip.
"You'll see it when I'm done," Shaquille replies, clearly taking charge.
"Wow, we'll see how this turns out," Kirsten says with optimism in her voice.
Shaquille then tells the cameras, "In the moment, I feel her energy. She's letting me lead, and it feels great, for once, for [her to say], 'Alright, do your thing, player!'"
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The clip ends with Shaquille feeding Kirsten strawberries with whipped cream and making out with her in their living room.
"Watching this moment, Kirsten and I finally broke down the barriers. And it took body paint for that to happen!" Shaquille told Afterparty host Keshia Knight Pulliam.
"But then I was like, 'Okay, I'm just going to get some strawberries and whipped cream, just to add to it, and to see how far I can go with it.' And then I was like, 'Let's go full fledge here!'"
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Shaquille said the activity resulted in "Kirsten trusting me."
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"How far did you go with her?" Keshia slyly asked.
"Umm, you know, we got to the bedroom," Shaquille responded, dropping a hint they may have consummated their marriage that night. "Uh huh!"
While Shaquille wouldn't admit whether he and Kirsten had sex of any kind, he did confirm of their chemistry and intimacy, "We took it to another level."
"But it was to another level that I was still respectful with her," he clarified.
Shaquille said he noticed a difference in how Kirsten showed up for their marriage with about three weeks left until "Decision Day."
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"Kirsten, what she really wanted was someone to be dominant and lead," Shaquille said.
"So I was like, 'Let me put my foot down! I've been too nice to you!' So in this moment, she was receiving it. I didn't expect her to receive it that way. But she was receiving it in a good manner, so I was like, 'Okay, I know what I need to do -- put my foot down.'"
Shaquille's MAFS co-star Jasmine Secrest also appeared on Afterparty and chimed in about how she was "loving this" for the couple.
"Kirsten, we all know she's had that wall up. But just to see him put his foot down, and she was like, 'Oh, oh, okay. Whatever you want,' I love that for them! I'm here for it," Jasmine noted.
A counseling session with MAFS expert Dr. Pepper Schwartz spearheaded Kirsten and Shaquille's relationship progression.
When Shaquille told the expert that he and Kirsten were "doing better" at intimacy and Kirsten allowed him to kiss her on the forehead, Dr. Pepper pushed for a little more in the physical department.
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Dr. Pepper suggested the couple should graduate to real, serious kisses, and Kirsten seemed open to that.
The expert also advised Shaquille to get rid of any resentment he felt towards Kirsten from the beginning of their marriage -- when Kirsten didn't want Shaquille to touch her and she wasn't physically attracted to him -- and not to draw back from Kirsten and make her feel rejected.
"[Kirsten] was wanting that chemistry and intimacy from me. And when I said, 'I'm not my best,' work was a lot and school was a lot," Shaquille told Keshia on Afterparty.
"I was battling with a lot, and I was telling Kirsten, 'I need you to support me.' You're telling me you want this chemistry and intimacy, but we're not both getting what we want.'"
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Shaquille therefore agreed with Dr. Pepper and said he knew what he needed to do to fix the problem in his marriage. Shaquille took Dr. Pepper's advice and became his "masculine and desirous self" again.
Prior to going all out with the body painting, Shaquille took a couple of steps forward by helping Kirsten design a logo for her real estate efforts. He also offered to guide her through building a website for her brand.
"What really turns me on is a handsome, sexy man handling his business," Kirsten gushed in a confessional on the latest MAFS 16 episode. "There's just something about it."
And then Kirsten said she really appreciated Shaquille "spicing up" their marriage with the body-paint session.
"Consummating this marriage will definitely help the chemistry and intimacy grow. I don't know if it's going to happen tonight. Only Shaquille and I will know about that!" Kirsten told the cameras at the end of last week's episode.
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