Married at First Sight star Zach Justice claims his marriage failed because Mindy Shiben was fragile and he could sense some self-esteem issues early on.
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"We keep talking about Mindy's intentions from the beginning, but what were yours?" Married at First Sight expert Dr. Viviana Coles asked Zach on the April 1 episode of Married at First Sight: Unfiltered.
"I think from the beginning, I drank the Married at First Sight Kool-Aid. I truly believed that they would get the match right -- within the ballpark -- and that this would be something real," Zach replied.
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Viviana, seemingly surprised by Zach's response, asked Zach if he believed she and the other experts, Pastor Calvin Roberson and Dr. Pepper Schwartz, got the match right within the ballpark.
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"Based on ambition and being in the fitness field, yes," Zach responded. "But based on how opposite we are..."
Viviana interjected and asked Zach to clarify how exactly he and Mindy were opposite.
"She is -- I mean, we can all agree Mindy has been through a lot, right? And there's fragility there," Zach claimed.
"There is [a lack of] self-esteem there," he continued.
Married at First Sight: Unfiltered host Jamie Otis wasn't buying it and countered with an enthusiastic, "Really?!"
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As Mindy revealed in the Season 10 premiere of Married at First Sight, one of Mindy's sisters sadly passed away from a drug overdose and Mindy found out she was pregnant the day after the funeral.
"I was prepared to go through it alone... but I ended up having a miscarriage. That took a lot of healing, but I am lucky to have so much love in my life from my friends and family," Mindy revealed.
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And Mindy's parents unfortunately didn't approve of her decision to marry a stranger on television, and so they didn't show up to the wedding or show any support.
But Married at First Sight star Jessica Studer, who became good friends with Mindy while filming Season 10, joined Zach and Viviana on Unfiltered and rushed to Mindy's defense after Zach essentially called the figure-skating coach fragile and insecure.
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"I think Mindy is a very strong woman. She was extremely independent but put into a situation that made her feel a little insecure," Jessica argued.
"Because the person who was supposed to be her husband wasn't really talking to her and she was feeling constant rejection and not even a friendship."
"Right," Zach quietly conceded.
Viviana also had Mindy's back in the situation.
"I don't think Mindy came into [Married at First Sight] with half of the insecurity that she ended up having because of the marriage and because of your response to her," Viviana insisted to Zach.
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"I think you created that monster and you fed that monster."
"I don't doubt that maybe it got worse after the fact," Zach noted, "but it was something I sensed very early on."
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Mindy was shown constantly pressing Zach to share his feelings, open up and spend more time with her, but Mindy said she was taking the Married at First Sight process very seriously and believed Zach was putting little to no effort into their marriage.
Mindy was also desperate to make her marriage work after Zach admitted to his wife on several occasions he wasn't attracted to her and they lacked intangible chemistry.
Despite her bruised ego, Mindy forged on with optimism and hope, only to later discover her husband had been building a secret friendship behind her back with her supposed best friend Lindsay.
Zach also refused to move into an apartment with Mindy in Washington, D.C.
After the pair decided to stay together on "Recommitment Day," Zach began hanging out with Mindy more often, but everything came crashing down when Mindy caught Zach in a lie about Lindsay.
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Zach got wind of the fact Mindy's ex-boyfriend wanted to pick her up at the airport following her honeymoon with Zach in Panama, but Zach told Mindy he had heard the information from a random guest at their wedding who happened to be friends with Mindy's ex.
However, Lindsay was allegedly the one who shared this tidbit with Zach, and Zach clearly lied to protect Lindsay.
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Mindy therefore determined her marriage to Zach was over nearly two weeks before "Decision Day" because all trust was lost.
"What I've learned is no matter how much I wanted it, a marriage is not about one person and my husband did not show up to be any kind of decent partner," Mindy griped in last week's episode.
Married at First Sight's tenth season also stars Jessica's husband Austin Hurd, Katie Conrad and Derek Sherman, Meka Jones and Michael Watson, and Taylor Dunklin and Brandon Reid.
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