Married at First Sight star Zack Freeman apparently doesn't regret his comment that he's "doubtful" about having a future with Michaela Clark, even though they were working on their marriage and his negative attitude upset his wife.
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As shown on Married at First Sight's thirteenth season, Zack hoped to be matched with a woman who can handle conflict calmly and rationally and be able to talk things out since multiple relationships with hot-headed partners had ended badly for Zack in the past.
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Therefore, when Zack and Michaela had their first fight and Michaela reacted with anger by packing up her bags and leaving their apartment, Zack was hit with the realization his marriage may also not work out.
During the September 22 episode of Married at First Sight: Unfiltered, Zack watched back a Season 13 clip of his poolside date with Michaela he had planned with the hope it could strengthen their connection and bond.
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"Do you honestly see our future together?" Michaela asks Zack in the clip.
"Right now, I can't see it, like, our future is doubtful," Zack admits. "But I am holding out hope."
Michaela then laments in a confessional, "So I see a future but he's not sure. It puts an uneven balance on us. For me, it's a helpless kind of state."
Unfiltered host Jamie Otis -- who starred on Season 1 of Married at First Sight and is still married to her match, Doug Hehner -- looked a little startled and commented, "I know you want to be honest..."
"Yeah," Zack interjected. "I'm not going to say that I see a future with her if I don't."
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"I think that's worse," Zack said.
Jamie replied, "Fair enough."
And then Zack continued, "I told her after, like, 'I respect you for taking that well. I understand how you would feel hurt and rejected. I understand that, but I'm being honest with you, and I'm sorry.'"
Jamie went on to ask Zack's Married at First Sight co-stars, Jose and Ryan, for their thoughts on Zack confessing his future with Michaela looked "gloomy."
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"I've been trying to put myself in that situation as I was sitting here, and I think my response in that moment, I would probably say, 'I am uncertain,' as well," Ryan shared.
"I wouldn't say 'doubtful,' because I feel like [my wife Brett and I] are in a good place right now, but definitely 'uncertain' because I am still with anticipation waiting on certain things."
Ryan joked about Jose probably felt the same way given he had locked his wife out of their apartment.
"We're all three in the same boat together!" joked Jose, who got into a huge fight with Rachel during last week's episode after she had accidentally called her husband "Johnny."
Zack said he understood how his "doubtful" comment was not what Michaela wanted to hear.
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"I would hate to hear that [from her]," Zack conceded. "But if she's honest and that's how she feels, then that's how she feels."
At the time, Zack and Michaela were doing an exercise provided for them by the Married at First Sight experts in which they had to ask each other personal questions and open up.
"I think it helped Michaela more than me just because she got where I was coming from," Zack explained.
"I think that's the best place to be if you want to have a successful relationship. So I think it was a positive exercise, for sure."
Zack apparently believed Michaela's bad temper is a "fundamental character trait" and she may not be able to change how she reacts dramatically to disagreements.
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Michaela was therefore upset Zack was "scarred" from their first fight and assumed she couldn't learn and grow from her mistakes and become a better person.
But Zack explained on Unfiltered that it's not crazy to assume Michaela will always handle conflict poorly considering she had a pattern of behavior and even her family calls her "Hurricane Kay."
"She's had this personality since 16 years old!" Zack complained.
"And now I'm being scolded because I'm saying, 'I think this is maybe who you are.' [Michaela] says, 'No it's not,' but then your family tells you this is who you are!"
Michaela has said on Married at First Sight's thirteenth season multiple times how Zack is a "phenomenal" man and so she wasn't going to be quick to give up on their marriage; however, Michaela needed to also build trust in Zack and feel secure he wouldn't leave her over a simple disagreement.
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When the couple enjoyed their pool date on the latest episode of Married at First Sight, Michaela could tell that Zack was still holding a grudge.
"I miss the happy person you were. I hope you can get back to that person at 100 percent," Michaela shared with her husband.
Michaela admitted she wasn't sure if Zack really liked her, and he assured her, "I like you for you."
Married at First Sight's thirteenth season, which currently airs on Wednesday nights at 8PM ET/PT on Lifetime, also stars Ryan and Brett, Jose and Rachel, Johnny and Bao, and Myrla Feria and Gil Cuero.
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