Married at First Sight star Zack Freeman has revealed that he had no idea Michaela Clark lost her temper after he left the couples' retreat and why his relationship with his wife has been so difficult for him.
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Married at First Sight's currently-airing thirteenth season has documented the highs and lows of Michaela and Zack's relationship, with the lows being pretty shocking.
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During Wednesday night's episode of Married at First Sight: Unfiltered, Zack watched back a Season 13 clip of Michaela's furious and somewhat violent outburst that took place after Zack left the couple's retreat at a Texas ranch one night early.
The clip showed Michaela flipping over a wooden bench, throwing a wooden stool, and tugging at more items in the house before finally slamming her bedroom door on the camera crew while a producer was holding her back.
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"Yikes. First and foremost, I can obviously see that you're getting really emotional... What is going on in your head?" asked Unfiltered host Jamie Otis, who starred on Season 1 of Married at First Sight and is still married to her match, Doug Hehner.
"On the drive back, I'm kind of relieved and happy because I finally stood up for myself, I felt," Zack replied.
"I got out of a situation that I did not want to be in. Now I did not know that she went through the house like that."
Zack proceeded to reveal, "The reason why this has been so tough is because I've never caused this reaction from anyone in my life. Like, I'm questioning my integrity, and who I am as an individual -- like how can I elicit such a reaction from someone?"
Zack apparently tried to justify Michaela's strong and dramatic reactions to their fights.
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"And every time, I'm like, 'Okay, could I have done this better? Could I have done this?' But like, really, I shouldn't be thinking like this because no one should act like that in these situations!" Zack shared.
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Jamie pointed out how everyone is accountable for their own actions.
Before Michaela had her explosive moment at the couples' retreat, Michaela begged Ryan Ignasiak to make Zack stay the night, but Ryan insisted, "What am I supposed to do? He's an adult! Lay under the car?"
Jamie asked Ryan how he got involved with Michaela and Zack's feud to begin with.
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"[Bao Huong Hoang] and I were talking to him as he was going to his car, and we were kind of trying to lighten the mood. I was offering to share my room with [Zack], which was a joke because I was [already] on the couch. So I was going to share the couch with him," Ryan recalled with a smile.
"And Bao was talking to him, and then she comes outside and she's just yelling, and everything got so escalated in that moment. It was, yeah."
Following Zack and Michaela's very first fight, which happened early in the Married at First Sight season and resulted in Michaela moving out of their apartment for the first time, Zack came to believe that Michaela's rage and reaction to conflict is "a fundamental character trait."
Michaela, however, argued that she can learn, grow and change as a person, as long as Zack would afford her the chance to do so.
During a counseling session with Married at First Sight expert, Dr. Viviana Coles, Viviana told Zack that he seemed to think Michaela "IS the knee-jerk reaction" to things, which she thought was a problem since she believes all people can evolve and better themselves.
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Viviana joined Zack and Ryan on Unfiltered and was asked if her opinion on that situation has changed at all.
"I don't believe that people ARE their problems. I believe that they have a relationship with those problems that is disordered. So deep down, I feel the same way," Viviana said.
"I think that she can have a different sort of response to triggers."
And Jamie reasoned how Michaela didn't really want to be "Hurricane Kay" -- as her family has called her -- to begin with.
"She's like, 'I know that I do this, I know that it's wrong,'" Jamie reasoned.
"But that's why it's so difficult for me," Zack interjected, "because she says that. She has all the right things -- don't get me wrong. Michaela knows what to say. But she never does what she says."
Zack elaborated on his stance, "She has categories for this 'Hurricane Kay' personality and then laughs about it. Like, to me, this is not funny! This is not, like, who you should be proud to be. I hate that."
Jamie countered that Michaela didn't seem proud of her behavior, adding, "I do hear what you're saying and it does make sense. I also hear what Dr. Viviana is saying in a sense that she could change and maybe she wants to change."
"It's not like one therapy session is going to cause an astronomical change," Jamie concluded. "That's not going to happen. There is a valid point on both sides."
Viviana wrapped up the segment by telling Zack not to sell himself short, but she also asked him to not sell Michaela short.
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