Married at First Sight star Alyssa Ellman's Season 14 co-stars have criticized how she treated Chris Collette and handled the end of their marriage.
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Married at First Sight experts Pastor Calvin Roberson, Dr. Viviana Coles and Dr. Pepper Schwartz matched Chris and Alyssa to wed on the show's fourteenth season as complete strangers, but their marriage turned out to be a disaster.
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Alyssa refused to sleep in the same hotel room as her husband, both on their wedding night and during their honeymoon in Puerto Rico, and after maintaining her distance from Chris for a full week, she decided not to move in with Chris once they returned home to Boston, MA.
However, Alyssa wanted to continue on with the extreme marriage experiment, seemingly so she could keep hanging out with her fellow Season 14 brides and enjoy the television experience.
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But when Alyssa suggested to Chris that she'd like to break the pattern and find a way to move forward together, happily, Chris determined it was his "Decision Day" and he wanted a divorce instead.
Married at First Sight Season 14 stars Michael Morency, Mark Maher and Katina Goode all appeared on the February 16 episode of Married at First Sight: Afterparty and discussed the demise of the couple's marriage with host Keshia Knight Pulliam after Chris' decision aired on Lifetime.
Keshia pointed out, "I'm just proud of Chris for finally sticking up for himself. But I don't know, how do y'all feel about this?"
"You know," Mark replied, "we didn't get to see a lot of things that happened."
"Just from their point of view and getting a chance to catch up and hearing Chris' side about what happened, my heart went out to him."
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Mark added, "And, you know, hearing Alyssa's side, I'm like, 'Okay, maybe it wasn't what you wanted, you know?' And I get that, but I think I wished she had given him more time to navigate [their relationship]. Because there's a reason why they were brought together."
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Mark said, however, Alyssa shutting down and avoiding Chris before she really got to know him "was ultimately what she wanted to do."
"I always kind of said I wish her the best, but Chris, I just felt bad because he's such a loving guy!" Mark shared.
When Chris told Pastor Cal that his "Decision Day" had arrived early, Katina admitted, "I respect it."
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"It's hurtful to want to -- to basically be rejected by someone," Katina said. "And I feel like Alyssa should've operated a little bit better in the situation and put a little bit more effort."
But Katina reasoned, "I also understand that if you don't like someone, you shouldn't be forced to move in. If you don't want to do those things, you don't have to do them."
Michael then took Chris' side with no hesitation, telling Keshia, "I am just so proud of Chris. Because there were times when he kept trying and kept trying, and I just wanted to say, 'Chris, pull out.'"
Michael added, "And I feel like he handled it so well, as somebody who was pretty much getting rejected. I don't know if I would've been able to handle it as well as he did."
Michael was therefore glad to see Chris put his foot down and tell Alyssa, "No, today is my day -- and I'm calling it quits."
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"I was proud of Chris," Michael reiterated.
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When asked to reveal his hopes at this point in the process for Chris and Alyssa, Michael announced, "I just hope that they both can self-reflect on the experience, more specifically, I mean Alyssa can reflect on how she handled the situation and maybe think about how she could have handled it better."
Michael wasn't trying to speak for everyone else when he continued, "If you don't feel something, you don't feel something."
"You can't force that," Michael said, essentially agreeing with what Katina had to say.
"So I think [Alyssa] is justified in how she feels," he elaborated. "[But] how she operated with those feelings is the issue. And I hope as time goes on, she'll reflect on that and say, 'Okay, I probably could have handled that better.'"
Keshia noted how every experience has value as long as person can learn from it.
Alyssa admitted to her mom during Married at First Sight's latest Season 14 episode that she had expected a cowboy to be standing at the top of the altar instead of a real estate agent on her wedding day.
Alyssa's mom said Chris seemed nice, but Alyssa countered, "You haven't seen how he treats me... He likes to debate until the cows go home."
Alyssa said Chris isn't her type and she started learning things about him that made her realize they're different in every single way, including when it comes to their political views and hobbies.
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Alyssa told her mother she needed trust, honesty, communication and respect in order for her marriage to continue.
"I don't feel like we have that right now," Alyssa noted. "For me, I need to start seeing that actually happen in order to feel any different."
But Chris felt Alyssa -- who didn't seem attracted to Chris -- had no interest in being married to him, and Alyssa had used terms such as "robbed" and "gypped" to describe their match. Alyssa even said she hadn't found any positives about Chris during their first week of marriage.
Chris therefore decided to end their marriage, thinking they'd be happier apart in the longrun.
"I think there are a lot of reasons to still be here, but I don't think marriage is the one that you're here for," Chris said.
Alyssa insisted how she had joined the Married at First Sight cast for the right reasons, but Chris explained how a relationship takes work and Alyssa had put little to no effort into building a relationship.
Married at First Sight, which currently airs on Wednesday nights at 8PM ET/PT on Lifetime, also stars Michael's wife Jasmina Outar, Mark's wife Lindsey Georgoulis, Katina's husband Olajuwon Dickerson, and Noi Phommasak and Steve Moy.
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