Married at First Sight stars Johnny Lam and Myrla Feria have slammed Bao Huong Hoang by insisting she doesn't hold herself accountable for her mistakes or faults in her marriage.
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During the October 27 episode of Married at First Sight: Unfiltered, Johnny watched back a Season 13 clip in which he and Bao sat down with Married at First Sight expert, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, for a counseling session about one week before "Decision Day."
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"I recently had a conversation with Bao's best friend Sarah. Sarah has told me straight up she would never date Bao," Johnny reveals in the clip.
"And on top of that, she would never allow any of her friends to date Bao because she is a controlling person who tries to break you down and then get you to the point where you have no choice but to lean on her, and then she rebuilds you in the exact image that she wants."
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Bao responds, "[Sarah] hasn't seen how patient I've been. I am trying to be accountable for what I'm doing wrong."
On Unfiltered, Myrla responded to the footage by looking at Johnny and giggling.
"I actually find this pretty funny," Myrla says.
"When I hear Bao say she's trying to be accountable, that is the last thing," Johnny began.
"She's ever been!" Myrla interjected, finishing Johnny's statement.
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Unfiltered host Jamie Otis -- who starred on Season 1 of Married at First Sight and is still married to her match, Doug Hehner -- asked Johnny to expand on his alleged discovery.
"Sarah is also my friend. Sarah and I went to the same high school and went to the same college. We have the same group of friends, [and] I've actually kept in touch more with Sarah over the past 15 years than I have with Bao," Johnny explained.
"And we had this, like, two-hour conversation about everything that's been going on. And she's like, 'You know what you're feeling? Other people that Bao has been in long-term relationships with in the past have felt the same way. So you are not alone in this.'"
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Johnny said he was "almost at a breaking point" with Bao right before going into his chat with Sarah, who reached down and pulled him out of his funk.
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However, Johnny admitted that when Bao read her letter to her younger self, which revealed her father suffered from PTSD and her mother struggled in an unhappy marriage for years to avoid getting a divorce -- he sympathized with what she was feeling.
"I could feel the pain in her words and she even holds onto the trauma of her parents and really brings that [out] as if it's her own," Johnny explained.
"Just seeing her be very pained by that, I mean, we weren't in a good place at that time, but I just pulled her closer and wanted to comfort and console her because nobody should have to experience that on their own."
Johnny previously questioned Bao's authenticity and whether she was genuine during the Married at First Sight process. He had claimed Bao "put on a certain image" when cameras were rolling to make the cast, production and viewers at home like her.
Fellow Married at First Sight star Michaela Clark even called Bao two-faced during an earlier October Unfiltered episode.
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Jamie therefore asked Johnny whether Bao's letter changed his perception of Bao at all given she had been so vulnerable with him in that moment about her childhood.
"It was eye-opening, like, the things that she tries to make up for or compensate for, now I understand. It's because of this upbringing that she's always had to claw for everything she's got," Johnny explained.
"And the fact she was willing to share this -- even though she's not proud of it -- with me, that is genuine."
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Myrla added, "It's progress."
On his relationship with Bao going forward when taking all of their highs and lows into account, Johnny said, "I think I need to weigh, 'How much of this can I tolerate, and is there any way to climb back from this?'"
Johnny added, "Now that I know who she is, it kind of all makes sense now. Can we work on it? Can we come back from here?"
On Married at First Sight's latest episode, Johnny called his conversation with Sarah "a big turning point" for him that made him "not want to try at all" in his marriage to Bao.
Bao said her past wasn't relevant and she felt "betrayed" by both her husband and best friend.
Bao cried in a confessional about not having solid female friends. She thought Sarah was the one female friend whom she could count on.
Johnny later admitted to Bao, "[Sarah] asked me, like, 'Can you wake up to this and go to sleep with this for the rest of your life?' And I said, 'No.' And when a relationship has gotten to that point, we need to just walk away."
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"I don't want to do any more harm than I already have," he noted. "So I'm not talking because the things that I would say would be very damaging."
"Okay," Bao quietly replied. "I'm still here if you want to have talks. I am open to them. Once again, ball in your court, Johnny."
"Do you see this is why I always feel like it's the 'Blame Johnny' game?" Johnny asked.
Bao said she felt like she had to walk on eggshells around her husband, and the pair's conversation ended there.
Married at First Sight's thirteenth season, which currently airs on Wednesday nights at 8PM ET/PT on Lifetime, also stars Myrla's husband Gil Cuero and Michaela's husband Zack Freeman as well as Brett and Ryan Ignasiak and Rachel Gordillo and Jose San Miguel.
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