JapMo

My husband was very touchy feely, and I couldn't stand PDAs of any sort...even just a little kiss in public. We were married 33 years until his passing, and even though I loved him dearly, I didn't like to be touched. My parents didn't have a loving relationship and I didn't see much affection between them when I was growing up. When I see Bao and hear her say basically the same thing...she doesn't touch people very much...I know that is not going to change. It might get better, but Johnny thinking she'll eventually initiate intimacy..........I don't see it happening. I hope I'm wrong.

I'll take anything over the 'never have a drink out of their hand' brides from last year.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this guy. I don't get "shallow" from him but right now he's very hard to read. I did find it interesting that he emphasized that the most important quality he wanted from his new bride is that she be a nice person. When have we ever heard that from anybody? And the fact he didn't qualify that statement with a laundry list of women he's dated that were anything but nice is definitely a plus. There's no reason he won't be attracted to Brett. She's very cute. But will she be attracted to him? My biggest fear is that he is getting into this for the wrong reason. No....he's not like 99.9% of the MAFS who sign up because they want to break into show biz or at least think it would be cool to be on TV. I mean look at him....he's a schlep. No, I'm worried he signed up due to the death of his friend. I mean, was it a sudden death? That shock of getting a phone call out of the blue can completely upend someone's life...sometimes for years. If the person was similar in age as you, it can put you in a deep funk and have you questioning the meaning of everything. It can also propel you to sign up to marry a stranger because you just got a cold splash of reality in your face that life is short and you are afraid of being alone.

Darn....you beat me to it. As soon as I saw Brett I thought she looked like Toni. It's in the mouth area. I was certain Jamie was going to be replaced this year. There's so many former MAFS that would LOVE to take over her job. I'm thinking Christine the rehabber (who along with Keith actually shot a commercial); Amani AND Woody (the show has used them several times); and of course Beth, who would kill (and I mean KILL) for the job. But I like Jamie. She's so pathetically desperate, and she really thinks MAFS is the big time. Oh, did I mention Dr. Viv? With the dramatic makeup and flashy, revealing clothes, she's got her eye on something.

I've never got a good vibe from them. He's too short-tempered.

Along with Clara & Ryan, I also saw that Virginia and Erik filed for divorce (in April). Was this common knowledge? I've been traveling the last month and just got back to this board.

I have always wondered the same thing. I thought the same of Taylor from 2 yrs ago (left after her rookie year). She had very muscular thighs like a figure skater. Nothing wrong with it, but she didn't match up physically with the rest of the team. I'm not trying to be mean, but after watching MTT since Season 1, I definitely see that the "type" that Kelli apparently likes is softer, not overly muscular body types. If anyone remembers, Kelli kind of dinged Vivian in a voiceover for having muscular legs (and being short).

To me, the words brave, mature, and not at all selfish indicate she's doing this for someone else. Perhaps someone in her family is ill and she's taking a LOA to help with their recovery.

Oh, Humble......this is epic. I don't know how long it took you to do this, but it's an instant classic.

This season the show was like an old car on a cold winter morning, sputtering and wheezing and coasting on fumes. You could tell they either weren't trying very hard anymore or they had run out of ideas. Who was ruined the most? I would say it was a tossup between Mandie & Kyle. They took a sweet, funny, loveable character in Kyle and turned him into a total idiot. Yes, it's true that he was always written as a little bit dense, but they developed his character over the years and we watched him grow and become a man. Most of last season and definitely all of this one the writers stopped trying. Kyle was trotted into one or two scenes a show to spout off some moronic, decidedly unfunny lines and then walk off again. I kept waiting to hear a bah dum bum drum beat to encourage the audience to laugh. It seemed the writers didn't put his character into a scene because it was necessary but rather they needed to fulfill their contractual obligation to the actor. IMO he became a hinderance to every scene he was in. There was no point to his character. I know it sounds funny, but the writers actually dumbed down the character of Mandie. I don't blame the actress who replaced the original Mandie because she tried her best with the crap she was given. I think early on they realized she didn't have that certain something that the original Molly had, so they just turned her, like Kyle, into a total moron. Mandie lost her ambition and just sat around on the couch with Kyle saying stupid things. I didn't care for the ending at all, and really hated the camping episode. To give so much air time to such an obnoxious character as Jen is an insult to the other actors.

He also kinda sorta was dishonest when he talked about his first marriage. He kept saying they had to get married to be able to live on base...like he was just doing this girl a favor and the relationship was strictly platonic. However, that wasn't true. They were in love and were probably intending to get married at a later date, but moved it up so they could be together when he went into the service.

Something happened alright, but I don't think it has anything to do with low self-esteem. IMO, the show is compensating her and she is playing along with this garbage for money. When she found out the morning after the wedding night that he was going to be a daddy with another woman, I hope she screamed so long and so loud to the producers and threatened to sue and expose their asses for ruining her chance of a happy marriage that they promised things to her in order to stay on the show. Like maybe getting her own show like Monet or Vanessa. A show that focused on her Christian values. Not saying I'm right, but she doesn't seem the type to put up with this b.s., at least not without some benefit to her, and having Chris as a husband isn't the benefit I mean. She's being compensated in some way, shape or form.

BOTH Jake & Hailey. Honestly, I really thought these two would have a better season, but it's turned into a sh*t show. Both of them are too old for this crap. It's embarrassing watching their behavior.

I have to amend my above statement....it's not something you do to anyone, male or female. Paige was certainly hurt last night when she heard Chris tell Pastor Cal she wasn't great looking.

I've actually respected Hailey for never saying anything about it, not even when Dr. Pepper pressed her so hard about why things weren't working out. It's just not something you do to a guy. You can say it to them, but you don't do it on national tv. Having said that, what I'm about to say won't be popular to many. But here it is. Jake caused this "bad in bed" crap. If he hadn't been whining early on that 'everything was so great' until the 4th(?) day of the honeymoon, which is the day we all know they had sex for the first and apparently only time, no one would ever have put two and two together. What a dope. He's repeated it to the camera so many times my 7 year old grandson could connect the dots. If your new spouse won't touch you and avoids you at every turn right after you consummate the marriage AND you are being recorded for national TV, you pray to all that is holy that she keeps her mouth shut. You don't antagonize her so she has a reason to "get even" with you. I'm hearing conflicting statements that Hailey did come out and say it last night/she just alluded to it, but if she did say it, she better be prepared that she's going to hear about it for a long time to come. From both men and women.

I couldn't agree more. Her skin looked clean and clear, her makeup was well done not overdone. She seemed happy...and so did Erik (who I don't think has had a nose job). And his Mom seemed genuinely happy for them, too. I don't think there was any faking the affection she seemed to have for Virginia, and vice versa. In the beginning, I didn't think Virginia was a good candidate due to what she'd seen and been through with her parents' marriages. She was like a broken little child, and the drinking was a real red flag. But now I'm encouraged. Maybe this will truly work out. Erik is, to use a very old term, besotted with her. Yeah, her youth and beauty (she's very cute) is very attractive to him, but I truly believe he does love her. And I think she loves him. Is it the kind of love that will grow and stand the test of time? Who knows. I think Erik needs to calm down and not be so scared that he's headed for Divorce #2 every time there's a dust-up. Virginia needs to appreciate that Erik is a great husband who only has eyes for her, and can provide a better life for her than she's ever had, especially supportive, drama-free in-laws. It apparently rankled her that people got the impression she drank a lot. I hope instead of being defensive, like she was last night, she does a little soul searching. Maybe there is a grain of truth to her partying and drinking reputation, if that's all her friends at the wedding could say about her. I'm hoping the next announcement we hear from these two is not that they are headed for a divorce but that they are headed for parenthood. I think Virginia has the makings of an excellent mother, and Erik would be over the moon, second only to his mom, if she did get pregnant. Erik has the type of easygoing personality that he could probably make a go of it with many types of women. But how many of them could make him light up like Virginia does? Virginia needs and craves stability, and Erik's maturity can provide that, IF he uses a delicate hand and suggests rather than dictates. After writing this, I was surprised to realize they remind me a lot of Jaime and Doug's relationship. Doug, too, was attracted right off the bat to Jaime's looks and personality, and fell for her pretty quickly. Jaime craved stability in her life and wanted to marry into a loving, supportive family.

Amen. I feel sorry for the girls that have to work a 9-5. I don't think Kelly makes it accommodating at all for those that have to earn a living and can't manage on the +/-$4,000 that the DCC make per year. You mention airbrushed and glossy, and you are right. I've watched since the first season, and yes, the quality of dancers have gone up incredibly. In the early years, maybe half the girls didn't have any formal dance training to speak of, but had enough rhythm and grace to make the team. Now, with the reality show feature introduced, 99.9% have already cheered in college and at least half have cheered for a pro team, not to mention spending most of their life in a dance studio. So yes, we're getting better performers, but now they border on professional; i.e good enough to dance in Vegas or Broadway. How many people think Claire auditioned last year because her driving ambition was to be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader rather than COVID dried up all the dancing jobs on 42nd Street? It's a Catch-22. On one hand, we're getting better quality dancers who don't take weeks and weeks to "get it". But on the other hand, we're losing the diamonds in the rough who we can root for against all odds, because they aren't even getting to training camp.

i'm not sure if you are saying you like her facial expressions or not, but for me that is the best part of Gina. I mean, I'm not even going to bring up what a great dancer she is. She has the ability with whatever expression she makes on the field, that it never looks stiff, rehearsed or phony. That's a gift. After a 3 hour game or a fan event where the ladies have to constantly be smiling and appear happy and peppy, looking fresh and spontaneous is hard, yet she seems to always pull it off. Don't know why she's never been chosen point, especially being passed over for Maddie, but if it hasn't happened by now, I doubt it ever will.

This isn't going to be popular, but my choice of someone that needs to retire is Chandi. Sweet girl and definitely pretty enough. I'm sure she has a good personality, but you don't see it on the field. She's blah,,,very bland. Disappears into the woodwork. She also can't really project sexy.

Totally agree. She was never attracted to him. I've been a fan since the first episode, but the cracks really started showing for me last season when they picked Henry as a good marriage candidate. I don't believe any woman would have been successful with him (and yes, I know Christina was no prize either). But this year has really affirmed to me how the show could care less about the hopes and dreams of the people who want to find love and want to be married and are so desperate they would have strangers pick a mate for them. I also kind of knew but didn't acknowledge just how much the producers influence the experts in choosing the candidates. All of us here said Virginia and Chris would be terrible mates for anyone and should not be on the show. ALL OF US. Paige was the lamb the show was willing to sacrifice in order to get Chris, as they knew he would get peoples' blood boiling and therefore increase ratings. Never mind that they were setting Eric up for Divorce #2 with a woman/child who only saw the worst of marriage with her parents many divorces, but also clearly, even to the untrained eye, has a problem with alcohol. This is the first year I've skipped whole episodes because I'm just not interested in the outcome of any of them....maybe Clara and Ryan but that's it.

We've complained about the lousy matchups the experts have made, but in regard to Jake & Hailey, I don't think they did a bad job. I don't think their 10 year age difference was a problem for Hailey. They both really wanted to get married and said they would do anything to make it work. At 39 and 29, they aren't kids....they've been around the block and were not going to be super picky about looks, money, etc. So with that in mind, to me this was the best match out of the 5. That it crashed and burned not too long after the dumpster fire marriage of Paige & Chris is pretty surprising.

See, that's the one thing Haley has been consistent about.....she has not revealed either on camera or to the experts what the real reason is that she doesn't like Jake. It's only because Jake kept saying she seemed to distance herself right after they had sex that has led most of us to feel it was something about his lovemaking that completely turned her off. Listening to her excuses and quibbles about Jake only reinforced to me that it was indeed the one night of sex that ended everything for her. She doesn't want to humiliate the guy on national tv by saying he's lousy in bed, but her squirming and not making eye contact with Dr. Pepper and coming up with really phony excuses and then reluctantly promising to try again, only to break that promise almost immediately, made it pretty obvious in my mind that she was trying her best not to say it. But by trying to be a decent person and not hurt Jake, she's made herself look pretty bad. She keeps saying how hard she's tried but she's been done since the honeymoon. She doesn't want to look like a bad guy, but Jake's pissed her off with his less than charming personality so maybe now she's like 'f*ck it'...he doesn't deserve my silence'. I wouldn't be surprised if she told all the other wives the down low on Jake the Snake.

I think the original poster was referring to some pretty surprising footage the show chose to show that revealed one of the couples' decision. They've never done anything like that before, and I was shocked. But it was not a spoiler....the show aired it at the end of an episode from about 4 weeks ago.

ME TOO. Every time a I see them on CouplesCam I think Phoney.

While Olivia got good edits from the show, the audience wasn't fooled by her. We saw the game they were playing, trying to make Brett look back because he wouldn't be a party to their moronic ratings ploys. Olivia lied about wanting to have children and once Brett realized that, it was all over.