absolutelyido

You guys are blowing my mind! How did I miss these small details? They must have really glossed over these things.

What fire academy? This is the first I am hearing of this! Next your going to tell me that Jamie had a difficult childhood, which would be news to me. ;-)

Yeah, I can't help myself, I really like them together too and am really rooting for them. He just instinctively 'gets' her. I think you're right that in some weird way Jamie's issues are bringing out the best in Doug. He's never said it, but I feel like Doug was in a very similar place as Cortney before this experiment. Cortney said she had always thought of herself first, but was finally ready to care about someone else more than she cared about herself. I think Doug was in a similar place, although maybe he didn't even know it. I feel like maybe Doug had a bit of maturing to do prior to the experiment. It doesn't seem like he's ever gotten serious about his career, and while moving back with his parents when he lost his job may have been the most financially responsible thing to do, it was probably the easiest too. In order to help Jamie with her issues, I think Doug has had to tap into a deep well of emotional maturity and compassion that he maybe didn't even know he had. If he really can help Jamie overcome her trust issues, I think that will end up being incredibly rewarding to him. I do believe they will get past her issues, and once Jamie fully lets her guard down and trusts Doug, she will feel more connected to him than she has ever felt connected to anyone in her life. I think they can and will make it.

Based upon tonight's episode, it almost seems like Monet & Vaughn will stay together, and both Jamie and Jason may bail on their marriages. Of course, all reality show veteran's know that means it will be exactly the opposite. Another sign is that the one-month gifts both Jason & Jamie gave their spouses was so personal, vs. the watches Monet & Vaughn gave each other. The watch Vaughn go for Monet was huge! it looked like a man's watch. Is that the style for women's watches these days? Rather than the mystery of who stays together, the REAL mystery of the show is whether Jamie & Doug will ever have sex.

Cortney said she "realized" she didn't know Jason's Mom's name. I don't think Jason was necessarily withholding his Mom's name, just that whenever they talked about her they just naturally referred to her as his Mom, until at some point Cortney realized that she didn't know her name. It's really been the same for Doug's Mom. For all the times J & D have talked about his Mom, they've never referred to her by her first name. I assume Jamie knows it, but I've never heard either of them use it.

Based upon what she said she wanted, I don't think that Jamie would be just settling for Doug if they stay together. On her cast bio, she said she was looking for someone "loyal, trustworthy, passionate and successful, who loves her and her siblings, and wants to conquer the world as partners". I went back and watched, and in her initial interview with Dr. Logan she said, "it really comes down to personality for me, a guy who's like super, super genuine and caring, and like fun and outgoing and kind of goofy". I think Doug matches up pretty nicely with those criteria. No, Doug hasn't seemed all that successful in his career, and if it turns out he can't hold a job for very long I think that would likely be the end of them. Hopefully that is not the case. But, I don't think Jamie was necessarily looking for some wealthy guy with a high-powered, prestigious career. I think that even shows when she says that Doug's family is exactly what she asked for. The Hehner's seem like a very nice, fun, stable family, but they're not the Rockefellers or anything. They're solidly middle class. If Doug can maintain a career that will keep them on stable ground financially, I think that is all she needs. Plus, I think they both are in the mindset of having sideline careers. Based on their social media presence, I think they are both enjoying the attention this show has brought them, and would love it if it could lead to more. If it does, and they can make a little money together from it, I could see that as fitting Jamie's desire to conquer the world as partners. As for Doug not being good looking enough, and her not being attracted to him, I think she has truly had a turn-around on that. I hate to say it because I adore Doug now, but I can kind of see why she was turned off initially. Honestly, I don't think he looked his best at the wedding. I think his nerves made him pale and sweaty (he seems to be a nervous sweater), and those stupid white shoes didn't help! Given her pretty intense initial negative reaction, I think it's actually amazing that she changed her opinion of him so quickly. To me the look in her eyes after their first kiss showed that she was really into him already by that point. On a shallow note, I think the fact that she discovered he has a smoking hot body didn't hurt. I am so interested in the finale when they get to reveal their feelings. For the purposes of suspense, I think the show is very cagey about how they present things to keep people in suspense about whether the couples stay together. Obviously, Doug's not going anywhere, so I think they edit Jamie in a way that makes you wonder if she will want to stay married to him. (Same with Jason, because it's so obvious Cortney is all in.) Based on the preview they keep showing where Jamie is wiping a tear, but has a smile on her face, I actually do think she will say she that she is very grateful and feels very lucky to have been matched with Doug.

I think Doug just panicked and lied when Jamie confronted him about smoking because he feels like he has to be perfect for her. To me, the most disheartening thing Doug said in the episode was when he said (paraphrasing) he wanted to be the perfect husband and the perfect lover** for her, and he wanted to top himself every day. My God, how exhausting!! Is there any room for him to be his own imperfect self in their relationship? I don't think he believes there is, and Jamie affirmed that by her reaction to his lie. I understand that when you're newly in love you want to do everything for the other person, but I feel like Doug thinks he has to be perfect for her not just that he wants to be. **Are they even having sex yet?

I think Jamie & Doug and Cortney & Jason are still married. I have no doubt that there will be a second season that will continue to follow those couples since it's FYI's most popular show. All 4 of them re-tweet anything anyone says about wanting another season for them. Of course, they can't officially announce it because that would give away that they are still together. Of course, maybe the next season will show the demise of the relationships that lasted beyond the 5 weeks.

I agree Doug's career path, or really lack of it, might end up being a problem for her. Obviously, the economy has been pretty bad for quite a few years so he may be just a victim of that, it's hard to know. It does seem weird that he works at the same company as his brother and sister. I feel like Doug hasn't figured out what he really wants to do with his career. He seems like he would have the right personality to be a salesman, but I'm guessing he probably doesn't love it the way Jamie seems to love being a nurse. I'm not sure I can see Jamie being supportive of him still trying to figure out what it is he wants to do. Doug actually reminds me of Jim Halpert from The Office. Jim was a bright and personable so was a good salesman without having to try very hard so he never really tried very hard. It wasn't until the end of the series that Jim found a different sports-related career that he was excited about that he became motivated to work hard. I can see Doug being like that. I really like Jamie, but she is sooooo needy. She's overly emotional, very anxious, and I think deep down very insecure with a deep sense of shame because of her background. I don't see Doug as Jamie's lap dog at all, but if they remain together he will definitely spend his life emotionally propping her up. In the matchmaking episode, Dr. Pepper described him as having a "caretaker" personality, so he could be OK with that. Doug seems to be easy going, even tempered, and totally lacking in any drama, which I think is exactly the temperament Jamie needs in a spouse. I don't think she could ever deal with anyone who was short-tempered in any way. About Doug's family, I think the show kept bringing up the baseball game, making it a bigger deal than it really was to anybody. And I think Jamie actually puts as much, if not more, emphasis on family than Doug does. Jamie has said in numerous different interviews that marrying into a good family was extremely important to her and last episode said Doug's family is exactly what she was looking for. It's odd to me that she keeps saying she doesn't have any family except her four siblings and their children. That's a pretty big family, larger than Doug's immediate family. If that's what she's doing, she's doing a really bad job of it. Her instagram is almost all about her and Doug, and every time she post something most of the responses are about what a great guy Doug is and how she is so lucky to have found him. If it turns out she dumped him, she will face a big social media backlash from her followers.

I have to admit one of my favorite relationships on this show is between Doug and his brother, Matt. I think they're so funny together. They seem to have a brother/best friend relationship which I think is really nice.

I watched the episode again, and it seems like the editors were trying really hard to make Jamie's family's living situation worse that it is, for at least some of them. They interviewed Jamie in front of the rather run-down trailer that her sister Leah (and a guy, not sure if her husband or brother) came out of when they first arrived. It was covered in a wood paneling, and the foundation was covered in a different wood paneling. But that was not the same house as where they sat on the deck with the gorgeous view. That seemed to be her sister Johannah's house, which looked like a regular house to me or at least a very nice trailer home. It was painted tan, and it had a regular cement foundation. The house next door to it was definitely a house and not a trailer, and looked really nice. I also thought Johannah was as well-spoken, together and pretty as Jamie is, and it seemed like her kids were friendly and well behaved. Nothing came off as "redneck" about her to me.

Doug and Jamie have been my favorite couple but, because of her issues, now I feel like she's just waiting for him to fail her so she can reject him. I'm not sure why. Maybe she wants to reject him before he rejects her. I think deep down she may have some real issues with shame and feeling unworthy, so she is convinced he will inevitably reject her. She just keeps testing him and testing him, and has so many "non-negotiables". She can't be with a man who is in debt and doesn't have his life together (aka a schmuck). She can't be with a man who doesn't accept her family and her past. I couldn't quite make out everything she said in the preview, but she said something about him being really immature and that she couldn't be married to a man like that. Newsflash, Jamie, if you're going to spend your life with a man, there will be times when he lets you down and disappoints you. If she's going to have a successful relationship with Doug, or any may, she needs to accept that. She's gushed so many times about how great Doug has been about accepting her quirks and issues, but is she willing to accept his shortfalls? The good in Doug seems to so far outweigh any shortcomings; for her sake I hope she realizes that. I've honestly believe now that Doug may be Jamie's only shot at a successful relationship. I'm not sure she's going to find anyone else who will be so patient with her and willing to work through her issues. On the other hand, if things don't work out between them, I think Doug will have a long line of women waiting to grab him.

Everything seems heavily edited on this show, and it drives me nuts sometimes. In one scene, they will show one of the people in the scene making several comments, but in each comment they are wearing different clothes, so it's obvious the comments have been spliced together from different time periods and not necessarily what they thought at that time. I've noticed it particularly with Jaime. There is one commentary scene where her wedding dress is in the background that I was sure was filmed after the wedding night, but then she made a comment on how great the honeymoon was so it had to be after that. There is also one with Jamie where she has her hair long & straight and in a pink top where she is a little weepy when talking about wanting a family. I'm pretty sure that was filmed before she even met Doug because she never mentions him specifically. They keep interjecting that narrative over various scenes, which makes it seem like she is talking about what she thought at that time, but I don't believe it is. I get that they filmed many, many hours of the couples and only have 15 minutes or so to show each couple in an episode so each scene has to be highly edited. But I don't like how they seem to be slicing their comments together over different time periods and making it seem like it was what they thought at a particular moment in time.

I think Jamie has made it pretty clear Doug wasn't her "type", but I think her problem in the past was that she was going for the very handsome, successful type and they ended up not treating her very well. Or, maybe they just couldn't get past her heavy load of emotional baggage. I think Doug is exactly the guy she has wanted, just in a slightly different package. She mentioned a couple of times how great his body is, so I think that has helped make him more physically attractive to her. There's a saying that women are attracted to the men they fall in love with, and men fall in love with the women they are attracted to. I think that's pretty true of Jamie and Doug. He's obviously been amazingly patient and supportive of her, but I wonder if he would have tried so hard if he hadn't found her so attractive. Regarding Vaughn's complaints about moving to Monet's, the lack of space she gave him, and her dog he said that he had "swallowed" all these things. I feel like he's never told Monet that these things irritate him. She said that he's angry all the time, and I don't think she can quite figure out why because he's never told her these things make him angry.

I think Vaughn was outright lying to the Dr. when he said he liked Monet's bubbly personality because he couldn't honestly think of one thing that he actually does like about her, except having sex with her. Speaking of sex, Monet girlfriend, you need to stop having sex with this man because he does not like you. At all. I think Vaughn says a lot of things that aren't true and that is one of them. Amen. Doug is the kind of guy who lets things roll off his back. Vaughn is the kind of guy who gets irked by every little thing that is not exactly to his liking. It seems like right away Doug treated Lady as 'their' dog, but Vaughn still sees PJ as Monet's dog. I think how a man treats an animal particularly shows how they would be with children. Doug would be the husband who would tell Jamie to go back to bed because it's his turn to walk the floor with their colicky baby at 2AM. Vaughn would complain to Monet about why she can't get the kid to stop crying because he's got to get up and go to work in the morning, even though she had to go to work as well. I feel like Jason and Cortney keep having the same superficial conversation over and over. "I really like you, I'm really attracted to you, I'm glad I married you......" They never seem to get beyond that. Maybe it's just me, but Doug keeps getting hotter each episode. I thought he looked particularly good when they were bed shopping and his beard was pretty thick. I think he would look really good if he grew a beard similar to what his brother wears. I thought Doug & Jamie dancing was beyond adorable. Also, the look on the instructors face when Doug said they didn't know each other when they got married was hilarious.

I would like to see that too, they really only spent a couple of minutes saying why they matched each of the couples together. I am still hoping either in the last episode or the reunion show they talk more about what clicked between the couples as they expected, and what didn't work (e.g. the train wreck that is Monet & Vaughn).

I've always thought Doug was cute. From the beginning he reminded me of Anthony Edwards (Dr. Greene on ER).When he hasn't shaved, and has his shirt off, I think he's downright sexy. Plus he seems so comfortable with himself without being full of himself (confident but not cocky) which is very appealing. As far as physical attraction, I think Jamie is completely over her initial reaction to him, a lot of which I think was just her being scared about the situation in general. All of the participants were scared, but given Jamie's background, I think she may have seen men treat women in a way that the other women haven't. So she was actually scared of this man she didn't know in a way that the other women were not. She's said she never saw a healthy relationship when she was growing up, and that she doesn't trust easily. So, I think a lot of her 'don't touch me' reaction wasn't because she wasn't attracted to him, but because she didn't trust him. Ironically, of all the couples, to me Doug & Jamie's body language shows the most physical attraction. Monet and Vaughn are usually sitting on opposite ends of the couch. Jason and Courtney generally sit right next to each other holding hands, or with their hands on each other's thighs. Jamie & Doug are more all over each other. I noticed it particularly when they were in her apartment discussing where to live. She was leaned against him; he had his arm around her and his thigh across hers. He's always picking her up and carrying her; and now she's started wearing his clothes. Yeah, I think Jamie is well on her way to falling for him big time. I think when Doug's family watches these episodes they'll be surprised how into Doug Jamie is at this point. At lunch, Doug's brother asked him if he was still walking on eggshells around her, and they all acknowledge that his mother doesn't think Jamie is genuine or sincere. At this point, I think his whole family is afraid that Jamie may be just going through the motions for the camera, will bail when the filming is done, and Doug will get hurt. Because they haven't really seen them together, they haven't seen that Jamie really does care for and is attracted to him now.

If he does, it will only be to see if Doug/Jamie or Jason/Courtney are interested in a threesome. Yeah, I think they were exaggerated too. One thing that occurred to me is that when they were talking about getting a new apartment, there wasn't any discussion of living in New Jersey (that we saw, anyway). It seems like Doug must have pretty readily agreed to live in Manhattan, even though he still has to commute to New Jersey. I guess they could have easily lived in NJ and she commuted to NYC. So, at least he was willing to move away from his family, which is probably a good thing for them as they are starting out. Also, Jamie told her friend that Doug had lots of friends so I don't think he had been sitting home with his parents every night. Your comment makes me realize that Doug's brother's wife didn't seem to be at the baseball game either. I actually think it wasn't so much about Jamie missing the game as it is that Doug's Mom is suspicious of her in general, so she's anxious to check Jamie out herself. Jamie told her friend that Doug's Mom didn't think she's genuine or sincere. Between likely knowing this is Jamie's third romance-based reality show and her reaction to Doug at the wedding, I can see why she'd feel that way. I do think Jamie's growing feelings for Doug are sincere though. Her face just lights up when she's with him now.

I can't watch Monet & Vaughn anymore, I just can't. It's too uncomfortable. Seriously, Monet, you need to cut your losses and end this. Vaughn is just too weird. And what exactly are they trying to salvage? Other than sexual chemistry, there's nothing between them. I don't think they even like each other. At least with Doug/Jamie and Jason/Cortney, they really, really like each other so it's worth making an effort. I have always liked Cortney/Jason, but wasn't very confident that they would make it in the long run. I have more hope for them after tonight. They both really seem to want the relationship to work, and are trying very hard. They're making me worry about my favorite couple, Doug & Jamie! Although I know they are making more of their scheduling challenges for the storyline than probably exists. Since Jamie works 12 hour shifts, I think she only works 3 days a week (I think Doug actually said that at the baseball game) so it's not like they never see each other. It's good that Jamie wanted to marry into a really close family because, honestly, Doug's family is a little too close for my taste. He talks to his parents every day, works with his sister and brother, and they spend a lot of their free time together. That would be just too much for me.

I totally agree with you assessment of both couples, Sonoma. I think Jason & Courtney will make it to the end of the 5 weeks, but not for the long haul. It's hard to believe given their rough start, but I think Doug & Jaime by far have the best chance of making it for the long term. Their interaction just seems so natural and they read each other very well. They seem to have the most fun together of any of the couples. I agree. Doug himself said that he wanted to be the best person he could be for her. I think it's a good thing to be with someone who makes you want to be your best. I've never gotten the sense that he is trying to be someone other than who he is, which would never work. I think he's too comfortable with himself to do that. He's just trying to be the best of who he is. Yes. When Doug was coming over to see her apartment she said that in the beginning when she didn't like him she wasn't really making an effort, but now that she liked him she was. She was talking about her appearance, but I think it also applies to her effort to be kind and nurturing to him. For a good part of their relationship that we have seen so far, she wasn't really trying. Now that she's smitten, I think we will see her trying harder.

After this episode, I think I actually understand Vaughn. He is an introvert, Monet is an extrovert. As I introvert myself, I understand that for him engaging in conversation is mentally draining. I feel like I only have so many words I can use in one day, and once I have used them up, I'm done. I'm too mentally exhausted to talk or to listen, and I need quiet time to re-charge. Vaughn is the same way. On their honeymoon, Vaughn said that Monet was a talker who could talk about anything, and he wished she would use more of her energy to engage with him on a deeper level. But as an extrovert, Monet isn't using mental energy to talk, she's gaining it. She can chat with someone about this-or-that all day, and still be energized enough to have a deep conversation at the end of it. If Vaughn chats all day, by the end of it he needs silence to re-energize. Unfortunately, I think the biggest thing Monet and Vaughn have in common is that they both asked for their idea of the kind of spouse they wanted, which is nothing like the kind of spouse they would really be happy with. Vaughn's an introvert who said he wanted a talker to balance his quietness; now he's got a wife who wants to chat and be social all the time and he can't deal with it. Monet is an independent woman who said she wanted a marriage with traditional gender roles, so now has a husband who wants her to be dependent upon him. They are totally wrong for each other. With Courtney & Jason, she is messy while he is neat; she is a spender, he is a saver; so, we'll see how that works out. I'm still liking Doug & Jaime, for some reason they seem to me to be quite a bit more mature than Courtney & Jason who just seem so young to me. I'm hoping both of these couples make it.

I'm pretty sure Brandi will gain all the weight back, plus maybe more. She was too thrilled about her Sunday cheat day binges and too lax in her exercising to stick with a program to keep the weight off.

I actually think that's exactly right. I feel like they want the $2.5M so they can pay themselves a salary to work on the business. Because it's just so distracting to them to have to worry about how to pay the bills, they can't possibly also focus on their business. When asked why they wanted $2.5M, didn't Christine say that they didn't want to ask for more because it may make them unmotivated or lazy. That would make no sense to someone who actually wanted to grow their business, because if you have more capital to invest, you are working your ass off to grow your business.

I really like Christine, but how is she qualified to head marketing for My Sisterwife's Closet? Because she did a little googling and learned that women are doing more shopping on the internet and less in "retail"? (I'm pretty sure selling to consumers on the internet is retail, it's just not brick-and-mortar retail.) This episode made it clear, once again, that Janelle is the only one with any head for business. Kody is so delusional. He thought they did such a great job on the presentation when they pretty much just embarrassed themselves and showed that they haven't got a clue.