Married at First Sight UK - Anyone finished it yet?

[ExclamationPerfume]

I enjoyed it but it was very short.

Love Owen and Michelle. I had a good feeling about them from the beginning.

David and Shareen both annoyed the hell out of me. He was odd with his various bags packed for emergencies. She claimed to be open but barely spoke.

Hopefully there will be another series next year.

@Stuffofawesome

Description
A spiritual bypass or spiritual bypassing is a "tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks"
Sounds like Shareen to me

Yes. This seems very accurate.

It's worth saying that I have a friend whose barriers are very similar to Shareen dating wise and I really worry for her.

If she doesn't like something like the bag issue she will absolutely shut down, nope, nadda, not interested... But she will let plenty of utter cockwombles get under her skin in spite of being transparently awful people.

The latest guy she had a huge crush on was pretty much having an emotional affair with her through lockdown whilst TTC with his partner. Then had a holiday with her, his GF and my friend - and announced their pregnancy on that holiday.

It's horrible to be a bystander of.

This idea that people come fully-formed and not in need of 'fixing' is pretty toxic too, as it implies that you yourself are perfect, and your life can't withstand any alteration. That alteration is, by definition, a detriment. But she has kids - how can she not understand that your life bends and adapts around those you love? That different types of people are valuable in different ways?

David's prep bag for her was an act of care - by giving that, he was effectively saying 'I do this to keep me safe, I want you to be safe too'. Fine if it's not your thing, but if you claim to be spiritual, you should be able to recognise that that's quite a caring and proactive person you have there.

I know right. She took a completely different meaning from it, which I couldn't get my head around.
Surely if she goes out walking etc she would be comfortable with the concept of being prepared.

I mean its not like he said 'if we're going to be a couple I insist you take this with you at all times'.

Its not my thing, but it was a thoughtful thing to do.

Shareen is a classic example of someone who believes they are a certain way when they are actually the opposite. She might be into meditation and crystals but she is also narrow minded, judgemental and quite cruel. She said she was all about positivity and David wasn't but he was the one who was cheery and upbeat while she sat on the mountain with her back turned and a scowl on her face, rude! Of course the experts will make a wrong match if you don't acknowledge who you really are and write a pack of lies on your application.

I think this experiment will not work on people of their age group. They are less accepting, less willing to compromise, too used to living alone and battle scarred after a few broken relationships so of course they will have barriers, too many in this case.

Michelle and Owen worked mainly because she threw herself into the marriage with no expectations and no judgement, which is the only way marrying a stranger can ever work. I really admired her bravery and the way she completely let go and allowed herself experience married life without analysing everything Owen did, good for her. Owen was more cautious and if she had been the same way then it wouldn't have worked but I think he was bowled over by how open she was. Being in lockdown also helped them massively as they bonded quicker.

Anyone else wondering why Shareen and David couldn't make FaceTime and Zoom calls work? What's the problem there, it's just talking! And when they arrived at the glamping site they just stood at a distance and shouted hello. I know they were probably told to socially distance but how can you be married and live like that? And who did Shareen give the pink orchid to at the end? Not David!

@Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor

David's prep bag for her was an act of care - by giving that, he was effectively saying 'I do this to keep me safe, I want you to be safe too'. Fine if it's not your thing, but if you claim to be spiritual, you should be able to recognise that that's quite a caring and proactive person you have there.

I know right. She took a completely different meaning from it, which I couldn't get my head around.
Surely if she goes out walking etc she would be comfortable with the concept of being prepared.

I mean its not like he said 'if we're going to be a couple I insist you take this with you at all times'.

Its not my thing, but it was a thoughtful thing to do.

You know what's even more baffling? She works in events management.

You can't just rock up with positive energy and hope for the best. You need a comprehensive plan of how you're going to deliver the event safely and enjoyably. I've run big events and you have to think of and prepare for every last eventuality to make sure things run smoothly.

If she'd said, "Oh, my job demands a lot of that from me, and I really hate to live my private life like that" - fine. I have to strike a balance between my planning to the nth degree vs living in the moment.

But she shut him down in what was really quite a cruel way.

She reminded me of an older version of Gwyneth Paltrow

@Olinguito

I didn't particularly take to David at first, but I felt so sorry for him by the end! He and Shareen seemed such a poor match I don't know what the organisers were thinking. Whilst I hated the way that Shareen was so unnecessarily horrible to David, I think it came from having unrealistic expectations of the process and her crushing disappointment when he was so far from being her ideal partner. She seemed really angry at how things had turned out.

Having watched all the UK series it seems all the matches were poor except maybe Michelle and Owen (although it is early days for them).

In the past they have matched a dog lover with a dog with someone who seemed to hate dogs and a smoker with someone who hated smokers/ smoking.

I have never understood the thinking behind the matches. I thought this time with 3 new matchmakers it would be different but seemingly it is not.

Even matching Michelle and Owen seemed strange when she lived in Hastings and he lived in Sheffield. I hope they work but there have been, I think, 2 other couples that seemed to work at the beginning but didn't last

I couldn’t really take to Owen. I wonder how emotionally invested he is really.

Just seen online that she has apparently had a bit of trolling since it aired. Trolling or people expressing their opinions from what I saw of comments. The hard part of throwing yourself out there for these kind of programmes is that people make a judgment on what is presented. It may have been in the editing but I don’t think so really. She wanted to be a wife and just seemed so bitter that they hadn’t got it right, they couldn’t get it right when she presented herself inaccurately,

His tattoos were awful....sorry they would of put me of as well.

I don’t think the bag would be a deal-breaker for me but having his house full of loads of prepper stuff like gallons of emergency water (as mentioned in the final episode) might well be. I think he was sympathetically edited and she less so.

Love this show and it was interesting that they had a couple of oldies, in the previous series you could only take part if you had not been married before and had no kids. I did laugh when I saw Sherreen had one of those ‘in a world where you can be anything......be kind’ t-shirt’s and then went on to assassinate David’s character. It all got way too intense and awkward, I agree that his tattoos were shit and the water storage was out there but she could have laughed it off instead of constantly banging on about the bag. Hopefully those two might get some dating offers off of the back of the show. If they are going to matchmake divorcees in the future it might be interesting to hear why the first marriage broke down.

@Swingbin - Shareen has never married before. I can’t remember if David had.
FWIW I think David would get more dating offers than Shareen, she just seemed like such hard work!

I really don’t like Owen. There is something really unpleasant about him.
Michelle is lovely but she is looking at him through rose tinted glasses.

I like David and he looks much better with his beard. His tattoos are gross though.
Shareen is a Prima donna.

Shareen is a classic example of someone who believes they are a certain way when they are actually the opposite. She might be into meditation and crystals but she is also narrow minded, judgemental and quite cruel.

This!!! She thinks her lifestyle and outlook are zen. In constraint she is difficult and rude.

‘contrast’

I HATE the fact that the horrible cow Shareen is trying to blame David for being closed off & not showing his feelings.
She can’t own the fact that she doesn’t find him attractive and he isn’t what she wants.
Awful woman.

Owen did not budge ONCE from wanting to stay in Sheffield. Her entire support network is in Hastings. He’s not worth it. Selfish pig.

Owen lecturing Shareen about being adaptable and open to change.
Stupid man can’t see how ironic that is!
Michelle’s poor face as he was showing her round his horrible house in Sheffield.
‘The corner sofa can go there facing the tv’.
He is grim.

I have finished watching now and my dislike of Shareen grew and grew.

She is not open in the slightest. She is opinionated and narrow minded in my view. She did not even attempt to get to know David. When they went to that camp site they should have been sitting chatting but she decided to go to bed at 9.30!

@Lolaloveslemonade

I HATE the fact that the horrible cow Shareen is trying to blame David for being closed off & not showing his feelings. She can’t own the fact that she doesn’t find him attractive and he isn’t what she wants. Awful woman.

Owen did not budge ONCE from wanting to stay in Sheffield. Her entire support network is in Hastings. He’s not worth it. Selfish pig.

That's a bit unfair. One of them had to give up their job and leave their friends and family. Why should it have been him?

They obviously did discuss it and the decision was for her to move to Sheffield. I would have thought getting away from her bossy sister would be a plus.

I know couples do have long distance relationships but, again, it was hardly ideal pairing a couple who lived so far apart.

The only one I liked was Michelle. I agree about Owen - wanted everything on his terms.

@Joe50

She reminded me of an older version of Gwyneth Paltrow

I thought that, then realised they were the same age

Didn’t think Shareen (horrible name as well!) was in the least bit attractive, and certainly bore no comparison to Gwyneth Paltrow!

He looked attractive at the wedding, but the tattoos would have killed any attraction I felt for him stone dead. I hate tattoos anyway, but his were particularly grim. Why the fuck would you have a tattoo of the ‘Jaws’ poster? 😦

She wrote him off fairly early, but then instead of owning her decision like a grown woman, she tried to belittle David’s character. To say he needed fixing was outrageous. She is in need of far more fixing!

They obviously did discuss it and the decision was for her to move to Sheffield. I would have thought getting away from her bossy sister would be a plus.

I found it quite amusing when the sister was all ‘we haven’t even discussed it!’ and Michelle told her that there had been plenty of discussion but that she wasn’t part of it 😆

I felt that Shareen was a poor candidate for this type of show given her belief in one true soulmate. Surely you can’t go into a marriage with a stranger expecting them to be that soulmate. I suppose having spiritual beliefs might allow you to think it could happen but realistically you have to go into it with an open mind and a willingness to find out what there is to love about the person- or at least a willingness to get to know them!

@waterlego

I felt that Shareen was a poor candidate for this type of show given her belief in one true soulmate. Surely you can’t go into a marriage with a stranger expecting them to be that soulmate. I suppose having spiritual beliefs might allow you to think it could happen but realistically you have to go into it with an open mind and a willingness to find out what there is to love about the person- or at least a willingness to get to know them!

I agree. Shareen just did not want to get to know David. She decided as soon as he gave her that bag that she was not interested and just could not be bothered to try.

Really the series needs to be longer and maybe each programme longer as we just don't see enough of them getting to know each other.

As I said before, when Shareen and David were away they should have been chatting and finding out about each other. We saw them at breakfast saying barely a word, walking and not really talking and then in the evening she went to her own cabin at 9.30.

Mind you even when Shareen did talk she didn't really say anything.

Did anyone see the article in the papers about David being attacked in his own home by 5 men with machetes? No wonder he now tries to be prepared for things!