After another heated Commitment Ceremony, Caitlin McConville has exited “Married at First Sight”, dumping ‘husband’ Shannon Adams.
The decision to leave the reality series was perhaps no surprise to viewers. This week, we’ve watched on as Caitlin has been on the receiving end of some nasty comments made by Shannon.
Caitlin and Shannon took the couch in front of the “MAFS” experts Alessandra Rampolla, John Aiken, and Mel Schilling at the Commitment Ceremony.
John wasted no time in confronting Shannon about his comments, which Shannon admitted were “insulting”.
In a series first, the experts gave Caitlin the choice to exit the series, despite Shannon’s decision to ‘stay’. Usually, if one person writes ‘stay’, the couple have to stay in the experiment for another week, but speaking with 9Entertainment, Aiken said it was a drastic step that needed to be taken.
“I felt like both of those relationship dynamics were too toxic for any of the participants to remain in,” he said of Caitlin and Shannon, as well as Josh and Melissa‘s relationship. “… Caitlin was saying she felt diminished and very small and broken and so we had to call it.”
Related: Spoiler Alert: Is MAFS’ Shannon Back With His Ex? We Did Some Digging
What Did Shannon Say to Caitlin?
Caitlin recounted some of Shannon’s insults for the group.
“The most hurtful things he said [were] ‘I’m not attracted to you, there’s no attraction here’,” she began.
“He then said that I’m a good looking girl, [but] not to him,” she continued. “But I think the most hurtful thing for me was after that.
“He said that if there was someone who walked down the aisle that wowed him, he would’ve cut it off with his ex then and there,” she recalled.
Caitlin said that Shannon told her that it was because she hadn’t ‘wowed’ him that he reached back out to his ex, resulting in the phone call that left Caitlin in tears.
These revelations, Caitlin said, left her feeling like she was no longer “human”.
“I would never treat another human being like that,” she said. “Not a stranger, not a friend.”
Did Shannon Apologise to Caitlin?
Slamming Shannon’s words as “disgusting”, “insulting and deeply hurtful”, John asked the groom why he felt “the need to say all those things to Caitlin”.
Shannon declined to offer an explanation, instead asking: “does it matter?”
Eventually, Shannon added: “I said them just to hurt her”.
Shannon apologised to Caitlin, and when it came time to choose whether he wanted to stay or leave the experiment, he opted to stay.
“As much as what I’ve done is disgusting, what I’ve said is repulsing… and how deeply, deeply sorry I am… I wanna stay,” Shannon said, shocking Caitlin, the experts and the other contestants.
John was quick to push back, asking Shannon why he’d want to stay after his behaviour over the past week.
Shannon said it was a “gut feeling” telling him to stay, but John wasn’t having any of it.
“When you say you don’t wanna give up, you have been 100% focused on giving up this week,” he said. “Why should we believe now that you’re gonna change?”
John also asked what Shannon was going to do to change his behaviour, to which Shannon replied that he needed to “actually listen to her”, to reflect on his “attitude” and give her some respect.
To Caitlin, he pleaded: “Just come back to the house and give me one more chance. I’m going to be better than this week because I want to actually just get along. At least just for one more week, so … we can at least just end up being friends and I can just get along with you, ‘coz I don’t wanna end it like this, with anybody.”
When pressed for specifics on how he was going to change, and what, specifically, he would do differently, though, Shannon struggled to come up with an answer.
Caitlin Leaves “MAFS” 2023
Turning to Caitlin, John said that the decision was “entirely” up to her whether she chose to stay or leave.
Caitlin said that everything Shannon had been saying during the Commitment Ceremony felt a little too familiar.
“We can’t keep moving forward on the premise of ‘I’ll own it’, but [with] no action of actually doing better,” she said. “It’s an apology that is followed by anger and aggression, and defensiveness — not an apology that is actioned.
“I deserve to be respected,” she continued. “I deserve to feel wanted, I deserve to be treated like a human being. You don’t deserve me.
“I came in here really hoping to meet someone who I could love and who would love me,” she said tearfully. “I wanted someone to be proud of being with me, I wanted someone to appreciate me, I wanted to be someone’s someone because I’ve never been that for somebody before.
“But this here, this isn’t what I wanted, and if I’m being honest, if I could do it all over again with someone else I would,” she said, “because I deserve that chance but this man does not deserve me. So I will be leaving.”
“Good,” John replied, as Caitlin’s fellow contestants applauded her empowered decision.
While there have been reports that Shannon may have reconciled with his ex, “MAFS” fans have been #teamCaitlin, and want her back on the show next year. Maybe 2024 will bring her a happy ending?
“Married At First Sight” airs Sunday – Wednesdays on Channel 9 and 9Now.
