Married At First Sight season 17 has been one of the most chaotic that viewers have seen in years, but what was revealed about the cast after the cameras had been gone for months? Though some viewers joked that Married At First Sight season 17 simply wouldn’t come to an end, the journey of the Denver cast has finally come to a close. Though the filming has ended for the cast, the drama hasn’t stopped and new issues have cropped up between the Married At First Sight season 17 cast that they never saw coming, creating difficult emotions for everyone. Though the couples have separated, many of the cast members have stayed in each other’s lives, even forging new bonds with one another as time has gone by. Though the romantic relationships have ended, it appears the other connections have remained strong.
Throughout Married At First Sight season 17, viewers were confused as to why the couples weren’t connecting in the way they normally do. The couples, including Brennan Shoykhet & Emily Balch, Lauren Goodger & Orion Marzloff, Cameron Fraser & Clare Kerr, Austin Reed & Becca Haley, and Michael Shiakallis & Chloe Brown, were all struggling in their marriages. It didn’t seem like there were positive moments for many of the couples in those relationships. After it was revealed during the Married At First Sight season 17 reunion that the couples, aside from Michael & Chloe, had fabricated many of their moments together, things became more clear. The drama from the reunion spilled over into the couples’ real lives, and after they met back up to discuss the drama of the season, the Married At First Sight season 17 cast continued to have issues with each other.
In the finale episode of Married At First Sight season 17, the cast was revisited for a look at their lives after the MAFS cameras have been missing for nearly a year. Nine months after their weddings, things have changed entirely for the cast, but the drama they’re dealing with hasn’t dissipated entirely, and new issues have appeared to keep them stressed. The Married At First Sight season 17 couples aren’t happy about their prolonged issues. While the men of the cast have all managed to stay friendly, many of the women of the cast have pitted themselves against one of their own, ostracizing and isolating Chloe in their need to control the narrative surrounding their appearance on the show. Despite having very little reason to keep Chloe at arm’s length, the women have continued to perpetuate narratives against her, while the rest of the cast has had developments of their own.
10. The MAFS Season 17 Cast Isn’t All In Touch
The cast of Married At First Sight season 17 has been able to distance themselves from the experience of the series after a little less than a year, but it hasn’t been easy for them to relive their marriages on TV from week to week. Though the couples have all separated, many of them are in touch with different members of the cast in groups. All of the men appear to be in touch with each other, as well as Chloe. The women are all in touch with each other, aside from Chloe, and some have relationships with the men, though rarely with their exes. While there have been relationships that have developed from their time on the series, the Married At First Sight season 17 cast has been able to keep each other at arms’ length while the show is airing.
9. Clare Kerr Is In A Relationship
Clare, who was married to Cameron on the series for less than a month before deciding that she wanted to call off her relationship entirely, shared that after divorce, she’s staring to see the light. During the Married At First Sight season 17 reunion, Clare revealed that she’d just started seeing someone in the hopes of getting into another serious relationship. She’d done her best to distance herself from Cameron and their marriage, but she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to make things work with her new partner yet. During the finale episode, which was filmed shortly after the MAFS season 17 reunion, Clare explained that she’s moved from the talking phase of her new relationship into a full-blown partnership. She didn’t offer up details about her new boyfriend but shared she’s happy.
8. Michael & Chloe Still Consider Each Other Friends
Michael and Chloe’s relationship on Married At First Sight season 17 was one that viewers were hopeful to see moving forward. When Michael chose divorce while Chloe chose to stay married, many were heartbroken at the potential that the couple had being squandered away because he wasn’t ready to commit to their relationship. Still flirty, the finale of MAFS season 17 revealed that Michael and Chloe are happily friendly, and sometimes even flirty with one another after the end of their marriage. Both acknowledged that sometimes things can get uncomfortable for them as they move from one phase of their relationship to another, but they enjoy spending time together and want to continue to do so. Chloe and Michael shared they have meals together, go out together, and respect one another immensely as friends and former partners.
7. Chloe Felt Embarrassed By The Women At The Reunion
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While Chloe’s relationship with her ex-husband is a positive one, the relationships she shared with the women of Married At First Sight season 17 haven’t been anywhere near as happy. Throughout the season, Chloe tried to build bonds with the women of the season in order to gain some sense of camaraderie, but it was clear that she wasn’t getting anywhere with Emily or Becca, who were more available than Clare and Lauren. Chloe did her best to open up about her marriage with Michael to the women, but they’d both had such hard times in their own relationships that it didn’t seem like something they were able to do emotionally. Chloe revealed that she was embarrassed by the women’s behavior at the reunion, understanding they wanted to stand in unity, but dissatisfied with how they refused to let anyone else speak and simply echoed each other’s thoughts rather than allowing for conversation.
6. Orion Is Finally Understanding His Issues
Orion, who had a difficult time throughout the Married At First Sight process in opening up about his feelings for his ex-wife Lauren, has been working hard since his time on the series to ensure he grows. While Orion’s time on MAFS wasn’t long, he seemed to make a connection with Lauren right off the bat. The pair had a fun wedding and seemed to be connecting with one another, but when their relationship began to show signs of problems, Orion refused to address things head-on.
Instead, he chose to take an early out from Married At First Sight season 17 and end his marriage to Lauren without discussing his decision with her first. He continually revisited Lauren and tried to find common ground, but she understandably shut him out. Orion revealed that he’s been doing everything he can to work on himself, having identified his main issues while he was on the show and doing his best to move forward as a new version of himself.
5. Emily & Clare Are Simply Happy For Their Friendship
Although Emily and Clare have both struggled in how they’ve coped with their lives outside of MAFS, the women are thankful that the series brought them together. Emily, whos marriage to Brennan was difficult from the very beginning, has been holding onto more anger than most of the other members of the Married At First Sight season 17 cast. She’s been shown taking any opportunity she can to speak badly about Brennan, tear him down, or invalidate their marriage. While it’s clear Emily’s pain comes from a real, raw place, she opened up about understanding that moving forward means letting go of some of the residual anger she’s been holding. Though Emily said she still wants to hold onto some of that anger, she shared with Clare that she was happy that the tough experience had brought her to her best friend.
4. Lauren & Michael Discussed Rumors About Their Potential
Lauren and Michael, who hadn’t really been in each other’s orbit during Married At First Sight season 17, met up to discuss how things had been going for both of them. The pair teased each other with the fact that the internet had been manifesting their connection for months. Things didn’t go well for either on the series, but viewers have wondered if they would connect after. While Michael wound up getting married to Chloe, many originally wondered why he hadn’t been paired up with Lauren after her marriage didn’t work out rather quickly. Though Michael and Lauren do seem to share some chemistry, it’s clear that neither of them is interested in a relationship with the other. The pair moved through their meeting seamlessly, and though they both seemed flirty at times, it was clear that they wanted to remain friends rather than move into pursuing something romantic.
3. Austin Acknowledged His Faults In His Marriage’s End
Though he wasn’t heavily featured in the Married At First Sight season 17 finale, Austin did pop up a few times to discuss where he is and how he’s feeling after the difficult experience. Austin’s relationship with Becca was never easy, and though they both made mistakes in their marriage that they wanted to fix in order to stay together, things got to be too difficult for the couple as they moved forward. Austin had some difficulty in maintaining an attraction to Becca, while Becca felt rejected and hurt by Austin consistently.
Throughout the MAFS finale episode, Austin popped up with other cast members to provide updates on his life, sharing that he’s happier and healthier as he’s moved forward. During a bar meetup with Michael and Chloe, Austin and his roommate shared that they’ve both been experiencing some attraction for one another. It seemed plausible that Austin may be ready to move in the direction of finding another romantic relationship after experiencing some heartbreak.
2. Becca Is Trying To Distance Herself From MAFS
Although Becca was a presence during the season, the Married At First Sight season 17 star was a rarity during the finale episode. After her tumultuous relationship with Austin, Becca wanted to make things work, but after her trust was broken time after time, she couldn’t handle any more issues. Featured primarily with the other women, Becca seems to be moving forward comfortably after dealing with such substantial heartbreak.
Becca shared that though her marriage wasn’t always pretty, she appreciated the experience she had on MAFS season 17 for being able to open her eyes to some of her own issues. The Married At First Sight season 17 star explained that though she wasn’t quite ready to move forward entirely, she was hopeful for the future. Becca didn’t want to dwell on the experience anymore, but instead wanted to move ahead in life.
1. The MAFS Stars Acknowledged What Has Changed After The Experience
The entirety of the Married At First Sight season 17 cast, aside from Chloe and Michael, have admitted that they played the system in their relationships and created fake narratives to move themselves through the show without much vitriol in the press. This was a first for the series, and in the finale episode of MAFS season 17, the cast acknowledged that they’d made mistakes in their marriages and with their personas on the series. Though they all wanted to ensure they were getting a good edit, they took the authenticity away from the experience for themselves and for the audience.
The Married At First Sight season 17 cast all acknowledged in their own ways that they have room to grow when it comes to themselves and their interpersonal relationships. While some have more work to do than others, the cast members shared that they’re looking forward to putting what they learned in the experiment to good work. The Married At First Sight season 17 cast is ready to take on the Denver dating scene once again, hoping they can build from their difficult experiences.
