Are Shaquille & Kirsten Still Together From Married at First Sight? The Finale Cliffhanger
If you’re caught up with the reality TV show, you might be wondering who’s still together from Married at First Sight season 16.
The Lifetime TV show was created on July 2014 on FYI. The premise derives from the Danish TV show Gift Ved Første Blik. The first season took place in New York City and New Jersey and showed off three couples, who like the show describes, are married when they first meet each other. The couples then spend time together at their honeymoon and spend eight weeks together living a family lifestyle. After eight weeks, they get to decide whether of not they want to divorce or stay together on Decision DAy. There are several experts on the show that examine the couples’ compatibility with each other. For season 16, experts Pastor Cal and Dr. Pepper and DeVon Franklin are reunited in host city Nashville after appearing on the show previously and recently added Dr. Pia Holec.
Talking to E! News, Dr. Pepper Schwartz revealed the tedious process in making the couples. Hundreds of people apply to the show and the experts go to churches, bars, dating apps or anywhere that people to meet to “make the prospective pool as big as people.” There’s more steps to the vetting process including a meet-and-greet, several interview sessions and psychological and background checks. The final step is a home visit from Dr. Pepper. “My hope was that we would be able to support these people and help them grow into better versions of themselves by bringing out skills to the process, by matching them through science and maybe this really could work and it could work even beyond helping these people grow and get more information about themselves, but to give them skills. And to augment what we hoped was already thought was a good match according to our scientific tools. And the more we went on, the more I believed in it because I could see people listen and learn and it was fascinating and wonderful. She continued, “It worked out beyond my wildest fantasies.”
Pastor Cal told the site about his views on marriage on the show. “I’ve learned and tell couples now that marriage doesn’t work—people work. And quite often, we want the marriage to work,” he said. “Sometimes we want to blame the marriage and say the marriage is not working, but it’s you. You’re not working. You’re not doing the things that are necessary. You’re not communicating and not being vulnerable. You got to be kind. You got to be honest. And you’re gonna have to put in the time and don’t give up too quickly.”
Since its premiere, the show’s overall success rate of marriages after the show is 20 percent. So is Shaquille and Kirsten still together from Married at First Sight Season 16? Read more below to find out.
Are Shaquille and Kirsten still together from Married at First Sight Season 16?
Status: Divorced.
Are Shaquille and Kirsten still together from Married at First Sight Season 16? No. Shaquille revealed his intentions after a cliffhanger finale episode of the show. He told Kirsten: “It’s been very difficult for me as a man, to really just try to step up to be the man that you wanted me to be, that you needed me to be…But honestly, I’m just not settled with us. My decision would be for us to get a divorce.”
When the two met at the altar, Shaq revealed that Kirsten “checked many of the boxes. Especially her presence [and] beauty at first sight.” However, Kirsten wasn’t that much impressed and was “expecting to see a man with a haircut, low beard, not just good looking.” But she did say that he was “well put together.” Throughout the series, Kirsten lightly opens up to her new husband’s appearance. “I find him attractive when he’s like — for example, when we had to get our clothes and move, like him moving boxes, that was attractive,” she explains in episode 14. “It’s the smallest things.”
Despite being sort of cold together at the beginning, the two share an affinity for their faith.”Religion is important to me and it was a deal breaker for me,” Kirsten told Distractify. “As a child and as an adult I pray daily and attend church. I want my future family to be raised in a Baptist church,” Shaq shares the same sentiment. “I would have been confused with the experts’ matchmaking process, had I been matched with a person who is not religious,” Shaq explained, while Kirsten added, “As a child and as an adult I pray daily and attend church. I want my future family to be raised in a Baptist church.”
In one episode, tension between the couple arose because Shaq got offered a job out of state. “For me, it’s realizing that I am no longer on this path of life by myself. Like, I was all offered a job out of state, kind of far away, and it’s a big role, and I said no,” he confessed. He notes that he can’t “just make decisions” based on just him anymore. “I’m sacrificing things to stay here in Nashville, and I hope she appreciates me because this is something that I really wanted. However, Kirsten offers her two cents. “I definitely don’t want to hold you back and prevent you not taking the position,” she tells him.
Shaq’s mom voiced her concerns about what Kirsten’s doing as a wife to his son. “You need to be more supportive,” says Ms. Nina flat out. “It’s some miscommunications going on, you’re not supporting him the way that he would like to be supported. I know he really wish you would have been there with him this past weekend.”
“We had a long conversation about that,” says Kirsten. “You know I even apologized to him, I was like ‘Well, I’m sorry I wasn’t there physically.’ We just had a miscommunication.” “Throughout the day I sent him affirmations,” says Kirsten. “Because I know he likes affirmation sometimes.”
His mom emphasized what her son really needs. “Support him, that’s number one. He’s really under a lot of stress right now,” she said. “He needs you more than anything.”
During the penultimate episode (and original finale), Kristen expressed her desire to stay with Shaquille after the show is over. The show ended in a cliffhanger with Shaquille still deciding his decision after the supposed finale.
