‘Married at First Sight’: Derek Tells Katie It’s ‘Sometimes Hard To Be Around Her’

Katie Conrad and Derek Sherman of Lifetime’s Married at First Sight Season 10 had an intense wedding and honeymoon, but they started fighting almost as soon as they returned to Washington, D.C., and never seemed to stop. 

Katie worried that Derek wasn’t able to emotionally connect with her or make himself vulnerable enough to fall in love with her. She was also jealous over his romantic past and his friendliness with her Married at First Sight castmates on their couples’ retreat just before Decision Day. Their explosive fights and Katie’s volatility seemed to worry Derek as well. 

As Decision Day loomed ever closer, Katie and Derek headed out for a fondue dinner date on the Apr. 8 episode of Married at First Sight, “Forever or Never.” After reflecting on the best parts of their marriage so far, the young couple also opened up about their doubts. 

Katie and Derek reflected on their best moments together just before Decision Day 

As they headed to dinner, 26-year-old Derek told Lifetime producers that he wanted to try his best to make his marriage to Katie work. 

“I’ve told myself that I’m going to give my all and open up to her, even though I accept that I could easily get my heart broken,” Derek said. “But if you don’t take that chance, you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life. And I want to see this through to the end.” 

At dinner, Katie wondered what Derek had enjoyed the most about their time together so far. “What has been your favorite part of our journey?” the Married at First Sight star wondered. 

“Our one-month,” Derek revealed, as a flashback showed him creating a collage of his favorite photos of Katie and telling her that he considered her family to be “his family” as well. 

“I really, really liked it,” Derek gushed to his wife. “It felt special. Looking back at the promises we made to each other by re-reading our vows, and looking at ourselves, just the smiles we each had and our expectations for the future.”

Katie agreed that their wedding day had been incredibly romantic. “I feel like on our wedding day, we were so thrilled with each other,” the 26-year-old mental health professional said. 

Derek added, “So, that was actually going to be the next moment I mentioned. Seeing you walk down the aisle, and then actually getting to know you.” 

The ‘Married at First Sight’ couple discussed their doubts going forward 

Still, the couple’s trip down memory lane wasn’t all positive. “But we have a big decision to make, don’t we?” Katie ventured; after all, this was their last night together before Decision Day. 

“I’ll be honest. I’m a little scared,” Derek confessed. 

When Katie asked if he knew what her concerns were about their potential future together, he told her he felt he had a good understanding. “So, I believe, being on the same page emotionally,” Derek began. “Expressing ourselves.”

The Married at First Sight star added that he knew he had sometimes been standoffish with his wife, in part because he didn’t want her to be hurt by his own doubts about their marriage.

“And I try to do a good job, but sometimes, when it comes to our decision going forward, I’ve been a little bit reserved with expressing some of my doubts, because I didn’t want you to be more stressed with everything,” Derek admitted. 

But Katie told Derek that his attempts not to put doubts in her head had “backfired.” “Because it seems like you try to push things under the rug a lot, or try to avoid talking about them,” she explained. “It makes it hard for us to connect on that level. To me, that’s the most important thing. I want to have that emotional connection with you.”

Derek assured Katie that he still hoped things would work out between them 

Still, Derek was clear that he wanted to try to make their marriage work, no matter what it took. 

“I want to see if I can make this work,” the Married at First Sight star told Katie. “I want to see if I can fall in love with you. I think you’re worth finding out.”

“That was cute,” Katie gushed, but her face quickly darkened as she thought about what had gone wrong in their short weeks of marriage. “I do see some potential sometimes, but I also see some red flags. Lack of connection, lack of initiative.”

Derek agreed to try to improve things on his end. “That, I will work on,” he promised. But still, he had concerns of his own about Katie. “And at least for me, one of my red flags is that, when you’re really stressed, it’s hard to be around you sometimes.” 

Taken aback, Katie warned Derek that that wasn’t likely to stop anytime soon. “Whoa,” she said. “Okay, that worries me, because sometimes I can be really b*tchy, and I know that maybe that’s intimidating, but you might have to be confrontational with me sometimes. And it might not be fun, but it’ll show me that you are gonna step up to the plate.”

Derek laughingly agreed to “lay down the law” more often with his wife. But as they finished dinner, things still seemed wildly uncertain between the Married at First Sight pair.