‘Married at First Sight’: Fans Are Shocked By Woody’s Massive Clothing Budget
Woody Randall and Amani Aliyya quickly emerged as a fan-favorite couple on Lifetime’s Married at First Sight Season 11 in New Orleans. The ultra-romantic pair had chemistry right away – and, like the other favorite couple of the season, Bennett Kirschner and Amelia Fatsi, it’s only seemed to get better.
On the September 30 episode of Married at First Sight, Amani and Woody shared a romantic one-month anniversary together, complete with foot massages, mimosas, breakfast in bed, and diamond earrings (Woody’s gift to Amani). Just four weeks away from Decision Day, it seemed that the sky was the limit in terms of the couple’s future.
But Woody and Amani did find one major potential area of contention: their budget. Woody’s ideas about finances made many fans’ jaws drop in surprise.
Amani and Woody discussed their budget as a couple
On the most recent episode of Married at First Sight, Amani and Woody decided to come up with a budget for themselves as a married couple. Amani explained that it was important for the pair to make and stick to a budget so they could “merge their finances for the future.”
But, over the course of the discussion, it became clear that the newlyweds had very different ideas of how their finances should be managed.
Woody suggested, for example, allotting $150 per date – each week, adding up to $600 a month.
But Amani protested, arguing that that was simply too much for a monthly date budget.
“I think we can do some nice dates that don’t have to be $150,” the Married at First Sight star told her husband uncertainly. She suggested that that they could just grab a few drinks sometimes – it didn’t always have to be fine dining.
And while the couple agreed on rent prices of up to $1800 per month, Amani wasn’t sure how her husband’s transition to his new living situation might go. After all, he’d lived with his grandmother up until now.
“It’s an interesting roommate situation,” she mused.
The couple disagreed on their approach to money
As for the clothing budget, Amani and Woody’s ideas of what constituted a reasonable monthly allotment were polar opposites. Woody suggested that they devote $500-1000 per month to his clothing budget alone.
“For the month?!” Amani exclaimed incredulously. Woody went even further, insisting that $500 per month was the bare minimum and didn’t even include shoes.
The Married at First Sight star explained that he didn’t view money as something to be managed, per se. In fact, he preferred to spend at will.
Of his “seize the day” approach to budgeting, Woody said, “When I do go shopping, I go on a spree. You work hard for your money, so you want to spend it. I can’t die with it, so the sky’s the limit. Whatever I want to buy, I’m gonna buy it.”
But Amani didn’t see things that way. While she wasn’t ultra-thrifty or tight-fisted, she wanted to be more responsible and careful with the money they had. The differences in their perspectives on budgeting made Amani a bit concerned about their shared future.
“I understand that we both like nice things,” the Married at First Sight star acknowledged. “But between the two of us, Woody definitely spends money more frivolously. So that kind of concerns me, like—how am I gonna work with this person for the rest of my life? I need to know that we can support each other financially.”
Some YouTubers thought Woody’s budget expectations were unrealistic
Several Married at First Sight YouTubers couldn’t believe what they were hearing when it came to Woody and Amani’s budget.
In a review of the Married at First Sight episode, comedian Jazmyn W said that Woody’s expectations about weekly expensive date nights weren’t realistic.
“Married people do not go on dates every weekend, I’m sorry,” she pointed out. “We have hobbies, we have separate lives, live together, we have friends.”
Jazmyn added that she thought some of Woody’s free-spirited, even reckless approach to spending might be due to the fact that he hadn’t had to worry about rent while living with his grandma.
“When you live with your grandmother, you can spend $1,000 a month on clothes because you don’t have to pay bills!” she argued. “You don’t have to pay rent, you don’t have to pay a mortgage. Probably cooking for him and paying for his groceries.”
The YouTuber also thought diamond earrings were a bit much for a one-month anniversary, suggesting that Woody had a problem with spending sprees in general.
“I’m sorry, diamonds are not a 30-day gift,” she said in her review.
Tommy and Artieka of the YouTube channel August Love Story agreed with that assessment. In their review of the Married at First Sight episode, they both pushed back against the idea that anyone would need such a large clothing budget.
“Like, where am I going?” Artieka joked of Woody’s commitment to pricey fashion. “My stuff already fits!”
The YouTubers also questioned Woody’s ability to pay for all of these high-ticket items with his job as a teacher and coach.
“Isn’t he a teacher?” Artieka wondered. “They’re paying a lot more money for teachers in Louisiana than I thought they did.”
‘Married at First Sight’ fans were surprised by Woody’s spending habits
Many Married at First Sight fans took to Reddit after the latest episode to wonder how on earth Woody could afford such a lavish budget.
Several viewers argued that Woody was “spoiled.” Others thought he might go through a rude awakening in terms of finances after moving out of his grandmother’s house for good and hitching his wagon to another person – and their financial needs. Particularly because Woody wanted to have children as soon as possible, several Redditors wondered how he planned to budget for a baby.
One Reddit user wondered just how much Woody might be making in his role as an educator to be able to afford his lifestyle. “You need to make a lot of money to spend $1000/month,” they wrote.
“I was shocked by the numbers they were throwing out,” another Redditor agreed. “They must both be making $80k a year… to be comfortable splashing out $1600/month on extras!”
But others thought Woody might be “all talk” or “exaggerating for the cameras” when it came to his money. Perhaps, they speculated, he didn’t feel comfortable sharing his real budget with the Married at First Sight audience.
