‘Married at First Sight’: Katie Conrad Tells Derek Sherman She’s Still Attracted to Her Ex

Fans of Lifetime’s Married at First Sight were worried about the relationship between 25-year-old Katie Conrad and her 26-year-old husband, Derek Sherman, right away.

While Katie and Derek got along on their honeymoon in Panama and seemed to have a romantic spark, Katie’s relationship history seemed to cast a bit of a dark cloud over the new marriage. She admitted to having “cold feet” just before she married her husband after an ex, who’d once ghosted her, reached out to try to reconnect.

Although Katie ultimately decided to go through with the wedding, she had second thoughts that concerned Married at First Sight viewers. And on the Feb. 12 episode, “New Wife, New Life,” Katie’s past once again came back to haunt her new marriage during a stressful counseling session with Pastor Cal Roberson.

Derek told Katie he wasn’t ready to fall in love

During Katie and Derek’s marital counseling session, Derek admitted he felt like they’d plateaued in terms of romance, at least for the time being.

After their honeymoon in Panama, he explained, they felt a bit of a letdown. “For me, I realize that the main thing that’s missing here is time,” the Married at First Sight star told Pastor Cal. “Like, I want this to work out. I’m gonna do everything I can to see what happens here. But I don’t think I could actually feel love for at least six months to a year.”

Katie looked heartbroken as Derek shared his potential timeline for falling in love. “It scares me that Derek doesn’t know if he’s willing to fall in love with me,” she told Lifetime producers. “I got married at first sight to fall in love and be in love.” She admitted that hearing Derek’s confession “hurt” and that she hoped things would change as they moved forward together.

Katie came clean about her lingering feelings for her ex

Pastor Cal continued the session by asking Derek about his perspective on love. Derek explained that he didn’t think he’d truly been in love before at all.

That’s when Katie dropped a bombshell about her remaining feelings for her ex, who ghosted her before coming back into her life just before her wedding to Derek.

“There was somebody I was dating casually. I actually mentioned it to you,” the Married at First Sight star told the pastor. “And you asked me, ‘If you were to go through with this, would you have any problem shutting that door?’ And I said no.”

But Katie admitted it hadn’t been a clean break. “Things kind of progressed,” she revealed, “and he told me that he loves me. And that made it harder for me to make that decision.”

“If that person came back into your life now, do you think that would be a problem?” Pastor Cal asked Katie.

After an excruciating pause, she answered noncommittally, “It’s hard to say.”

“Are you still attracted to that person?” the pastor replied.

“Yeah,” Katie confessed, adding that cutting emotional ties with him was a “conscious decision” that she had to make “every day” in her marriage.

The ‘Married at First Sight’ star admitted the breakup still hurt

Katie began to cry as she described the impact her breakup still had on her, even as she had decided to commit to Derek.

“It hurt when that happened,” she revealed. “It hurt to be told by somebody I had been waiting for, you know, months and months to feel what I felt to tell me they did feel that, and even though I’m glad I made that decision, because I don’t want to be with someone who did that to me. But that the same time, yeah, it still hurts. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to process the healing, so I still kind of am.”

Derek tried to be understanding of Katie’s feelings, but he admitted her admission made her feel like he had “competition” in his marriage.

“It’s concerning that there are still lingering feelings, because I am going into this as kind of a blank slate,” he told Lifetime producers. “I don’t think I should feel like I have a competitor in a marriage.”

While Derek was obviously concerned about Katie’s revelation, the Married at First Sight couple had a  heart-to-heart about it later on that seemed to assuage some of Derek’s worst fears. “There’s no communication,” Katie told him of her ex. “Zero.”

Derek looked relieved to know that Katie wasn’t still in contact with the ex in question. Although the problem wasn’t yet resolved, Katie assured Derek she was willing to put in any amount of effort to make their marriage work.

“You are a better man [than him], and I’m happy I’m with you,” Katie gushed before they kissed.