‘Married at First Sight’: Lauren Rejects Orion’s Olive Branch
It’s Valentine’s Day, and love is in the air. But not for Lauren and Orion on Married at First Sight. In the Feb. 14 episode of the Lifetime reality series, Orion tried to open a dialogue with his ex-wife about their relationship. But Lauren isn’t interested in listening to her former husband rehash what went wrong in their brief marriage.
Orion puts Lauren on the spot at a group dinner
While Lauren and Orion broke up after just 10 days of marriage, both still decided to attend the couples’ retreat with the rest of the Denver cast (minus Cameron, who is still recovering from heart surgery).
Lauren and Orion’s breakup was far from amicable. He abruptly pulled away after a tense argument about a racial slur and her confession that she’s had sex with someone while participating in the Married at First Sight casting process. Still, they’ve managed to keep things civil at the retreat. But she wasn’t pleased when he put her on the spot at a group dinner.
“There’s been a lot of tension [between Lauren and me],” Orion said. “Coming to the couple’s retreat, I was really looking forward to just being able to find our own piece of mind. If it is something that Lauren is up for I was looking forward … [to] trying to find common ground.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t bring this up sooner,” he added, glancing at Lauren, who didn’t say anything after her ex’s speech.
“Would you like to respond when I talk?” Orion asked.
“I’m just gonna drink my wine,” she replied.
Lauren thinks Orion is putting on a show for the ‘Married at First Sight’ cameras
In an interview, Lauren expressed her frustration with Orion choosing to speak to her in a group setting rather than one-on-one.
“Orion has a great demeanor when it comes to addressing the group as a whole versus talking to me,” she said. “In between when we film, there’s no conversation. There is no reaching out.”
“It doesn’t seem authentic. It doesn’t seem real. It’s just frustrating,” she added.
Nonetheless, Lauren sat down with her ex for a post-dinner chat. He expressed a desire to “build a bridge” and claimed he was “missing [their] connection.” He also wanted them to be able to “team up” and tell the story of their relationship to the other couples.
Lauren pointed out that Orion had no desire for such a partnership when they were actually married.
“It doesn’t seem fair for you to want to team up and be partners in our divorce when I feel like I didn’t get that partnership in our marriage,” she said.
“It just feels like you only put me on the spot in front of other couples,” she added.
Despite his decision to give up on his marriage after less than two weeks, Orion is still seeking some kind of relationship with Lauren. But she doesn’t have the emotional capacity to deal with his needs. Her head was telling her that she wasn’t getting anything out of more conversations with Orion, she explained. However, her heart was telling her that she still cared about him and wanted clarity about their marriage.
Lauren doesn’t think she can have a ‘genuine friendship’ with Orion
Lauren and Orion talked one more time after a group yoga session.
“My emotions towards you are open to being open,” she said diplomatically. She admitted that she wasn’t sure how to navigate divorce and that she was surprised that the end of such a brief relationship felt like a real breakup. Though she didn’t have a problem being polite in a group setting, she wasn’t sure she wanted him in her life in a more meaningful way.
“Genuine friendship? I don’t know. Right now, if I’m being honest, I don’t know how much value I would see in us having a friendship,” she said.
Orion’s efforts to unpack what happened between them were too little, too late she said. If he’d approached soon after their split, she might have been more open to hearing him out. But now, she was ready to move on.
Still, Orion persisted in wanting to keep the door open. He asked if she wanted to check in a week or so. Lauren wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea.
“You know, maybe let me drive that.” she replied. “I’ll reach out, if that’s OK with you.”
New episodes of Married at First Sight Season 17 air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime.
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