‘Married at First Sight’: Woody Opens Up to Amani About a Painful Part of His Past

Almost immediately, Woody Randall and Amani Aliyya became a fan favorite couple on Lifetime’s Married at First Sight season 11 in New Orleans.

Woody, a 30-year-old senior administrator and coach, and Amani, a 29-year-old nonprofit program coordinator, hit it off right away at their wedding. The pair had intense chemistry right from the start. And despite a few disagreements along the way, Woody and Amani’s relationship seemed to grow even stronger on the Sept. 23 episode of Married at First Sight, “Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby.”

Woody and Amani talked about what they most appreciated in each other

Physical chemistry has never been an obstacle for Amani and Woody, ever since their very first moments together on their wedding day. So, this episode’s exercises from the Married at First Sight experts—like physical touch exercises and intimacy-building questions about everything from sex positions to discussions of how to initiate sex—seemed like nothing but fun for them.

But the pair also delved into some more serious topics, like what they most appreciated in one another.

As for when he felt closest to Amani, Woody lovingly told his wife that he loved “being able to tell her his truth.” The Married at First Sight star explained that he felt safest when she offered a “listening ear” to him, without trying to interfere or give her opinion right away.

For her part, Amani told Woody that she loved when he did little things for her that suggested he noticed the details of what she enjoyed, like making breakfast tacos for her exactly how she wanted them.

“My husband knows what I like,” she said affectionately, seeming smitten with her husband.

The couple discussed Woody’s father’s incarceration in the past

Woody and Amani’s conversation took a more sensitive turn when Amani was assigned the question, “When have you given up on something?”

Woody’s face clouded, and he admitted that he felt he’d eventually given up on his relationship with his father after years of trying to make it work.

“We went too far,” the Married at First Sight star lamented. “Too much was said.” And when the “bridge collapsed” in their communication, Woody explained, it eventually became too difficult to think of how to reconstruct it.  

The ‘Married at First Sight’ couple seemed to bond over Woody’s vulnerability

Amani tentatively asked how Woody felt about closing himself off from his relationship with his father.

“Initially I felt uneasy,” Woody confessed. “I felt closed off.”

The Married at First Sight star went to counseling to figure out what exactly was going on in terms of his relationship with his dad. After working through his emotions, he realized that he had always been hoping for the dad he had at nine years old to come back—but he never did.

Woody told Lifetime producers that his father was incarcerated when he was nine years old, and didn’t return until Woody was 16.

After that, he said of his father, “He changed. He wasn’t the same guy after he left.” The damage to their relationship was irreparable, and Woody had to come to accept that that crucial time of his childhood with his father was permanently gone.

Amani reminded Woody that he now had two fathers—her father and stepfather, with whom Woody had bonded at their wedding. Her husband seemed grateful for and moved by this gesture, and the pair agreed that their relationship was steadily deepening.