Married at First Sight star Shaquille Dillon has revealed if he regrets divorcing Kirsten Grimes and whether he wants to win her back and reconcile.
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After eight weeks of the extreme marriage experiment, Shaquille and Kirsten met with Married at First Sight experts Pastor Calvin Roberson and Dr. Pepper Schwartz on Decision Day to reveal whether they wanted to stay married or go their separate ways.
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Kirsten announced how she “would love” to stay married to Shaquille and continue their journey together as spouses, but Shaquille — who got very emotional — completely shocked Kirsten and the experts by asking for a divorce.
During the May 24 episode of Married at First Sight: Afterparty, Shaquille was asked if he was curious, even in the least bit, to see what life might be like staying married to Kirsten without all the cameras around.
“I thought you get to Decision Day and you make a decision. It’s not ‘life beyond Decision Day.’ It’s like, ‘You’ve got to make a decision on this day,'” Shaquille explained.
Shaquille said he wasn’t thinking about the situation as, “Let’s get past Decision Day and see if we both can make this work.”
Shaquille told Kirsten on Decision Day that he had been feeling “alone” in the marriage and there were times when he believed Kirsten “wasn’t there” for him.
“It’s been hard. Every day I showed up,” Shaquille said, breaking down into tears.
“I tried to get you to let down your guards, but I don’t think nothing is ever good enough… I don’t know if there’s any more I can do to show you that I’ve been here for you since Day 1. I hope that you can respect my decision.”
Shaquille confessed on Afterparty that once the damage was done, he thought to himself, “Dang, did I make a bad decision?”
“[But] by that time, a decision was made,” Shaquille admitted.
In terms of what he wishes he had done differently, Shaquille said he should’ve kept more of an open mind and heart throughout the process.
“I would definitely not shut down so much,” Shaquille said in hindsight of his mistakes.
“I don’t think a lot of it was Kirsten. It was more so, like, school and work, and I didn’t see it until watching it back, like, ‘Oh wow.’ And you’ve just got to live with the decision.”
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Shaquille, however, apparently isn’t harping on his final decision and on what could have been had he stuck with Kirsten longer.
“I don’t live with any regret,” Shaquille noted. “I just wish Kirsten and I would’ve been on the same page on Decision Day — and we probably could’ve gotten past Decision Day.”
Shaquille, however, seemed to make the decision to divorce thinking he and Kirsten could remain friends and maybe rekindle their romance one day. He wasn’t set on closing the door of their relationship.
“Who knows? [MAFS star Nicole Lilienthal] may have some hope one day that, you know, Kirsten and I may spin the block!” Shaquille said, referencing Nicole and Kirsten’s close friendship post-show.
Nicole — who is still married to Chris Thielk and also appeared on the Afterparty broadcast — acknowledged, “I will always have hope.”
“But life happens,” Shaquille concluded.
Whether or not Kirsten and Shaquille ever get back together, Shaquille said he’d like for Kirsten to stay in his life in some capacity.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say [I want] a friendship [with her], but I don’t want to be strangers,” Shaquille noted.
“Throughout the process of us watching it now, it’s like, ‘Dang, I didn’t know I made her feel that way.’ So maybe I should reach out and apologize, because now I’m actually seeing it.”
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Shaquille said he’s ultimately “grateful” for the process because he learned a lot about vulnerability and emotional intelligence.
On the latest episode of Married at First Sight’s sixteenth season, Shaquille teased he may eventually try to win Kirsten back.
“You never know what happens,” Shaquille told his friend Tasha.
“You never know if we just needed some real-life time apart to really think about what we wanted and needed in the marriage,” he continued. “What if that time does happen, like, ‘Let’s start off as friends. We’re still married. We’re not divorced yet!… Let’s go from there.'”
Shaquille also said of Kirsten in a confessional with a big smile, “She’s going to find her Prince Charming. She’s going to find her person. It may be me again one day. You never know where God may lead us.”
But when the entire cast met up for a gathering at an axe-throwing bar, Kirsten announced how she had no desire to ever give Shaquille another chance.
When MAFS star Jasmine Secrest asked the former couple if the door was totally closed or just closed for “right now,” Kirsten noted, “It’s a door closed, because when you have a chance at something, you take your chance. And if you miss out, it’s gone.”
Kirsten also told Shaquille that she had no plans to call or text him, or even check on him for that matter. Kirsten said when she’s done with something, she doesn’t communicate with that person or look back.
“If looks can kill, I’d probably be dead right now,” Shaquille joked on Afterparty.
“But I definitely appreciate her for even saying how she felt. It’s going to take her time — she’s not going to text and she’s not going to call. I have to give her time, and I have to give her grace.”
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About The Author:
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.