Credit: Mat Hayward/PEACOCK
Married at First Sight‘s 20th season concluded last night when the finale and reunion episodes were dropped on Peacock.
Prior to the show wrapping, star Shawn Best came forward to take some accountability for comments he made to his wife, Nikki Jefferson.
During a conversation that aired on the show, Shawn informed Nikki that filling a husband’s needs was part of being a wife.
Shawn spoke with PEOPLE ahead of the finale dropping yesterday to address his remarks.
“The truth is, saying those words was never okay. It’s never okay to put someone in a pressure situation,” he shared. “From my mentorship and my big brothers and my friends that I’ve been trained up around, it’s never okay to go at a pace that’s different than your wife’s pace or a partner’s pace.”
Specifically, on episode 10 of the show, the pair discussed their relationship and where they wanted it to be by the decision day, when they would ultimately decide if they wanted to stay together.
While Nikki expressed wanting more time before they were intimate, Shawn later told her he had “increased desire” when they had a good night together and asked her if she’d be open to being intimate without having sex.
Nikki shared she wasn’t ready to “unlock” that part of their relationship.
In response, Shawn said, “If you don’t want to, I understand. But to me, that’s also part of showing up as a wife, like noticing your husband has a need and filling that need at some point.”
When Nikki confronted Shawn about the comments later in the episode, he insisted he’s “literally thirsty” and didn’t mean to disrespect his wife.
“I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever say it’s your wifely duty to please me given the fact that we met less than three weeks ago,” he said. He also noted the way she characterized his remarks was “ridiculous.”
“I want to take accountability for that because I do believe that a lot of women have been in that situation before,” Shawn continued. “I have never been told that I put pressure on someone before to go faster than the pace that they were comfortable with. But I do also think that this was a higher-stakes moment, and it’s really got a lot of implications and outcomes that could be really negative for that.”
As for Nikki and Shawn’s current status, the couple is no longer together after Nikki decided to end things with Shawn on Decision Day. She explained that she simply didn’t feel safe emotionally with him. As expected, Shawn didn’t take the rejection well, and he blamed the demise of their relationship on Nikki, leading to things ending on bad terms for the former couple.