This MAFS Couple Broke Up Before Decision Day: "There's No Reason We Should Stay"
The honeymoon phase never really sparked for MAFS Season 20 couple Nick and Courteney.
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Major spoilers for the August 13 batch of Married at First Sight Season 20 episodes ahead!
Key Takeaways
- Nick Unlenhuth and Courteney Landis ended their marriage before Decision Day after struggling throughout the experiment to build a romantic connection despite having shared values and compatibility on paper.
- The couple’s ongoing conflicts centered on communication, emotional maturity, and authenticity, with Courteney feeling Nick was surface-level and Nick feeling invalidated when expressing himself.
- During a group therapy session with the experts, both agreed there was no clear path toward a successful marriage and decided it was best to end the relationship rather than continue without long-term compatibility.
There are only so many ways a marriage between two strangers can go, but for Nick Unlenhuth and Courteney Landis, their Married at First Sight experiment has come to an end before they even made it to Decision Day.
The Season 20 couple entered the experiment with plenty in common and shared outlooks on relationships, but feeling a romantic connection proved to be an issue from the moment that pair began hanging out during their honeymoon. Finding common ground has been easier on paper than in real life, and as the weeks have gone on, Nick and Courteney have struggled to build a happily-ever-after. Now, with Decision Day looming, the pair reached a breaking point.
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As the clock winds down, trouble began in Episode 13 ahead of the couples' second group therapy session. Nick and Courteney have been struggling to land on the same page, so ahead of the high-stakes meet-up, they had a chat that soon turned south.
Nick and Courteney fought ahead of the second MAFS group therapy session
In Episode 13, Courteney told Nick she cared for him but felt he struggled to be upfront with her without the MAFS experts' guidance. She felt their relationship was surface-level and superficial. Nick, on the other hand, felt invalidated by Courteney when he voiced his concerns or opinions. Courteney argued they weren't similarly emotionally mature, especially as they continued to struggle to get on the same page ahead of the session.
After the tense exchange, Nick told Courteney that if they couldn't understand each other and didn't feel romantically compatible, he wasn't sure how their connection would work long-term. It was an intense conversation that led them to arrive at the group session with heavy hearts. Ahead of the high-stakes Decision Day, it was time for some hard truths to come to light.
It didn't take long for the experts to suspect Nick and Courteney had some hot topics to get off their chest. Courteney echoed her previous feelings that Nick wasn't being his true self with her, while Nick maintained he wasn't reading a script or trying to be surface-level, leaving him confused about how he could ever be genuine enough for Courteney.
They both could see that the other was putting in the work, but nothing seemed to change. Meanwhile, Nick and Courteney confirmed that despite weeks of the experiment, they hadn't formed a romantic connection yet and operated better as friends.
The experts leveled with them. "You're both gorgeous, likable people," Dr. Lisa Paz told them, reminding the two that they were both great on paper, but needed to be compatible to build a marriage. Nick confessed that while he could justify staying for the sake of self-discovery, it didn't feel fair to string Courteney along as he figured it out. It was a tough pill to swallow, leading Courteney to curse him out for approaching the experiment selfishly, not even knowing what he needed to change.
"It hurts so bad," Courteney said through tears. Nick told her that he didn't want to lengthen that pain.
Nick and Courteney decided to break up on Married at First Sight
At that, the experts felt the incoming towel being thrown. "So I'm curious," Dr. Paul Brunson said. "Would you like to end your marriage tonight?"
"I don't know," Courteney said before they continued opening up to the couples about their ongoing issues. When asked if they felt there was something to gain in staying until Decision Day, Nick struggled to answer, leading Dr. Paz to level with the couple once again as the conversation continued in Episode 14.
"The question really is: do I see myself able to create a space where there is true viability for a marriage?" Dr. Paz asked him. After Nick once again struggled to conjure a clear response, Courteney called it.
"You know what? There's no reason we should stay. It's not, it's no," Courteney said while growing emotional. When Nick was asked how he felt, he admitted he saw the blow coming.
"It does suck," Nick told the experts. "But yeah, I've obviously expressed that I don't know about this long-term, either. So it's like someone's gotta rip off the Band-Aid. Yeah, I genuinely agree with like, there's not really a reason to stay. I don't think either of us is wrong, but maybe we're just wrong for each other."
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"So then what we hear you saying is that you too have agreed that you'd like to end your marriage tonight," Dr. Brunson confirmed. At that, Courteney began crying as they realized their experiment was coming to an end. "You two truly have been super in this, and I think what you've done tonight makes us incredibly proud."
"This requires and demands so much humility, and I think you guys did it very gracefully," Dr. Paz agreed before they encouraged Nick and Courteney to bid farewell to everyone.
Stream new episodes of Married at First Sight on Thursdays on Peacock.
