Summary
Married at First Sight season 17 participant Lauren is sabotaging her marriage to Orion Martzloff by oversharing, but she still might have time to change. Lauren, 30, and Orion, 26, took the leap of faith to marry a stranger handpicked for them by Married at First Sight’s team of three experts. Lauren has deep connections to her Black heritage, while Orion’s Native American culture is very important to him. Each wanted a partner they could share their culture with and learn from. This is Lauren’s first relationship with someone outside of her race.
Lauren and Orion were attracted to each other from the moment they met, and that attraction has carried through to the honeymoon. However, they have had several key issues that have been driving them apart due to Lauren’s behavior. Married at Sight viewers have been watching them on their honeymoon in Mexico, where they are striving to get to know each other more while getting support from the other three couples. Once the honeymoon is over, Lauren and Orion will move into a neutral apartment and try to settle into their marriages further, but Lauren and Orion have a lot of baggage from the honeymoon.
Lauren And Orion Have Had Friction
While everything between Lauren and Orion started well, they had a major disconnect once they dove into sensitive topics. Lauren asked Orion if he had ever used the N-word. He said he had ignorantly. Lauren admitted to using words she shouldn’t have in the past, and Orion threw out the term “red skin.” Lauren said she didn’t know what that meant before stopping herself and chuckling while saying, “Oh wait, I just looked at your face.” Orion was offended and schooled Lauren on why her “joke” wasn’t funny.
Lauren’s decision to prod her husband in that situation by posing a “joke” spoke to her ignorance and caused a rift between her and Orion. Since this tension started early, it has set the tone for Orion and viewers to be wary of Lauren’s need to get her point across at the expense of her husband. Lauren and Orion spent some time apart before hashing it out and coming to an agreement to move past the uncomfortable issue, but it did mark a precedent.
Lauren Overshared About Her Recent Sex Life
During the latest episode of Married at First Sight season 17, Lauren stuck her foot in her mouth again, creating another uncomfortable situation for her husband. Lauren brought up the topic of sex, which seemed to excite both her and Orion. They talked about what they were like as lovers before Lauren asked when the last time Orion had sex was. Orion said it had been a year and a half. Lauren laughed as she said it had only been two months for her. This obviously upset Orion, who said he doesn’t give himself sexually to people easily.
Lauren then stoked the flame and directly asked Orion if he had an issue with her sleeping with someone two months prior. Orion looked disheartened as he said it did and that sex was now off the table for him. Lauren clearly overshared in a moment where she should have read the room and paused to think if her reveal could be hurtful and have consequences.
Lauren Doesn’t Know When To Keep Things To Herself
In both the uncomfortable instances instigated by Lauren, she proved that she can’t or doesn’t know when to keep things to herself. Whether she is oversharing because she wants her husband to know the truth or to showcase her playful personality is unknown. However, it’s clear her thinking is misguided because she keeps making inappropriate remarks and divulsions that are damaging fans’ perceptions and her marriage. If Lauren had kept her insensitive “joke” to herself and not been eager to let Orion know about her recent intimacy, their connection would be in a much better place.
Lauren Presses Issues Too Far
Also in both touchy situations, Lauren pressed the issue much farther than it needed to go, which added an extra layer of cringe to the already difficult occurrences. During the red skin incident, Lauren did not back down from asking Orion why he was “heated” and continued asking questions that annoyed Orion. If she had admitted to that being a bad thing to say instead of relentlessly trying to justify her ignorance and minimize the situation, the whole ordeal could have been dealt with more easily.
Moreover, Lauren did not need to dig her heels in and ask Orion whether her having sex two months ago bothered him. Her rhetoric in driving home the point Orion had a problem with was insensitive and not the proper way to deal with her overshare. Lauren was frustrated by Orion’s disappointment over her recent sexual encounter, which was not fair to Orion since she was the one to cause the problem.
Orion And Lauren Want To Be Married To Each Other
There is room and time for Lauren to change in her marriage to Orion. She now has two distinct situations to learn from. Lauren has said that she wants to understand her husband, and it appears as though she and Orion want to put in the work to make the marriage successful. Lauren and Orion have a lot in common and have been smitten with each other outside of these, now two incidents. While Lauren has shown her immaturity, Orion’s patient nature and communication skills are two things that could help him and Lauren come back from these unfortunate incidents.
Since Lauren has proclaimed that her and Orion’s relationship is “resolution-based,” it’s possible they can get past Lauren’s most recent overshare. However, that is unlikely, given the trailer for the Married at First Sight season and the trailer for the next episode. It looks like things will implode further for the couple as Orion talks to Married at First Sight expert Pastor Cal about how Lauren said he was lying about how things played out. Simultaneously, Lauren will confide in cast mate Clare Kerr about an argument she had with Orion in which she asked for a divorce.
Married at First Sight airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST.
Cast: Pepper Schwartz, Calvin Roberson, Viviana Coles, Jessica Griffin, John Aiken, Mel Schilling, Alessandra Rampolla
Genres: Reality, Romance
Rating: TV-14
Seasons: 17
Writers: Lotte Offenberg Bergqvist, Razor Rizzotti
Directors: Charlie Mysak, Michael Fitzpatrick Lawrence Jr., Nick Petrie
Showrunner: Sam Dean
