A Married at First Sight star is struggling to understand why her new husband is insisting on sleeping on the floor — in a separate bedroom — now that they are living in the same apartment.
Although they slept in the same bed on their wedding night because there was only one blanket, Jephte Pierre, 26, and Shawniece Jackson, 29, spent their honeymoon in separate beds, much to her chagrin.
In a preview clip from Tuesday night’s episode of the Lifetime reality series, Jephte is camping out on the floor in the spare bedroom in his apartment in Boston, and he even gets annoyed with his new wife when she tries to give him an affectionate kiss goodnight.
Bad sign? Jephte Pierre, 26, refuses to sleep in bed with his new wife, Shawniece Jackson. Instead, he sleeps on the floor in the spare bedroom in his Boston apartment
Confused: Shawniece, 29, is worried that this is a sign that Jephte isn’t attracted to her
‘With my husband sleeping on the floor and sleeping in separate bedrooms, it makes me nervous,’ Shawniece admits.
‘It’s like, okay, are you not attracted to me? Do you not want me? What’s is the problem? What is the issue?’
‘I want us to be husband and wife, and I don’t feel wanted because he’s on the floor,’ she adds.
In the clip, Jephte announces it is ‘time to go to sleep’ and affectionately puts his arm around Shawniece as he escorts her to the bedroom, but they’re not getting in bed together.
Shut down: When it is time to go to bed, Shawniece asks if he is going to sleep on the floor, and hesitates for just a second before saying: ‘Yeah’
Bedtime routine? Shawniece kindly gets Jephte’s blanket ready for him before he curls up on the floor
‘You’re sleeping on the floor?’ she asks, and Jephte hesitates for a second before he replies: ‘Yeah.’
Shawniece sweetly sets up his blanket for him, and she even gets down on her knees to give him a kiss goodnight after he is settled. But he just ends up getting annoyed with her.
‘Leave me alone,’ he says after she gives him a big smooch.
Although she is pretending that is everything is fine in front of him, she is clearly upset when she walks into to the bedroom that she is sleeping in.
‘Oh my god, Jephte,’ she mutters to herself, putting her hand on her head in exasperation.
Upset: ‘I want us to be husband and wife, and I don’t feel wanted because he’s on the floor,’ Shawniece admits during a testimonial
Harsh response: Shawniece even gets down on her knees to give him a kiss goodnight, but he tells her to leave him alone
Now how she pictured it: Shawniece returns to the bedroom to hop in to bed, but she is clearly upset that Jephte isn’t joining her
Jephte and Shawniece have been struggling with the pace of their relationship since the night of their wedding. They’ve only been married for about a week, and they have already gotten in multiple fights over him constantly calling her a stranger.
Although Shawniece is ready to act like husband and wife, Jephte has made it clear that he wants to take things slowly and really get to know each other.
During last week’s episode, Jephte told Shawniece that she is his wife and he is in ‘this for the long haul,’ but he was hesitant to even let her move into his apartment when the time came to discuss where they were going to live.
Now that they are home, Jephte is still moving at a snail’s pace, leaving his wife befuddled at his refusal to even share a bed with her.
‘That’s my husband. He sleeps on the floor,’ Shawniece says in her testimonial. ‘It doesn’t make sense for me. This is not what I imagined things would be like.’