Married At First Sight‘s Steve Burley and Michelle Meshes were called out by the experts on Wednesday’s episode for not having sex.
WATCH: MAFS expert John calls out Steve and Mishel on their relationship
John Aiken was disappointed at the couple and called ‘BS’ on the fact they hadn’t consummated their “marriage”.
However fans of the show weren’t so quick to condemn the couple, and instead turned on the expert and questioned his credentials.
“John Aiken on MAFS pretty much told Steve that he’s ‘sh*t and never tries, will never make the relationship go past a friendship because you won’t have it with your wife’ … imagine being told that by a real Councillor [sic],” one fan said.
Another viewer disagreed with John, saying she believed a good relationship could be built on friendship.
“Agh a clinical psychologist, John Aiken, acting somewhat unprofessionally by telling Steve and Mishel that just cos they haven’t done the nude tango – ‘I’m calling BS on this’ – hey John, a solid friendship is a good base for something long term, duh.”
While others agreed with John.
“Yeah John Aiken…you tell em!” they added.
The backlash comes after Wednesday’s commitment ceremony where viewers watched as Steve insisted that he and wife Mishel had cranked up the romance, after the experts advised them to do so – but hadn’t slept together.
Dr Trisha at first looked hopeful, asking the pair, “Did you share a bed together?”
“No we didn’t. No we haven’t,” Mishel admitted.
“So you didn’t share a bed, but did you move the relationship forward?” Trisha quizzed, wondering whether they had done the deed.
“Yes. We sit and we watch TV and we’re cuddling quite intimately,” Mishel replied – that’s a no in regard to sex.
Trisha wondered, “Did you have a passionate kiss?”
When Mishel responded “no”, the doctor told the single mum that it “sounds like a very comfortable friendship,” not a marriage.
“We are very comfortable together,” Mishel said, clearly not understanding what Trisha as getting at.
Trisha explained: “We’re right at the end of this experiment. It’s been quite a few weeks now, and you’ve been stuck on first base.”
“It’s progressed in terms of physical touch and stuff like that,” Steve insisted, before admitted that nothing “sexual” was going on between him and his wife.
“We haven’t gotten to that stage.”
Trisha was getting impatient. “Will it ever happen?”
Then came the weird stuff. Steve said: “Umm, maybe it will, maybe it won’t. Both of us have realised this week that maybe the physical attraction for me is starting to materialise slowly but surely, but for Mishel, she’s pulled back a little bit from that.”
Mishel explained to the experts that a comment her mother made during her home visit that they seemed to be just friend had plagued her.
“I love him and I can’t imagine my life without Steve and I’m sure that he can’t either,” Mishel said, to which Steve declared: “Fact!”
“We might not have a normal sexual relationship, but if it’s not our time to have a romantic relationship during the experiment, then it could be at another time. Maybe this was not our time, but I don’t feel that it will never be a time,” she said as tears welled up in her eyes.
Steve added: “Who knows what may happen in the future, it may not be our time now, it may be tomorrow! I don’t know. A lot can happen in a few days in this experiment.”
The rest of the cast rolled their eyes. They wanted the truth.
Expert Mel Shilling jumped in. “You’re almost talking like it’s going to be some magical, mystical thing that’s going to happen to you… Steve, do you think you’ve done and said everything you possibly can to make this relationship work?”
“Good question. Big question, I guess,” Steve replied.
Steve said that if they’d both let their walls down earlier, perhaps they would be more advanced in their marriage.
By this point, John had had enough with Steve and Mishel’s weak answers.
“I’ve gotta call it for what is it, you guys started out as friends and eight weeks on you’re still friends,” he began.
“You haven’t gotten out of the friendzone at all. You are essentially two people that haven’t gotten on board the process, it’s the same conversations we’ve had the last four or five commitment ceremonies and you need the feedback. What I’m saying is, let’s call it, it’s friends not lovers. It’s not going anywhere now and it ain’t going anywhere in the future. I’m calling BS on this.”
Despite the pair seemingly just friends, they both decided to stay in the experiment.