‘Married At First Sight’ Season 4 Spoilers: Did Heather Choose Divorce Or Marriage? Episode 8 Recap

“Married at First Sight” is supposed to be a six-week experiment. While two couples worked on communication and intimacy in Season 4, episode 8, one couple had to decide if they were ready to call it quits. After taking a few days to think, Heather Seidel revealed if she wanted to get divorced or stay married to Derek Schwartz.

Derek and Heather

As revealed in last week’s cliffhanger on the FYI reality show, Derek wants to stay married. However, Heather isn’t so optimistic about their ability to bounce back after all of their fighting. “I’m really sorry about how things have gone,” Heather says. “I don’t think you’re a bad person at all, and I’m sorry that I can’t move forward with you. I cannot be married to you and I hope that you understand that.”

Heather wants a divorce. Derek doesn’t think they really gave their marriage a chance, but he has to respect her decision.

The two walk out of expert Cal Roberson’s office together. Heather asks if her husband will be okay. Derek says he’ll be fine, and they wish each other luck before going their separate ways.

Derek says he feels “betrayed” and “disappointed” by Heather’s choice. “I can’t help thinking maybe I’m the type of person who is supposed to be alone,” Derek says.

Heather uses her video diary to explain her feelings. She’s a bit more optimistic about the future. “I’m not proud of choosing to get divorced. I’m not proud of that. It’s embarrassing,” she says. “Tomorrow I’m gonna get up and go back to my boring yet very lovable life, and you know, maybe one of these days I’ll find love. I’m not sure.”

She is sad that their marriage didn’t work, and she says that really wanted it to, but they weren’t right for each other. Heather wishes him the best.

Derek is embarrassed to return to work. His co-workers all know he recently got married, and he has to tell them that it’s over. He wonders what is wrong with him.

Telling his family and friends that his marriage is over makes him even more nervous. He reveals to one of his friends, John Pierre, that Heather asked for a divorce after 10 days of marriage.

John Pierre tries to look at the bright side. He says they might become good friends after a divorce, but Derek doesn’t think so. He suggests going out to find another girlfriend, but Derek isn’t quite ready to move on yet. “This experience by no means tarnished my view of love or made me think anything less of it,” he tells the cameras. “But I don’t think I’m ready to get back out there in the dating world just yet.”

Tom and Lillian

After walking the dog, Tom Wilson returns home to find Lillian Vilchez gone. He sends her text messages and doesn’t know where she is. When she comes home she rushes into the bathroom in tears. Tom follows her in and asks why she’s upset.

Lillian was in a car accident a while ago where she injured her shoulder. She went to a doctor’s appointment expecting to be told that she was finally all healed, but she discovered that she instead needs surgery.

Communication expert Rachel DeAlto comes over to check in with the couple, and she says this is a normal reaction to an unexpected surgery. She notes that her new marriage is obviously adding even more stress to her diagnosis.

Tom talks to Rachel about how he should approach Lillian. Tom says he can see spending the rest of his life with his wife, and Rachel tells him to lead with that. Tom just has to let her know that he is there for support. Tom assures her that he’s sticking around no matter what.

Rachel has them tell each other what they appreciate about each other. Lillian loves that Tom is so kind to her and Tom appreciates that Lillian can laugh with him. Lillian knows that it’ll take a while for them to really be emotionally intimate, but she thinks they’re on their way to building the trust necessary for that.

Physical intimacy is a different story. They’re the only couple who has consummated their marriage, and Rachel gives them a gift to encourage them to have fun in their sex life: body paint. The two have fun with their messy homework assignment.

Nick and Sonia

These two are dealing with last night’s argument after Nick Pendergrast said he wasn’t in love with Sonia Granados. They agree that they’re still awkward and learning to trust each other.

They go out on a date night and a few glasses of wine makes them a little sillier around each other. When they get home, Sonia sleeps in bed with Nick. Her husband has agreed to keep the dogs in their crates at night. They’re in the bedroom, but they aren’t in bed with Sonia. It’s a compromise. Still, Sonia wishes Nick would pay as much attention to her as he does to the dogs.

Rachel visits them and talks to them about their relationship. Nick says that they both need to be more open. Rachel explains that Sonia views his lack of openness as rejection, and he needs to tell his wife that he wants their relationship to grow. Nick later explains that to his wife, and Rachel leaves them with a little homework.

There’s a game with questions tailored to them, and it’s a truth or dare type of exercise. They have to talk about places they’ve had sex and give each other blindfolded massages. It’s awkward (because really, everything is for them), but they laugh and have fun together.

That’s not the end of the homework, though. Rachel is sending them to a tantric masseuse. She thinks that even touching in a nonsexual way will bring them closer and create more intimacy. When they go to the tantric masseuse, they’re both a little out of their element. The massage therapist says that Sonia has good energy, but Nick is definitely repressed.

The exercises, which mostly involve holding or staring at each other, are meant to encourage intimacy and it seems to work. “I feel like I could have sex with my husband tonight. Who knows?” Sonia says.

“Married at First Sight” Season 4 airs Tuesdays at 8:45 p.m. EDT on FYI.