Married at First Sight expert Paul C. Brunson is catching some heat for comments he made in a recent episode of the Love In Session podcast with Dr. Lisa Paz.
Paul Brunson asks Felipe from ‘Married at First Sight’ a crude question
The new MAFS matchmakers, who joined the show in season 20, sat down with Felipe Cruz from the Seattle season to talk about his experience on the show and his life after MAFS. During the conversation, Felipe admitted that he wasn’t ready for marriage and that he had been “disrespectful” to his wife, Tori, when he told he thought often about cheating on her with other women.
“I know for a fact that I don’t want to be in a relationship right now,” he said.
Felipe’s admission prompted a blunt – and crude – question from Brunson.
“Can I ask you a detailed question that we probably couldn’t ask you on TV but we can ask you here? … And this is no offense, but I just have to keep it straight: How many holes are you sticking your penis in?” he wondered.
“I’m hanging out with like three girls at the moment,” Felipe replied.
Later, they circled back to the topic of Felipe’s lack of interest in monogamy.
“This is my belief for Felipe,” Brunson said. “I believe he’s going to find one hole. And he’s going to stick to it.”
“I believe you’re going to find one woman, three holes,” Paz added.
That conversation between Felipe and the MAFS experts didn’t go over well with some people.
“This is a disgusting and shameful way to ask this question,” wrote the owner of the MAFSFan Instagram account, which often posts spoilers and news about the Peacock reality series.
“I have no words. It is absolutely unacceptable to refer to women in this way,” they added in another post.
“This is actually WILD,” commented Madison Myers, who was a cast member on season 18 of the show.
“This genuinely makes me want to skip next season. I gave season 20 a chance after years of not watching but I just can’t get down with experts who refer to women as ‘holes’,” wrote Clara Berghaus, who was part of the season 12 cast.
“These experts have completely lost the plot…,” chimed in Chris Thielk, who recently welcomed twins with Nicole Lilienthal, whom he married on MAFS Season 16.
Brunson just launched a new show about relationship red flags
Brunson’s objectifying comments came as he launched a new U.K. series, Red Flag, which examines true stories of emotional, sexual, and psychological manipulation and abuse in relationships.
“I’ve spent my career helping people find love. This series is about recognizing what love is not,” Brunson wrote in a post on his social media. “…I’ve sat with survivors as they described relationships that became controlling, frightening and isolating. I’ve listened to what happened, what was difficult to recognize, and what they wish more people understood. My hope is that someone watching finds words for something they’ve struggled to explain. Or understands how to better support someone they love.
“To every survivor who trusted us with their story: thank you,” he added. “There is no series without you. I don’t take that trust lightly.”
“[His] most recent post on his page is so empowering, and then there’s this,” one person commented on Instagram. “How disappointing. I hope he teaches women that conversations about their holes is a red flag.”
“I just went to his page and one of his newest posts is about victims of violence,” another wrote. “And yet he refers to women as holes…making them objects for men’s sexual pleasure.”
Before joining MAFS Season 20 as an expert, Brunson was an expert on the U.K. version of the relationship series. Earlier this year, several women who appeared on the show said they had been raped or sexually assaulted by their partners. Insiders told The Guardian that the show had an “unhealthy” fixation on sex and concentrated too much on whether couples were intimate. Brunson has made no comment on those sexual misconduct allegations.
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