‘MAFS’ Star Nikki Jefferson Questions Shawn Best’s Public Apology After ‘Wifely Duties’ Comments

Nikki Jefferson isn’t buying Shawn Best’s apology. 

Nikki married Shawn in Married at First Sight Season 20. While the pair seemed like a strong match on paper, they were a mismatch in terms of physical attraction. While he made it clear – repeatedly – that he was eager to be intimate with his wife, she said she wasn’t ready to take that step with someone she’d known only a few weeks. Their different positions on the matter of sex and physical intimacy led to one of the season’s most controversial moments, when Shawn suggested that Nikki had an obligation to attend to his needs in bed. 

Shawn said Nikki wasn’t ‘showing up as a wife’ 

“If you don’t want to, I understand. But to me, that’s also part of showing up as a wife, like noticing your husband has a need and filling that need at some point,” Shawn told her.

Unsurprisingly, that comment didn’t exactly do much to win Nikki over, as she later told him. 

“Framing a suggestion of us performing more sexual acts as a wifely duty– that comment made me uncomfortable, and it made me feel pressured,” she said. 

MAFS viewers overwhelmingly sided with Nikki on the issue, prompting Shawn to issue a public (albeit now-deleted) apology on social media. 

“I apologize. It was my wrongdoing. Full stop. I am starting to get it now. And I am truly sorry to my wife and the many out there who’ve felt the wrong side of feeling before,” he wrote (via Swooon).

Shawn also addressed his controversial remarks in an interview with People. 

“The truth is, saying those words was never OK. It’s never okay to put someone in a pressure situation,” he said.

‘Married at First Sight’ star doubts the ‘sincerity’ of her ex’s apology 

However, Nikki isn’t buying her ex’s mea culpa. (The pair chose not to stay together on Decision Day.) 

“I saw the post, and I thought I found it interesting that he was delivering a public apology, and I appreciate the effort, and I think words are one thing, right?” she told Swooon. “I think it’s a matter of really internalizing what was wrong and becoming a better person. And I hope that for him.”

Nikki and Shawn have not spoken since the reunion, so his apology post came as “a surprise,” she added. 

“I question the sincerity of it naturally,” she said. “I’ll just leave it at that.”

Married at First Sight Season 20 is streaming on Peacock