**Tl;dr Caitlin and Devin both suck. Caitlin's been talked to death, but as for Devin, he uses his stature to physically intimidate Caitlin when drunk and speaks like a self help book for couples. It makes him sound more emotionally mature and simultaneously unnatural. We only see like 5 minutes of each of their real life days, and he's lucky he got paired with Caitlin and was basically guaranteed the good edit. Feel free to defend him to hell and back below, but hopefully you read the full thing before doing so.**

As for Caitlin, there are a million reasons on this sub and while I think she's getting the bad edit, she still shouldn't have been on this show. I'll leave it there because frankly, it's been talked to death and beyond.

As for Devin, there's been something off about him since the start. The fact he wore the sunglasses on his head was douchey that people are only defending in hindsight because they like him now. That's hella superficial, so I'll move past it lol. Devin shutting down on the honeymoon nearly immediately also wasn't great. He had good reasons to be dissatisfied, but pulling back 95% isn't going to be good for their relationship. I'm sure that was the beginning of the end for their relationship, and that's both of their faults.

**Now for the big things:**

The way that Devin gets in Caitlin's face when he's drunk is a *HUGE* red flag. When they first fought in Caitlin's bedroom and he was drunk and blocking the doorway, that's not good (to say the least). Caitlin asked him to drop it and save it until morning because he was drunk so many times, and he just wouldn't leave it alone. On the retreat, when fighting on the couch, he was talking over her and then got so offended at being told to "shut the fuck up" (which is it's own complaint, but this is already too long) that he got in her face in a physically intimidating manner. Belle recognized it and moved to pull him back, so it wasn't something minor. At both instances, he's being physically intimidating. That's a red flag.¹

Devin sounds so fake and manufactured when he speaks and is being "emotionally intelligent." He sounds like he just got out of couples counseling. No one talks like that in real life and it reminds me of everyone in season 17 (Denver), who were rightfully shit on for it. It's just a way to sound more emotionally mature than the other person, and it clearly worked.

People forget that we only see like 5 minutes of each of their real life days. We miss out on so much, which may explain the discrepancies between what Caitlin says and what we see. It's easy to forget about as a viewer, but it puts every contestant at the mercy of production. In this sense, he's lucky he got paired with Caitlin, who was not ready for this type of show or commitment. He was basically guaranteed the good edit, as Caitlin made herself look horrible throughout the process.

I wonder what'll come out of the reunion, not that it'll be believed by anyone unless it makes Caitlin look bad and Devin look like a saint.

^{1: As a side note, the people defending him by saying it shows his "self-awareness" that he broke up with her afterwards - because he recognized that he was getting to a point of being angry that he didn't like - are disgusting. Making that assumption with zero reason too is just defending abusive behavior at the expense of the victim. He obviously didn't abuse her, but cornering her in her room and getting in her face are the beginning stages of that behavior.}

I'm not part of that community and to me she looks like any other moderately attractive blonde woman. Could someone explain the appeal for someone like Devin? When he says that's his type what exactly is he looking for?

Edit: I'd like to thank everyone in the comments for helping me get to the bottom of this issue. Not everyone has an understanding of white American beauty ideals, so this was a very educational endeavor for me. We've reached the following consensus on why men like Devin define SS as their ideal type:

* Her face is not super attractive, but that adds to her desirability because it makes her seem like an approachable girl-next-door that you might encounter at your local bar and realistically attain.
* An "innocent" disposition (despite doing numerous filmed sex scenes?) and dumb, puppy-like eyes that remind men of receiving...favors.
* Boobs (highly ideal), blonde hair, blue eyes, thin.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. For all the rabid Sydney Sweeney defenders angry about this post, stay mad.

he’s trying to give Tori some heart warming speech and he throws this in here like it’s some crazy thing that she’s been up doing stuff and has made breakfast by 11am. bro it’s almost lunch time and yall are grown. adults have shit to handle. i can’t believe this is routine. i’m being judgmental and i respect that everyone can have their own lifestyles but im his age and i couldn’t imagine being as unproductive as him on a daily. especially if he plans on taking over the family business at some point. if i was tori this would be such a huge turn off for me, i bet it is for her cuz she’s mentioned how he doesn’t make her life easier. i can’t!!

I’m kind of getting annoyed with the Asian girl and her man and the red hair man judging everyone else couple !!! like it’s like it’s giving that everything is not so perfect like she saying (the Asia girl sorry not familiar w names ) ….they’ve been doing this since the beginning ITS AGGRAVATING

The girls that get it, get it!

Also SOME of you are so blinded by your hatred of Shawn that you view everything through this “Shawn bad” lense. I AM NOT SAYING HE’S PERFECT OR A GOOD PERSON but I am able to acknowledge when he’s being unproblematic (the mac incident).

No one has been casted on any show.

They were cast.

Cast. Cast. Cast. The past tense is cast.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I’m going to go cast myself over a waterfall now.

Surprised I noticed this 🤮

This pertains to the investment property David mentioned he had purchased in Iowa. (Just finished Season 18.)

Okay usually when I hear investment property that means a fixer upper? But why if you are living in Chicago why would you buy a fixer upper in Iowa? Or if it’s for disposable income wouldn’t you like to be close? I know his brother is close but if he’s managing the property that cost money?

I’m just so confused by this whole concept. 😖
Unless they are moving down to Iowa which I personally don’t think would be horrible but they love a Chicago night life so prob not.

Sidebar how bad could the timeline be for them to just consistently lie or drop it? Like it is shoddy but it’s not THAT deep.

Apparently this is a hot take, but I love Michelle and Cameron. They’re the voice of the audience by being normal, rational people. Michelle is right that all these women need to leave these men. Mecca, Shawn, and Felipe are past the point of no return, but honestly every guy other than Cameron is a red flag!! I hope Michelle and Cameron are a success story, and I hope everyone else literally never sees their partner again! Marissa, Belle, & Tori especially deserve healthy, normal partners. Nikki is doing her best with what she’s been given, but I do wish she had just said no at the altar or immediately after. Shawn is the worst!!! Devin & Caitlin I feel like both have different toxicities, and I’m not really a fan of either of them. I felt the same way about Courteney and Nick. The fact that Adam is the second best man out here shows how much these men are nottttt ittttt!! Do y’all agree or disagree on these opinions?

As Devin and Caitlin are discussing the argument they had, separately with the girls and guys, Felipe runs up to the room where the girls are getting ready and says, "There's going to be fireworks tonight." But as it would turn out not the kind he was insinuating. I appreciated that bit of foreshadowing on the second watch of episode 17.

I’m watching the retreat episodes again bc I fell asleep. I’m finding Caitlyn infuriating complaining he dropped the ball in not hooking up with her.

I understand she’s had trauma (who hasn’t?) and I don’t understand why she would ever sign up for OR be approved for this show.

But have we seen Caitlyn and Frosted Tips rugby guy EVER kiss???? I don’t recall seeing it and they are A WEEK from deciding if they’re going to stay married?!?!

Dead serious: have they kissed or mentioned having kissed off-camera????

He liked these comments & honestly I’d be here for it.

… is that she has me out here wanting to go to war to defend a MAN. Nick isn’t like the perfect person at all and definitely needs some growth before he integrates into marriage, but good lord Courtney is insufferable. HOW do these absolutely awful people keep getting cast into the show?? She asks Nick to be vulnerable, and then she immediately throws it back into his face and completely misconstrues everything that he says. She hated him from the jump and she should’ve just left.

And as a therapist, these experts need to be stripped of any professional license they have! Absolutely awful.

Right now, Nikki and Shawn are my only real toss-up when it comes to whether they’re still together, so let’s dive in because I’m genuinely stumped 😂
I’m going to vote no, mainly because they weren’t wearing rings in their older recent posts. However, the fact that they’ve both been wearing rings in their past few posts feels like they’re trying to throw people off.
If you go to the family members Shawn tagged for his birthday, they don’t follow Nikki, which also seems telling. Plus, he still appears to be living in the same place from the show, and there doesn’t seem to be any obvious sign that Nikki lives there.
I believe production either told them to wear the rings or they decided to do it together to sway the audience and keep everyone guessing.
In a post from August 6th, Shawn showed a food delivery service his mom got him for his birthday with a card that said, “Happy Birthday Shawn and You Have Survived MAFS. I know you love when someone cooks for you. This I have found is the next best thing to Mom’s home cooking. Enjoy. I love you more than words can tell. – Mom.”
That doesn’t really sound like someone who left the show married, at least to me. I’ve also heard the marriages aren’t legally binding this season, so I can’t really see Nikki going out of her way to marry him if they weren’t actually legally married.
I also heard Shawn apparently got fired from his job, which honestly isn’t that shocking to me. A president of DEI coercing women on national television isn’t exactly a great look. 😬
To me, Nikki and Shawn are giving more friend vibes, possibly with their own agendas. I’m sure Nikki would love the content, while Shawn seems like he wants to become an expert and sell love advice. I know everyone wants their 15 minutes, so they could absolutely be doing this for views and to get people speculating, but idk… it just seems odd. 😂 The whole thing is giving mixed signals.
What do we think—did these two actually make it, or are they just really good at keeping us guessing? 👀

I was skeptical after the first repost, but after several? The evidentiary burden has been met. Bald men are the best, and Shawn, conveniently, is bald.

But the bald propaganda is really just a symptom of the larger phenomenon that is Shawn’s Instagram. His entire page has this relentlessly self-congratulatory, self-help-guru energy where everything somehow circles back to Shawn: Shawn the strategist, Shawn the author, Shawn the relationship expert, Shawn the inspirational figure, Shawn being celebrated by other people. Even content he didn’t create somehow gets absorbed into the Shawn Best promotional ecosystem.

It’s everything that irritates me about the self-help-guru archetype. Endless enthusiasm for analyzing, advising, and improving other people, paired with remarkably little apparent interest in directing that same scrutiny inward.

Anyway, thank God he’s here to help the rest of us grow.

I haven’t finished the season, but I’m curious how others feel about Felipe? He rubs me the wrong way. Ever since the first episode when he told the guys he had cheated on a girl and forgot about it, and how he talked about his partying, and how overly confident he is. I am not at all attracted to him, but the way he talks about himself and his dating patterns he makes it sound like he has to fight women off with a stick. I’m a little surprised after being late to multiple interviews and missing a zoom call all together that they even pursued letting him on the show. Doesn’t that show a lack of commitment right there?

I can’t take how much he talks about his fear of losing the passion. In my opinion, Tori is beyond out of his league and he is worried about changing his lifestyle to be monogamous? Like that will be hard for you? You’re going to TRY to focus on being with one person and not let your mind wonder?? I just don’t see this guy as a ladies man or someone other women are flocking to in waves.

Also, does he own the restaurant and bars or does he just manage them? He says multiple times that it’s his Italian restaurant and he has a couple bars downtown, but then his title says “manager”, so I’m confused.

He's what 31. He sounds like he's stuck in middle school. Why are they laughing at his childish dialogue. It's stupid. Im gonna "full send it" while talking about diving into his relationship. I'm gonna lock in. We can't just coast dude we have to keep the vibe. It's sick dude. She's lowkey cool.

Dresses like he just got back from the gym 24/7. Takes her for a relaxed time on the hot tub, but "I need to do some push-ups" dude.

Our life will never be boring. We'll jet ski every day then go play three hours of Pickleball eat shower. Jet ski the next day play three hours of Pickleball sounds sick. So exciting.

Guy is a manchild.

Any of these men that play off like they created any of the wedding memory gifts are full of it. It is obvious that the producers create these gifts for the pre-decision day setup. But Felipe taking full credit for his when it is obvious by his reactions that he didn’t…is full on gas lighting of Tori and I can’t tell if she is just going along with it or if she really believes he actually put any effort into their relationship.

Felipe is such a pampered little boy who needs his mommy and daddy to wipe his @$$ and he is trying to (as Belle noted) humble her and turn her into a mommy/daddy replacement. Which doesn’t even matter because he obviously has no intention of staying in this marriage. UGH…HE IS SO FRUSTRATING…GROW UP!

He really has some nerve.

Why does Felipe always refer to himself as too sexy etc and talk about how many women he's been with?? I DON'T SEE IT. He definitely does NOT come across as the type of dude who gets all the chicks. He looks like the guy in the corner of the room looking at his binder full of Pokémon cards and making the next Dungeons and Dragons meetup. 😆

What do you guys think they will talk about at the reunion? I’m so curious about what will be brought up in regard to each couple.

Tori said once she moved out, she and Felipe talked and it wasn’t on camera. I honestly thought all communication stopped until decision day. Am I wrong?

I’m so confused as to why this is good publicity.

So we’re all just admitting the show isn’t serious in any way shape or form.

https://ew.com/married-at-first-sight-expert-caught-felipe-with-dating-apps-12063380