Brennan’s friend isn’t mincing words when it comes to his past relationship patterns.
In PEOPLE’s exclusive sneak peek at Wednesday’s episode of Married at First Sight, Brennan seeks relationship advice from his pal Richie about his marriage to Emily.
“I know we talk pretty much every day so you kind of know what’s been going on,” he says during a video chat with his friend. “So I was just hoping to get a little advice from the master of marriage himself.”
Brennan explains that Richie knows him “better than anyone,” adding, “We have a lot of trust with one another so he can speak as freely as he wants without me having to worry if he’s holding back.”
“Even though Emily and I are in a better place, I just want his honesty and so I feel like he can give the best advice about how to keep the momentum going,” he explains.
Brennan tells his friend that his marriage has been “challenging” as he has struggled to make a physical connection with Emily. He shares, “I’m not used to not having a romantic element in my relationship but like, we get along really well and we have a lot of fun together.”
When asked what the experts from the show suggest, he responds, “They’re recommending that we just continue to get deeper and focus on the emotional connection.”
Richie then reminds him that “actions speak louder than words as far as romantic connections go.”
Brennan notes that he has been making an effort to “hug more and see if that helps anything.” He adds, “We’re doing, I think, all the little things that expand on the emotional connection, like I definitely feel closer to her.”
Richie then delivers the hard truth about Brennan’s past relationship patterns, explaining, “I think you can get stuck in your head sometimes about things. You know, your roommate leaves something out and you’d just be pissed at the roommate. It’s happened with relationships in the past, you know, there can be one little thing that bothers you and that one little thing will trump any other connection you had.”
He continues: “And once a thought gets in your brain, I think it’s hard for you to maybe snap out of it so I worry that in your head you said there’s no romantic connection, and now you’re kind of… I don’t want you to close your doors to the opportunity that it could happen.”
He advises his friend to step outside of his normal pattern, saying, “The only way you’re going to get there is if you try to do things outside of what you’re told you have to do.”
Brennan and Emily, who wed sight unseen, have struggled to adjust to married life. Following the honeymoon, Brennan admitted he was not attracted to Emily and decided to spend a few days at his apartment with Emily instead of immediately moving into a shared space. He also refused to help Emily move her belongings even though she had an injured wrist, and left her friends unimpressed at their housewarming party.
In a recent episode, the two attended a therapy session regarding their marital issues but things got heated when Brennan seemingly refused to let Emily speak for herself.
Married At First Sight (produced by Kinetic Content) airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime. Married At First Sight: AfterParty airs at 10 p.m. ET.