“Married at First Sight”’s Nikki Jefferson Says Age Made Her and Shawn Best ‘Less Malleable’ in Relationship (Exclusive)

Yamillah Hurtado, Deirdre DurkanFri, August 28, 2026 at 4:44 PM UTC

0

Nikki Jefferson and Shawn Best on ‘Married at First Sight’Credit: Peacock -

Married at First Sight‘s Nikki Jefferson opens up to PEOPLE about her marriage with Shawn Best and how their age played a role in their relationship

“In a lot of ways, our age made it more difficult to come together, particularly in a compressed timeline like this, because we’re fully formed humans,” Nikki tells PEOPLE

Married at First Sight season 20 finale premiered on Peacock on Aug. 27

Married at First Sight season 20 star Nikki Jefferson opens up about how being part of the oldest couple in the U.S. version of the reality dating series impacted her relationship.

Nikki, 46, and Shawn Best, 47, tied the knot in the third episode of the Peacock series. Experts paired them because of their shared ambitions and family goals, but as they spent more time together, they found they couldn’t be more different. Though the couple made it to Decision Day, Nikki chose to end their marriage because she didn’t feel their relationship gave her what she needed from a marriage.

In an interview with PEOPLE ahead of the show’s Aug. 27 finale, Nikki reflects on her marriage with Shawn, why she chose to divorce him and the lessons she learned from the experience. The reality star explains that while the two are similar, she realized they disagreed on what mattered most, like communication styles, expectations in a marriage and boundaries on intimacy.

Nikki Jefferson and Shawn Best in ‘Married at First Sight’Credit: Jim Bennett/Peacock

“All those things that show up in the in-between, in all of the moments that matter, I think those were misses,” Nikki says. “To [the experts’] credit, those are hard to suss out from interviews and psychological assessments… But I think what I’m coming away with is that these invisible, more underlying things matter much, much more than the surface things.”

Nikki explains that working through their differences was challenging, especially because their age made it harder to deviate from their established ways.

— sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“In a lot of ways, our age made it more difficult to come together, particularly in a compressed timeline like this, because we’re fully formed humans,” she says. “We’re coming into this with a lot of life experience, with crystallized opinions on things like gender roles and communication. So I think we were less malleable to each other and to the process.”

Nikki adds, “That doesn’t mean that mature couples can’t get there. I think it generally takes time. It takes more compatibility, more foundational compatibility, but more time.”

Advertisement

Shawn Best and Nikki Jefferson on ‘Married at First Sight’Credit: Mat Hayward/PEACOCK

Coming into Decision Day, Nikki says she felt “convicted” by her decision and knew it was the “right” one for both of them. After reflection and prayer, she “ultimately arrive[d] at what I feel like is the best decision I could have made.”

“For me, I wanted to feel good in my marriage. I wanted to feel seen, heard, respected and cared for, so it was more than just a decision and more than just a commitment,” Nikki says.

Throughout their marriage, Nikki says Shawn often made “cutting” comments, like telling her she was a “10 in Seattle” but a “7 in New York,” and made her feel pressured into being intimate despite drawing boundaries.

“It was really a pattern that began to wear me down and began to wear down the little glimmer of hope that I was seeing in spots during our experience together,” she explains. “More things happened after that, and [I took] stock of the entire relationship, [which] had me conclude that the pattern is just too significant to have me say yes.”

Though their marriage came to an end, Nikki says her relationship with Shawn and the Married at First Sight experience allowed her to work on her communication skills, speak up for herself and honor her boundaries.

“In past relationships, I might have just exited stage left or not had the conversation, and then just said, ‘Okay, I’m just going to wash my hands of it,’” she notes. “But the marriage itself, the experience itself, and I think the challenging nature of us together forced me to work on my communication skills, which means de-escalating, maybe listening more, saying less when I want to debate every single point, and all the things that I’m sure everyone has seen play out.”

Season 20 of Married at First Sight is available to stream on Peacock.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”