Source: Lifetime / lifetime
It’s been nearly two years since Keith Dewar and Kristine Killingsworth met at the altar and said “I do.” The couple were part of Season 8 of Married at First Sight in Philadelphia. They seemed to have immediate chemistry, though some wondered if that sexual attraction and energy could translate into a successful, loving, long-term relationship, especially with Kristine making more than Keith, and his initial conservative ways of looking at gender roles.
To hear them now though, it’s clear they have been able to become a solid team. This is evident in the support that Kristine is for Keith as she stays at home due to the coronavirus pandemic, and Keith works seven days a week in a dialysis clinic, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., treating COVID-19 patients.
“A lot of dialysis patients were going into the hospital to get dialyzed. Now they’re full. So now I have the second biggest unit inside the Philadelphia and New Jersey area. It’s being pushed over to pretty much me,” he said over the phone.
She admits it’s been rough, but Kristine is okay with holding down the fort.
“It sucks. It does. I’m always concerned about whether or not he’s going to get sick,” she said. “I’m usually bored out of my mind at home. I end up talking to myself or my cat or whatever [laughs]. It’s only like so much organizing or little house projects you can do. I don’t feel like we get too much time together, but I can’t really complain because it’s for a good reason.”
Despite the burdens that the pandemic has put on the couple, they still say their time together, cultivating their relationship, has been wonderful. This is especially true considering they have the privacy they desired to get as close as they like, whenever they like.
“It’s been relaxing because we can smooch and have our little moments together,” he said. “It’s hard when there’s eight people in a room with you, and you know, I like to kiss on my woman [laughs]. It’s relaxing. We miss production but we enjoy our time.”
But they are stepping back in front of the camera, in a different way this time, to take part in the latest Married at First Sight spin-off, Couples’ Cam. Keith and Kristine will be one of eight couples documenting themselves in the self-shot series, inviting viewers back into their home and giving them unparalleled access.
“We were just like, why not? There’s no crew, so I can do what I want kind of,” he said. “I can film what I want. I got nothing to really hide. They’ve already seen our lives.”
And one part of their lives that MAFS viewers saw, which created great conversation, was Keith’s expectation early on in marriage that Kristine would be doing the cooking and cleaning after living with his grandmother, who handled all of that. Keith says, however, that he ended up stepping up so that they could both share such duties.
“Lately it’s more Kristine doing the majority of everything,” he said. “I just recently had to do seven days a week. But usually, before this, it was split even.”
“It was still pretty much me,” she replied.
“I will definitely come in and do some dishes and pick my days to cook,” he said, defending his efforts with a laugh, “but ever since this pandemic has been going on, it’s been crazy.”
The current pandemic has impacted a lot of things for the couple, outside of just work schedules and freedom. Another thing that has had to take a seat is their ability to continue working on the home they have been building.
“Everything went on hold,” he said. “Found one problem and then you’ve got to figure out the solution of this next problem that just came up. It’s a rehab. You hit bumps in the road and then the world stops.”
But the pair have been keeping busy, staying in touch with fellow participants from Season 8.
“I’m still in a group chat with Jasmine, Kate and Steph,” she said.
“Yeah there’s a group chat with me Will and AJ,” he replied. “And then there’s a group chat with me Will and Luke. So yeah, we gotta separate them [laughs]. You can’t mix blood and oil.”
They’ve also spent time watching the most recent controversial season of Married at First Sight in D.C., which both parties had strong opinions about — Kristine especially.
“I just feel bad for Meka [Jones] because she got a complete piece of crap husband,” she said. “I called it early in the season. Like, he just looks annoying as hell. I don’t understand why he couldn’t be honest about anything, though. I commend her for continuing to work on it because she handled it way better than I would have.”
“Taylor and Brandon, I went back and forth between those two all season and then just settled on the fact that both of them are screwed up completely,” she added. “I understood Brandon to an extent, being irritated with the cameras. It seemed like, especially when they knew he was irritated, just give him some space. Just give him five minutes. He seems like the type of person where he needs a few minutes to himself to come back and collect himself. I can’t say, ‘Oh you knew you were going to be on a show, what did you expect?’ I don’t think anybody understands what it’s like to be on camera until you’ve been on camera. So I can’t 100 percent say he should have known, but he could have went with it a little bit more. And Taylor still didn’t apologize for that damn video knowing she was wrong! Just say you were wrong and move on! Her friends were just co-signing her, but single friends are going to give you single-minded advice.”
“Meka had the right intentions to do what it took, but she came on a little too hard. That was just for me,” Keith said. “But Michael was all the way wrong. You didn’t have a job. Our season, honestly, every person on my season had a legit real job.”
“Brandon seemed like a nice guy, he was just a little thrown off for me,” he continued. “His reactions were too much for me. I got anxiety and I don’t act like that.”
“And Taylor is an IG model. They expected her to be ready to be wifed up,” he added. “Taylor and Brandon, they could have worked out, but I felt like they both would have needed therapy because the pettiness level of both of them was high. It’s like who’s going to win the argument? They just had to win. It was a power trip.”
Keith and Kristine couldn’t relate to the struggles of the couples featured in Season 10 because they ended up being the ideal fit for one another, and they were willing to put in the work to succeed. They look forward to sharing this next stage of love and marriage with fans on Couples’ Cam, and reaping the benefits of their time on Married at First Sight. Though they admitted that the worst parts of being on the show were dealing with haters (“Somebody was like, ‘Keith ain’t got no job, he lives with his grandma'”) and working with each other’s full-time work schedules, the best part has definitely outweighed all of that.
“I got my best friend,” she said, to which he replied, “Yeah, I got my bestie.”
Married at First Sight: Couples’ Cam premieres May 20 at 8pm ET/PT on Lifetime.
