Sonia Granados trusted the process when she signed on to marry a complete stranger on FYI’s Married at First Sight. After meeting her husband, Nick Pendergrast, at the altar on their wedding day, the couple navigated their way through an intense six weeks on-camera, and ultimately decided to continue their marriage beyond the experiment.
Now that the cameras have stopped rolling, Granados opens up exclusively to The Knot about life off-screen with Pendergrast, and the couple’s plans for the future.
On the reunion special — which aired Tuesday, November 1 — viewers learned that the Miami-based social worker and her husband are still together six months post-experiment. However, the process hasn’t been easy, which Granados explains to The Knot.
“There were plenty of moments leading to the reunion when I didn’t think we would make it,” she reveals. “I think I struggled with that at times, because it can be harder when someone doesn’t speak your love language.”
No longer having a production crew filming the couple’s every move has allowed Granados to get to know Pendergrast better. “The biggest change is that I feel we can totally be ourselves in terms of talking about gross things, joking, and talking on a deeper level than what we had been in the first six weeks with cameras around,” Granados tells us. “I’ve also noticed that Nick can be very thoughtful at times. My mom was in town recently, and he [bought] her sweets and things, because he knows she likes it. He definitely shows he cares through gift-giving.”
While her relationship with Pendergrast has grown, Granados admits that his lack of affection is still a work in progress. “I’m [still] struggling with the fact that Nick isn’t affectionate, because my mother wasn’t affectionate either,” she notes. “I think that’s the reason I can understand him a little better, but I still need physical affection to feed my soul.”
As the couple continues to build their friendship, Granados reveals that she’s not yet in love with her husband. “I love Nick very much, but I’m not in love with him… just yet,” she explains.
The newlywed is still finding ways to show Pendergrast that she cares about him. “To be honest, I’m still very unaware if I’m showing Nick love the way he appreciates it, but I feel like I’ve tried in thinking of him when I do certain things,” Granados tells us. “I’m trying to be a good wife, but I’m blocked in certain moments and times.”
Married at First Sight’s Sonia and Nick. (Photo courtesy of FYI)
After their decision day, the couple moved into a new home. They had a short-term lease during filming, and they needed to find a new place to accommodate themselves and Pendergrast’s two dogs. “We rented a house right across the street from the house we lived in during filming,” Granados shares. “We found a home and fell in love with it. It has a very good vibe… very open and the backyard is beautiful. Nick has made it even better with his decorating and DIY skills!”
During the final week of the experiment, Granados and her husband constructed a vision board. While working on the project, the duo learned that they share the desire to have children. “We haven’t thought about a family just yet,” she explains to The Knot. “I am no spring chicken, [though], so I’m thinking I would love to have children within the next couple years.”
During the reunion special, Pendergrast and Granados’ fellow season 4 participant, Tom Wilson gifted his wife, Lillian Vilchez, with an engagement ring to match her wedding band. Granados explains that she and her husband don’t have plans for a second wedding, but an engagement ring isn’t out of the question. “I would love to have an engagement ring, if that’s what Nick and I end up choosing down the line,” she notes.
Granados and Pendergrast have become friends with the other season 4 participants. Along with Wilson and Vilchez, they’ve spent time with Heather Seidel and Derek Schwartz. “I’ve learned that we all have so much in common [because of] this experience, but we are definitely very different,” Granados concludes to The Knot. “I’ve learned that Nick and I are very different [from] any couple that has been on Married at First Sight, and that’s okay. We are both pretty quirky and weird and, we decided to go the friend route at first which is cool for our relationship. Often times, we don’t show our love for each other outwardly, but we show it in subtle moments.”
Married at First Sight will return for a fifth season in 2017. Production is underway in Chicago.
