Married At First Sight: Exclusive Interview With Sonia Granados About ‘Giving Back’ and How She Feels About Husband Nick Pendergrast

Heather Seidel: I May Have “Made A Mistake”

We continue to follow Derek Schwartz and Heather Seidel even though they are no longer together. At first I was like “Why the heck do we keep seeing them?!” Heather made her choice and Derek had no say in the matter so they are D.O.N.E.

But I do find it interesting to see some of the aftermath of what happens when a couple decides to divorce. What’s most interesting is that Heather actually began second guessing her decision to divorce for a hot minute. However, the moment she sat down with Derek and expert Rachel DeAlto, she went all the way back to “I want a divorce” PRONTO. Meanwhile Derek was still wearing his wedding band. 🙁 SO, nothing has changed for these two.

Tom Wilson and Lillian Vilchez Celebrate

One month married to a stranger certainly deserves a big celebration. I remember when Doug and I were newly married. I made him promise to celebrate every month we are married. Then once we hit the one year mark we began celebrating half year anniversaries. I think life is way too short not to celebrate love, life, and happiness as much as often — especially when you marry a stranger! …I see Lillian agrees. (Smart minds think alike!) 😉 Tom and Lillian planned a romantic dinner to celebrate their one month anniversary. They also planned on writing personal vows to each other. Little did Tom know, Lilly had a surprise gift for him, too. She had a portrait of Tom surfing made for him. #gushing #TOOSWEET

Ok–all celebrations aside–it isn’t all rainbows and butterflies for these two. Lillian showed up late to their romantic one-month anniversary dinner. AND, she said she was too busy working so she hadn’t written her vows to Tom. (Watching this I was thinking ‘Giiiirl, just say something on the spot straight from the heart. He’ll never know the difference!) I actually tweeted this and Lilly responded with, “I couldn’t do that. I need my vows to come from the heart and make them sincere.” AWWW! <3

On Tom’s end, he is beginning to get super annoyed with Lillian. She was late to dinner. She forgot to write her vows. The final straw is when she fails to listen to him while he is talking about an upcoming doctor visit. He began testing her to see if she was paying attention by going way off subject talking about learning how to be a gay cowboy. (Where did THAT come from? Ha!) He told her that while he’s giving it his ALL and putting in 100% she is only putting in 67%.

So, they spend time together surfing. Lillian isn’t into it, but she does it anyway. (Note to Tom: scratch the 67%. This pops her up to putting in at least 75%, right?!) 😉 Although things seem to be going well for these two on the outside, Tom shares with the camera that he is worried Lilly loves her job more than him. To that I want to tell Tom — It’s only been a month! Stay the course. You will get there!

Sonia Granados And Nick Pendergrast Give Back

OK, I think Sonia is quickly becoming my favorite person EVER. She is so, so easy to like. You can just tell that her soul is so good. I’m not gonna lie, if a man screamed he wasn’t attracted to me I’d have a hard time recouping. And the fact that Nick Pendergrast only shared this information AFTER having sex with Sonia—YIKES! … if it were me, I’d be DONEZO. No matter how good her soul is, Sonia’s not a complete push over. She moved out immediately. (This is probably the only time in all of Married At First Sight where I agree with one partner moving out. This girl NEEDED space and time to HEAL.)

Needless to say, Nick says maybe his words weren’t the best. (Ya think maybe?!) He tells the camera that he does find Sonia attractive. (I wish I could’ve been a little bird to whisper in his ear ‘say this TO SONIA.’) In any case, he wants Sonia to move back in, but she refused.

Baby Steps

Sonia isn’t jumping back in bed with Nick, but she has agreed to continue seeing him and working on their marriage. And their next adventure together is full of goodness, love, and giving back—all the good feels! Nick and Sonia prepare peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to hand out to the homeless. Nick has a revelation as he watches Sonia passionately hand out each dinner. He said to the camera, “She is exactly the girl that I want to be married to. I’m going to do everything possible to get her to move back in.” (Again, tip to Nick: SAY THIS TO SONIA, not the camera.)

Feeding the homeless was a great way for them to see the goodness in each other. I could see through the TV that Nick was just as excited as Sonia to hand out paper bag dinners to the homeless. A man getting so much joy by helping others is a HOT quality. I’m sure Sonia noticed it, too.

But like I said, Sonia is no pushover. Just because they had one nice date together she wasn’t heading home with him. As she said: he had done something horrible to her. It takes time to heal. He wanted a “get out of jail free card” but real life doesn’t work like that.

Later, Sonia broke down crying telling the camera, “I really thought I could make it. I really thought I could be one of the relationships that survive this journey.” She admitted that even though her mind was telling her to stay away, the hopeless romantic in her was saying she should move back in to see if they could at least build a friendship.

Exclusive Interview With Sonia Granados

This is my favorite part of this blog. I talk to Sonia about last week’s episode and I share it ALL with you! 🙂 Her answers are in bold font.

Hey Sonia! You are seriously the sweetest person in the world ! 🙂 I am so excited to highlight the way you give back. It’s clear that it has inspired SO many to help …even children are helping now. That must feel so good! SO questions:

J:When did you first begin handing out these paper bag dinners? (Is that what you call them?) What inspired you to begin doing this?

S:I started feeding the homeless a few years back (maybe 5 or 6). I saw the insane need and just poverty all around me. I couldn’t just sit idly by so I would actually recruit friends, co-workers, boyfriends… anyone I could really! lol. One Valentine’s day I actually went to feed the homeless with a guy I was dating at the time. It was the best date ever! I don’t really have a name for the dinner, but I do ensure to always place something positive in there or make them special. For Valentine’s Day we made them in shapes of hearts and put little stickers of hearts and cupids on the bags. During Easter I make the sandwiches as bunnies. I want them to feel important at least if it’s for that little time where they receive a PBNJ sandwich made with absolute LOVE!

J:I think we should officially call them Paper Bag Dinners! 🙂 Do you work with a specific charity/church/organization? Do you receive funding?

S:What I’ve been doing is totally grassroots. I recruit people and thankfully they always ask me if I need anything. I will let them know, “Okay, you buy the fruit, drink or whatever [you] can get.” We all do it as a team. I’ve also taken my Godson. It is so important to me to show our youth the good feels you get from giving back and how we should always look out for each other. I’m in the process of opening my own non-profit at the moment. It’s called The Broke Philanthropist and the idea is that the non profit will help children who have aged out of the foster care system and/or are asked to leave their homes due to their sexual orientation or things of the sort. My wish is that I can help them obtain clothes for job interviews, etiquette classes, rent and anything they need in order to succeed. They are the forgotten youth and I want to help them any way I can. I already have a board of directors and hopefully it will be up and running very soon. Can’t wait to help these youth. They’re my favorite population to work with.

J:I LOVE that you do this. After I gained custody of my siblings I became a certified foster parent and brought in teens who went from home to home. My heart aches for children in the “system” who are great kids, but vacate they’re older they don’t get adopted. But anyways, back to the topic. lol. What is the typical response you get from the homeless when they receive their free dinners?

S:It’s really neat to see the joy on most of their faces. I recall one man just looked at me, his face lit up and he said “Oh, wow! You took your time in decorating this.” My response was “Absolutely. I made them with love!” Of course you also have those people who are not happy with PBNJ and prefer some meat and coke, etc. I’m like “Sorry this is all I got!” 🙂 I know if they’re really hungry they’ll take it. Often times I also make a couple sandwiches of something else like ham and cheese because people may be allergic to peanut butter. 

J:I know Nick and you have been struggling – and I’m sure it’s difficult for you to let your wall and guards back down after everything you’ve experienced the past couple weeks – how do you feel with Nick while handing out these bags of dinners?

S:I absolutely love giving back in any way I can and sharing that with Nick I think allowed him to see another side of me that maybe he knew was there, but never saw it in action. I also think he loved it as well. I feel like I changed him in that respect. I think he will be a more giving person in the future due to going through this entire experiment. That makes me happy.

J:How do you think Nick handled your trip out to help the homeless? What did you think of the night altogether? Do you think it brought you and Nick closer?

S:I think it definitely brought Nick and I closer for that moment and time. I also got to see a different side of him. I saw a warm individual who wanted to give back and was enthusiastic about it. He was ALL in while feeding the homeless. Sometimes Nick needs a little nudge and then he’s all in! I noticed in Unfiltered he spoke about the young lady that I brought to our home one day… well he actually brought her some candy and helped me pack her bag to take home with her. Nick is very thoughtful in his gift giving. He also actually helped make a website for The Broke Philanthropist. It was a surprise (I cried too) The website is not yet live. So… clearly gift giving is his love language! 🙂

J:Let me know when it is live so I can share it with everyone! …So many people have been inspired by you and now they are handing out brown paper bag dinners in their neighborhoods – I’ve even seen some families including their children. If someone wants to help in their neighborhood/city what is the best way for them to go about it? Any tips for those who are about to go out for the first time?

S:OMG I’ve received so many private messages and tags from people who have gone to feed the homeless because of the episode. I literally cried one day reading the messages because it just warms my heart that through Nick and I feeding the homeless we’ve started the most beautiful trend ever! My first advice is don’t wait for someone to organize an event to feed the homeless. Do it yourself. I go to big lots where bread and PBNJ is cheaper and I buy a few and I’ll get a small toiletry which are inexpensive to place in the bag as well. If you’re good at couponing you can also check for sales and I mean you can get free things for the homeless. If you don’t want to do a large event you can keeps bags in your car with some toiletries, a health bar and maybe a set of clothes and if you see someone in need just give it to them. We can all be a BROKE PHILANTHROPIST You don’t need to be rich or have money to make someone smile.

My instagram is @the_broke_philanthropist and whoever wants to learn more they can send us an e-mail at the_broke_philanthropist@hotmail.com.

Watching Sonia and Nick give back inspired me. Have you been inspired by watching Married At First Sight? Share with me in the comments below. I love hearing from you guys!

Did you catch the behind-the-scenes secrets the couples shared with me on last week’s Married At First Sight: Unfiltered? If not, check it out:

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Married At First Sight and Married At First Sight:Unfiltered air every Tuesday on A&E and FYI. (Married At First Sight:Unfiltered, hosted by yours truly, is ONLY on FYI!) Grab your glass of wine and watch and tweet LIVE along with me at 8:45pm EST! I cannot wait! And don’t forget to join my mailing list so you never miss out! (Join at the very bottom of this blog if you’re on your smart phone. Join at the right of this blog if you’re on your laptop/desktop computer.)

P.S. Sam Role From Married At First Sight Season 3 has a pretty big smile and a nice glow these days. Catch up with her and what’s going on in her life here.

P.S.S. Doug and I went on After Buzz TV last week to chat all about Married At First Sight LIVE last week. Click here if you want some laughs.

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