Kristine Killingsworth and Keith Dewar first captivated viewers when the Married at First Sight experiment took Philadelphia back in Season 8.
While they were lucky to share an instant connection after tying the knot as strangers, the newlyweds had to make major adjustments to make their unconventional marriage work.
Since successfully leaving the eight-week process together in 2019, the couple continues to share their love story on the MAFS self-shot spin-off, Couples Cam.
Monsters & Critics recently spoke with Keith and Kristine about learning to use the power saw, splitting chores, and life since getting married as strangers.
Monsters & Critics: First things first, how’s the home renovation coming along?
Keith and Kristine: Still going, ha ha! Sometimes it feels like a never-ending project, like we’ll just never be finished. But I feel when you own a home there’s always something to be done. As tough as it has been though, we are really proud of the progress we’ve made so far, and seeing the seeds of our hard work really begins to blossom.
M&C: I love how Kristine has been taking control of the projects. What’s something you learned that you never thought you’d be able to do?
Keith and Kristine: Just about all of it! But I think getting really comfortable with the power saw was the craziest part. I’ve always been pretty good with power tools, but I would usually leave larger cuts and tasks that involved it to my dad. But, of course, we couldn’t take up ALL of his time so I had to suck it up and make it happen.
M&C: You two have been married three years now, in terms of your daily life – what’s the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make living together?
Keith and Kristine: There’s always the common things like adjusting schedules, figuring out what types of food and how much of it to actually buy and not waste, and just figuring out household duties and squeezing in date nights. But with the pandemic this year, Keith’s schedule has been incredibly hectic. So I think the adjustment was more about him not getting to be present as often as he wanted and be able to jump in and help as much with all the projects that still need to be done.
M&C: I know fans want to know, how is Keith doing with the homely chores?
Keith and Kristine: Not all that great to be honest, haha! But to be fair it’s not entirely his fault. He does put in the effort to help when he can but because of his schedule, I really do try to lighten the load as much as possible for him. His work is important and substantially more demanding this year so he’s earned a pass on household duties for a while.
M&C: Keith, your grandmother is adorable! How is she doing? With you being on the front lines of the pandemic, has that added any stress to your marriage?
Keith and Kristine: My grandma is doing great now and the hardest part of her recovery is behind her. She’s a tough cookie! She didn’t even want to go to the hospital, said save the beds for the ones that really need it. It was incredibly stressful when I found out she had tested positive for COVID [-19], especially since I couldn’t see her in person or be there for her in the way I really wanted to be. But it didn’t bring any strain to our marriage. If anything it made us stronger. Kris is my rock and she’s had my back since day one so she was really there for me and continued to support me like always.
M&C: I feel like you two know each other’s love language pretty well. Whenever one does something you don’t necessarily agree with, you two are really good at making it up to each other. Was that natural or something you learned through marriage?
Keith and Kristine: It was a little bit of both. During the process and especially our first year or so after, we didn’t focus on too much else other than really getting to know our spouse. We became each other’s world. But we’ve always vibed pretty well since the very beginning. Open communication has always been a huge part of our relationship and we still continue to work on that each day. It has been an integral factor of our success.
Married at First Sight: Couples Cam airs on Thursdays at 8/7c on Lifetime.