The Ultimatum contestants Shanique Imari and Randall Griffin explain why they felt unprepared for the show

‘You can’t plan for that’

(Netflix )

The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On contestants and couple Shanique Imari and Randall Griffin, have opened up about their experience on the show, detailing how neither of them felt prepared for it.

The Netflix dating series, hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, is centred around six different couples, as each one faced an ultimatum, where one person in the relationship wanted to get married while the other did not.

Contestants took part in an eight week experience where they dated other people, lived with someone new for three weeks, and then moved back in with their original partners for another three weeks. At the end of the experiment, the couples chose between getting engaged or breaking up.

Imari, 24, came onto the show with her boyfriend, Griffin, 26, as she gave him the ultimatum, saying she was ready for marriage.

However, for the couple, they both felt like they didn’t know what to expect, once filming officially began. During a recent interview with The List, Imari was asked how prepared she was to date other people on The Ultimatum. And according to the reality star, she was “absolutely not prepared,” as she had no idea that she would form “connections” so “early on”.

“I probably thought I was prepared, but no, I definitely wasn’t,” she explained “You can’t plan for that. We didn’t know who else was going to be a part of the experiment. I didn’t anticipate forming the connections I did, especially so early on.”

“As the experience went on, it started to click a little bit more [and] made a little bit more sense that this is not going to be something I can control,” she added.

Griffin noted that he wasn’t very prepared when entering the show either. However, in his case, he said it was because he didn’t come in with an “open” mind, which is a decision that he came to “regret”.

“Well, when I first got on the show, I really didn’t come in as open as I should’ve, and that is something that I do regret starting off, because I’m the one that was given the ultimatum,” he explained. “I was the one with the most questions, like ‘Why, I thought everything was good,’ [when] obviously, it wasn’t.”

However, he ultimately began taking the experience seriously, despite how “difficult” it was, since Imari is someone who he “really values”.

“It wasn’t until maybe that second or third week where I was thinking, ‘Okay, maybe I do need to take this seriously, because this is somebody who I really value, somebody who I can see spending the rest of my life with,’ he explained. “It was difficult because I was never put in a situation like that, and it was almost like a crash course of you having to grow as quickly as possible and something I’ve never experienced before, and I am glad that it did happen.”

Throughout the series, Imari had discussed with Griffin that she was ready to get engaged. However, he said that he needed more time to become financially stable before popping the questions.

During their three weeks living apart, Imari formed a connection with another contestant, Zay Wilson, while Griffin formed a connection with Madlyn Ballatori. Once they moved back in together, Imari and Griffin focused on their own relationship and finding better ways to communicate with each other.

In the season finale, Griffin got down on one knee and proposed to Imari. “I wanted you to be my wife since the day I laid eyes on you, I just didn’t know how to show it,” he told her. “This experience has taught me that.”

However, during the reunion special, Imari was no longer wearing her ring and revealed that she and Randall had called the engagement off. She said that after filming, they spent six months “completely broken up,” citing that as the “hardest time of [her] life”.

She still acknowledged that their time apart helped them appreciate each other more, since they were now back together. And even though they aren’t engaged, Imari said that they’re taking things “one step at a time”.