Keshia Knight Pulliam hosts Married at First Sight: Afterparty, and she has mastered creating a safe space where the cast shares their perspective while gently breaking down their egos. Audiences may remember Keshia from her work on The Cosby Show and Tyler Perry's House of Payne. However, she's now taken her MAFS super-fandom to the next level.
Married at First Sight season 14 has an abundance of over-the-top personalities, and as an emotionally intelligent woman, Keshia knows how to handle them all. During the show's first decade on Lifetime, former castmate Jamie Otis hosted MAFS: Unfiltered. While Jamie had a strong run hosting for MAFS, it looked like Lifetime was ready to shake things up, and Keshia has stepped up to the plate. Keshia does not shy away from holding the series' cast members accountable.
From graciously thanking Alyssa Ellman after she rashly walked off the set to championing Chris Collette for his stand-up behavior amid her many tantrums, Keshia always frames a narrative with authority and compassion. She also held Lindsey Georgoulis accountable when she didn't understand how trying to fight Olajuwon Dickerson put him in a vulnerable position as a Black man, indicating why Katina Goode got involved in protecting him. Keshia provides people with a platform to be heard and then challenges them to look outside their own perspectives. Keshia is also equally comfortable confronting MAFS's quieter castmates and louder drama queens. Later, she called out Jasmina Outar for shutting down communication with Michael Morency before giving him a chance. Fans think MAFS' Jasmina might unfairly represent Michael.
Most recently, bold and brave Keshia called out Olajuwon for his outdated expectation that Katina Goode become a master of cooking and cleaning. She emphasized that household chores do not determine a woman's worth, and the notion that it would be is inherently sexist. Fans still aren't happy with MAFS' Olajuwon but he backed down on the demands for household chores. Instead, he explained that it was a topic he'd latched onto because he wanted her to be more present and engaged. This week, Keshia celebrated the positive milestones. However, she had to take one step forward and two steps back while discussing MAFS' Olajuwon's frustration with Katina about having an old dating app.
The super fan Melissa Fredericks noted that it was a warm and fuzzy episode until the end, when Katina grew so fed up that she removed her mic and said they had to stop filming before the honest Katina came out. Keshia jumped in, "So first question. Who's the real Katina?" Katina laughed and answered, "Well, yall seen me on the catamaran." Despite a tumultuous episode, Keshia finished the conversation, commending Jasmina and Katina by saying, "I'm so proud of both of you for making it to your one-month anniversary."
It's clear that Keshia has brought MAFS into a new era of communication goals and effective relationship-building. It's hard to imagine anyone hosting MAFS: Afterparty as skillfully as she does. With such a positive first season, it would be amazing for Keshia to become a host of additional dating shows. A perspective as grounded and compassionate as hers is a very rare thing, and Married at First Sight fans need to see more of it.
Married at First Sight airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on Lifetime.