Married At First Sight’s Russell Duance can’t understand the ‘eye gazing’ task

Beth Moore and Russell Duance hoped intimacy week would help ignite a much-needed spark in their relationship on Tuesday’s episode of Married At First Sight.

‘So far, my relationship with Russell, it’s been very platonic. We obviously haven’t had any chemistry or romance since we’ve been together,’ admitted Beth, 39. 

But after being assigned an ‘eye gazing’ task by the show’s resident sexologist, Alessandra Rampolla, both Beth and Russell, 37, seemed optimistic. 

Sitting face-to-face, Beth and Russell held hands and commenced gazing into each other’s eyes.

Russell appeared stony-faced and unblinking, having seemingly shutdown, which caused Beth to wince.

‘Um, is this guy alive? I don’t think he’s understanding what this task is about,’ she later said, after attempting to break his intense stare. 

After a few moments of Russell sitting unblinking with a blank expression on his face, Beth finally called time on the task.

‘I think that’s just about it. You can blink,’ she told him.

Russell later said he was simply ‘trying to take the whole picture in the whole time as opposed to wasting time blinking’. 

Beth then asked Russell if he felt like the task had been ‘intimate’, and he claimed he ‘felt like I was looking into you’.

‘Really?’ asked a sceptical Beth.

She later added: ‘It is a bit disappointing. I’m longing to have that deeper connection that I came here looking for, and I just don’t have it right now.’