As fans watch the first eight episodes of the new Netflix series The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, a proposal from one of the contestants, Nate, has sparking a debate on social media.
In the new dating series, hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, six couples are facing an ultimatum, with one person in each relationship wanting to get married while the other doesn’t. Before tying the knot, they’re given the opportunity to date and live with other people. At the end of the experiment, they then decide if they want to marry the person they initially came onto the show with or walk away from them forever.
After two and half years of dating, Nate, 30, gave his girlfriend Lauren, 26, an ultimatum because of their conflicting thoughts on having children, as she has said she doesn’t want to become a mother. However, Nate is ready to get married and grow a family, as he revealed in the first episode that he wants someone who feels the same, even if that isn’t Lauren.
Following four days spent dating contestants from the other relationships, Lauren formed a connection with contestant Colby. Nate created connections with two women, April and Shanique, who both chose other people as their live-in matches.
There are spoilers for season one of The Ultimatum below.
While the contestants were making their choices, Colby decided to choose Lauren after explaining that, while he’s not in a rush to have children, he wanted to help her understand how “beautiful” having them could be.
Before Lauren could respond, however, Nate stood up from his seat and proposed to her, after claiming that he “didn’t have a family” without her. After asking if she wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, she said yes.
However, prior to the proposal, another contestant, Hunter, had asked his girlfriend Alexis, who had been the one to give him an ultimatum, to marry him. According to Hunter, the experience made him realise he was just scared of getting married, but that Alexis was the only person he wanted to be with.
On social media, viewers were quick to compare Hunter’s proposal to Nate’s, with many claiming that the latter didn’t seem nearly as genuine.
“I honestly felt like Alexis and Hunter’s engagement was real and that they can work through anything else themselves but when Nate got up and proposed to Lauren I was like HUH?” one Twitter user wrote.
“Nate’s proposal doesn’t seem anything like Hunter’s. His first two choices picked someone else so he’s desperate to save face,” another viewer said.
Many viewers also questioned if it was a good idea for Nate to propose in the first place, since he had vocalised how much he wanted children while Lauren had made it clear that she does not.
“I understand having dealbreakers and stuff but why are you trying to force a woman to have kids, go your separate ways,” one person wrote. “The fact that Nate is so pushy like that, red flags man.”
“I am so confused because Lauren and Nate did not agree on kids??? The whole reason they came here and ol’ boy did that and she was like [absolutely], as if she had been waiting for this all day???” a tweet reads.
Viewers also claimed that the timing of Nate’s proposal seemed suspicious, as the other women had already made their choices and Colby had just confessed his feelings for Lauren.
“Nate admitted to proposing on a whim because no one else chose him and Lauren’s good with that?” one Twitter user said. “He issued the ultimatum, ended up with egg on his face, and then decided to get down on one knee when someone else was showing interest in her…”
“I am confused,” another tweet reads. “Nate wants kids and he’s said he wants kids badly but because Colby picked her for the experiment he jumped to propose. Colby is right, Nate is not genuine, he’s manipulative”.
You can watch the first eight episodes of The Ultimatum on Netflix. The final two episodes, the finale and the reunion, will air on 13 April.
