The Ultimatum: Queer Loveseason 2 saw a group of couples put their relationships to the test, including AJ Blount, whochatted with Screen Rant about her time on the series with and without her partner Britney Thompson. AJ, who was given the ultimatum by Britney, wasn’t certain about marriage prior to the experiment. AJ didn’t want to feel second to Britney’s work.
While the couple had been together for five years prior to their time onThe Ultimatum: Queer Loveseason 2, AJ and Britney came to the series at a crossroads. While for some couples,The Ultimatumis about whether or not they want to be married, for others, it’sabout understanding if they feel confident enough in their relationship to take the next step.
AJ and Britney, who were in trial marriages with Marie Robertson and Marita Prodger, respectively, had very different experiences within the experiment. Moving into their trial marriages,AJ was hopeful she’d be able to understandwhat her next move was. Chatting through the experience with Screen Rant,AJ revealed the most surprising parts ofThe Ultimatum: Queer Loveseason 2.
Screen Rant: AJ, everyone was really drawn to you early on, especially prior to The Choice. How did it feel having so many eyes on you?
AJ: I don’t think it’s necessarily like having so many eyes on me. I mean, I think it’s nice, but honestly, I really was trying to find a true trial marriage partner to help me get the questions I needed answered and the clarity that I needed. So, picking the right partner was truly the number one priority. And sometimes it can get lost a little bit in translation as far as the timing, learning everybody so quickly, trying to remember everybody’s facts about each person. So yeah, I think for me, it was really just finding the right person and how that would help shape me for Decision Day.
Screen Rant: Definitely. You were given the ultimatum coming into the show. How did it feel going into this experience knowing that you were going to be facing such a big choice at the end of things?
AJ: Man, it was a lot of pressure, I’ll have to say. I think Britney put it best. I do well under pressure. I’ve always done well under pressure. I’m the girl that you have an assignment due at 11:59, and I’m doing the assignment at 11:10. [laughs] But, I’d get it in. So I think having all that pressure wasn’t anything new, but it still gave new challenges that I’ve never experienced before. So I think having to navigate those challenges was the difficult piece in all of this.
Screen Rant: That makes a lot of sense. I can only imagine it was such a punch to the system, going from being in your partnership to being in a place to then choose Marie for the trial marriage.
AJ: My choice for Marie was, I think it came with difficulty, but once I found that, okay, I’m going to choose Marie, it really was based on stability. Love, Marita, hands down, bestie for life. I think Marita posed a lot of things that I probably wasn’t looking for at the time. I didn’t really get to that answer until really like decision day or choice day, but she was four or five years younger than me. So that also posed like a big question mark.
And also I needed somebody a little bit more grounded. She seems like a girlie in the wind. I’m a girlie in the wind. And I think two girlies in the wind would get lost in the wind [laughs] So I needed somebody a little bit more grounding, a little bit more stable, a little bit more, at the time I thought the mindset would be a little bit more different. So that’s really why I picked Marie over Marita.
AJ & Britney Were The Only Couple To Keep Contact
They Met Up Early On In The Trial Marriages
Although AJ and Britney agreed to splitting up for their trial marriages, the early days proved to be tough and saw the two of them sneaking around to see one another. While they came clean to their partners, AJ revealedher trial marriage partner Marie reacted very differently to her than viewers saw in confessionalsonThe Ultimatum: Queer Love.
Screen Rant: That makes sense! Going into the trial marriage, early on you were still seeing Britney - you eventually opened up about it. What really influenced the choice there to open up about it? Did you guys continue to see each other after you admitted to it?
AJ: No. So we, the first week of trial marriage, week one, whatever you would like to call it, but week one was really, it was hard. You’re literally moving in with somebody that you’ve probably only known for like, let’s be real, like 20 hours. So to have to sleep next to somebody new where you’ve been sleeping next to your partner for me, it was four years. Excuse me. But I think that at that moment, what we needed the most was a little bit of home-based familiarity.
I think that’s really intense and emotional. And at the end of the day, I think that I took a chance in relaying to Marie, hey, my person needs me right now. Are you okay with me doing that? And she was always willing and honest and saying, yes, please do it. I think it kind of gets lost in translation because she never told me that she was ever bothered by it ever. And so now watching it back and seeing that she was so bothered, like that was not a Marie that I got at all. So I really wish that just as much as I was honest and transparent about what was going on, I wish that she was a little bit more honest and transparent and that could have made a better situation for the both of us in the end.
Screen Rant: It’s interesting that you didn’t get that version of it because it really does come off on screen. She was a little irritated. You guys had a really interesting connection. Did the trial marriage really feel like you jumped into a new relationship or was it kind of awkward around the edges?
AJ: I think you get into these… I mean, this is not an everyday type of experience that you go through or anybody could just do. So I think that you just try to make the best of what you have. I think that us during dating week, then moving in together, and again, we were moving in together not knowing that we both were going to choose each other or if this is the person I’m going to be spending this time with. So I think that you just try to make the best that you may with what you got. And I think that we initially had a pretty good, I’d say like 48 hours before things started to get a little different.
But no fault to I think either of us. I truly believe that. I think that there was a lot of outside factors that people don’t really get to see that impacted our trial marriage a lot. And I wish as much as my outside factor with Britney, me being transparent with her, I would hope that she would also have that transparency with me. So yeah, I think it does look a little different on screen, but nothing that you wouldn’t be able to handle.
AJ & Britney Left The Show Engaged
The Couple Are Planning Their Future Together
Screen Rant: Okay, so post trial marriage, we saw that you and Britney got engaged on the show - congratulations!
AJ: Thank you so much.
Screen Rant: You got to that decision. And it was clear that, you know, you were very emotional - what really brought you to that place where you felt ready?
AJ: I think honestly, what got me to that position, a little credit to Marita. Marita really helped me understand through her trial marriage with Britney, helped me understand like what she had with Britney, what they were able to accomplish together. And gave me insight of like, look, she didn’t create this business just to throw you to the wolves and move on and say, peace, sayonara. Like she even then took it a step further and brought you here because she was showing you that she wants to be with you. And Marita ultimately let me know that at the end of the day, like if it’s you or the business, she’s going to choose you.
And I would never ask that of Britney to ever have to put me or her business. I just wanted a little bit more work-life balance. Like if you could give me work-life balance, that means you can give our future kids work-life balance, our families work-life balance, like our friends that we love work-life balance. So it truly wasn’t really like a decision that I took lightly. And when I got to that decision, I think it just all made sense. Like Britney’s just not somebody that I’m willing to lose over a business that she would literally give up in two seconds if it meant me or the business. So yeah, super emotional that day. Happy that it’s caught on camera for me to forever remember it. But I know with all the decisions, like I made the right one.
