All relationships have their share of disappointments, but it seems one Married at First Sight newlywed has them stacking up against him. David Norton entered the Married at First Sight experiment with unrivaled optimism, but now that he’s a few weeks into his marriage, he may be praying for a miracle.

Viewers are doubtful the 29-year old account executive’s marriage will make it beyond the six-week process as Norton’s match, Ashley Doherty, has remained distant and uninterested in anything beyond friendship with her husband. The Knot caught up with Norton following last month’s candid interview. He had a lot to say, and we were, as always, happy to listen. In typical Norton style, the newlywed is forthcoming, genuine, and positive.

On the latest Married at First Sight episode, the newlyweds hosted a 4th of July party. During the festivities, everyone appeared to be having a wonderful time. But Norton was surprised to learn that his wife was upset with him. She admitted to feeling like a guest, because her husband had left her alone with his friends. “You know, watching it back, I was more disappointed than anything in the whole situation,” Norton shares with us. “I feel like I was in a no-win situation.”

“[Throughout] the whole marriage, she complains that I was trying to be too close or too clingy,” he continues, “so I give her space and it’s a huge deal. There seems to be a lot of mixed signals there. I honestly do wonder if I was there the whole time, if her response would have been something different, and I would have been around too much like she’s said before.”

“Basically, I just wish she gave me the chance to be the husband that she wanted,” he admits. “If she came up to me at the party and said she was feeling that way, 100% I would have been by her side, because that’s all I ever wanted, was for her to want that.”

Norton’s friends were also stunned that his wife wasn’t happy. “They were really hurt and upset, because they all went out of their way to make Ashley feel comfortable, and they all found it difficult to believe she said that,” he tells The Knot. “Every single one of my friends were surprised she felt that way, because she was engaged the entire time.”

“It wasn’t as if she was by herself the whole time or standing alone in a corner,” Norton continues. “The girls said to me, after watching the episode, that they would have thought it would have been weird if I was hovering around her while they were getting to know Ashley. They already know me, they wanted to get to know Ashley. If you look at the episode, you can see she’s having a good time.”

“The times I wasn’t around, I was in an ear shot of her,” he tells us. “And the only time I was upstairs is when I was giving a tour and bragging about my wife in our wedding album, or showing them her awesome wedding gift to me. Basically, all of my friends’ wives, fiances, [and girlfriends] are incredibly close. They travel together, have wine nights together, go out together and all of that. I wanted Ashley to integrate into that, and that would have been difficult if I was hovering around the whole time.”

Following the airing of the “Celebrations” episode, Doherty took to Twitter, stating her friends “didn’t make the cut” for the 4th of July party. We asked Norton what he thought of the tweet, and whether he believes his wife was trying to separate him from her friends and family. “I don’t know what she meant by that tweet, they were 1,000% invited to the party,” Norton says of his wife’s friends. “It was by no means my party, or her party; it was our party.”

“But I was really disappointed that I couldn’t meet with any of her friends,” he continues. “I was really looking forward to getting some insight about Ashley from them, because she has been so closed off with me. The next night, her friends stopped over for a little bit, but it wasn’t at our party.”

Norton assures us his wife’s friends “weren’t edited out of the party,” but viewers are still curious as to why they didn’t show. “I just think Ashley has a small, close-knit group of friends,” he admits. “I hope that because it’s a small group, maybe they just made other plans, but I’d be lying if [I said] the thought didn’t cross my mind regarding her not wanting to have them over.”

“Last time that we spoke, I mentioned that I think Ashley is so closed off because she doesn’t know if I am going to be completely out of her life in a couple of weeks,” Norton recalls. “Maybe – and I hope that I am wrong – she thought the same thing with her friends and family. That, ‘Why should I meet them if I am going to be out of their life in a couple of weeks?’ I did get to talk to her dad after she ran a race with him, but that’s the only interaction I had with any of her friends and family during the experiment.”

While the party didn’t turn out as Norton had hoped, he’s quick to point out the positives. “If you look through my Facebook or Instagram, you will see when it comes to theme parties; you have to go all out!” he shares. “There is no other way! Ashley really embraced the idea of going all out too, which is awesome! I think it really helped bring us together because we were figuring out what should go where, what foods we should have… she is very talented when it comes to themed food and drink ideas. I would have just had a case of beer, some liquor and mixers. I think it definitely brought us closer together.”

Norton’s wife recently and shared a quote that may have teased was her thoughts on the Married at First Sight episode: “I am very cautious of people whose actions don’t match their words.” We wondered if Norton believes his wife was referring to him, and if his actions matched his words during the Married at First Sight process. “I was confused and truly hurt when I saw that post,” Norton shares with The Knot. “I can honestly say I did everything in my power, on-camera and off, to make her comfortable.”

“I know that social media hasn’t been kind to her and I hate that, and it hurts me too,” he continues. “I mean, that is my wife. [It’s] just unfortunate and confusing to read a post like that when I know I have done my absolute best with this marriage 24/7, even if I wasn’t always right. Everything that I did during those six weeks was to try and get us to a good place.”

Down-to-earth Norton interacts with Married at First Sight fans on social media, telling us he defends his wife and praises her whenever possible. “I have so much respect for her and our marriage and am going to continue to have that,” he says. “There is no Team David or Team Ashley; there is only Team Dashley. It seems hypocritical to complain about negative posts, and then turn around and post something negative and cryptic. Like I said, it is confusing and hurtful. I know in my heart that I did the best I could and backed up the words I said with my actions, and hopefully that is apparent to everyone else.”

In a teaser for the next Married at First Sight episode, Norton’s wife accuses him of cheating, stating she received a message that he had asked another woman out for drinks. We asked if the incident caused trust issues between them, and if he is nervous to watch the episode. “No, I’m not nervous,” he replies. “I know what happens, I lived it and I know where my heart was at that time. I will say it’s a really powerful and emotional episode, maybe in the history of the show.”

“I think that the incident reflects how different we are at communicating and where our mindset is,” Norton tells The Knot. “I will say that, in an earlier episode, Ashley mentioned telling friends and Dr. Joseph that I wasn’t attractive but [she didn’t tell] me. [She mentioned it’s] something you need to talk to other people first about an issue and get an opinion. Maybe I took that a little too literal. It definitely caused some trust issues.”

Norton explains that Doherty wondered what his motives were regarding the message. But he wondered if she was really upset or “taking [the] misunderstanding and using it as an excuse to bail on the marriage?”

The distance is evident to Married at First Sight viewers as they watch Norton and Doherty together. We felt compelled to ask if they shared a bed throughout the experiment. “Minus a couple nights on the honeymoon, and the night that we returned from the honeymoon, up until this point every night we have shared the same bed,” he openly shares. “That’s not to say we are spooning and cuddling; we aren’t, but we have shared a bed. Is it weird? It’s a king size bed so there is a lot of space, so not really. Belle even sleeps in the bed with us.”

Norton recently spent a night out with the other Married at First Sight gents. We were curious as to what they have in common and what differences were apparent. “Oh man, I love those guys; Tres and Neil are my brothers in arms,” he tells us. “Obviously what we have in common is we married a stranger,” he says with a laugh. “But we are also really laid back guys who value friendships and like to have fun. We are actually on a text thread together too and text throughout the week and during the episodes.”

“Some differences are that Neil has a beard, and Tres and I don’t anymore,” Norton jokes. “I don’t know if anything really sticks out. Neil is definitely the most encouraging guy I met though, always picking us up after a hard scene in the show. And Tres is always up for whatever; it can be ‘x’ hour at night, and if you text Tres to do something, he will be there in five minutes; its great!”

But what in the world would three Married at First Sight participants gab about on a guys’ night out? “We talked about our wives, what’s in store for future seasons of this show, and what if we knew then what we know now,” Norton shares. “We are all looking forward to the summer and having a big trip together.”

And whether this kind-hearted Married at First Sight viewer favorite is still married or back in the dating game, he certainly looks great! Since the show, he’s clean-shaven and has visibly lost weight. “The beard comes and goes, but I think it will be gone for a little while now,” Norton tells us. “As for the weight, thank you for the compliment! I tore my ACL; you may have noticed my brace in the kickball scene. So I gained weight from not working out as much as I normally do. I have a great friend who is a health coach and has gotten me back to eating right, losing weight, and feeling good. I still have some work to get back to my normal weight, but I am getting there.”

With mere weeks until the Married at First Sight finale, viewers can’t help but wonder what’s to come.

Don’t miss Married at First Sight, airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST on FYI.