After weeks of speculation about what was to come, Seven Year Switch came to an end on Tuesday night.
And while all four couples committed to stay together and work on their relationships, there was one pair who stood apart from the pack for all the wrong reasons.
From the get go, Brad and Tallena’s relationship raised question marks. Brad had a fiery temper and an inability to express his feelings. Tallena was shut down or yelled at whenever she expressed a different opinion, which left her feeling as though she had no voice.
Before the show, the Queensland couple were engaged, but due to Brad’s spending the wedding had been postponed. Whenever they fought, Brad would take Tallena’s engagement ring away and hold it ransom until “they” were happy again.
On the rare occasions where Tallena did do things for herself, Brad would lose his temper and detail in great length how it had affected him, how it made him feel, why his irrational response was in some way her fault.
Top Comments
There is a limit to what one can do to help Tallena. She is an adult and has to make her own choices.
Obviously she felt unhappy with the quality of her relationship, thus she was on the show. Probably at the start of their relationship Brad was charming and loving and his behaviour may have deteriorated over time. Intermittent reinforcement is very powerful so people hope if they try hard enough to please and placate their partner, their partner will treat them better. If someone is constantly criticizing and belittling you, you can start to question whether you are a bad partner and the one at fault in the relationship.
There is only so much the psychologists can do.
When you criticize someonés partner, they may react by defending them. if you advised them to leave their partner they may not choose to do so as they are not ready to do so. They may see you as unsympathetic, judgemental etc and stop confiding in you. Sometimes all you can do is listen. if they ask you for your opinion re whether some eg of bad behaviour is reasonable you can call it out as abusive. You can let them know they have your support. But at the end of the day to decision to leave is theirs. Hopefully they have the strength and self esteem to leave when they cannot take the abuse any more.
I dated Brad 10 years ago, he hasn't changed one bit! He did the exact
same things to me, blamed me for everything, took gifts away when I
didn't do things that pleased him. He is also a con artist, he milked me
for money and was just plain manipulative. I hope Tallena sees sense
soon!