'Married at First Sight': Olajuwon Reveals the Turning Point of His 'Playboy' Days Before Marrying Katina (Exclusive)

01/12/2022 08:23 am EST

Married at First Sight star Olajuwon has decided to ditch his playboy days in search of true love. Entrusting the job of finding his wife to the Married at First Sight experts, the Boston resident is about to meet and marry wife Katina in Wednesday's all-new episode of the Lifetime series. Prior to his big day's debut, Olajuwon opened up to PopCulture.com about his decision to get more serious about settling down.

"I feel there was a point in my life where I was young and having fun," he shared, adding that being around women was a part of that. "After having fun, I came to a point in my life where I thought I maximized the joy within myself and it was time to become a better version of myself," he continued. "I always knew I wanted true love and someone who seeks the same thing as me."

Having those experiences while younger helped mold Olajuwon's view of what he really wanted in a lifelong partnership. "Experimenting with different women when I was younger helped me get experience for what I was looking for and showed me what I was attracted to and what I wasn't," he explained. "It also showed me that beauty doesn't matter but character and a knowledgeable woman are more important in what I was seeking in a wife."

Having gone to school with Jephte Pierre from Season 6 of Married At First Sight, Olajuwon heard only good things about the process when the two former classmates reconnected, and when the show made its way back to Boston, he jumped at the chance to find a love connection. Looking for someone who was "loyal, trustworthy" and looking to build something with him was important, but Olajuwon also wanted to marry a woman who was "patient" enough to really get to know him, as well as one who was "non-judgmental about [his] past."

While his marriage to Katina has yet to play out on screen, Olajuwon said he was surprised throughout the process at how much he learned about himself and his own areas of needed growth. "I thought I knew everything that it takes regarding being considered a complete man, which was wrong because I had to learn so much more about life," he explained. "But the most surprising factor that shocked me the most is that the experts didn't necessarily give me someone I asked for, instead they found someone I have great chemistry with." See Olajuwon tie the knot with Katina on Married at First Sight (produced by Kinetic Content), airing Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime.

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