A woman was left in tears after her bold idea for an open relationship went painfully wrong, just minutes into testing the waters.
On Friday’s (June 20) episode of Open House: The Great Sex Experiment, viewers will watch the drama unfold as married couple Sharmayne, 26, and Jamie, 29, from Essex take their first plunge into the world of non-monogamy.
But what was meant to be a night of exploration quickly turned into emotional chaos.
In an exclusive first look obtained by Daily Mail, the couple attend their first social event with high hopes, but it all unravels when Sharmayne sees Jamie getting a little too comfortable chatting with another couple.
Sharmayne initially seems eager to take part, mingling as a pair and then splitting off to speak with others solo. But the moment she watches Jamie engage with someone else, her composure cracks.
Her "jealous" side surfaces, and she quickly pulls Jamie aside, telling him: "I want to step out."
When he checks in, asking, "Do you want to take a little break?" she replies, "Of the situation, yeah."
Moments later, Sharmayne is crying. "I just feel overwhelmed," she tells her husband. "It's just a bit much for me, the whole situation."
Jamie tries to reassure her: "We're not obligated to do anything. This is our journey." But Sharmayne admits: "I'm just uncomfortable."
Jamie asks gently: "Where do we go from here?" to which she can only say: "I don't know."
The moment intensifies as she breaks down further: "I don't know if I'm going to be able to hold myself together now. I really don't want to do it. I just want to go home."
Sharmayne and Jamie aren’t the only couple cracking under pressure, as in the last episode, a man named Tom was physically sick after being told he'd need to let his partner, Lauren, sleep with another man as part of their open relationship experience.
The couple had been working with non-monogamy coach Effy Blue, who urged them to explore independence in the bedroom.
"Today is about challenging Tom to be independent," Effy told viewers. "I'm curious to see how that will affect the dynamics they have between them. Lauren needs to be a partner to Tom, not a caretaker." But it didn’t go down easily.
"It was my idea. It was my idea from the start," Lauren admitted. "Yes, it's throwing me and Tom in the deep end... but to be able to have him to have the confidence that we can go off, have our fun, come back to each other at the end of the night, and it's absolutely insane."
The voiceover nailed the tension: "But the thought of flying solo entirely naked isn't sitting well with Tom."
Tom was soon seen getting sick in the bathroom. "This is going to be horrible," he confessed. Lauren rushed to his side with water.
"I feel absolutely petrified and sick," Tom said, as Lauren hugged him from behind. "All that anyone can ask is that you just try, okay?" she whispered.
Open House: The Great Sex Experiment airs on Channel 4.