How Roxanne and Antonio Went on ‘The Ultimatum’ and Found Themselves in a Thriller: “He Was Doing the Most to Find Me That Night”

People on Netflix reality shows will really do anything for love. They’ll propose to someone sight unseen (Love is Blind), abstain from sex in order to further emotional bonds (Too Hot to Handle), and let their sibling pick their partner for them (Dated & Related). Those who endure the most, however, have to be the couples that sign up for The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On.

Faced with a disagreement on whether or not to tie the knot, these couples choose to sign up for a show with a premise that sounds like it was pulled directly from a 1991 sexual thriller.

To test their bond and see what marriage could be like, couples swap partners and spend three weeks getting to know their new “spouse” — mentally, emotionally, physically and even intimately. Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone star in The Ultimatum — Rated R.

Unlike past seasons where couples practiced a more… hands-on approach to testing their marriage, the most unsettling drama during The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On Season 2’s partner swap was purely psychological — and just as intense. SPOILERS ahead for Episodes 5 and 6 of The Ultimatum Season 2.

It all started when Antonio Mattei issued an ultimatum to his girlfriend of four years, Roxanne Kaiser. Antonio’s ultimatum was actually spurred on by The Ultimatum Season 1 — which he actually watched with Roxanne. “I remember sitting on this couch right here watching it,” Roxanne told Decider via video call, “and I was like, ‘That’s wild. That’s wild as hell.'”

“I remember at the end of it, we both looked at each other,” said Antonio, in a separate call with Decider. “And, we almost said this at the same time, she’s like, ‘I would never do some shit like that.’ And I was like, ‘Let’s get on that show!’ And she was like, ‘Wait, what?'”

Per the show’s format, Antonio and Roxanne ended up swapping partners with Alex Chapman and Kat Shelton. That left the alphas who weren’t ready to get hitched — Roxanne and Alex — paired up, and the two ultimatum-issuers — Kat and Antonio — paired. Halfway through the season, things really seemed so far so good with Roxanne and Alex. They challenged each other, parents were met, vibes seemed correct — it really looked like Alex might win Roxanne over.

“For me, I was like, ‘This is working. It’s clicking. We’re having fun. We agree on a bunch of stuff,'” said Roxanne of her initial time with Alex. “I enjoyed his time. I liked him. I thought it was cool.”

Then, during separate boys and girls night’s out, everything changed. At the guys’ night, Alex told Antonio that Roxanne does not respect him.

That left Antonio convinced that Alex wanted to steal Roxanne. The girls’ night was equally revelatory, said Roxanne. “You know how all of a sudden you have that ‘whoa’ moment? I really think it was that girls’ night when I saw Kat and all of a sudden it was like, all these things had been accumulating.” Roxanne revealed to Kat that she has seen red flags with Alex. Roxanne has been catching Alex lying. Alex is napping when he told her he was working. Roxanne is getting vulnerable with Alex, and Alex is saying his only insecurity is his unibrow. Roxanne all but tells Kat to run if Alex doesn’t change.

“That didn’t feel right in my gut and it was that night when it all came out,” said Roxanne. “Because other than that, I was like, ‘Okay, it’s working.’ And then it was like, you trust your frickin’ gut, man.”

Back at Antonio and Kat’s apartment, Kat dropped another bombshell: apparently, Alex’s mother, who had just met Roxanne days earlier, had texted Kat to tell her that Roxanne clearly does not like Antonio. Roxanne has no idea where that came from.

“What’s crazy is I thought her and I were cool. Everything was fine. But it was really interesting to watch [the episodes] back and see [Alex’s mom] talk to Kat about everything after the fact, and the whole ‘challenging Alex’ thing came back up with his mom. I found it really interesting that she brought that back up with him and her, but didn’t bring up the text. Don’t want to talk about texting things.”

Antonio called Roxanne and told her what Alex had said — and Alex’s mom, presumably. All of this was becoming too real. “I didn’t want the cameras view around me,” said Antonio. “You asked earlier if there was any moment where we wanted off the show? That was my moment. I was like, ‘I’m done with this shit. It was too much at that moment. I took off the microphone. I was like, ‘Ah, Get this off me! I’m done with this.’ And I was walking and then I saw that the team was still following me and I was like, ‘How did they get downstairs with with all that equipment?’ And I was like, ‘There’s no way they can keep up with me.’ So I just took off.”

Yeah! Antonio started running! To Roxanne! Through the streets of Charlotte! Talk about cinematic! Clearly, Antonio had a plan in place.

“I had no idea where she was. I just took a shot. I just took off,” said Antonio. So how did he ultimately find Roxanne’s apartment? “It was blind luck.”

“We don’t know where we’re all staying and whatnot,” said Roxanne. “Apparently it was a wild goose chase of him finding a building and seeing the [production] trucks outside, or the vans outside.”

“I heard he was knocking on random doors!” interjected Roxanne’s Ultimatum cast mate Lisa Horne, also on the call.

“He was doing the most,” said Roxanne. “He was doing the most find me that night.”

After weeks apart, Roxanne and Antonio were finally reunited — and all it took was an intense round of truth, lies, gaslighting, and both a metaphorical and literal game of telephone. As for where Roxanne and Antonio are today, you’ll have to finish The Ultimatum Season 2 and tune into the reunion when it premieres on Netflix on Wednesday, August 30.