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‘Married at First Sight’ season 18 episode 18: Where to stream free

A brand new episode of Married at First Sight premieres on Lifetime Tuesday, March 4 at 8/7c.

On this week’s episode titled “New Love is in the Air,” the couples must navigate through the aftermath of decision day. Viewers will see as the couples who remain together explore their new shared life, while also seeing this season’s divorcees return to the single life.

Meanwhile, some of the cast wrestle with betrayal and disappointment, others find solace in each other, and one ends up finding love where they least expect it.

Though only two more episodes follow episode 18, there’s still plenty more drama and intrigue left in this season. Episodes 19 and 20 will center around the cast reunion, sharing updates about the couples and the divorcees following their time on the hit Lifetime show.

Where can I watch Married at First Sight season 18?

Those interested in catching the last few episodes of the show can stream it through Philo and DirecTV Stream—two top streaming services that offer free trials to new subscribers.

Philo is currently the cheaper option out of the two at just $28 a month after its 7-day free trial concludes.

Married at First Sight is also available for streaming through Sling, though currently there is not a free trial available to new subscribers.

What is Philo?

Philo prides itself on being one of the first entertainment-focused streaming services on the market. Users can stream live TV and on-demand content through their 80 top-rated television channels and take advantage of their unlimited DVR feature for just $28 a month after its free trial.

Top rated channels available for streaming through Philo include A&E, CMT, Discovery Channel, Food Network, Hallmark Channel, ID, MTV, TLC, Lifetime and more.

What is DirecTV Stream?

DirecTV Stream is another top streaming service to consider when ditching cable. Starting at just $86.99 a month after its free trial, users can access over 90 channels such as ABC, AMC, BET, Bravo, CMT, CNBC, CNN and more through the base plan.

Those interested in exploring more of DirecTV Stream’s available plans can learn more here.

What is Sling?

Sling is another great cable alternative to explore. Though no free trial is available to new subscribers, those interested in committing to a plan get half off the first month with any of the available Sling plans. Plans start at just $45.99 a month, but with the ongoing promotion, start streaming with Sling today for just $23.

Users can access top TV channels such as Freeform, ESPN, MSNBC, Bravo, USA, FX, TLC, National Geographic and more. Sling also offers every user the ability to record up to 50 hours of cloud DVR. Those who record frequently can upgrade to 200 hours of DVR for an additional $5 a month.

What is Married at First Sight about?

Each season, six brave souls agree to marry legally the moment they first meet. After extensive research, four specialists create what they believe are three perfect couples based on scientific matchmaking.

The first meeting for these couples, each comprised of people who’ve had no prior luck in the love department, will be as they walk down the aisle.

General

Legendary Alabama author Harper Lee has a new book, publishing 9 years after her death

Harper Lee, who was famous until the year before her death for having published only one novel – albeit a novel that became one of the most influential books in history – has another book being published in October 2025, nine years after her death.

The book, “The Land of Sweet Forever: Stories and Essays,” contains “several unseen short stories from the early creative years of the legendary author,” publisher HarperCollins announced March 4.

Barnes & Noble said in a statement also released March 4, 2025, that the book will be sold exclusively at its stores. You can preorder the book here for delivery in October. It will cost $30 in hardcover but Barnes and Noble says no cover design has been released yet.

Lee, a native of Monroeville, Ala., won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1960 novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird” and didn’t publish again until age 88 in 2015, when a second novel, “Go Set a Watchman,” was published. That book was from an early manuscript for “Mockingbird,” seen from the eyes of an adult protagonist rather than the precocious six-year-old Scout from the 1960 book.

HarperCollins said “The Land of Sweet Forever” contains eight short stories that were written by a Harper Lee, who was born Nelle Harper Lee in 1926, at a time when she was submitting articles to magazines and other publications.

The typewritten manuscripts, written before the author began “Mockingbird,” were discovered after Lee’s death, the publisher’s press release said. Lee’s estate executor, Tonja Carter of Monroeville, brokered the deal with HarperCollins, along with Michael Dean of Andrew Nurnberg Associates, the UK-based representatives of Lee’s estate.

“In 2024, the Estate made the decision to publish the stories alongside eight nonfiction pieces by Lee, which appeared in a range of publications between 1961 and 2006, collected together for the first time and now brought back into the public eye,” the HarperCollins press release said.

The book includes an introduction by Casey Cep, author of “Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee.”

Tonja Carter, left, was a friend and attorney for Harper Lee and oversees her estate. She poses with Joy Brown and Lee’s plaque for the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame at Judson College.

The essays in the book are described by Barnes & Noble as “newly discovered short stories and previously published essays and magazine pieces, offering a fresh perspective on the remarkable literary mind of Harper Lee” who was less remembered as “the dogged young writer, who crafted stories in hopes of magazine publication; Lee the lively New Yorker, Alabamian, and friend to Truman Capote; and the Lee who peppered the pages of McCall’s and Vogue with thoughtful essays in the latter part of the twentieth century.”

The stories include fiction and nonfiction essays “covering territory from the Alabama schoolyards of Lee’s youth to the luncheonettes and movie houses of midcentury Manhattan,” that invite “still-vital conversations about politics, equality, travel, love, fiction, art, the American South, and what it means to lead an engaged and creative life.”

General

Cincinnati Bengals ‘not giving up’ on former Alabama wide receiver

While at the Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Duke Tobin, the Cincinnati Bengals’ director of player personnel, said wide receiver Jermaine Burton had “done nothing” as a rookie to deserve a roster spot with the NFL team.

While at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Tobin was asked again about Burton.

“I’ve said what I’ve had to say on that one,” Tobin said. “I can’t want it more for him than he wants it for himself, and he’s going to have to demonstrate that.

“He’s an immensely talented guy. We’re not giving up on him, but he’s going to have to start showing it now and he’s going to have to take the next step in his career. I’m hopeful. I like Jermaine. I don’t dislike Jermaine; I like Jermaine. And he can add a lot to us.”

Burton joined the Bengals as a third-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft after he had 79 receptions for 1,475 yards and 15 touchdowns in two seasons at Alabama.

As an NFL rookie, Burton had four receptions for 107 yards and returned 13 kickoffs for a 29.1-yard average. He was on the field for 131 offensive snaps and 37 special-teams plays.

Burton seemed to miss his opportunity to make a bigger contribution for the Bengals at the midpoint of the season. Burton had two career receptions that had gained 47 and 41 yards and was coming off a career-high 24 offensive snaps when Cincinnati prepped him for a bigger role with wide receiver Tee Higgins sidelined for a Nov. 3 game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Instead, Burton was designated as a game-day inactive after Bengals coach Zac Taylor said Burton had been “a big part of the plan.” Taylor said Burton had been benched because “we just got to handle all of our business the right way.”

With Higgins still out, Burton came back the next week to make his only start and play a career-high 39 snaps in a 35-34 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. He had an 11-yard reception against Baltimore, then had an 8-yard reception and 18 offensive snaps in a 34-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in the next game.

But in Cincinnati’s remaining six games, Burton played 25 snaps and had no receptions.

The Bengals left Burton home as the team traveled to Pittsburgh for its season finale. It was later reported that in the week before the game a 19-year-old woman who had been dating Burton called 911 to report the wide receiver had chased her into her apartment, broken her phone, choked and hit her. The woman also told police Burton had put a knife to his neck and threatened suicide. No charges were filed.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

General

Is this the perfect Alabama running back?

We’re continuing our series on building the ideal Alabama football player at each position, this time with a look at the running back spot. Alabama has been fortunate to have some of the best running backs in college football history but who was the fastest, the strongest, or the guy you want in the game when you need just one yard?

Beat Everyone is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the show on your favorite platform to automatically receive new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. Beat Everyone is brought to you by Broadway Joe’s Fantasy Sports.

General

Alabama’s newest Wawa location opens this week

Wawa, the East Coast convenience store chain expanding rapidly across the central Gulf Coast, will open its fifth Alabama store Thursday, March 6.

The new Fairhope store will be the third in Baldwin County, after locations on the south side of Fairhope and in Robertsdale. Mobile’s first Wawa opened in August, followed by its second in November; overall, the company says it plans to open seven to 10 locations in coastal Alabama over the next three to four years.

The new Wawa is at 10040 Encounter Drive, just off the intersection of Ala. 104 and Ala. 181. According to information released by the company, Thursday’s festivities start at 7:45 a.m. and doors open at 8 a.m., with free T-shirts for the first 100 people in line. Other attractions include a “Hoagies for Heroes” contest with competitors winning donations for area nonprofits, and customers are invited to participate in a celebration and parade at 8:30 a.m.

Wally Goose, Fairhope cheerleaders and others dance at the opening of Alabama’s first Wawa store.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]

Free samples of limited-time breakfast offerings including French toast and the sausage, egg and cheese Sizzli breakfast sandwich will be available in limited quantities. As is usual at Wawa openings hot coffee will be free for 10 days.

Wawa is a food market/gas station chain that started with a dairy market in 1964 in the Pennsylvania town of Wawa. It’s a privately held company with more than 1,000 stores, mostly in East Coast states, including many in Florida’s main peninsula. The company announced in 2022 that it planned a rapid expansion into the Florida Panhandle and Lower Alabama.

General

Melania Trump invites Alabama steelworker, volunteer firefighter to president’s speech before Congress

A steel plant employee and volunteer firefighter from Decatur is one of 15 special guests invited by First Lady Melania Trump to President Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress tonight.

Jeff Denard has worked almost three decades for a plant owned by Nucor Steel.

“His good paying, middle class job at the steel plant has allowed Jeff to serve as volunteer firefighter, provide a loving home to dozens of foster children, and organize his fellow steelworkers to respond to natural disasters, including Hurricane Helene,” the White House said in a press release.

The president’s speech comes as Trump moves quickly to implement policies he promised during the campaign, including tariffs and changes in the nation’s stance on the war in Ukraine.

Here are the other special guests for the president’s speech, with the White House summaries of why they were invited:

Elliston Berry from Aledo, Texas: Elliston is a 15-year-old who was the victim of computer-generated deepfakes created by a bully at her school intended to humiliate and degrade Elliston and her friends.

The Comperatore Family from Sarver, Pa.: Helen, Allyson, and Kaylee are the widow and daughters of Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who was killed by the gunman who also shot President Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July 2024.

Stephanie Diller from Long Island, N.Y.: Stephanie is the widow of Jonathan Diller, an NYPD officer who was murdered at a traffic stop in Queens in March 2024 by a repeat criminal who was allowed to roam the streets.

Haley Ferguson from Spring Hill, Tenn: Haley is a former foster child, a senior at Middle Tennessee State University majoring in Elementary Education, and a Fostering the Future scholarship recipient, which was launched by the First Lady’s organization, Be Best.

Marc and Malphine Fogel from Butler, Pa.: Marc is an American history teacher who was held hostage by the Russian government and wrongfully sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison. On February 12th, President Trump fulfilled his promise to Malphine, Marc’s 95-year-old mother, that he would bring Marc home.

January Littlejohn from Tallahassee, Fla.: January is a mother and parents’ rights advocate who sued the School Board of Leon County after school officials at her daughter’s middle school socially transitioned her daughter to a different sexual identity without January and her husband’s knowledge or permission.

Payton McNabb from Murphy, NC: Payton is a former high school athlete who had her dreams of competing in college sports crushed in a September 2022 volleyball match when a biological man playing on the opposing women’s team spiked the volleyball at Payton’s face, leaving her with a traumatic brain injury.

Allyson and Lauren Phillips from Woodstock, Ga.: Allyson and Lauren are the mother and sister of Laken Riley, a young female nursing student who was murdered during a morning job by an illegal alien who had been arrested multiple times and released. The first bill Trump signed into law this year was named in Laken’s honor.

Alexis Nungaray from Houston, Texas: Alexis is the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl who was murdered during a walk to a corner store. The suspects in the killing are illegal immigrants from Venezuela who were apprehended and released just weeks before Jocelyn’s murder.

Roberto Ortiz from Weslaco, Texas: Roberto has served with U.S. Border Patrol for nearly a decade, and is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and California State Guard. He has been shot at repeatedly by cartel members while performing his duties near the Rio Grande River in Texas.

General

Denver Nuggets Championship gear still available for as low as $10

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General

Samford planning 27-acre Lakeshore Drive mixed-use development in Homewood

Samford University is planning a 27-acre mixed unit development across Lakeshore Drive from campus.

The Homewood Planning Commission is scheduled to review plans for Creekside District-West Tuesday night. Samford and developer Landmark Services Co. are seeking Mixed Use District Zoning.

The site along Shades Creek, which adjoins Homewood High School, currently includes a commercial office building, Samford’s Track and Soccer Complex and parking.

The Creekside District would adjoin Lakeshore Drive.City of Homewood

In zoning documents, Creekside is described as creating another “village” within Homewood through “a diverse mix of lifestyle retail, dining and entertainment.”

The plan calls for commercial office space, Samford-affiliated residential space, a hotel and green space.

That includes “The Green,” a centerpiece of the development that serves as an open lawn and gathering space, with art and pedestrian connections to the rest of the site. The site is meant to conjure up the feel of a university quadrangle.

“Whether you’re a student of Samford University looking for a place to grab a coffee and study, an alumni in search of a unique residence to call home, a member of the Homewood community out for an afternoon shop and bite to eat, or a visitor to the area looking for a boutique hotel for your stay, Creekside District-West will become the destination and gathering spot in Homewood,” the proposal reads.

Page Architects of Denver, Colo. designed the project.

General

2 shot in shootout in Mobile parking lot

Mobile police are investigating after two people were struck by gunfire during a shootout Monday night.

According to the Mobile Police Department, officers responded to a shooting in a parking lot near 750 Government Street at about 10:40 p.m.

After arriving two men were found with gunshot wounds. Both were transported to the hospital but one sustained life-threatened injuries, police said.

The department said that it determined the men were shot after two groups were shooting at each other.

The incident is still under investigation.

General

Duane Chase made history 60 years ago in ‘Sound of Music’

Duane Chase, born Dec. 12, 1950, in Los Angeles, Calif., had only three film roles during his brief acting career but one changed his life. Chase left his mark portraying Kurt, one of the Von Trapp children, in “The Sound of Music.”

Chase, who was 13 years old at the time the movie was filmed, left acting to become a geologist and computer engineer, getting a graduate degree at the University of Alabama and later working at Intergraph Corp. in Huntsville.

I interviewed Chase several years ago and asked him about his Alabama connections and about his iconic “Sound of Music” moment: That high note in “So Long, Farewell.”

He told me he enjoys his place in pop culture. “We had zero clue,” Chase said of the film’s success and subsequent place in American’s hearts as one of the most beloved movies of all time. “I’m pretty sure the studio had zero clue.”

The heartwarming film that has become a Christmas-viewing staple starred Julie Andrews as nun-in-training Maria and Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp. In the days leading to World War II, Maria becomes nanny to the captain’s seven precocious and musically talented children. The soundtrack by famed songwriting duo Rogers and Hammerstein features a plethora of classics like “My Favorite Things,” “Do Re Mi,” “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” and “The Lonely Goatherd.”

Chase and surviving castmates reunited in 2022 when Julie Andrews received the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award. The remaining “von Trapp children” who led a singalong of “Do Re Mi” included Nicholas Hammond (who played Friedrich), Angela Cartwright (Brigitta), Debbie Turner (Marta) and Kym Karath (Gretl). Charmian Carr (Liesl) died in 2016 and Heather Menzies-Urich (Louisa) died in 2017. See a clip of the event below.

The film made $100 million at the domestic box office during its initial release, equivalent to about $1 billion today, according to Fortune magazine. It won five Oscars at the 1966 Academy Awards: Best picture, director for Robert Wise, sound, film editing and musical score.

Let’s revisit some of Chase’s recollections of the movie and Alabama as the film turns 60 this March 2025.

Before the “The Sound of Music,” Chase worked in commercials. After the film, he had two very small parts, one uncredited role in “Follow Me, Boys” and one on the TV show “The Big Valley.”

And about that high note in the song “So Long, Farewell?” The trivia you’ve read is true: The note was out of Chase’s range so it was dubbed.

“That’s the only note I didn’t sing myself,” he said, adding singing ability was one of the requirements for “all seven of the kids” when auditioning.

Duane Chase, shown in 2013, played Kurt von Trapp in “The Sound of Music” in 1965.Courtesy of Duane Chase

“We had to be able to sing and do basic dance steps to be sure we didn’t trip over our feet. We had to read from the script or from something else,” he said. His castmates said he had a love of adventure – and rocks – during filming in Austria. “…I’d go off on little hikes, so our teacher and our drivers, who kind of kept an eye on us, didn’t know where I was,” he told Parade magazine in 2013, “and I was off around a corner on some outcrop of rock just enjoying myself.”

Chase said although the role didn’t make him rich, the money from the film did help pay for his education.

“It certainly helped me through college and graduate school, especially when I was in Tuscaloosa and truly on my own, going to school and working,” he said.

What made Chase decide to come to Alabama? After getting his undergraduate degree at the University of California in Santa Barbara, he was working with Chevron in Denver.

“It looked as if, to continue in my field, I needed a master’s degree and one of the geologists I was working with suggested the University of Alabama,” he said. Some well-known geologists were working at the college at the time and Chase decided to give it a try.

He was somewhat familiar with southern food.

“The foods were not foreign to me,” he said. “My roommate in Santa Barbara was from South Carolina. As a student, you can live on a whole bag of grits for a long time. And not the instant kind. I think I’d even tried fried okra before I came to Alabama.”

Chase’s time in Alabama began in 1978 when he packed up his brother’s pickup truck and moved from his home state of California to Tuscaloosa to get his master’s degree in geology. After finishing his course work, he worked at the Geological Survey of Alabama while writing his thesis. Then, in 1985, he moved to Huntsville to work at Intergraph Corp. and stayed for two years, working in the mapping division.

He has fond memories of Alabama, he said, largely because he met his wife, Petra Maria, in Huntsville. “I always enjoy going to Huntsville,” Chase said.

At one time, Chase worked in forestry and even fought forest fires. He eventually combined his love of geology with computer engineering and worked near Seattle, Wash.