With less than two weeks to go until Jesse McBee and Alli Ventresca’s wedding on The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys, the groom was experiencing more than just cold feet.
Following a solo night harvest on Season 2, Episode 8, Jesse described being in the throes of his first-ever full-fledged anxiety attack: “I’m thinking about getting married. I can feel my heart beating through my chest, and I start sweating. And once it all starts to boil over and all that stress starts to pile up, I honestly don’t know what to do.”
He further detailed his “freak-out” to both brother Steven McBee Jr. and, later, to his fiancée, sharing that he felt like he was having a heart attack amid symptoms of lightheadedness and hyperventilating.
Despite some initial hesitation, Jesse finally opened up to Alli, leading her to ask the pivotal, episode-ending question: “Do you think that postponing the wedding is something you’d want to do? That you need to do?”
Luckily, the first look at The McBee Dynasty Season 2, Episode 9 (airing on August 25) reveals Jesse’s answer: “I appreciate that a lot, but I don’t think postponing it … would do anything,” he responds. “I want you to be excited and happy, and I think it’s gonna be a good day. … I’m excited.”
RELATED: Jesse McBee Admits to “Freaking Out” Over Marrying Alli: “A Lot of Stress”
Inside Jesse McBee and Alli Ventresca’s conversation about postponing their wedding
During their discussion, which kicked off during the August 18 episode, Jesse opened up about feeling extreme “pressure” involving both the farm’s financial issues, as well as his loved ones’ perceptions both of him individually and as a couple with Alli. Add to that a choir of familial opinions on Jesse asking Alli for a prenup and the institution or marriage as a whole.
“I feel like I’m living a double life, trying to keep this image that they all have,” he tearfully explained. “It just feels like everybody thinks that we have the perfect relationship and that we never have problems and that I’m some perfect guy. … It’s not the case, first off, and I hate that they even say that ’cause it just adds this unneeded pressure.”
Ultimately, Jesse didn’t want to “let anybody down” — especially Alli.
RELATED: Why Jesse McBee Was Hesitant To Ask Alli for a Prenup With “$50M Payout” at Stake (EXCLUSIVE)
“I wish I would have known how you felt. Like, I wish you felt like you could come to me about those kinds of things,” his bride-to-be responded, agreeing on Episode 9 that it was “scary” how neither of their parents’ marriages worked out, coupled with the fact “everyone” had been pointing out that high school sweethearts like them often “don’t make it” in the long run.
“Everybody has very high expectations of us for sure, but it’s our marriage,” Alli continues. “I’m not scared to marry you. … I don’t want you to ever feel like you’re doing it because of societal pressures.”
While Alli shares in a confessional that she was “trying to be strong” through Jesse’s vulnerable moment, he admits to a producer that there are still “a lot of questions up in the air” for them to iron out, however.
“We don’t even know where we’re gonna live after the wedding,” Jesse elaborates amid an ongoing disagreement over whether to be closer to the farm in Gallatin, Missouri, or her job as a nurse practitioner more than 70 miles away in Kansas City. “That is something that really needs to be figured out.”
Steven McBee Jr. reacts to Jesse McBee’s wedding anxiety
The day after experiencing his first anxiety attack, which he’d self-diagnosed based on an online search, Jesse opened up to big brother Steven Jr. about feeling “nervous” about his and Alli’s wedding.
“I started thinking about everything that could go wrong,” he said, citing discord in parents Kristi McBee and Steven McBee Sr.’s failed marriage. “Even when they were younger and we were kids, like, they fought all the time, and I didn’t really see a whole lot of joy in that relationship. What do married people have to look forward to?”
In a confessional, he added, “I’m a bit jaded on the subject of marriage, based on my parents’ marriage and just how really dysfunctional it was, especially towards the end. Is that how every relationship is gonna be? Is that how I’m gonna be?”
Recognizing that Jesse was “under a s–t ton of pressure,” Steven Jr. assured him, “It’s obviously a big deal, but it’s not like your life is over. … It is your decision to make, no one else’s.”
That’s when Jesse broke into tears and had to walk outside to collect himself before driving off in his pickup truck.
“Out of all of us four boys, Jesse’s always been the most stoic,” Steven said in a confessional. “So, the fact that he’s acting like this with the wedding next week, I’m actually really concerned.”
Afterward, he called their brother, Cole McBee, to tell him that Jesse “broke down,” noting that he’d “never” seen him cry before. Cole, meanwhile, was equally stunned and asked if Jesse still wanted “to go through with” the wedding.
As Steven replied, “I think he’s got second thoughts out of this world.”
As the McBee family helps him navigate those pre-wedding jitters, don’t miss what Jesse exclusively spilled to The Daily Dish about his and Alli’s “tough” prenup conversation.