Welcome to Plathville: Ethan Is Concerned About Olivia's Navel Piercing Affecting Their Sex Life

"If you get a big piercing on your navel ... won't it be like, sore and painful?" Ethan asks his wife in a sneak peek

Published on November 24, 2020 02:25 PM

It's been two years since Ethan and Olivia Plath tied the knot, and they are continuing to learn the importance of communication and embracing each other's differences.

In PEOPLE's exclusive sneak peek at Tuesday night's episode of Welcome to Plathville, Olivia tells Ethan that she's "going to go get my navel pierced today," which he isn't all that excited about.

"Life is short — you're supposed to do fun things," she says in the clip, courtesy of TLC.

"Like poke a bunch of holes in yourself?" the eldest son of Kim and Barry Plath replies while lying in bed.

As for why Ethan, 22, doesn't like piercings in general, he has a distinct memory about the first time he noticed one. "I'm not big on piercings. I've never liked a lot of them," he says in a confessional. "I don't want to come across as rude ... the first time I ever saw a navel piercing, it was a very, very large lady — just like, spilling out."

"Ethan, that's just not nice," says Olivia, 21, with a laugh. "That is rude. You should not have said that."

While Ethan is not "opposed to the idea" of his wife getting a navel piercing, he says, "It's not my thing, I guess."

And though he says he "would never tell" Olivia she "can't do anything," if the roles were reversed, his decision would be different. "I know for me, if there's something that I want to do to my body, if you didn't like it, I wouldn't do it."

"And there we are different," Olivia replies with a smile.

Welcome to Plathville — Olivia and Ethan Plath. TLC

"Growing up in a patriarchal circle where the man always has to tell you yes before you do anything, like, rubs me the wrong way," she continues. "And so if you say, 'Don't,' I really want to. If you say, 'Please don't,' I'll think about it."

And this isn't the first time that Ethan has had to adjust to one of Olivia's piercings. "You didn't like my nose when I pierced my nose and you got used to that, right?" she says.

There's another concern that Ethan has about Olivia getting the piercing, though — how it'll affect their sex life.

"If you get a big piercing on your navel ... won't it be like, sore and painful?" he asks. "So that means we won't be able to have sex or anything for a long time. It'll be like maternity leave."

Olivia replies, "Oh my gosh, this is why we don't have a kid yet! You're going to have a cry fest when you can't have sex for eight weeks."

She also reminds him that just like when she got her nose pierced, they will have to be cautious with certain positions when engaging in physical intimacy. "It's like when I got my nose done. I just told you we couldn't make out where you were touching my nose or anything," she explains.

"Yeah, I can't tell you how many times my nose got hung on yours," he says.

"And that really hurt," Olivia says with a laugh. "So as long as you don't touch it, it's fine."

And although the new piercing might take some sex positions "off the table," she thinks it will inspire them to get creative in the bedroom.

"Once Olivia gets her navel pierced, there's probably a couple of sex positions that'll be off the table for a couple of weeks," Ethan says in a confessional.

"Except, there's lots more," Olivia interjects. "Like, as long as you don't touch my stomach. So it's not really a big deal."

Season 2 of Welcome to Plathville, which premiered in early November, revealed big changes within the Plath family.

Last fall, viewers met Kim and Barry, who chose to raise their nine children on a 55-acre farm in a rural part of south Georgia and have largely abstained from technology in the 21st century world — all with the goal of instilling their traditional values and beliefs in their kids. (They are parents to Ethan, Micah, 19, Moriah, 18, Lydia, 16, Isaac, 14, Amber, 11, Cassia, 9, and Mercy, 7. There's also daughter Hosanna, 21, a violinist who tours full-time with her pianist husband Timothy Nobel.)

This season, the family has separated into three households, with Micah and Moriah "renting a house two streets up" from Ethan.

But while everyone is close by, the Plaths aren't exactly one big happy family.

"Since last year, a lot has happened in our relationship between me and Olivia and my parents and my siblings. Just the family dynamics," Ethan said in a previous episode. "A lot has happened. It's kind of hard to say."

"During last year, we were allowed to see the kids some, and then last fall, everything just completely changed and we were not allowed to see the kids at all," said Olivia. "It was just toxic."

"It really does hurt not being able to see them. That's really hard, and it's very, very frustrating," Ethan added. "I have a lot of frustration that I am trying to deal with, like, why am I not allowed to see my siblings unsupervised?"

Welcome to Plathville airs Tuesdays (10 p.m. ET) on TLC.