Married at First Sight UK: Three ways the dating show has changed for the worse

 

After watching the first British series of Married at First Sight, I thought it was one of the most authentic dating shows.

The reality show aims to scientifically match applicants with someone they believe could be a suitable partner but the two only meet for the first time on their wedding day. From this day they attempt to build a connection and see if they can make it as a married couple.

Married at First Sight UK series seven cast

The selection process for the first season took over a year, there were only three couples, whose relationships were supported by five experts. I then went on to watch a couple of the early American seasons and the format was similar, although Americans reality TV stars seem naturally better at creating drama than the Brits.

But as the show continued to expand globally, with more couples getting involved each season, it became less clear how authentic the selection process was and I became less interested in the programme. It doesn’t help that the beginning of each series is highly repetitive as we watch each couple wed and go on to their honeymoons.

Still after consuming an unhealthy amount of reality TV since the summer (and for me that is saying something), I decided to revisit the dating show to see how much it has changed and if the changes have been for the better or worse.

THREE WAYS MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT HAS CHANGE

COUPLES MEETING UP DURING THE PROCESS

Positives: Building a friendship with couples that are going through the same unique experience as you gives all the couples involved in the experiment a support system. They are people who could empathise with what they’re going through because it’s not just a normal marriage it is an accelerated process that many won’t understand.

Divided into men and women (or where they felt most comfortable), they were all introduced to each other before their wedding days which allowed them to bond over the reasons they joined the process. Gemma and Whitney connected over the fact that they would be walking down the aisle by themselves as their important parental figures sadly had passed. They hugged each other in support after learning about their similar stories.

Through the process the married couples met weekly at dinner parties and the commitment ceremony to seek help from the experts and decide if they want to stay together.  It is clear when Gemma and Matt joined the process mid-way through that they were looking forward to the opportunity to share their experiences during their volatile marriage with people who would understand.  

Negatives: Let’s be real with ourselves, the reason this was started was to provide opportunities for drama to be created. With 14 couples total being in series seven, there is ample opportunity for individuals to clash and for drama to start which this season Thomas was more than happy to provide. The Liverpudlian consistently argued with April and Whitney during the show and later turned on newcomer Sophie.

The group settings can also become a pile on for people that hold different views to the rest of the group. After making tasteless comments about women’s body and stating that he would leave his wife if she put on weight for non-medical reasons, Jonathan was often criticised around the dinner table for these comments. Although I completely disagree with what he said, the group (and editing) unfairly reduced him to that terrible opinion and offered him no mercy, constantly holding his feet to the flame of his offensive remark.

This group dynamic also gave couples something else to attribute their problems to. April and George were more than happy to blame the idea that their relationship was fake, harped on by Thomas (surprise, surprise), and their lack of trust in each other on what other couples have said. They chose to blissfully ignore the fact that George had trust issues since their honeymoon when there were no other couples around.

2.    STAYING IN AN APARTMENT INSTEAD THEIR HOMES

Positives: I always get weary when watching reality TV shows when there are children involved, as they could get equally if not more upset than their parents by the breakdown of a relationship. So couples living in an apartment complex together during the experiment avoids getting children emotionally involved in a relationship that may not work out. Plus it is a neutral ground so neither party can be territorial about their space or their things.

Negatives: Living in an apartment complex doesn’t show the couples the realities of living together which contestants in the early seasons were able to experience. They got to see how their lifestyles differ to their partners, how they would fit into each other’s lives as well as consider realistically who would move.

Also living in an apartment complex gave contestants a day off from the marriage when they felt like it. After Kwame upset Kasia with his comments about why they don’t have sex and removing her autonomy over her body, Kasia locked her husband out of the apartment. When she decided that she was ready to have him back, Kwame was in no rush to return to their shared apartment. Space is necessary in a relationship, but so is facing your problems. Living in the apartment complex with the option to move to another apartment so easily meant couples could readily run away from their problems, prolonging issues instead of solving them.

3.     INTRODUCING NEW COUPLES

Positive: If I have to push to come up with a positive aspect, the introduction of new married couples midway through the season means that more applicants are given the opportunity to develop connections and find love.  

Negatives: It adds more dynamics to already large cauldron of contrasting personalities and easily creates drama and tensions. Gemma and Matt didn’t manage one day without arguing and this spilled over to the rest of the group as their couples retreat descended into yelling and tears.

Also these late additions call into to question the science of the show, which I doubt was that strong to begin with. The reasons the experts gave for matching Johnathan and Sophie, highlighting that they have both previously been unlucky in love and their desire to have children in the future, seemed surface level reasons for two people to commit to each other for life. Their differences of loving town life vs. city life and vastly different career ambitions are two things they contrast on and may not be able to get over and should have factored in more strongly than their previous dating history.

Along with new married couples, there was the inclusion of the dating couple Matt and Whitney, who after failing to find romance in their original couples, found it with each other. When allowing them to re-join the process as a non-married couple, after criticising the dramatic way their relationship started, the experts claimed that they’d looked at the science and that on paper Matt and Whitney would work as a couple. They didn’t however, explain specifically the traits and qualities that the two matched on making it clear that it was just a decision to keep fanning the flames of drama on the show. Their fellow contestants were clearly not pleased. Zoe regularly let the dating couple know that she felt they had disrespected the process, the experts and the fellow married couples by cheating on their initial partners and then requesting to be allowed to continue in the process.

 

Married at First Sight UK Poster

Clearly the show has changed dramatically since its inception and perhaps necessarily so, as the franchise continues to grow in popularity globally. The newest New Zealand based season started being broadcast in the UK this past August. Though I may not be happy about the changes made to the show as they take it away from its objective of creating long lasting marriages, I cannot say that I didn’t enjoy this season and lapped up every bit of drama. Matt and Whitney’s love affair was a messy drama plot twist that will go down in reality TV history. Still, it is a shame that the show had to stray away from its authentic roots to become more successful.