Since its debut in 2014, Married at First Sight has matched dozens of hopeful single people who are looking to settle down. Each cast member is paired with someone based on various compatibility metrics with the help of a team of “experts”. As the name of the show suggests, these cast members literally get married the first time they meet their match. As you can imagine, marrying someone you don’t know comes with lots of challenges. Throughout the show’s run, many couples have struggled to make their relationships work, and many viewers have questioned just how knowledgable the “experts” really are. After a disastrous 12th season, people have started to investigate just how many happy couples the show has produced, and the numbers aren’t too pretty. Keep reading to learn about the realistic stats from Married at First Sight.
Married At First Sight Doesn’t Have The Best Track Record
If you tuned into season 12 of MAFS, then you’ll probably agree that it seemed like the “experts” did a pretty poor job of matching almost all of the couples. This is reflected in the fact that all of the couples except for one have decided to part ways. What many viewers don’t realize, however, is that this isn’t the first time MAFs has failed its participants.
According to Distractify, the series has an overall success rate of 30%. If you’ve ever gone to a school that grades on a 100 point system, then you know that a 30 is a very low F. Even though there are many couples who do decide to stay married on decision day, there are also many who end up divorcing after the camera crews leave. Even some of the couples who stay together are accused of doing so only because they’ve built an image as a couple and don’t want to lose followers on social media.
To be fair, however, the “experts” have no control over the participants and how they decide to handle their relationships. No matter how you slice it, marrying someone you’ve met at the alter is a very risky thing to do and sometimes things simply don’t work out.
Fans Are Getting Annoyed
It does without saying that nothing is perfect, and some divorces from the show are to be expected. However, viewers have started to feel like the experts are perfectly pairing incompatible people for the sake of TV drama. This sentiment was especially strong after season 12, when Chris Williams proved to be incredibly manipulative. While a reality TV show villain is usually par for the course, MAFs casting choices seem to be turning some people off from the show completely. Even though it’s obvious that viewers want to be entertained, they also understand that the cast members are real people. So, seeing them purposely put in heartbreaking situations just doesn’t sit well with a lot of people.
MAFs addressed the issue and alleged that Chris didn’t reveal his true colors during the casting process. This also highlighted the fact that people on the show don’t appear to be thoroughly vetted, which only made fans even more aggravated.
A Reddit user named mikenasty1 said, “By subjecting some of these people to these relationships they’ve put them through very damaging experiences that will follow them for years if not longer. I get that it makes good tv, but I really feel bad…”
Others, however, believe that the experts don’t actually have as much power as is suggested. Another Reddit user named liquidstitch36 added, “I think the producers of the show match the couples and the experts are told what to do. It seems like MAFS wants to resemble the highly rated and outrageous 90 Day franchise rather than being the originally intended social experiment. So, rather than getting people who sincerely want love, we get a few misbehaved cartoon characters whom we can’t forget.”
The Future Of Married At First Sight
Despite the fact that the show probably isn’t the best place to look for love, hundreds of singles continue to vie for spots each season. The series is getting ready to enter into its 13th season, and it’s already been renewed for a 14th. Even though lots of people are losing faith in the show, there are also viewers who continue to tune in with hopes that things will get better.
Realistically, though, if the show continues to create crash and burn couples, people will lose interest in being part of the experiment. Hopefully, season 13 turns out to be more successful than season 12, otherwise, MAFs could find itself on some very thin ice.
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