Married at First Sight season 17 has been one of the worst of the series, leaving the franchise needing to change its ways if it wants to keep its viewership. Throughout Married At First Sight season 17, the couples struggled to maintain their connections, making it clear that the experiment wasn’t doing what it was supposed to. The experts, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Dr. Pia Holec, and Pastor Cal Roberson, matched the participants up with people they thought would be able to find attraction for each other in building a marriage. Unfortunately, despite counseling, therapy, and challenges that each couple worked hard to overcome, things didn’t work out for any of the Married At First Sight season 17 couples. Though viewers simply felt it could be poor matchmaking, it appears that the cast themselves were doing some shady dealings behind the scenes.
During the Married At First Sight season 17 reunion, the couples admitted to making things seem somewhat more picturesque than they were on camera. During the reunion, the women of MAFS season 17 accused their husbands of trying to orchestrate the drama that would happen on camera instead of letting things happen organically. While the men of Married At First Sight season 17 rejected this idea, the feeling throughout the season that there was a disconnect from who the viewers were seeing on camera and what the couples were like off camera. This disconnect created issues in each of the marriages, aside from Chloe Brown and Michael Shiakallis’ relationship, which was more isolated from the other relationships. For Austin Reed & Becca Haley, Orion Martzollof & Lauren Goodger, Cameron Frazer & Clare Kerr, and Brennan Shoykhet & Emily Balch, the relationships they forged on screen were far different than the ones they had off-screen.
The cast of Married At First Sight season 17 were admonished for the idea that they’d played their relationships out as storylines for the viewers to watch, rather than experiences for themselves. Still, the fact that they were capable of such deception in the first place calls the MAFS production team into question, as they didn’t seem to realize that the cast was going behind their back and making a whole different show. The cast shared that they’d discussed the elements of the show and how they could be perceived in the best light by the audience, with the women explaining that the men wanted to ensure they’d be taken well by the audience. In hopes they’d be able to leave Married At First Sight with opportunities, the cast chose to prioritize their images over their relationships, pushing viewers to understand that MAFS needs an overhaul if it wants continued success.
8. Married At First Sight Needs New Experts
The Experts Need To Be Replaced
Married At First Sight has gone through several different panels of experts during its time on the air, but the current slate aren’t proving to be working out. Dr. Pepper, Dr. Pia, and Pastor Cal may be experts in their fields, but the matches they’ve made aren’t cutting when it comes to finding lasting relationships. Dr. Pepper has shared that it’s difficult to make matches in a lot of ways because the participants who sign up for Married At First Sight are mostly people who have struggled to find genuine or lasting love for themselves but aren’t necessarily being honest about their habits in relationships. The experts can only work with the information they’re given about the participants to make matches, but that isn’t the only thing they’ve struggled with throughout Married At First Sight season 17.
The issue with the experts begins at the root of their matchmaking, but extends far beyond the fact that they’ve struggled to make lasting connections for the participants. In the therapy sessions they have with the Married At First Sight cast members, the experts tend to push on issues that may not be the most relevant or have credence coming up in the relationship. Viewers perceive that the experts are sometimes there to push drama, which can be difficult for an audience who is supposed to trust the experts to help the couples further their relationships. Overall, the fact that the experts struggle to mediate for the couples can be difficult, and watching the therapy sessions they initiate can make it clear why they’re not always effective. Though their methods could improve, it’s possible replacing them altogether could resolve some major issues.
7. Married At First Sight Needs New Casting Process
The Series Needs To Consider New Factors
The Married At First Sight casting process has been criticized, especially after the disastrous turnout for MAFS season 17. Though the cast members have to be people who are willing to open up and share a majorly vulnerable side of themselves with the camera, the cast isn’t always vetted in the most effective way possible, which creates a disconnect from the experiment itself to the reality TV version of things. The Married At First Sight casting process requires potential cast members to fill out a questionnaire about their preferences, and if they’re chosen to move further into the process, they’re then vetted psychiatrically and given some personality tests to see if they’ll be able to handle the experiment. Overall, the MAFS casting process needs to involve more questions about the intentions of the cast members, and whether they’re coming into the experiment for the right reasons.
6. Married At First Sight Needs To Recognize Clout Chasers
The Show Needs To Eliminated Influencers
Throughout Married At First Sight’s run, there have been people who are there for the wrong reasons. The participants are meant to come into the experiment looking for the love of their life, hopeful to build a life with someone special. While some are interested in growing their personal brand online, MAFS is not an experiment for someone who simply wishes to become an influencer or promote their business. Putting their personal lives on the line, the participants behind Married At First Sight often have to expose sides of themselves that are deeply personal, which doesn’t mix well with someone who is simply hoping to gain fame and notoriety from appearing on TV.Married At First Sight needs to realize when they’re casting clout chasers and remove them from the equation, as people who are simply looking to get famous don’t do the experiment justice.
5. Married At First Sight Needs Successful Couples
The Marriages Need To Begin Working
While the results of Married At First Sight are always going to be varied, the series needs to produce more successful couples if it wants to continue to be able to create matches. Throughout MAFS, there have been seasons where there are a few successful couples and a few who don’t have a chance. That is typical for the series, which tends to have five or six couples per season. While there is usually at least one couple who will end their marriage early, the MAFS experts and viewers all hope for several couples to make it through the season and stay in their marriages. Unfortunately, in the last five seasons of Married At First Sight, there has been only one couple that stayed together on Decision Day and moved into the real world successfully. The series needs to make more matches that stick to earn viewers’ trust.
4. Married At First Sight Needs Its Credibility Back
MAFS Has Lost Its Credibility
Through the years, Married At First Sight has become less of a reality TV staple in matchmaking and marriage, and more of a joke to the viewers who still watch the show. While the series has entertainment value, things have changed over the years that have made MAFS become less and less credible to those who watch it. With the last season of the series having brought forth six couples that simply didn’t have what it took to succeed in their relationships, many are wondering if Married At First Sight has the ability to match successful couples anymore. Though there are circumstantial things that can happen to change the nature of the relationships on the show, the fact that virtually none of the couples have been able to succeed in years hasdestroyed Married At First Sight’s credibility, and it needs to be rebuilt.
3. Married At First Sight Needs A New Angle
A New Angle Could Make The Show More Interesting
Married At First Sight has been covering the same sort of story for nearly 20 seasons, and while it’s worked in the past, the series could use a new angle to come from to refresh what the audience is seeing on the series. Rather than following the couples from just before their weddings through honeymoons and rebuilding their life together, MAFS could add in some more to the before-era, introducing their participants. If MAFS took a few weeks to follow their participants’ day-to-day normal lives, they may have a better idea of how to match people appropriately. On top of that, MAFS could come from a new angle in rebuilding the way their experts are integrated into the marriages of the participants. Rather than simple visits and sessions, the experts should be working with the participants way more individually, as well as in their marriage counseling sessions.
2. Married At First Sight Needs A Spinoff
Separating The Show Into Two Could Help
MAFS could benefit from having two separate series under its umbrella, one for the couples who are going through the experiment, and one for the participants after their marriages either end in disaster or make it through successfully. One of the issues with Married At First Sight season 17 was that when the marriages broke up for couples like Clare & Cameron or Lauren & Orion, Married At First Sight continued filming and incorporating them into the weekly episodes. For the couples, who weren’t interested in interacting with each other anymore, it was clear that their relationships weren’t exactly healthy. They were all trying to move forward with their lives outside of their marriages but had to continue to revisit raw, real emotions with someone they didn’t want to be with. If there were a spin-off series, the couples who separate could be free of one another and appear on their own.
1. Married At First Sight Experts Need To Step In More
They Need To Provide More Support
While the MAFS experts tend to step in when needed, seeing them on the series more would make a major difference in getting the couples to address their issues more quickly. Though the experts are available in select moments, with marriages that are so tricky and delicate, they should be coming in to counsel the couples far more often, as well as speaking to them individually. While some couples don’t need the experts around constantly, others struggle far more in the early moments of their marriages, and could definitely use the help. By having the experts be more available, like on-call therapists, or simply having them come in more often to talk to the participants, the Married At First Sight couples would be pushed to work through issues that come up quickly. The couples would be able to establish a baseline quicker, and potentially work through catastrophic problems before they end their relationships.
