I’m Convinced The Married At First Sight Season 18’s Experts Have An Ethics Problem (They Need To Change)
Married At First Sight season 18 is just getting started, but I’m convinced the experts have an ethical issue when it comes to their matchmaking that needs to change as soon as possible. Married At First Sight season 18, which features five new couples matched up by the MAFS expert panel in Chicago, has been one of the most highly-anticipated seasons in franchise history. While the experts, a panel comprised of Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Dr. Pia Holec, and Pastor Cal Roberson, have been working on MAFS for years, there are things that they’ve teased for the season that seem questionable.
The Married At First Sight season 18 cast has been handpicked by the experts and placed into relationships that the group believes will work out. Married without ever meeting their MAFS spouse, the couples are set to go on an eight-week journey that will push them past their limits and make them consider whether or not they want to stay in their expert-matched marriages. Though there have been couples who are happy in their MAFS couple and wind up staying married, the success rate of Married At First Sight has been low in the last several seasons of the show.
Throughout the Married At First Sight season 18 matchmaking special, the experts were able to bring their points of view into play and explain why they matched up the singles they did. While the experts had valid reasons for their matchmaking, it’s clear that there was some involvement from outside sources in the way that the couples were ultimately matched. Throughout the MAFS season 18 matchmaking special, it felt like the experts were doing their best to justify their decisions as they moved through the process, but with seasons’ worth of unsuccessful matches, they don’t seem the most credible anymore.
The MAFS Experts Have Struggled For Seasons
Although the Married At First Sight experts can only do so much when it comes to a couple they match up with, they’ve been tasked with a serious endeavor and have struggled to make successful matches each season. Throughout the last several seasons of MAFS, there’s only been one successful match who’s made it down the aisle, through the experiment, chosen each other on Decision Day, and ultimately stayed together. Despite knowing that they have resources at hand that could help create more successful matches, the experts have rarely made impactful decisions that lead to successful marriages on the show.
During the most recent season of Married At First Sight, none of the couples stuck together after Decision Day, even though one said they wanted to stay married initially. Even though MAFS season 16’s Nicole Woley and Chris Thiek wound up happily together after their season of the series, before them, there hasn’t been a successful match since MAFS season 12. With two matches staying married and winding up together long-term in the last six seasons, the success rate has been staggeringly low. With very little confidence in the show working for them, singles haven’t been flocking to sign up.
MAFS Season 18 Could See The Experts Acting Unethically
Although the experts have seemed to feel like they have a renewed spirit during Married At First Sight season 18, there’s something eerie about the fact that they’ve only been able to match two couples in the last six seasons successfully. Though the experts are meant to be some of the top relationship experts in their field, they don’t seem to have the experience or knowledge to create couples who last. Each of the experts has different experiences in their given field, but together, they don’t seem to be able to build connections that make sense for a long-term relationship.
While the experts’ credentials aren’t being called into question, the way that their expertise is being used is something MAFS viewers could be curious about. I believe that ethically, after having so many failures as a group of matchmakers, the experts should be reassessing their time on the series and making changes to their process in order to try and turn the tide. If the experts feel it’s ethical to continue making matches in the same fashion, it may be time for them to move away from MAFS to allow others to try their hands at matching couples who last.
Can The MAFS Experts Change?
After seasons of failure that have led to viewers struggling to trust Married At First Sight, it may be time for the experts to change. While Dr. Pepper, Dr. Pia, and Pastor Cal don’t need to leave the series forever, it could be beneficial to see them take a small break in the upcoming seasons of the series. With their tactics struggling to make a genuine difference in their matchmaking streak, seeing new experts come in and try to maneuver through the series could benefit Married At First Sight in the future. I believe rotating experts could solve MAFS’ problems.
