Married At First Sight Needs To Revamp Itself (These Elements Need To Change)

Married At First Sight season 18 is coming soon, and with the series returning for another season, viewers have noticed that some of the elements of the show need to change for the series to be successful. While the decade-long run of Married At First Sight has been impressive, there have been some glaring issues with the series that the show hasn’t tackled in any real capacity in the last several seasons. As the panel of experts, comprised of Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Dr. Pia Holec, and Pastor Cal Roberson, continue to try and make successful matches, things need to change.

Throughout Married At First Sight season 17, the most recent season of the series that featured couples in Denver, Colorado, there were some glaring issues with the experts and the cast members that went unaddressed throughout the season. Despite viewers taking note of the problems that MAFS season 17 had at its core from early episodes, they weren’t addressed by the cast or the experts until it was too late for anyone to change their ways. While the couples of Married At First Sight season 17 had their own secrets behind the scenes, their issues fell to the experts, too.

With Married At First Sight season 18 coming soon, the couples who will be going through the experiment during the new Chicago season will be faced with the same sort of issues from the experts as previous seasons’ participants. Rather than addressing the issues happening with the experts during the off-season, the series continued on the same path, seemingly making few conscious changes about where they stood. The MAFS season 18 cast doesn’t have the opportunity to make any changes with the season already filmed, but Married At First Sight could go through a full revamp before its next season.

Married At First Sight would benefit from producing more seasons of the series, and investing in new experts to make the experience better.

MAFS Has Been Struggling In Recent Years

Although Married At First Sight has a decent success rate overall for the relationships that the show has matched up, the series has been struggling mightily in recent seasons. While earlier seasons of the series brought some incredible matches together, like MAFS season 1’s Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner, the more recent seasons have been difficult for viewers to defend. MAFS season 17 was one of the worst the franchise has ever seen, and few are hopeful things will improve.

While the show has been having a hard time, there have been a few successful couples in the last several years. Married At First Sight season 16 matched Chris Thiek and Nicole Woley, who got married on the show and chose to stay together on Decision Day. The couple are still happily married and are keeping up with MAFS in their spare time. Prior to that, MAFS hadn’t had a successful marriage since Married At First Sight season 12’s Brianna Myles and Vincent Morales, who are also still together and recently welcomed their first child.

MAFS Needs To Overhaul The Experts

With the MAFS experts controlling the couples who walk down the aisle, the series has given them an incredible amount of control of the futures of the participants and the way the seasons play out. Though the participants ultimately have control of themselves throughout the experience and can leave their marriages if they feel uncomfortable or unsafe, the fact that the experts have control over who they’ll be marrying is always tricky. It’s clear that the experts are resting on their backgrounds, which should help them in matchmaking, but it’s also difficult for them to know how participants will react.

With the experts having done so poorly over the last few seasons, it seems like a given that it’s time for them to take a break from their positions. Whether it means permanently changing the team of experts and allowing a new generation of relationship matchmakers to take over on MAFS, or giving the experts some space and bringing in temporary replacements, Married At First Sight needs to address the fact that the experts are struggling to do their jobs. Things have to change soon, if possible, so MAFS participants can begin to truly reap the rewards of the experience.

MAFS Needs To Change Its Casting Process

The Married At First Sight casting process is an interesting mix of questionnaires, interviews, and tests that many have called into question in the past. It’s not clear just how many of the participants make it through the initial questionnaire, which is available online, and into the next round, but many candidates find themselves on the precipice of becoming an MAFS cast member. While the casting process is difficult, it still allows participants that aren’t ready for marriage.

The MAFS casting process needs to change in the next seasons of the series, ensuring that the cast members are actually looking for healthy, loving relationships. With some of the most recent seasons featuring cast members who were only on the show for clout, as well as some cast members who were filtering themselves to make sure they looked good on camera, the process needs a revamp. By vetting potential MAFS cast members in a new way, problems could be mitigated.

MAFS Should Introduce Backup Couples

Although there are typically only five couples on each season of Married At First Sight who wind up getting married and going through the process, some of them tend to find themselves broken up long before Decision Day. With there typically being at least one couple who ends their marriage during the early weeks of the season, MAFS should have backup couples ready to get married and bring into the experiment. Rather than continuing to focus on the broken-up couple, the way the show has with others in the past, Married At First Sight could invest in following new couples.

MAFS Needs To Shorten Its Seasons

After years of MAFS seasons spanning under 20 episodes, the seasons have been getting longer and longer each year. With episodes dedicated to the matchmaking, several episodes dedicated to short events, and the reunion split into different episodes, recent seasons have been spanning several months. While there are viewers who are interested in seeing more episodes, most would prefer to see shorter seasons of the series and more seasons getting produced, rather than an abundance of episodes. Married At First Sight would benefit from producing more seasons of the series, and investing in new experts to make the experience better.