Marriage at first sight? And just when we thought reality TV couldn’t become any more ridiculous, the new FYI television series called “Married at First Sight” launched last night.
The controversial series follows the lives of six Tri-state singles, ranging from 26-33 years old, in their comical quest for love. These six men and women were specifically selected by the show’s team of experts, which feature sexologist Dr. Logan Levkoff; spiritualist Greg Epstein; psychologist, Dr. Joseph Cilona, and sociologist, Dr. Pepper Schwartz. Apparently, the specialist entourage selected these three couples from a pool of 625 potential matches, based off of a psychological assessment and sexology and spiritual sessions, but the premise is sketchy, bizarre and downright uncomfortable. I guess that screams high ratings.
Here’s the basis of the show: Six contestants agree to marry one of their fellow contests. The contestants have never met and won’t meet until they approach the alter. We’re guessing anything and everything goes wrong after the I do’s. We’ll see the result over the next few episodes: Each couple has four weeks of married life, and at the end, either call it quits or continue the marriage deemed ‘scientifically sound.’
We’re skeptical that the producers have a real appreciation for love. First things first are the contestants. One of the female contestants is Jamie Otis, who has already had her share of camera time on both the ABC series “The Bachelor” and “Bachelor Pad,” where both instances she has left single. The rest of the lineup consists of a woman raised in the Bible Belt who’s now a New York burlesque dancer, a makeup artist and a fashion development manager. The male candidates are a field service technician, an EMT, and the multitalented New Yorker who has experience as a baseball player, commercial sales rep, ordained minister, and lifeguard. Such an eclectic group, definitely made for TV.
The show is highly controversial and tests the traditional concept of love and marriage. Much to the dismay of many critics, myself included, gay marriage is being scrutinized and clearly neglected, while the show is heinously commercialized and vulgarizing marriage. The hypocrisy will draw much media attention to the series; however, I fail to believe the crazy plotline will attract a wide audience. Allow us to bid adieu to the series that I predict will end as suddenly and tragically as Fox’s “I Wanna Marry Harry.”
That’s not what the ratings say. Lol.
Just one opinion posted here! Interested to see how the season unfolds.