14 DAY TRIAL // Some commitment-phobes refuse to tie the knot even after they’ve been in a relationship with the same person for years, but 6 singles, 3 male and 3 female, have agreed to getting married without knowing the smallest thing about their future spouse. The experiment is documented on a new reality show on FYI, called Married at First Sight.
The idea behind the show is that, in marriage, we should not look for the perfect man / woman or our idea of them, but rather for the perfect partner. In the end, having a healthy and happy marriage is all down to science.
All applicants for the new show, a trailer for which you will also find embedded below, were evaluated by 4 experts, a spiritual adviser, a sexologist, a sociologist, and a psychologist. Based on these evaluations, the experts found the perfect match for the contestants, but they didn’t as much as show them a photo of “the one.”
The show documents their life as a new couple, from their wedding day (and first meeting), past the honeymoon stage, and up to the nesting period. Those who decide spending the rest of their life married to the person the experts picked for them is not to their liking can get a divorce once the show wraps – and the network will cover all the expenses.
This seems a drastic way to meet new people but hey, whatever floats their boat.
Speaking with the Huffington Post about the show, Greg Epstein, humanist chaplain at Harvard University, says that it’s not meant to mock or otherwise belittle the institution of marriage, but rather to teach viewers a very important lesson.
Because these singles only see their spouses for the first time on the wedding day, we assume that “don’t judge a book by its cover” is one of them.
“This is not to promote arranged marriage. What the show is promoting is for people to think long and hard about what really makes for a long-term relationship, what really makes for a good marriage. The show is trying to get people to think in a different way on how they are choosing potential partners,” Epstein says.
“[It is] potentially a cause for hope. I think it can make [people] stop and think, maybe it's not about finding the perfect person; maybe it's about being the right partner,” Epstein continues.
To those saying that reality TV is not real and, as such, the marriages must not legal, another of the four experts, Dr. Logan Levkoff, assures Jezebel that they’re perfectly “real” and legally binding.
Are you intrigued yet?