John Aiken has copped the ire of Married At First Sight New Zealand fans following the season four reunion on Tuesday night.
The relationship expert, 53, who has been a popular star of the show since the Australian version premiered in 2015, was slammed for being too ‘snarky’.
After reprising his role on the Kiwi series with sex therapist Jo Robertson, Reddit users turned on ‘cringe’ John and said he was just as ‘disappointing’ as the show.
‘Anyone else feeling John Aiken is just as toxic as some of the contestants?’ one viewer asked.
‘I noticed that he started to become snarky and angry about halfway through MAFS Australia last year. He just seems like he doesn’t want to be there and I agree.’
They continued, ‘His contract should not be renewed He’s just cringe now,’ as others flocked to the comments to agree with them.
Someone else added: ‘On AU he seems to really only care about “holding people to account” and telling them they’re bad people rather than helping anyone’s relationship.
‘I’m sure it’s producer driven, but he does seem like he just dislikes everyone. This NZ season he seemed a bit softer by comparison, but I understand where you’re coming from.’
However, some fans took issue with not just John and fellow expert Jo, 36, but how short the entire 2024 series was overall.
The relationship experts helped a group of 10 couples find love within just four weeks, as opposed to the 12 couples the Australian version sees over eight weeks.
‘This makes all other MAFS versions look significantly superior,’ one Reddit user said of the shorted NZ format.
‘The small number of couples, the two uninterested and unskilled “experts”, the ridiculous matches and the short time frame made this season far from worthy of watching.’
Another wrote: ‘This season was just a bit of a s**t show, it was so short I swore it had just started and only one of the couples lasted! Idk how they can call themselves experts as only one of the couples were compatible.’
It comes after NZ bride Stephanie Archer took to TikTok to voice her frustrations with relationship expert John in a now deleted video.
‘Does anyone else feel like John was telling me to lower my standards? I just think as a society we put so much expectation on women and then when they ask for the exact same in return, we tell them their “list” is too long,’ she explained.