The Married at First Sight experts are being slammed by viewers for demonstrating questionable ethics while matching the couples. Dr. Pepper Schwartz has been an expert since season 1 premiered in 2014, while Pastor Cal Roberson has been an expert since season 4, and newest expert Dr. Pia since season 15. The trio is tasked with not only matching the couples but also guiding them through the eight-week-long journey from the altar to Decision Day. Married at First Sight season 17 ended in late April 2024, and was largely considered a failure due to the divorces of all five couples.
Given that the show has a notoriously low success rate of 12 out of 64 couples, which is 18.75%, fans of MAFS have been talking online and highlighting the experts’ ethics surrounding this. Reddit user u/DrPablisimo made a post calling into question the experts’ morals.
“I wonder what the ‘experts’ on the show think about this– that they are putting people in a high risk situation to get a divorce.”
The point being made is that the experts are, in good conscious, setting up couples within a system with a very low success rate, which is unsettling.
While the experts don’t intentionally try and put the participants in harm’s way, they do it anyway because of their poor matchmaking skills and inability to guide the couples through their challenges.
When Is Married At First Sight Season 18 Premiering?
& Why Are The Experts The Same?
Other Married at First Sight viewers chimed in with their opinions on the experts’ abilities and ethics. “IM(not very H)O, the experts are rubbish. You could throw a stone out your window now and marry the stranger it hits with an equal chance of a successful marriage,” one critic wrote. Another asserted, “It seems to me there is an ethical question for the professionals who condone and promote these relationships.” From the perspective of fans, the experts have not lived up to their roles, and viewers can expect more of the same in Married at First Sight season 18.
MAFS season 18 does not have a premiere date but is likely to be showcased in the fall. The season has already been filmed with Chicago-based couples and is likely in the final stages of editing. There have only been two trailers released, and those came at the end of the MAFS season 17 finale and then at the end of the final Reunion episode. Almost all of the new cast members can be found on Instagram, but the season has not had any spoilers leaked thus far.
Dr. Pepper, Pastor Cal, and Dr. Pia are confirmed to be returning for Married at First Sight season 18, which could be detrimental to the show since they did such a poor job the last few seasons. The experts’ jobs and roles on the show are at stake, and fans are calling them out for their shortcomings. The hit Lifetime show needs to step up its success rate in season 18 and provide fans with the quality relationships and entertaining drama they have been missing.
Married At First Sight is available for streaming on MyLifetime and Hulu.