[Un]reasonably outraged by MAFS ‘experts’
John, Mel and Alessandra
Married at First Sight Australia (MAFS) is my dirty little not-so-secret secret. Me and 2.5 million other viewers tune into this bullshit every week.
Before each season, the highbrow part of me insists this is the year I’ll give it up. It’s rubbish. It’s staged. The editing is so bad it’s insulting. Everyone’s just there for their five minutes of fame, using the show as some convoluted PR stunt to sell jewellery or launch an influencer career. No one has a real job; they all have vague titles like ‘project manager’ or ‘e-commerce specialist’. I have, on multiple occasions, told my children that my greatest hope for their future is that they never have to go on a show like this.
And yet, here I am. Watching. Again.
I’m not sure what keeps pulling me back. Maybe it’s the sheer mind-numbingness of it. After a day of wrangling words, my brain can take a break. Or maybe it’s the smug satisfaction of thinking I would never behave like these absolute rapscallions (just wanted to use that word because it sounds good rolling off my tongue).
But the part that gets me most riled up? The so-called experts.
The “Experts”
Every Sunday night, these professionals weigh in on the week that was. In case you have better things to do with your life and have avoided this hot mess, let me introduce them:
John Aiken – Who apparently “Trained in the field of relationships and has been working in private practice for over 25 years.”
Alessandra Rampolla – A certified clinical sexologist (and yes, her sexy Puerto Rican accent is her defining trait).
Mel Schilling – Another “dating and relationship expert.”
John and Mel both have backgrounds in psychology, but allegedly when early seasons aired, so many complaints were lodged with the psychology registration board about their questionable ethics on the show that they almost lost their registration. Now, under the vague and unregulated title of ‘relationship expert’, they aren’t held to any professional standards or ethical guidelines. Which, conveniently, allows them to dish out whatever nonsense best serves the show’s producers. I did check their names here and couldn’t find any listings.
Are They Even Trying?
These experts claim to use science and expert matchmaking to pair couples. But let’s be honest, they’re not setting anyone up for success. They’re throwing human Molotov cocktails together for maximum drama.
How many MAFS couples actually last? Sure, the show parades around its few success stories, but the overwhelming majority end in trainwrecks. If these experts were actually skilled matchmakers, wouldn’t they have a slightly better hit rate?
What worries me most is that the experts allow (and sometimes even encourage) relationships rife with red flags—gaslighting, emotional manipulation, coercive control, outright aggression. Instead of stepping in when things get toxic, they sit back and let the chaos unfold for ratings.
Why aren’t they offering real relationship counselling? Instead of helping couples work through their issues, they just stir the pot for drama. It’s infuriating to watch people behave badly all week, then turn into sweet-talking liars on the couch while the experts nod along. If these people are on the show because past relationships haven’t worked, shouldn’t the focus be on self-growth and learning from past mistakes?
In addition, the experts claim to be guiding participants with psychological insight, yet their judgments are wildly inconsistent. Some contestants get torn apart, while others are inexplicably let off the hook. Seems accountability is handed out based on who makes better TV, not who actually needs a reality check.
MAFS is designed to entertain, not enrich. But at the very least, can we stop pretending these experts are doing anything other than stoking the flames of dysfunction?
And yet, despite knowing full well that every manufactured match, every contrived conflict, and every ridiculous “expert” decision is purely for ratings … they suck me in every damn time. Maybe they are experts after all.
Do you watch this rubbish? What do you think about the ‘experts’?
Kylie
xo
