A forthcoming TV show will see volunteers married in front of the cameras without having met.
In Channel 4 show Married At First Sight, six candidates looking for romance will be chosen from a pool of 200, then matched by ‘experts’ in psychology, psychotherapy, theology and anthropology. The resulting couples will then get married in front of their friends and family.
The show will then follow each pair for six further weeks, at the end of which they will be asked if they wish to stay together or go their separate ways.
According to the Radio Times, the show “aims to discover whether science can produce a successful relationship and whether the very act of marriage can itself help to create a psychological bond that leads to true love.”
Channel 4’s Jay Hunt insisted that the show was “a celebration of marriage”.
“It says marriage is important because of social cohesion. We don’t have a great track record in that area. What if we take a slightly different approach and at its heart is the idea that we make the biggest decision of our life based on gut instinct and what if you got an array of experts to help inform that decision and you would be more likely to make the right choice?”
Married At First Sight is based on a successful Danish show, she noted.
“…what’s interesting about it is in the countries where [the show has] already played out, the feedback has been very positive and celebratory and the people involved in it have come back with a very different perspective on what they need from a relationship.”
Photo by Julie Elliott via Flickr under a Creative Commons licence
Beyond revolting.
If the marriage fails the people concerned will at the least be tied together for a year and then until a petition can be heard. And then there could be financial claims . . . this is irresponsible conduct on a massive scale.
Agreed!
The problem is a large percentage of people are now so enamoured with any kind of fame that they will do pretty much anything to get themselves on the TV and noticed – I find the whole thing pathetic…