Married At First Sight: 8 Ways New Experts Would Improve The Show (& Improve Success Rate)

Lifetime’s hit reality TV show Married at First Sight could benefit from getting new experts and potentially increase the success rate among the couples by doing so. Season 17 aired its Decision Day episode this week, and viewers got to find out whether the matched pairs decided to stay married or get a divorce. Lauren Goodger and Orion Martzloff broke up upon returning from the honeymoon, and Michael Shiakkalis got ditched at the altar by his first bride and then got paired in a second match with Chloe Brown. Viewers have yet to know their outcome since they started the experience late.

Cameron Frazer and Clare Kerr separated on their one-month anniversary but gave their final mutual decision to divorce come Decision Day. Austin Reed and Becca Haley were the only couple to say yes on Decision Day, but Becca broke up with Austin the next day after catching Austin in a lie. This season has been filled with major letdowns by the experts who seemed ill-equipped to match the couples, let alone guide and counsel them through any obstacles.

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New Experts Would Reestablish Credibility

The Show Has Lost Some Value Through Mismatching

Married at First Sight has lost a lot of its credibility due to the incompetence of the experts in matching successful couples. Having had only one couple still together in the last four seasons, the reliability of the experts, Pastor Cal Roberson, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, and Dr. Pia Holec, in matchmaking has seriously diminished. The show seems to be more about drama these days and less about finding viable and long-lasting pairs. Having a fresh trio of experts could revitalize Married at First Sight and give rise to a new era of the show where credibility can be built back up.

Viewers have complained about Married at First Sight losing sight of its matchmaking mission. Presenting a new panel of experts would signal that the network is taking the show’s pitfalls seriously and is making an effort to improve its quality. It’s clear that something is not working with the show since it’s producing so many failed relationships. Replacing the current experts with new ones would be a great place to start in order to gain its integrity.

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New Experts Means New Personalities On The Show

New Personalities Could Add To The Show’s Quality

Pastor Cal and Dr. Pepper have been a part of all seventeen seasons of Married at First Sight, and season 17 was Dr. Pia’s third season as an expert. At this point, Married at First Sight viewers know what to expect and know the extent of their therapiss’t skills and capabilities. Bringing in new experts could refresh the show, which has seen the same tired personalities since 2014.

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New Experts Could Offer Different Advice

The Current Experts’ Advice Has Been Wrong

Bringing in new experts means that the couples would get advice from therapists trying to carve out their strengths in helping the couples. As Married at First Sight fans saw (via Lifetime,) Brennan stopped responding to Dr. Pia, and they never made any headway. Dr. Pia never tried to switch up her advice or tactics to get through to Brennan, and neither did the other experts, so fresh psychoanalysts could dish different advice that could resonate better.

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New Experts Could Change Up The Casting Process

The Casting Process Could Use A Reboot

The Married at First Sight casting process has been the same since 2014, with the experts reviewing potential singles, and then interviewing them in person several times. New experts could endeavor to change up the casting process to perhaps ask better questions and get a better sense of who the people they are thinking of matching are. The casting process may be part of the problem of the low success rate of the couples, and new experts could shed light on the things that aren’t working so well.

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New Experts Would Try Different Strategies With The Couples

New Experts Means New Ideas

The current experts have not done a good job of identifying how the couples need help to progress their marriages. Becca and Austin sat with Dr. Pepper and Pastor Cal to hash out their issues over intimacy and trust (via Lifetime,) but the two therapists working together were not effective since Becca and Austin continued having issues around the same things and ultimately broke up. New experts could take different approaches and offer new strategies to better resonate and understand the participants and their unique challenges.

Dr. Pia has proven that being combative with her patients is not a helpful strategy. Pastor Cal doesn’t dig deep enough into the core problems or push his patients to expand on their thinking. Dr. Pepper seems flippant and surface with her assessment of the participants and couples and does not have an effective approach. Therefore, new experts with different perspectives could greatly change how the cast members respond in therapy.

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New Experts Would Have Different Perspectives

The Couples Need Different Perspectives

A host of new experts could bring their own relationship counseling strengths to the show that the current experts have been missing. New experts could have a better lens to observe the couples’ behavior and pinpoint the things that need to change in their situations. New experts could help teach the participants how to respond in situations that are most triggering to them in ways the old experts have failed at. New experts could establish that they know how to properly match and counsel the couples in ways the previous experts could not as well.

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New Experts Could Reinvent The Show

Married At First Sight Needs To Change Something

Michael being stood up at the altar (via ET) is a prime example that Married at First Sight needs to get reinvented because the show is presenting more and more failed relationships, which isn’t the point of the experiment.

Showcasing a panel of new experts and how their abilities could help the success rate would be a great overhaul strategy.

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New Experts Could Draw New Viewers

Wider Viewership Is Important

Since the show has been disheartening to fans in recent years, letting go of the current experts and hiring on new ones could be the twist or format change that viewers are looking for. Viewers that have fallen off could have renewed interest were the show to make an expert change. By reinventing the show to include new experts, the show could become more attractive to fans who want to follow along in a new chapter of the Married at First Sight franchise.