Channel 4’s Married At First Sight continues its brand new series tonight.
The show will see sets of strangers marry one another before being followed around for their first six weeks together.
At the end of the ‘experiment’, they’ll have the choice of whether to stay together or get divorced.
Chosen from an initial pool of thousands of applicants, individuals each seeking long-term love have been carefully assessed by a panel of experts in the fields of psychology, social & evolutionary anthropology and theology.
Until the 18th century arranged marriages were common but will the combined professional experience of these experts really create the ‘perfect’ match? Can theories of evolution, social development, attachment and personality really identify a partner better suited to us than we could find ourselves? Three couples will find out – in an arranged marriage made by science.
Once matched by the experts the highly compatible couples will prepare to enter into a legally-binding marriage with a complete stranger – meeting for the very first time at their own wedding where they’ll declare ‘I do’.
Or will they? As the day draws close will nerves get the better of each bride and groom before they meet at the altar?
For those that do decide to become legally wed the cameras will follow the couples during the first tentative weeks of their relationship as they share their honeymoon and then their daily lives with a complete stranger.
The opening episode saw police officer Stephanie and quantity surveyor Benjamin; and estate agent Carrie and insurance broker Wayne. Before they can get married, the newly engaged singles need to persuade their friends and family that marrying a stranger isn’t a completely crazy idea.
In the previous week’s episode, police sergeant Richard and finance director Harriet are about to exchange their wedding vows, while Benjamin and Stephanie are on honeymoon in Mallorca and start to get a little closer.
Tonight, the two couples who married at first sight enter the final four weeks of the experiment to see if their relationships have a long-term future. They are on the countdown to Decision Day – when the couples must decide whether to stay together or seek a divorce.
The couples have eight weeks to see if they have a future together – but no one said marrying a stranger would be easy.
Ultimately the show will ask if science can help us fall in love.
Married At First Sight airs tonight, March 8 on Channel 4 from 9PM.
