Married at First Sight expert Pastor Calvin Roberson claims Chris Williams became a different person once the show's cameras started rolling and the experts were just as "surprised" and "pissed" about his behavior as MAFS viewers have been.
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Married at First Sight viewers have been lashing out at Chris and scolding show experts Pastor Cal, Dr. Viviana Coles and Dr. Pepper Schwartz for casting him ever since MAFS's twelfth season, which was filmed late last summer in Atlanta, premiered in January on Lifetime.
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The Married at First Sight season has shown Chris repeatedly boasting about himself and his accomplishments, making offensive and sexist remarks, discussing his high expectations of a woman's physical looks, talking about his apparent obsession with sex, and marrying a stranger only three months after ending his engagement to a woman he still continued hooking up with after their split.
In addition, Chris was just shown revealing to wife Paige Banks his recent ex-fiancee, Mercedes, was about six weeks pregnant with his child on the latest episode of Married at First Sight.
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During a recent appearance on Atlanta's 96.3 WHUR radio show called The Frank Ski Show with Nina Brown, Pastor Cal insisted Chris' actions have "surprised all of us," speaking on behalf of his fellow experts.
"No way that the person you see is the person that we saw. You know, we'll vet people. And I don't know if people know this, but we go through a lot of vetting... anywhere from six weeks to a month," Pastor Cal revealed of the matchmaking process.
Pastor Cal said the experts talk to potential participants' families and "do background checks" as part of their research.
"You can't really dig deep enough to find out everything about everyone," Pastor Cal explained.
"The cameras came on and Chris became this different person. We were just as surprised and pretty pissed as you guys are."
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Pastor Cal, however, said the fact Chris was engaged to a woman shortly before the show wasn't exactly a red flag for the experts.
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"It's not unusual for people to be in relationships and then months later, apply to be on Married at First Sight," Pastor Cal explained.
"This was not the first person who's ever done that. And some people who have done that have been successful and in fact are still even married."
Chris also upset Married at First Sight fans when he told production and Paige's bridesmaids that he wasn't very attracted to his bride on his wedding day although Paige has a curvy body and "fat azz."
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Despite saying Paige was "not a trophy wife" and "the opposite" of the women he was "used to" dating before signing up for the extreme experiment, Chris went ahead and had sex with his wife twice in less than 24 hours after saying "I do."
Chris then told Paige after sleeping with her multiple times that he lacked an attraction -- and Pastor Cal apparently feels horrible about that.
"First of all, as a father, it's infuriating. As a man, it's painful to see that. [But] I can't stop them from having sex," Pastor Cal said on the radio show.
While some people can't believe the experts chose to cast Chris over other eligible bachelors in Atlanta, Pastor Cal clarified, "Of the people that apply, these are the ones that we choose, so all of the eligible bachelors ain't applying."
Viewers have been accusing the Married at First Sight experts of matching the couple to boost ratings, but Pastor Cal wrote to a follower on Instagram last month, "Ratings are never more important than our couples."
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Another person asked, "So how Chris get cast?!?"
"We do our absolute best to match couples with integrity," Pastor Cal explained at the time, "but we can't predict how they will act when the cameras roll. We're surprised also."
An additional follower complained, "Why couldn't there be better representation of a black man for Paige? I'm truly disappointed at the matchmaking. You have to represent better than this for us Pastor Cal. I feel so bad for her."
Pastor Cal responded, "People surprise us. But there's always a chance for redemption."
Married at First Sight experts have also been accused of setting Paige up to fail and be humiliated on television for entertainment and drama.
One individual went as far as to say Chris' casting "is an embarrassment to that poor girl and to the black community."
Viviana recently urged viewers to "chill out" and not have such "strong" reactions to the Season 12 cast's "shocking behavior," which are statements that landed unfavorably with angry fans and cast members.
Viviana later conducted an interview with The Associated Press and defended the integrity of the show and its matchmaking process after appearing dismissive of viewers' concerns about Chris and Paige.
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"There have been couples who we thought were 100% -- as much as we can say that, on paper, side-by-side [and] meeting them single -- head over heels in love with each other, and they were explosive, nasty, really degrading," Viviana said.
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Viviana noted she is sometimes surprised by cast members' behavior in their marriages.
"[They'd] be having conversations that made us think, 'Who are these people?'" she recalled.
When asked if there's ever a thought to pair two people together because a trainwreck could possibly happen, Viviana explained she would never want to put any Married at First Sight participants in an unsafe environment.
"If we would have actually tried to make that happen and create explosive trainwrecks, I almost feel like it could be beyond dangerous -- not just emotionally, but even physically," Viviana explained.
"And so we try to avoid that as much as possible because getting married to a stranger is explosive and dynamic and dramatic enough."
The latest Married at First Sight episode featured Paige giving Chris another chance during their Las Vegas honeymoon despite everything he had already put her through.
Paige decided to honor her vows and continue with what she believed was God's plan for her.
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And click here for more updates on former Married at First Sight cast members and info on where they are now!