Jamie Otis, who appeared on the first season of Married at First Sight and ended up in a happy marriage to Doug Hehner, is defending the show and its four experts in light of all three Season 2 couples splitting.
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
"I truly believe MAFS works best when you want the help of the experts and are willing to admit your flaws, background, needs and wants right from the very beginning... It's taking a flawed soul who doesn't know how to be in a healthy relationship and transforming them into someone who learns how to be a wife/husband," Otis, who celebrated her first anniversary with Hehner on March 23, told People.
"It may seem like a fairy tale unfolding when you watch a successful couple -- but it isn't. There's so much work involved."
Hehner and Otis, who previously competed on The Bachelor for Ben Flajnik's heart, are one of two pairs still together from the show's first season. They currently star on their own FYI spinoff show The First Year with fellow couple Cortney Hendrix and Jason Carrion.
Otis said the format of the show changed a bit from the "tiny documentary" she originally thought she had gotten involved in.
"MAFS wasn't presented to me the way it was presented to the second season," Otis told the magazine, adding that she went through a few rounds of casting before the twist of meeting her future husband for the first time at the altar was revealed.
"It wasn't until final casting -- when I was in a room with all four of the experts and the producers -- that they kind of dropped a bomb on us. They told us that this 'love experiment' they're working on is indeed titled Married At First Sight and you will marry your scientifically compatible partner without knowing anything about him, not even his name."
Not surprisingly, "nearly half" of the final candidates chose to quit the process after learning the show's premise. But Otis was ready for the extreme social experiment because she didn't really feel she had better options waiting for her.
"I wasn't having luck on my own, I knew I needed the help of someone -- anyone -- why not four experts?" Otis explained.
And ultimately, Otis landed in a "healthy relationship" with an "amazingly patient hubs." She believes the experts put careful thought into the arranged marriages and are truly rooting for the couples to last.
However, the results of Married at First Sight's second season were terrible. All three couples ended in divorce, one of whom was so bad that Jessica Castro actually filed for a restraining order against Ryan De Nino. The experts suggested their was a lack of effort, understanding or communication in these relationships.
"The drama that unfolds isn't 'edited' in the way we see reality TV these days. And I know because I've been on both types of shows," Otis told People. "It truly just documents what happens and shows the couple's journey."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
