Married at First Sight. – “A Social Experiment”
by Dr. Marty Tashman (Marriage Counselor) (Three part series)*

A marriage counselor wonders –
“Has marriage come to this? A reality show?”

The other day, I was channel surfing and I came to the FYI Channel and saw “Married at First Sight”. I was fascinated by the program for about 20 minutes and then moved on. Married at First Sight is a new reality show that has been getting a lot of buzz. There are articles in the Boston Globe, The New York Post, The Huffington Post, and numerous videos on You Tube. Imagine the wonder, the excitement of meeting your life partner for the first time right before your wedding. Well six people will have the thrill of that experience on national T.V. on Married at First Sight.

Is marriage really just the right mix of profiling and psychology?

The premise is described by the New York post (July 8th, 2014) as “Total Strangers Marry at First Sight” the post goes on to describe the process:

“Potential cast members filled out lengthy personality profiles, and the four experts went on field visits to conduct psychological assessments, sexology sessions and spiritual counseling to narrow 625 possible matches down to three ideal couples.

The spouses know nothing about each other — even their names — until they walk down the aisle in the premiere. The next nine episodes follow the newlyweds as they live together for four weeks — after which they have to decide whether to remain married or get a divorce.”

A pastor’s view, from a Marriage Counseling perspective

The show has gotten some strong criticism from a number of sources for example Sam Rohrer the President of the American Pastors Network says:

“A major role of pastors today is spending serious time counseling couples who want to enter into the sacred union of marriage,” Rohrer said. “Marriage is not a game show, a contest or something to entertain the masses. Rather, it is a divine relationship defined by God in the Garden of Eden and confirmed throughout Scripture. This show puts two people in a precarious position that will potentially scar them for future healthy relationships and, worse yet, endorses the destructive view that divorce is a logical escape route when marital challenges arise.”

A number of other experts have also given scathing comments focusing on how the show makes a mockery of marriage.

In part II of this series I will talk about why I think this show was and will be so popular.

In part III. I will unveil “Dr. Marty’s secret, he has discovered in his many years as a marriage counselor.

for how Married at First Sight” can give all three couples successful marriages.

What do you think? The first 10 people who respond will get a free copy of my download book: “Negotiation for Couples: From Conflict to Cooperation”

So the question is: after all of this, will couples really feel connected, or will they find themselves in a marriage counselor’s office?