Married at First Sight, is set to return Monday, January 31, at 7.30pm on Channel Nine and 9Now. The show is one of the biggest in the country – the final episode of MAFS was one of the most watched entertainment programs of the year with a metro audience of just under 1.4m metro and a national audience of 1.816m.
In the quest to find the love of their lives, some of Australia’s most attractive and adventurous singles will hand the keys to their heart to relationship experts John Aiken and Mel Schilling, and clinical sexologist Alessandra Rampolla, who together will match them up to determine whether science really can predict true love and long-lasting romance.
Mediaweek spoke to Tara McWilliams, executive producer of Married at First Sight at Endemol Shine Australia about bringing together the show’s biggest season yet.
Tara McWilliams
The million-dollar question has always been what exactly is it that draws people in to the show. For McWilliams, it’s the unpredictability of people’s emotions.
“It’s a show that is based on a lot of emotion – and very raw emotion. It’s a show that resonates with a lot of people because you’re seeing the curtain come up on relationships, you’re being led in to see how intimate a relationship can be.
“These couples really embrace the process and experiment where they drop their guard, and they are completely them – the good, the bad, and the ugly. You never know what you’re going to get when you tune in every night because of that, and so therefore, it makes addictive viewing.”
It’s not just the viewers who have no idea what will happen next. MAFS is a highly unpredictable show, for the team behind the scenes as well. McWilliams says that took some getting used to.
“I took over in season four. As producers, we like to know: this is the beginning, then the middle, then the end. We like to know what’s happening.
“On this show, I think the shock for a lot of us was that we’re completely along for the ride in many respects. I found that really difficult at first because you’re kind of like, ‘Oh God, I don’t know how to plan for the next day’. I’ve now completely embraced it. I love making the show that way, I love that we come in with a plan and in many respects hope that it doesn’t go to plan – because that’s what makes the show so exciting.”
Finding the Brides and Grooms
This season, 16 singles from around the country will be laying eyes on their new spouse for the very first time at the altar. When it comes to choosing who would take the plunge, McWilliams says there are multiple things they look for.
“It would be insulting to say that we are purely looking for people that are 100% genuine and only motivated by finding love, because that’s not realistic. Being on a TV show and having a million eyeballs on you is a very brave move, so you’ve got to have people who want that experience.
“We’re looking for people that are absolutely authentic, there’s no question about that. Everyone that comes on this show regardless of what their various motivations may be, one driving factor has to be they want to meet their soulmate.
“But then also what motivates them is the experience of an experiment like this. I know that experience is a large part of why people apply to be on this show, and we’re okay with that. It’s not just about finding love, it’s an entire overhaul of their life for four months.”
See More: Married At First Sight: Everything you need to know about the brides and grooms
Married at First Sight 2022 participants
Working through Covid
As with all productions, MAFS has been affected by Covid-19 restrictions.
“Probably the biggest impact was on the weddings,” says McWilliams. “You’ll notice that weddings are a lot smaller, some weddings don’t even have guests because of the restrictions or the border closures. It’s a very big commitment for someone to come to Sydney and then they potentially can’t even get back into their home state for a few weeks or have to quarantine when they get home. So that had had a big impact.”
Despite needing to work around Covid-19, the always-popular Homestay Week is returning in 2022.
“Usually we’ve had homestays a little bit earlier in the season, but we pushed it back a little bit, which actually worked great. I actually liked it better at the back end, because by that point they know more about each other. You’re more invested in what the parents will think, or what the friends and family will think given that we know more about them as well as the audience.
“Not everyone goes to everyone’s home, and that was because of restrictions. We brought it to wherever we could go, whoever’s home we could go to, whatever made sense. Every couple does a homestay either at the groom’s or the bride’s home, and it worked! We pulled it off, everyone was safe and everything was fine. It was great.”
MAFS Experts
Getting the Nation Talking
It won’t all be drama – McWilliams says that the new season of MAFS will be breaking ground by tackling some big topics.
“What I’m really excited about with this series, in particular, is that there are a lot of hot button topics that are going to come to the forefront and are going to have the nation talking.
“There will be some controversial things as well. MAFS is probably a bit synonymous with controversy, but there are definitely some very controversial things that happen that are going to have people really divided, and really talking about in a passionate way.
“There are really serious conversations, some really serious topics, and some issues that I don’t think reality TV in this country has tackled before – at least not in recent memory. It’s going to be really fascinating to see how the audience responds to that.
“It’s a cracker of a season. I’m really proud of it and I can’t wait for everyone to watch it.”
Married at First Sight returns Monday, January 31, at 7.30pm on Channel Nine and 9Now.