{"id":347,"date":"2014-07-16T09:47:30","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T09:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/?p=347"},"modified":"2014-07-16T09:48:50","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T09:48:50","slug":"new-reality-tv-show-married-at-first-sight-takes-arranged-marriages-to-extreme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/347\/new-reality-tv-show-married-at-first-sight-takes-arranged-marriages-to-extreme\/","title":{"rendered":"New reality tv show “Married at First Sight” takes arranged marriages to extreme"},"content":{"rendered":"

How real is reality tv? \u00a0FYI network is pushing the limits as to what people accept\u00a0as “believable tv” with their new reality tv show, “Married at First Sight”. \u00a0It is apparently based on a Danish program of the same name. \u00a0They describe it as\u00a0an “extreme social experiment”. \u00a0It follows three Tri-State Area couples who have never met before, who know nothing\u00a0of the other – no photo, no name, no\u00a0personality info, no job info – before saying “I do”. \u00a0The set up is not arranged by their parents, but by four relationship “experts”:\u00a0a sexologist, a spiritualist, a psychologist, and a sociologist. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The four matchmakers\u00a0narrow down a casting pool of 625 candidates to 50 eligible bachelors and bachelorettes, and then finally to these three couples. \u00a0<\/span>At the end of five weeks\u00a0of living together, the couples decide if they would like to continue to stay married or get a divorce. \u00a0Yes, a prenup was signed, and it is apparently a “real” marriage, or perhaps better termed “legal” marriage.\u00a0 Perhaps\u00a0<\/span>an annulment could also apply. \u00a0The usual wedding ceremony kiss on the lips was replaced by kisses on the cheeks for two of the three couples, accompanied with\u00a0awkwardness on\u00a0each touch.<\/p>\n

The three couples are (pictured below from left to right): Jason Carrion (27 years old,\u00a0EMT from Brooklyn) and Cortney Hendrix\u00a0(26\u00a0years\u00a0old North Carolina native, makeup artist who performs in a burlesque troupe);\u00a0Monet Bell\u00a0(33 years old, fashion product development manager) and Vaughn Copeland\u00a0(30 years old, field service technician); and,\u00a0Jamie Otis (27 years old, nurse from Harlem) and\u00a0Doug Hehner\u00a0(31\u00a0years old, commercial sales rep and lifeguard).<\/span><\/p>\n

\""Married<\/a>Now you know more about them than they did before getting married.<\/p>\n

If Jamie Otis looks familiar, it’s probably because she was on Season 16 of “The Bachelor” and the spin-off show “Bachelor Pad”. \u00a0Otis\u00a0competed for Ben Flajnik\u2019s red\u00a0roses and love connection, sharing\u00a0an awkward kiss with him before Flajnik took her out of the running for\u00a0his love match. \u00a0Her reality tv wedding day was even more awkward, as she describes it: “<\/span>Walking down the aisle, I am so scared. This is the worst feeling,” and “I just happened to be not attracted to the guy”. \u00a0The experts knew Hehner was not the typical guy she was attracted to, but opted to go with him based on personality. \u00a0Can they find love after\u00a0weeks of playing house “for real”? \u00a0Here is a clip from their wedding:<\/span><\/p>\n