Married at First Sight is an original premise for a TV series, but it’s an age-old idea. Arranged marriages, where the bride and groom have had little or no contact before their wedding day, play a large role in much of history. Usually cultural pressures have kept arranged marriages from falling apart. But there’s no such pressure on the couples flung together in the world of reality TV. In season 2 of A & E’s Married at First Sight all three couples divorced after — or even before — the show ended. (Jaclyn Methuen and Ryan Ranellone, Davina Kullar and Sean Varricchio, and Ryan De Nino and Jessica Castro all split.) From Season 1, however, two of the three couples seem to be still making a go of marriage.
Season 3 of Married at First Sight has moved to Atlanta — the absolute hotbed of reality TV shows. Drawing singles from a pool of Atlanta residents, now at least the show won’t force couples to give up their old lives completely — only to integrate their lives with the lives of their new spouses.
