If you are not familiar with Married at First Sight, it is a reality show about married couples, with the twist is that a man and a woman are paired together to marry, without ever meeting before. Season 1 of the American version of this show appeared on FYI that was a moderate success for the three couples and the audience, and it led to an eventual Season 2 which did not end well at all. This has led to the belief that there will not be a Married at First Sight Season 3, and here is the latest news and possible release date.
According to Realty Today, Married At First Sight may have been cancelled for good, with a heavy emphasis on may. So far, FYI and its parent network of FYI just haven't given any solid word about whether or not the show will be back for a Season 3.
In fact, the recent events that happened on Season 2, which started off somewhat hopeful as 2 out of 3 couples chose to stay together, came crashing down after the season had ended. One of the supposed "stay-together" couples Jessica Castro and Ryan De Nino, revealed that the husband had cheated on her and then he threatened to kill her. This was followed by a restraining order on De Nino. The other couple broke up, announcing their separation on twitter.
This has led to a lot of people starting to doubt the purpose of the show, and might be showing that marriages like this might not be such a good idea, in spite of the screening process. Executive producer Chris Coelen addressed these issues to People, stated exactly how men and women are paired together on the show. It begins when an "advanced casting team" are sent to a specific geographic area, in search of single people. Coelen says that "the men and the women are treated exactly the same", and "go to bars, mixers, singles events, and church groups". Coelen says that he goes on Facebook to talk to family and friends to make "the pool as big as possible".
Season 1 pulled in 1,000 applicants, with season 2 getting 7,000 applicants. After most of these thousands are thinned out, the potential participants are invited to final callbacks that the producers refer to as "workshops". This is where the show's experts, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Dr. Joseph Cilona, Greg Epstein, and Dr. Logan Levkoff, come in as potential participants are given some serious "extensive written evaluations" that "take hours to complete". By the way, these evaluations are only available to licensed therapists or government agencies.
This process takes about six months, with the final casting about 4-6 weeks, and it is "very intense". Then the experts present their matches to both Kinetic Content and A&E, parent network of FYI.
It also should be noted in the interview with People that Coelen stated that season 3 has pulled in 20,000 applicants. He also stated that Season 3 would be documented in Atlanta. I find it hard to believe that these experts would have done all this work for nothing. Not only that, the fact that Coelen mentions a Season 3 actually reveals that there will be a Season 3. Is Coelen talking about the Australian version of Season 3?
So at this time, I will have to declare that Married At First Sight, Season 3, is on the fence. I will also say that I think that it is currently leaning toward renewal and will probably return sometime in Spring 2016. If it does get cancelled, fans can always try that The Seven Year Switch Show where already married couples switch partners, and have to share the same bed with their new match. Married At First Sight: The First Year plans to have a second season starting in the fall, presumably detailing the lives of the first two couples that stayed together in Season 1.
Of course, it is possible the results of the couples on The Seven Year Switch could be just as bad as those on the American version of Married at First Sight. There is no way FYI would keep a show with a zero percent success rate on marriage, which is strong evidence that Married at First Sight Season 3 will not happen.
