Would you marry someone you’ve never met before? You only know their first name and rely on the match making skills of a psychologist an evolutionary theologist and a priest to find the one who’ll put a ring on it. Famous for making uncomfortable yet must watch documentaries on how life is, Channel 4 showered us with confetti at the start but the pretty flakes stuck in my throat by the last episode. I should have saved a drop of celebratory bubbly to stop myself from choking!
For me, there is one thing that stood out further than the veils worn by the brave brides who took this extraordinary leap of blind faith, if a man doesn’t want to try, you can hang up your wedding heels and go back to your ‘busy’ life. The so called experts didn’t mention this finer point as they busied themselves finding couples who were just like one another. If you are searching for yourself, you may as well stay single; I mean is that what we are ultimately looking for? We’ll be cloning next and no doubt Channel 4 will be researching this theory and asking another set of experts, scientists, if this could be the future.
I watched this social experiment and was surprised by my reaction. It’s usual for me when watching weddings that I feel overwhelmed with the love in the room and alter, however, the nausea I experienced at the awkwardness and fear for these women on Married at First Sight was very new to me and brought to the surface how I feel about marriage and who really holds the nuptial glue together.
I’ve heard a lot of comments directed at women when trying to make a relationship work and not all of them flattering. We are mugs, weak, walk-overs, fall for anything and blind because apparently love is but these women were not in love, how could they be right? This proves that we are none of the above but we are hopeful. Willing to give things a chance and the bravery in that needs to be recognised not ridiculed.
James and Emma, one of the couples, initially seemed to be a miss-match and the general consensus was that it would not last. James could not and did not know if a long-term relationship with Emma would work but was willing to try. As a result of his decision their relationship grew. They are still married and James’ genuine leadership skills, if you will, are the reason we women remain hopeful.
Jason and Kate however, were a very different story. We all thought he’d hit the jackpot as she walked down the aisle with a look on her face that said, “I’ll give it a go if you will”. How wrong were we! Looking like loves young dream and ready to take things to the next level from the moment they said, “I do”, we soon realised that Jason couldn’t lead a duck to water much less a relationship.
It seems the choices men make have more of an impact than most have the guts to admit. James moved forward with Emma, Jason went back to Tinder…good luck with both.