The final episode of season two of the “reality” television series Married at First Sight airs tomorrow night, and fans are chomping at the bit to know the final outcome with regard to which couples will stay together. The show uses a panel of four “experts” to match allegedly compatible singles with one another and then have those singles meet for the first time at the altar. It is a controversial concept, but one that seemed to work well the first time around: two out of three couples from that season remain married today.
As season two has progressed, though, many questions have arisen with regard to the show’s authenticity. Let us take a look at the issues that have led to these doubts to determine whether claims of the show being fake have any validity.
First, it was revealed that at least one of the MAFS season two participants is an actress. Jessica Castro, specifically, who was introduced to the audience as a “receptionist,” has actually been a model and actress for the last eight years. In Jessica’s own words: “In 5 years you will see Jessica Castro on your television screen as a full time successful actress, playing a lead role on a television series.”
She also always had specific goals of starring in romance-related shows. She has been promoting herself primarily as an actress and has starred in a variety of fictional shows as well. The so-called “experts” on MAFS have downplayed Jessica’s intense efforts to become a successful actress, saying that she has done “some acting and modeling in the past,” when actually, being an actress and television star has always been, by her own admission, her focused goal and lifelong dream.
According to multiple sources close to the show, at least two participants are wanna-be career reality show celebs. One participant has routinely spoken about his aspirations to star on upcoming reality series’. That same participant has also been going on non-stop auditions for both reality and fictional television spots, and has allegedly signed up for a spin-off show of MAFS already. Reportedly, he is quite concerned over money from these reality show jobs as well as how they can help propel him to stardom.
Jessica’s husband Ryan De Nino, according to Starcasm, had a “small role” in another reality show called Brooklyn 11223 back in 2012. Obviously, this is not a couple in which the players are strangers to the television and entertainment industry. They both have pursued becoming famous for several years now.
While it is true that actors also deserve to find love, it is highly suspect that two actors just so happened to be paired together in a volatile and explosive “relationship” on MAFS. Surely, the motivations of Jessica and Ryan D. are fairly questioned, here. Did they really choose to do this show to get married, or was it just to further promote their careers?
Similar speculation with regard to intentions has sprung up around Sean Varricchio, who married Davina Kullar. Sean seems to have misrepresented himself to the experts in that he agreed he would be open to moving to accommodate his new wife. When the cameras began rolling, though, Sean high-tailed it out of Davina’s residence in New York and later informed her he was not, indeed, willing to relocate. The reason he gave was an upcoming promotion that he has been working on achieving for several years.
But this apparent fib might not even hold a candle to what seems like the shadiest part of Sean’s appearance on the show. As it turns out, Sean is friends with the Hehner family. Doug Hehner appeared on Married at First Sight, season one, and is still actively involved in promoting MAFS. In fact, Doug and wife Jamie (who he met on the show,) recently finished filming a second show called Married at First Sight, the First Year. It is obvious that Doug has strong ties to the MAFS network. In Sean’s own words, he “first learned about Married at First Sight through season one’s Doug Hehner…”
When questioned about the link between Sean and Doug, “expert” and “sexologist” Dr. Logan Levkoff denied that Doug had anything to do with Sean’s being selected for the show, even though the producers had over 7,000 applicants from which to choose. When pressed about the stunning “coincidence” this supposedly represents, Levkoff fell silent. And, while she claims that the experts and show staff did criminal background checks on all of the participants, Sean has been arrested on at least one DUI charge. He also allegedly violated probation while filming the show; an allegation Davina reportedly knew nothing about. This begs the question: did Sean conceal this information from the experts, or is Dr. Levkoff misrepresenting the truth on several topics?
Speaking of the “experts,” discussion has centered around their exact credentials. Interestingly, “spiritual advisor” Greg Epstein, who provides religious and other counseling on the show and even encouraged Sean and Davina to pray together, is a staunch atheist who does not believe in God. He is well known in secular and atheist circles, and is, in fact, a prominent leader in the atheist community. Epstein wrote a book entitled Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe. He has even been labeled an “atheist superstar.” Is an atheist the most qualified person to dole out religious and spiritual advice to the show’s participants? Perhaps; but then again, perhaps not.
Some viewers have long questioned whether the experts have been doing a good job as it seems most of the season two couples are miserable, or so their social media activity would lead us to believe. In digging a bit deeper into the credentials of clinical psychologist Dr. Joseph Cilona, it seems the college from which he graduated, Argosy University, is a for-profit school which has been deemed a “diploma mill” by many.
Argosy also had to pay a 3.3 million dollar fine for misleading psychology students with fraudulent claims of being APA accredited. While the American Psychological Association seal of approval varies by campus, the attorney general uncovered “a pattern of Argosy recklessly launching doctoral degree programs without substantiating or supporting that they led to the advertised outcomes.” Additionally, Argosy’s parent company, EDMC, is currently being investigated by the government for participating in fraudulent claims in order to obtain government loan subsidies, and for engaging in predatory loan practices.
For-profit colleges do not have a good reputation either with graduation/employment rates or with governing bodies in the education sector. In fact, many for-profit colleges, like Argosy, have been found to regularly engage in deeply deceptive and fraudulent practices. According to NPR, many of these businesses have begun a rapid decline due to their handing out degrees of “dubious value.” One state lawmaker involved in the current investigation called the degrees given out by EDMC and other similar colleges “worthless.” It seems fair to say that Dr. Cilona’s credentials, then, might not be quite as robust as perhaps they should be for MAFS, which is a project that deals with serious and life-altering decisions.
So who are the victims of all this alleged misrepresentation? First and foremost, the show participants who seem genuine are the ones who would be most hurt by the apparent fake nature of many aspects of the series. Secondly, the audience has most certainly been duped as well. We were led to believe that the show was a documentary-style series following authentic participants as they searched for lasting love. Instead what we have gotten is just more of the same: scripted television filled with experts who might be better suited to remaining in private practice where their dubious talents will not be as heavily scrutinized, and actors and reality show celebrities whose intentions are highly suspect.