The second season of the reality television show Married at First Sight is set to conclude in two weeks, and viewers are beginning to have serious questions about the show’s authenticity. The premise of the show is that a panel of “experts” use “scientific” methods to match two strangers. Those strangers then agree to marry the experts’ pick. The catch? The couple does not meet until both parties arrive at the altar. After six weeks, the couples must decide if they want to part ways or stay married.
Married at First Sight‘s first season was wildly successful, with two out of three couples choosing to stay wed. A year later, both couples are still together. The experts refer to the show as a “social experiment,” and after season one, it seemed that the test might have introduced a new way of finding everlasting love. Season two, however, is raising some serious questions… and eyebrows.
The second season of the series introduced viewers to Jessica Castro and her match, Ryan De Nino, two gorgeous singles who seemed determined to find love. The viewers were told that Jessica was a receptionist and Ryan, a business consultant. However, fans have come to find out that both Jessica and Ryan are actors with numerous web and television credits under their belts. Jessica is also a model.
The failure to disclose this information to the audience up front calls into question the entire structure of the series. It seems the producers purposely hid Ryan and Jessica’s theatrical experience with generic job titles, and it feels dishonest to many viewers. Savvy audience members might have seen Jessica smiling and appearing to hold back laughter in one scene of the show where she and Ryan were engaged in a terrible fight. Could this be an editing mistake that accidentally revealed the truth about these “reality” celebrities?
Then we have Sean Varricchio and Davina Kullar. Sean is a trauma nurse in the ER while Davina is a pharmaceutical sales rep. While no specific acting credits have been uncovered for either of these two, there is another red flag at play. For many who watch MAFS, Sean has been setting off gaydar alarms from moment one. That is right. Sean seems super duper gay, and while there is no proof of it, those “in the know” have a gut feeling that Sean may be more suited to having a husband than a wife. As it turns out, Davina has what seems like hundreds of gay male BFFs, including one man who “counseled” Sean about the fact that Sean and Davina’s marriage has not been consummated. Hmm.
Speaking of friends, Sean also happens to be friends with one of the cast members from season one of the series; a man who, coincidentally, has long been in show business as a stand-up comedian. That cast member’s wife was on a previous reality show as well. It smacks of incestuous casting and begs the question of whether Sean and Davina may have known one another beforehand too. After all, what are the odds of the experts selecting a cast member who is close family friends with a previous cast member?
The third couple, Ryan Ranellone and Jaclyn Methuen, seem the most authentic, but Tuesday’s episode featured a little something extra: lots of gray hair on Ryan and gray roots on Jaclyn. In their headshots for the show, though, and at their wedding, they both sported 100 percent dark brown hair. They are supposed to be 28 and 30 respectively, and yet the grays poking through in late episodes might be telling a different tale.
Is it possible that the cast of Married at First Sight are all actors or aspiring actors who have signed contracts binding them to keep the fictional aspect of the series a secret? That is the question on the minds of many viewers as they head into the final two episodes of this “reality” drama.