Parents' Guide to

Married at First Sight

By Melissa Camacho, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Modern matchmaking experiment makes marriage a surprise.

TV A&E Reality TV 2014
Married at First Sight Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

Community Reviews

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age 14+

Based on 6 parent reviews

Joe M.
Joe M. Parent of 13-year-old
September 14, 2023
age 12+

Great reality program with main theme of intimacy

MAFS is a great program but sometimes inappropriate for children. There are lots of themes around sex, intimacy and drama. They do have an intimacy week which I recommend children don’t watch as it contains sexually explicit material. Overall it’s nothing a mature 13 year old can’t handle.

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much consumerism
Ldawk
Ldawk Parent of 18+-year-old
March 24, 2022
age 2+

Happily married women needed for panel review

New happily married panel at Selena’s preview should be the only o es giving marital advice because single women are negative
See all 6 parent reviews

What's the Story?

MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT is a reality series featuring couples participating in a radical social experiment about marriage and relationships. Six singles who have done everything to find love are paired by a team of experts, including clinical psychologist Dr. Joseph Cilona, sociologist Dr. Pepper Schwartz, sexologist Dr. Logan Levkoff, and Greg Epstein, a spiritual advisor, to someone they believe will be their ideal partner. Once they're matched, they legally marry their new partner. The catch? The couples don't see each other until the moment they exchange vows. Cameras then follow them for six weeks as they get to know each other. They also go on a honeymoon and try to build a relationship that takes them from strangers to a bonded couple. Throughout the process they check in with experts to share their experiences and receive advice and guidance. At the end of the experiment, each couple must decide if they want to remain married or get a divorce.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (6 ):
Kids say (7 ):

The series puts a modern spin on the concept of arranged marriage and offers a voyeuristic-but-interesting look at the work that goes into building a lasting relationship. It also offers some surprisingly thoughtful moments, which reveal how people come to know themselves and understand what may keep them from having healthy relationships.

Viewers will be skeptical about the plausibility of meeting someone after you marry them, and others may find the awkwardness surrounding the process uncomfortable. There's not a lot of romance here, either. Nonetheless, it's a thoughtful, albeit unorthodox, approach to understanding the effort that has to go into relationships to find real love.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about arranged marriages. Why do people agree to them? Do they work out? Did you know that in some cultures arranged marriages are very common? How has the media portrayed the practice over the years?

TV Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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