'I was on Married At First Sight and this is what it's ACTUALLY like'
Married At First Sight, the Channel 4 show which aims to match people on their scientific compatibility, kicked off for a new series last night [20 March 2019].
But cast your minds back to June 2016, and you might remember when Clark met - and married - Melissa for the first time, surrounded by family and friends (and a camera crew!) when taking part in series two.
Although the general public were rooting for their relationship, Clarissa didn't quite get their happily ever after. In fact, following their honeymoon in Ibiza, a six-week stint in an Airbnb in East Finchley (paid for by Channel 4), and a month move to Milton Keynes, Clark asked for a divorce at the end of September 2016.
two and a half years on, he looks back on the experience, and reveals what it's ACTUALLY like to be on Married At First Sight to Cosmopolitan UK.
Note: a show spokesperson told Cosmopolitan UK of Clark's interview:
“All of the contributors who apply are fully aware at the application process of what the programme is and are matched by experts on a range of criteria. All are fully supported throughout the process and beyond.”
'The advert for a social experiment came up on Tinder'
"I was hungover and flicking through Tinder, and something popped up that said, ‘Do you want to be part of a social experiment with Channel 4?’ On a whim I emailed across a photo, my age, all those standard formalities, and thought nothing of it when I received a response that said, ‘Due to high volumes of applications you probably won’t hear anything, but thank you for responding’.
"9am the following Monday, I got a phone call saying ‘Clark, we’re really interested in your profile. Can you talk us through your story, who you are, all that kind of stuff’."
'I didn't know it was Married At First Sight until I was deep in the process'
"When they asked me the questions, they said, ‘We’re a production company. We’re doing a screening for a Channel 4 programme. We want to talk to you about you and your dating history - that’s what it’s going to revolve around’. I didn’t know what it was for until after they had tested me for video screening. You’re far enough into the process not to turn back when they tell you it's Married At First Sight.
"Nobody’s forcing you to go through with the process, but there are definitely pressures. You feel like you’re too far in to back out. I would talk to people about it and nine times out of 10 they thought it was a terrible idea."
As per the above statement, a show spokesperson insists all applicants are made fully aware of what the programme is from the outset.
'Producers never really explain what the scientific tests are for'
"The science day was, in my opinion, pretty pointless. I understand it probably all makes sense, but it was never explained to us how it makes sense and how we were matched from the scientific perspective. They measure your height, your shoulder to waist ratio, the size of your index fingers, all of that, but I kind of felt like, ‘OK, how does this actually have any impact on a future relationship in this day and age?’"
'The questionnaire that you're matched on is incredibly detailed'
"It was a 500 question questionnaire that goes through your likes, your dislikes, all the intricate pieces of information about you. Your religious views, your political views, what you find attractive, your sexual history, whether you are sexually active. If you want to match with someone of the same ilk as you, you’d like to think they match you on the same morals and what you’ve said when you’re doing it."
'Your social media is hidden during the build up to the show'
"I had no interest in getting to know the other couples. You never meet anyone else in the process – during the science day you meet a couple of other people, but you never meet any of the other couples throughout the whole programme. There’s no crossover. All your social media is hidden, there’s no way you can find anyone. I had no interest in it, though, because once I watched the programme I knew for a fact I wouldn’t get on with these people and they wouldn’t be my friends – that’s not horrible to them, we’re just very different people."
'There's a small budget for the wedding dress, and stag-dos'
"But there’s no financial gain from going on the show. There’s budget for things – her wedding dress, a small budget for the suits. There’s some money for hen-do and stag-dos, but it was mainly out of my pocket. I think they put money towards travel or something. But there was genuinely no monetary gain. Lots of people think, ‘No one would do that for free’, but actually I spent quite a lot of money on the process."
'You choose the wedding you want from a powerpoint presentation of options'
"There are six options of lots of different things – type of food, music, style and theme of wedding. Everything that I chose didn’t get picked! Everything was chosen by her. None of my decisions were considered. From what I understand, Melissa got what she wanted for the wedding – but I believe the wedding day is about the woman anyway, so it was fine."
'You can only invite a limited number of people'
"You also have a guest limit – I was only allowed to invite 20 people. It definitely caused some friction with some of the family members! The whole day for me was a bit of a blur, it happened quickly but not memorably. It’s really hard to explain. The day started at 9am with my groomsmen getting ready, it didn’t sink in until the taxi on the way there. I was nervous standing in the room waiting to meet her family; my side was packed out with friends and family as much as possible."
'We had to say some things twice for different camera angles'
"Obviously there were production people giving you directions on where to sit, where to stand, where to go on the wedding day. We had to repeat our lines – our vows to each other – a couple of times for different camera angles.
"It didn’t ever feel forced, though. I had a great team and camera crew from Channel 4. They were fantastic. There were times when we got frustrated with each other when they were getting heavily involved when I was trying to chill out for the afternoon, but actually I struck up a friendship with them. After the show, I realised that they were doing it for the show. They were just doing their jobs."
'We both think we were matched with other people before each other'
"They asked me in the questionnaire to define 'my type', and you have to detail the height you like, body type, tattoos, all these sorts of things. I put high on my criteria that they had to be at least 5ft 5” to 6ft, and Melissa is 5ft. I’m 6ft3”. So I did feel like they hadn’t really matched us on my criteria.
"We both think we were matched with other people before and they pulled out half way through the process. We spoke about it, I genuinely believe that’s the case."
A show spokesperson says this is not the case.
'You were meant to live in London to apply for the process'
"I think you were meant to live in London to be part of the process, but Melissa didn’t say she was moving back to Milton Keynes in her application. One of the guys was from Bournemouth, one of the guys was from Bromley. There was no real thought behind where we were living. I think the experts massively messed up because our lives were never going to work together."
'We had Skype counselling with the relationship advisor from the show, but it wasn't very good'
"When we had our first big issue, we did a Skype counselling session with Channel 4’s relationship advisor, Jo. And we talked through and explained the situation to her, and I just didn’t feel supported. I didn’t feel like it was worthwhile, it was rubbish. It didn’t have any positive impact on the marriage – if anything it made me resent the situation more."
As per the above statement, a show spokesperson insists all applicants are given comprehensive support throughout the process and afterwards.
'I hadn't seen her for a year when we got a divorce'
"The divorce was an easy process. I went in to sign a couple of papers in June 2017, and then I had to sign some more the following September, and then the divorce went through on November 13th 2017. I didn't see her in that time at all - the last time I saw her was in October 2016, when she left me in the flat in Milton Keynes."
'Channel 4 set budget aside for the divorce'
"You have to let producers know when you want a divorce - budget was already set aside for it. The money was already in place when they put the bid in for the programme.
"You have to legally be married for a year before you can apply for a divorce, so I had to wait until June 19 2017 before I could apply for a divorce. When I sat down with the production crew and explained to them why I was making my decision, they understood."
'They asked me to go through the ins and outs of the break up on camera'
"During the series, there's an episode where I was in a pub with my best friend, and before filming started I just lost my shit and reeled through everything [that had gone wrong in the relationship], and the camera man was like, ‘You need to say this on camera’, and I was like, ‘There’s no way in hell I’m saying all of this on camera. One, it’ll make me look like an arsehole, and two, I would never want to put Melissa in a situation where it has an impact on her’."
'The process never felt fake, but it was very full on for six months up until the wedding, and then no support afterwards'
"It was 100 per cent real. It was very straight lace. Everything had a process, everything was being done, but as soon as you were married, you were left to your own devices as a married couple for a few weeks. You go on honeymoon, you move back to the apartment they rent for you. You’re now living with a complete and utter stranger, which is fine, and the camera crew pop in once, twice, three times a week to talk to you to see how everything’s going, but that’s it.
"I felt like there should be more to it. I felt like there should be more actions around helping develop the relationship – there was no support [from production] in helping to develop the relationship."
Married At First Sight Series 3 continues every Wednesday at 9pm.
('You Might Also Like',)
