Married at First Sight Australia: Is this season of MAFS delivering?

There has been some truly flabbergasting behaviour in the first 20 episodes. Photo / Warner Bros. Discovery

There have been fists through walls, clandestine texts sent to other people’s husbands, and a few people falling in boring-to-watch love.

Yes, as we hit the midway point of the 12th season of Married at First Sight Australia the verdict can only be so far, so good. Even if, once again, all of the show’s best moments highlight the worst in human behaviours.

In the first 20 episodes, which make up almost a full 24-hour day of continuous MAFS watching, there has been some truly flabbergasting behaviour.

Tony has decided at his late age that he would like to become a father now. Photo / Nine AU

There’s the 53-year-old who has rejected his 57-year-old wife because he’d wanted a young bride. A deluded old bloke wants a young gal is a story older than he is. However, his reasoning was something new and something he clearly felt was honourable. He has decided at a late age that he would quite like to become a father now, thanks.

There was the wife who did a stellar job of self-sabotaging her marriage because her husband was more interested in making a connection outside the bedroom instead of in it.

And then there’s the husband who left his wife and his wedding ring behind and stormed off the show because the producers didn’t ask him to be in a 30-second TV promo ad. After issuing an ultimatum, that went unfulfilled, he returned bold as brass and demanded she apologise to him because he had hurt feelings. Yes.

I’d expected big fireworks out of the two exes who found themselves standing at the aisle together. Unfortunately, this pairing has failed to explode and instead fizzled into yawn-inducing romantic happiness. So far, anyway.

But by far, the most outrageously, bewilderingly entertaining couple has been the pairing of 29-year-old Jacqui and 36-year-old Ryan. He’s a project manager and, according to her bio, she’s “a certified yoga teacher, has a double degree in law and finance with first-class honours in law, and is a model, having won the title of Miss New Zealand in 2012”. Now, I can’t vouch for any of that, but Google can. And a quick search shows that she did not, in fact, win the title of Miss New Zealand in 2012.

Ryan and Jacqui's wedding was awkward from the get-go. Photo / Warner Bros Discovery

Now, he’s an odd and awkward fellow. But she’s as bizarre as a fish on a bicycle. You expect outrageous antics from reality TV contestants, but I’ve never seen such bewildering and bonkers behaviour.

As an example, she made a detailed list of everything Ryan had done wrong in her eyes. They had a big fight about it at another couple’s wedding. One of the brides asked her why she’d make such a list and she looked her in the eyes and said, “I never wrote a list. That’d be crazy!”.

She’s absolutely right! That would be crazy. And it was crazy. But it was even crazier to lie about it. But then she seems to lie about everything. The titleholder of Miss New Zealand 2012 springs to mind.

We humans like our drama and the people behind the grand “experiment” of MAFS know this. And they happily deliver. There’s a lot of worthy talk of true love, having each other’s back and living happily ever after, but the show drops all of these things faster than a partner who’s got the ick to spend time with the people bickering and fighting.

The happy couples are boring to watch. Even they know this. The happiest bride on the show admitted as much just on Wednesday night saying, “it’s good to be boring”. Well, not on television, it ain’t.

Jacqui seems to lie about everything. Photo / Warner Bros. Discovery

To borrow a phrase that’s beloved by both MAFS contestants and the MAFS relationship experts, can we really hold the series accountable for giving us what we want?

I mean, just my opening paragraph involves domestic violence and an emotional infidelity that has fuelled many of this season’s episodes. I could have opened with something like, “There’s been romantic dates, life-affirming emotional breakthroughs, and people falling in good old-fashioned love”.

And while that would also have been an accurate descriptor of what’s been happening, you wouldn’t have been likely to read on much further. I certainly wouldn’t have stuck with the show through its 20 episodes so far.

It’s the fights, the fallouts, the heel turns, the gaslighting, the shouting, the arguments and the tears and the tantrums, not the long walks on the beach and candlelit dinners that make MAFS so entertaining.

It’s said love brings out the worst in people, and it’s certainly true that Married at First Sight brings out the worst in its contestants and, by extension, its audience.

That said, do I want to keep watching?

I do.

Karl Puschmann is the Culture Editor and an Entertainment Columnist for New Zealand’s Herald. His fascination lies in finding out what drives and inspires creative people.