Married at First Sight expert reveals 'biggest deal-breakers'

Married At First Sight 'Love Expert' Dr Trish Stratford was on Newstalk ZB with Jack Tame this morning and revealed why she agreed to appear on the show.

Stratford has had a fascinating life including working as a journalist, a hostage negotiator and now a Clinical Nueropsychotherapist.

"I thought well it's an ideal situation to take these (attractions) theories out of the lab and test them in reality… it's an experiment and so we set the parameters up and we test the theories about what about us attracts us to other people."

"We put them in a pressure situation of course and watch what happens."

She has signed on to take part in the next series of Married at First Sight and revealed to Tame that over 5000 people have already applied to appear on the next series of reality show in which they will marry a stranger.

"I think they are people that want a partner, they are lonely and they want a partner… we do screen them and then we come down to a certain number and then we go through testing to see if they are physiologically able to withstand the show."

"Then we test them, it takes about ten weeks … and I test the top 50 in the lab. I test the brain, the neural pathways in the brain about how resilient they are, how optimistic they are because if you are resilient and optimistic it means you are more willing to stay in a relationship."

"I test their emotional intelligence, and test how good they are at measuring their own feelings and their partners."

She opened up about the most surprising relationship of Married At First Sight Australia this year.

"I was very surprised by the Dean, Davina Tracey relationship. Because we thought Dean and Tracey were well matched."

The biggest deal-breakers in any relationship are "height and smoking," she said.

"Men do not want a woman taller than them and they don't want anyone that smokes and sometimes having children is a deal-breaker too."

She also talked to Jack Tame about life in a war zone and being questioned by the CIA.

Listen to the full interview here.