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Now with decision day fast approaching on the Married at
First Sight – Houston season, I have included an update to my original predictions.
Humans out there, I have a question for you. What
would you try to find love? Wouldn't you love to take the guess work out of
your hands and just have someone else pick your partner? I am a hopeful
romantic who loves reality television but only the shows that help you find
love, true love. So, I keep my screen tuned to the Bachelor, 90 Day Fiancée,
and the ultimate challenge, Married at First Sight. I have followed this series
faithfully since season one. I am sure most of you can figure out the plot by
the title. It is a show where five strangers walk up to the altar, in front of
their friends and family, and promise to love five other strangers the first
time they lay eyes on them. A blind date that never ends. Now before you
dismiss it as some creepy reality show meant to shock you, this show is really
serious.
There are many things I love about this show. The
thousands of singles who apply for the show are whittled down into a manageable
list by the experts on the show, Dr. Pepper, Pastor Cal and Dr. Viviana. I
don't know about you, but before I got married, dating was hard. If I were
single, I would definitely try out for the show. I believe the experts couldn't
do a worse job than I did choosing people to date. They cast people who seem
relatable, not overly glamorous, and they have a good track record with
diversity. At least they aren't going to set you up with a serial killer. They
want the couples to succeed because success lends credibility to the show.
To keep the show from getting stale, every season
they move to a new town. This season it filmed in Houston, last season in
Atlanta. It moves around the country although they haven't gone out West
yet, but next season they are going to San Diego. I can't wait. It has a pretty good success rate, twelve marriages and many
children are products of this show. You can't fake babies for the camera. In
contrast, only one Bachelor has married his Bachelorette, although sometimes
they change their mind and go for the runner-up.
After the honeymoon, while the couples get adjusted
to their new partners, they aren't sequestered, they keep up with their normal
lives all while filming the show. They go to work every day, interact with their
friends, and visit the family. To all you singles out there, this show is like
a crash course in dating, you can learn about "what not to do"
watching these couples navigate life with a new partner.
These were my predictions at the beginning of the season:
A new season is upon us, and it is now the time to
decide, whether they will stay married or get a divorce. I will boldly make my
predictions about the Houston couples after watching the matchmaking special.
Rachel and Jose will go the distance, they seem like the perfect match. Brett
and Ryan might have a shot, if he is ready to settle down with a real woman and
not the imaginary one in his head. I don't give Johnny and Bao much hope
because they are both perfectionists, and she has already met him and passed. I
think Zack and Michaela will stay together, these two over achievers can
achieve a lot together. Myrla and Gil make a beautiful couple, but her high
maintenance ways will turn off firefighter Gil.
Update: Halfway to Decision Day
We are now at the point in the series when we have
gotten to know these couples. They are real people to us now, we have had deep
dives into their personalities, and we are finding out they are kind of like
the rest of us, filled with lots of flaws and strengths. We know which couples
suffer from a lack of chemistry the most important element of any relationship.
Viewers hoped the older age of many of the couples would make them more mature
and ready to make a commitment. It turns out age does not equal maturity.
Rachel and Jose were the perfect match for about
the first week. They both rushed in before she realized he is a penny-pinching
control freak, and he found out she is a spendthrift who does not like to be
controlled. Last week Jose had an absolute freak out when she accidentally
called him by the wrong name. Even I was shocked by the language coming out of
his mouth. To make sure she got the point, he locked her out of the apartment.
I’m pretty sure this couple will reconcile but it won’t last. I predict
divorce.
Ryan is a serial dater who will probably keep on
dating once the show is over. I hate it when the experts set the couples up
with a partner who is hard to please. It is a sure-fire way to doom the
relationship before it even starts. Brett is very pretty and she has a great
personality her only fault, she is a human woman and not a Barbie doll. We’ve
all dated guys like Ryan, it is an exercise in frustration knowing that you
can never live up to the image in their head. Brett will be happier once this experiment
is over.
In my first prediction I got it wrong. Bao didn’t
pass on Johnny the first time, he passed on her. If I think Brett has high
expectations Johnny’s are through the roof. If she is in a playful mood, he accuses
her of being too giddy. Conversely, if she tries to paint a pretty picture, he
tells her she is too intense. There is a reason these men are alone. I don’t
know if there is a woman alive capable of making Bao happy. He is used to
running when thing get real. I think the only reason he isn’t running now is
because he is on television but he will.
The next couple breaks my heart. Zack thinks
Michaela is a hot head with a temper but I know she is just a broken woman who
just lost her father. I also lost my father in my twenties and it killed me. For
too many years I wandered the world looking to fill the hole in my heart, then
I met my husband who always delivered what he promised. I never went crazy
around him because he made me feel secure. Zack tells Michaela that he will be
there for her but he really isn’t. He keeps gaslighting her every chance he
gets. He can’t really understand what she is going through since he has both
parents, and she can’t act rationally because she is in pain. I would love to
see this couple make it but both of them aren’t ready.
Myrla and Gil both suffered through terrible traumas.
They both lost their fathers in violent murders. It is a horrible thing to bond
over but they can understand each other. The couple is very funny in the small
doses we get on television. I’m not sure how her daily dose of negativity would
play out in real life but Gil has the patience of a saint. I think a good-looking
guy like him appreciates a challenge like Myrla. What happens when she falls in
love with him? Will he lose interest? Please, let this couple make it, they are
my last best hope.
I'm really excited to see if the rest of the season turns out to be train-wreck or heaven sent. Only time will tell. Meet you here at the end of the season!
DECISION DAY:
I can't believe how depressing this season was. Johnny, Zack, and Ryan are all looking for a superwoman. Ryan is looking for a beauty queen who also wants to do everything he does. Zack wants a woman who never gets mad. I do admit Michaela is crazy, but I still think it is because of the death of her father. The loss of a good parent leaves a person with such a pain body in their heart that it is hard to know what normal is. I don't know what the hell Johnny wants because he keeps changing the parameters. I do think it is a shame that Myrla and Gil will probably break up over money because they are such a sweet couple.
I thought the older age of the contestants this season would make for happier couples, but I was wrong. It seems like with each year men's, and it was the men, expectations grow higher. The women were ready to do the work, but the men had such fairy tale expectations of marriage that no woman could measure up.
Cara Bertoia is the author of Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships. Her novel is really a travelogue, a narrative, a romance, a self-help manual for gambling and cruising, and a real-life story all rolled into one funny, obsessive, and entertaining story of two people whose separate life journeys meet at a crossroads. Kindle Fire Dept. says, "This novel is a gem that is nothing short of a vacation in a book!"
Please check out her most popular posts at CaraBetoia.blogspot.com to find more blogs about cruising, casinos and anything that catches her fancy.
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