‘Married at First Sight’ Reunion Host Kevin Frazier Says Season 17 Cast ‘Screw[ed] Up the Whole Experiment’
This might be the messiest reunion in Married at First Sight history.
On Wednesday, the Denver cast came together to hash out all the drama from their chaotic season. Things were tense from the start. Four of the five women banded together to defend themselves against their ex-husbands, who they claimed were manipulative and deceitful during their brief marriages.
The men fired back, insisting that the women were not being transparent about what really went down behind the scenes on the Lifetime reality show. Sorting out the truth in the game of “he said, she said” was nearly impossible, and host Kevin Frazier didn’t hesitate to make his exasperation with the cast clear, especially once he learned that they’d all been working together to try to mislead the show’s producers about what was really going on in their marriages.
Brennan reveals the ‘Married at First Sight’ cast made a deal to ‘control the narrative’
Five couples said “I do” on Married at First Sight Season 17, but none made it to Decision Day. That’s not the first time the show has had a 0% success rate with matches. And bad feelings between former partners are nothing new. But the negativity this season was especially strong.
“This has become the most contentious cast in the history of Married at First Sight,” Frazier said at the start of the reunion. “We have never had a season where the spouses don’t sit together with their exes even.”
One reason for the bad blood? For several couples, there was allegedly a massive disconnect between what was captured for the show during filming and what was going on behind the scenes.
“There was a lot that happened on camera, and more so off camera, for our season,” Becca, who was married to Austin, said. “And I think that, at least for the ladies in pink, our husbands were more concerned about optics than about their marriages.”
Becca has previously accused Austin of being more worried about how he appeared on TV than with how he actually behaved in his marriage. Meanwhile, Emily again claimed her husband Brennan ordered her to delete diary cams that he didn’t like.
Brennan fired back, saying that Emily was misrepresenting what was really going on. In the process, he revealed that the entire cast had agreed to try to outwit the show’s producers and make sure they were portrayed positively on screen.
“None of us had been on a reality show. We had no idea what to expect. So we thought, let’s all band together,” he said. “Let’s not give the producers the control to spin the narrative however they want. We were like, let’s take control for ourselves and tell our story the way we wanted to,” Brennan said. “Our goal, collectively, was to get through this together in the best possible way.”
“We all agreed,” he added.
Kevin Frazier said the ‘MAFS’ Denver cast should have trusted the process
According to Brennan, the entire Denver cast was on board with the plan to try to shape the show’s narrative. But the women disagreed.
“That was a control mechanism,” therapist-in-training Clare said.
“Which should have taken priority?” Becca asked. “The optics or us? Like, the strategy or the marriage? … It was the men trying to strategize with us about how to look good, how to get an Instagram following after this, how to get a business.”
At times, it felt like they were on two different reality shows, Becca added.
“They acted like it was a game of Survivor and we honestly just went in hoping for marriage,” she said.
Whatever was going on when the cameras weren’t on, the result was that the cast sabotaged their chance at a successful marriage, Frazier said.
“I will say this. Every time this happens, when everybody plots and plans, you screw up the whole experiment,” Frazier said. “This show is thought through. The experts spend an inordinate amount of time trying to match you up with somebody who can be your partner for life. And when you try to deceive the process, you end up getting screwed .. without fail.
“It happens all the time,” he added. “Because everybody tries to outsmart this show that’s been around for a long time. And all it’s about is seeing you go through an authentic experience. That’s it.”
Part 2 of the Married at First Sight Season 17 reunion airs Wednesday, April 17 at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime.
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