Married At First Sight stars insist show is real but marriages cant be legal
Getting married to a complete stranger the first time you meet them might seem like an insane and outlandish idea, but that's exactly the premise behind Married at First Sight UK.
The hit reality series has returned for its seventh run after the 2021 series saw record-breaking viewing figures as fans tuned in to watch the rollercoaster romances play out.
The Channel 4 "social experiment" follows 16 singletons who are matched up by a team of experts with backgrounds in psychology, psychotherapy, anthropology and theology.
The participants agree to marry their scientific match without any prior knowledge of their suitor and they meet for the first time on their wedding day before having the first six weeks of their relationship filmed.
This year's series promises to be an explosive one, but are the cast really taking a big risk when it comes to tying the knot? Here's whether the marriages are legally binding.
Are the contestants on Married at First Sight legally married?
The weddings on Married At First Sight UK are not legally binding, but they used to be.
Now the ceremonies see the couples make lifelong commitments to each other at the marriage altar, which are overseen by a wedding celebrant and attended by their friends and family.
While the ceremonies contain many of the traditional elements of a wedding, including bridal gowns, speeches and cake, for the ceremony to be legally binding they'd need to sign a marriage licence after the ceremony, which the participants of MAFS UK don't do.
When the UK show first started airing, the marriages were actually legal, with series two participant Clark Sherwood revealing to Cosmopolitan that he divorced his MAFS wife Melissa in 2017.
He said: "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 13 2017."
Clark also revealed that there was already a budget set aside by the show for divorces.
But last year MAFS UK changed its format to follow the Australian version of the series, which also sees the couples make verbal commitments rather than legal ones.
Last year's contestant Nikita Jasmine confirmed that the weddings wouldn't be legal during an Instagram Q&A as she told her followers: "No it's not a legally binding contract, it's classed as a social experiment."
However, although the UK and Australian MAFS don't involve legal weddings, the US version of the show still does.
Participants in the American series sign a marriage licence after the wedding, but they do have some protection going into it.
Executive producer of MAFS US Chris Coleen said: "There is a prenup that is built in. It's a very short, brief prenup. It basically says what they walk into [the marriage with], is what they walk out of the marriage with."
Is Married At First Sight staged?
The marriages might not be legally binding, but viewers have also previously questioned whether the explosive scenes on Married At First Sight could really be real, or if they're staged.
Channel 4 describes the series as an "unscripted" reality show, which means that the interactions between the participants are real.
Last year's participant Adam Aveling, who's now expecting a baby with his MAFS wife Tayah, has previously reassured fans on Instagram that the series is real as he replied to a comment saying: "Trust me nothing is set up, everything emotion is real!”
Revealing what the show was really like to Cosmopolitan, series two star Clark also said: "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."
He added: "It was 100% real."
*Married At First Sight UK airs tonight at 9pm on E4
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