Fact: Married at first sight
Is a reality show on SVT where eight singles are paired by experts to get married, the first time they meet. Shown for the first time in 2014.
Experts are psychotherapist Maria Farm, sexologist and psychotherapist Karl Norwald and psychologist Fredric Bohm. “Married at First Sight” was followed this year by the program series “Kärleksrådet”, where Helle Schunesson talked to the experts
The concept is based on the Danish program “Gift ved første blik”, which has been exported to a variety of countries, including the USA, Australia and Germany.
This year’s edition of “Married at First Sight” aims for some kind of record. Three out of four couples remained married after the first five weeks, and Monday’s “What Happened Next” episode featured a surprise addition.
Managed to hide
Anyone who hasn’t seen the episode should stop reading here to avoid being “spoiled”.
Just over a week ago – on their wedding day – Ida Lind and Arvid Stark welcomed their first child together. Something they managed to hide from the other participants until the very end.
— It’s been quite easy to hide it, because I didn’t look pregnant until three months ago. The closest relatives and colleagues have known about it longer. I’ve stayed a lot in Sollentuna, where we live, but I’ve still seen rumors abound online that we’re pregnant, says Ida Lind.
Over the course of a year, the couple has thus managed to get married without ever having met before, experience a pregnancy together and a birth. In “Married at first sight – what happened next?” viewers get to see a bit of how daughter Rakel comes into the world. The program was therefore cut together with just under a week left to broadcast.
“We haven’t even seen it ourselves yet,” she says.
At the same time, Ida Lind has had a tough year, when her mother got cancer and passed away after a short illness. She also talks about that in the episode.
— It becomes special when life-changing situations like this arise in parallel with the entire process. I can’t hide something like that, then I’d rather sit and cry at the TV.
Just being open with your feelings is something that Ida Lind thinks has been to her and her partner’s advantage.
— We go through things for five weeks that other couples do for two years, then you have to dare to talk. I’m absolutely convinced that all the couples in this season talked a lot about everything. But perhaps not everyone has chosen to say everything so openly in front of the camera. We decided early on to do that, me and Arvid.
Competitive couple
In “Married at first sight – what happened next?” it turns out that another couple, Stina Thunberg and Fredrik Lindberg, have also stayed together after the program. Ida Lind is aware that she and Arvid Stark appear as a competitive couple – especially after she declared during the couple’s weekend that they are the “best couple”.
— I don’t know what the other couples felt, but that was my feeling and I stand by it. It’s not about performance, but about us being people who say yes to life and just drive. Then anything can happen and babies can come into the world.
TT: Do you recommend others to apply for “Married at First Sight”?
— Yes. You have to understand that it’s a social experiment, but that it’s also another person you get to meet. Then we were extremely lucky to feel attraction right away. Without it, it could have been a flat fall.