There Have Been More 'Married at First Sight' Divorces Than Successful Marriages

Most people go into the Married at First Sight experiment with good intentions, hoping to get married after years of being alone or going through failed relationships. And sometimes, the experts on the show match two people who are in it for the long haul. Other times, the couples just don't work out, resulting in divorce either on or off the show.

The show has an overall success rate of around 20 percent. That's not terrible, but we think the show's experts would prefer to see the divorce numbers at 20 percent instead. Over the 17 full seasons so far of MAFS, 69 couples were matched together.

Of those 69, 46 couples remained married on Decision Day. Unfortunately, after Decision Day ended and the show was over, some of those couples got divorced anyway.

As of this writing, there are 56 couples from MAFS who've gotten divorced, not even counting the two who had their marriages annulled following their time on the show. It could be worse, but again, it could be better.

The goal with MAFS is to help singles find their matches without the pressure or time constraints of meeting someone organically. For some couples, the show works. As we see, however, for others, it's not exactly the best route for them.

The one thing you don't have to second-guess is the validity of the marriages on MAFS. It wouldn't be surprising if the marriage ceremonies on MAFS were fake. But the weddings are legit, as are the divorces that follow for some of the matched couples.

Toward the end of each season of MAFS, the couples are faced with Decision Day, on which they decide if they want to stay together or get divorced. And the divorces that happen as a result of Decision Day are totally real too. Sometimes, though, couples stay together on the show, only to split up after their season ends.

A prime example of the kinds of couples who stay together on MAFS, only to divorce after they leave the season together, is Season 12. On Decision Day, three out of the five couples opted to stay together. However, after the season finished airing, two of those couples announced their divorces.

And now, from Season 12, only Briana Myles Morales and Vincent Morales are still together. In fact, in 2023, they had their first child together.

In July 2021, the couple spoke to E! News about staying together after they met on TV and admitted they have total faith in the process, despite the number of divorces within the franchise.

"Don't hold anything back because, you know, you could be holding back your forever," she said. "You have to be yourself and as long as you're displaying your authentic self, your person will come along. I wholeheartedly believe it because I have Vincent."

Chris and Nicole are the only couple from Season 16 that stayed together on Decision Day. They are still together today! Nicole often posts about their adventures together on her Instagram. In February 2024, they celebrated their 19-month anniversary by getting a facial together.

None of the couples from Season 17 of Married at First Sight stayed together. Becca and Austin both said "yes" on Decision Day, despite Austin's issues with intimacy. Austin said that the process of filming was holding him back, so the couple hoped to see how things would evolve when the cameras disappeared. Unfortunately, their marriage crumbled just a day later, when Becca learned Austin had gone out drinking with one of the producers from the show. Austin lied and denied that this had happened, driving the nail in the coffin for them.

For some, the numbers in regards to the Married at First Sight divorces are enough to make you no longer believe in the experiment. But for others, the hope is certainly still there.

You can catch Married at First Sight on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on Lifetime.