Meet the couples who married at first sight

Arranged marriages aren’t anything new but who would marry a total stranger who’s been chosen for you by a panel of experts?

In the first episode of controversial Married At First Sight we were introduced to six singletons prepared to meet their new spouse for the first time on their wedding day, all in the name of science rather than love.

The Channel 4 show – based on a Danish version – matches three “perfect couples” with guidance from psychologists, a sex expert and even a reverend.

Applicants were quizzed on their relationship history and took DNA tests.

We see them tie the knot next week – but are they all doomed to divorce?

Not necessarily, if couples who took part in similar experiments are anything to go by.

Here are some who proved to be matches made in heaven – but others whose marriages were pure hell.

Carla Germaine, 23, and Greg Cordell, 28, UK

More than 200 lonely hearts entered a contest organised by Birmingham radio station BRMB to find love and win prizes including a £50,000 wedding, a year-long lease on a luxury apartment in the city centre and a Ford Puma car.

In the end a panel of judges including astrologer Russell Grant decided former model Carla (a Gemini) and sales manager Greg (a Scorpio) were the best match as they both loved to keep fit.

The couple married in a civil ceremony at the Hyatt Hotel in Birmingham before jetting off on their honeymoon to the Bahamas.

But it wasn’t long before it turned out there was trouble in paradise.

Nine days after they returned home Greg was accused of sleeping with another woman – just hours before he finally consummated his marriage with Carla.

It was also claimed that he had a five-year-old son, even though he had insisted that he had no children during a lie-detector test during the competition, and he lost his job.

Although he protested his innocence, distraught Carla admitted she could no longer trust him and they split after just three months.

She said: “Greg and I weren’t right for each other. Now I realise what was missing – two people who love each other. I haven’t seen him in years.”

 

Carla went onto marry the radio station’s show host, now TV presenter, Jeremy Kyle, and they have three children.

Pia Lauerson, 50, and Frank Eriksen, 56, Denmark

The Danish version of Married At First Sight was a disaster for all four couples, with each filing for divorce.

But none flopped faster than the oldest pair to feature on the show.

Ad man Frank and company director Pia didn’t even make it to their honeymoon before deciding to call it a day.

Pia had been single for 10 years before she signed up for the show, hoping the panel of experts could find her perfect man where she had failed.

It didn’t work. Frank, who lived on the tiny Danish island of Bornholm and who had split with his girlfriend just three months earlier, was nothing like the man she imagined.

She was so disappointed she refused to let him kiss her at the altar and gave him the cold shoulder throughout the reception, so that he had to scrap the optimistic and affectionate wedding speech he had planned.

Frank said: “It started to go wrong immediately after the ceremony when the cameras were turned off.

"She told me she wanted a man who looked nothing like me, and she was really sorry she was married to me.”

Pia said: “I wondered what I had agreed to. I thought I was taking part in a scientific experiment.

“Instead I found myself in a reality TV show. It felt unreal, uncomfortable and unsafe.”

Jamie Otis, 28, and Doug Hehner, 31, US

The couple looked doomed from the outset as the bride burst into tears as she walked down the aisle and admitted she felt sick when she saw Doug standing at the altar.

Jamie refused to kiss Doug for any of their wedding photographs and had to be consoled by her family, who persuaded her to give the marriage a try before she walked away.

She said it was the worst day of her life.

Jamie said: “I put my faith in the professionals who paired us up and I felt like they had let me down.”

Yet the more time the couple spent together, and the more patience Doug showed, the more Jamie grew to like him and they finally shared their first kiss four days into the honeymoon.

Over the next six weeks they became friends first, then they gradually fell in love.

Jamie even decided to take her husband’s last name.

Doug moved out of his parents’ house and they bought a property together.

A year later they renewed their vows.

Now Jamie wants to take the relationship to the next level by trying for a baby, describing Doug as “a great husband”.

Zoe Hendrix, 25, and Alex Garner, 29, Australia

Only one of the four couples from the first series of Married at First Sight in Australia are still going strong – marketing executive Zoe and plumber Alex.

Zoe, who was adopted from Ethiopia with her twin brother Micael when she was just five years old, applied for the show because she was sick of stumbling from one disastrous relationship to the next.

And although her family were sceptical, it was love at first sight when she met Alex at the altar.

She said: “I thought he was gorgeous. He has got striking blue eyes and I was taken by them.”

Things soon hotted up on their honeymoon at the Great Barrier Reef as the newlyweds made good use of their hot tub.

Under Australian laws the couples who took part in the show were not allowed a legally binding wedding, but Alex and Zoe are so happy together that he is now planning to pop the question so they can tie the knot for real.

He has sold his house in Melbourne to buy a home with Zoe which they’ll share with their two dogs.

Earlier this month their plans to start a family were dealt a heartbreaking setback as Zoe suffered a miscarriage.

Zoe said: “As sad as it is, we hope it will help build our love and make us really appreciate each other.”

Monet Bell, 34, and Vaughn Copeland, 31, US

When Monet applied for the American series of Married At First Sight she believed it was a dating documentary.

But once she was paired with Vaughn she decided to go ahead with the wedding last year, saying she was ready to settle down.

That soon became a bone of contention between the newlyweds.

Although they consummated their marriage on their wedding night, they clashed almost immediately over their family plans.

Monet wanted a baby straight away, whereas Vaughn wanted time to travel and build a career first.

They spent much of their brief marriage arguing before divorcing at the end of the six-week probation period.

Monet later admitted: “We had very little in common and spent a lot of the six weeks yelling at each other.

“Our biggest mistake was that we tried to act like a married couple, or whatever we thought a married couple was, instead of trying to start off learning to be friends.”

Despite it all both Monet and Vaughn both insist that they do not regret marrying.

Vaughn returned home to New Jersey and is now studying part-time for a degree, while Monet is writing a book about her dating experiences in New York.