For longtime Married at First Sight viewers, Season 20 may feel a little different. The new season, which debuts on July 12, will be Peacock’s first full season.
The series, produced by Kinetic Content, aired Seasons 5-18 on Lifetime before moving to NBC’s streaming service in 2019, although the deal was not finalized until Season 19 had finished filming.
“Season 19 was made for Lifetime. We edited it for Peacock, but we were already filming the show for Lifetime, so we were shooting it with a Lifetime lens,” said Kintetic founder and CEO Chris Coelen. “This season will be the first true, full-fledged peacock season.”
The team knew it meant a complete overhaul for Season 20. Koren is forever grateful for the long partnership with A&E, which “gave us a chance on the series in the first place.” But with changes in business and the market as a whole, it’s time for a change. This removed the time constraints of network television and gave them more freedom.
It also meant all new experts, which was a big shock for fans. Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Pastor Cal Roberson, and Dr. Pia Holek all left after Season 19, and Dr. Paul C. Brunson and Dr. Lisa Pass joined as new experts to help each couple.
“Every season, there’s an ongoing conversation about what’s working and what’s not working, and I think our experts have been around for a really long time, but I think we’ve got an opportunity to see two really exciting new experts,” says the executive producer. “As we move to a new platform, a new home, it made sense to be able to bring some new experts on board, and we’re really excited about the people we’ve brought on board.”
Over the past 20 seasons, there have been three or four experts at a time, but with the new format, he says it makes sense to have two. “It felt a little less crowded and more focused in that the experts were able to really build relationships with participants in a different way.”
Set in Seattle, this season also features couples who are a little older and perhaps a little more ready for marriage.
“I think it partly depends on the location,” Koren said. “Different people are ready to make big decisions at different ages, and we felt that the group of people who joined this group were at the right age to seriously consider marriage as the next step in their lives.”
“Married at First Sight” will feature some familiar faces from the reality TV world for the first time. Nick Uhlenhus has previously appeared on Netflix’s “The Circle” and “Perfect Match.” And at first, Koren was hesitant about it, wanting to be sure that his goal was actually to find a partner and not become a reality TV star. Luckily, he had a real connection with Courtney Landis.
“When you look at the chemistry between him and Courtney, it has nothing to do with it. The way they match on so many different qualities is really ideal,” Koren says. “I don’t even know if we first went out thinking, ‘Let’s find someone from another show.’ Those are things we all talk about, but getting to know his family and seeing the relationship role models around him and the way they talked about him, all of that added up to make us feel like he was a really good choice.”
The first episode of season 20 of “Married at First Sight” is now streaming on Peacock.
