“Marriage at first sight 6”, the three experts speak: “Expect many twists and turns”

Not even two months after the end of the last edition and the incredible twists we have witnessed, including the cross-over love between Nicole and Marco, Marriage at first sight Italy returns with a new cycle of episodes and three new couples to join on the altar. Waiting for the broadcast in the air on Real Time the appointment, for now, is on the Discovery + platform starting January 19th: week by week we will meet the new guys, three women and three men, who, in an attempt to find a soul mate, agree to get married in the dark, relying on the calculations and arguments of three experts in the sector.

They are the psychotherapist Fabrizio Quattrini, the sociologist Mario Abis and the sexologist Nada Loffredi, mentors capable of guiding couples towards a path of discovery that leads individuals to understand something more about themselves and what they are looking for in the partner who accompanies them.

The new edition, the sixth of the program and the third Discovery license (the first had aired on Sky), was shot right after the fifth, with the candidates chosen from a new shortlist of recruits in the always unhappy setting of the pandemic and of an everyday life where contact with others represents more a danger than a resource. “I have often wondered if it was appropriate to go on, given that we live in a historical period in which we are invited to distance ourselves but, in the end, we did it” explains Nada Loffredi before leaving the floor to colleagues. Keeping ourselves carefully away from any type of spoiler, we tried to understand with the three experts what surprises the new episodes will bring and, above all, why in recent years their matches did not go through, arousing the reaction of the Net which has often questioned their ability to match couples.

Without spoilers, what should we expect from this new edition?
Fabrizio Quattrini: «It will be a very intense season full of twists. As for the last one, we have tried to show fundamental divisions of life with respect to couples and relationships: it is true that we want to find a soul mate, but it is also important to be able to project the most significant parts of the protagonists themselves on the couples ” .
Mario Abis: «From the point of view of the narrative system, we are going even further: the characters are very interesting and will involve the audience a lot, while we are sure that they will create quite strong fronts of sympathy and antipathy. It will be an edition that will be affected by the external context, which we have managed to transform into a further narrative element, and which will be even more provocative than the previous one, with an ever-pressing rhythm in which things happen continuously ».
Nada Loffredi: «The new candidates were enthusiastic about these somewhat particular editions because of Covid and they took what was right for them to catch. They are even more motivated and have understood the importance of forming a common front to face another type of enemy: the experiment thus becomes a moment of very strong cohesion that leads the children to be together to share and face these additional problems ” .

The most striking twist of the latest edition of Wedding at first sight it was undoubtedly the love of Nicole and Marco, who set a precedent in the history of the program as it had never happened that two candidates from two different editions got together. Did you expect it?
F.Q.: «More than for Nicole and Marco, I was surprised at how it ended between Giorgia and Luca. There are several variables that cannot be predicted: in the case of Nicole and Marco, I have the feeling that, from the moment in which two candidates do not know each other but know they have followed the same path, something clicks. How do we know if, once they know each other, they will work better? Nicole knew the reality of Marco because she had seen it and, personally, I am very happy for them ».
M.A.: «With my work I try to understand how people relate to contexts and how they can react, so I wasn’t particularly surprised by how it went. Nicole is a very personality-centered person and it was clear that she wanted to value herself. The fact that she got together with Marco made me more interested than impressed. I have noticed that the kids who participate in the program tend to form a small tribe, maintain relationships and create a kind of bubble. Nicole’s story makes us understand that the after is always important: over time, lives and relationships change, everything changes ».
N.L.: «I don’t find anything surprising given that, from edition to edition, it happens that candidates create a real community within which there are different subgroups: those of the first three editions; that of the logistical proximity that allows him to meet, and the disappeared, that is, those who disappear. So it didn’t surprise me: even after the first editions we saw that someone started seeing someone else, like Wilma. In recent years, the fact of having included the fateful meeting with all the couples has made things even more interesting: some elements that brought Andrea and Sitara to get closer, for example, were all already there ».

Why do you think none of the couples you have formed last over time? On social media we often read that experts have failed.
F.Q.: “The idea of ​​the experts’ failure makes me smile, also because people shoot zero at anything and don’t realize the immense work behind the program: they think that the expert has the absolute power to find soul mate, but that’s not the case. We can only resort to tools that allow us to find a compatibility that could work on paper: what happens when one person meets the other is impossible to predict and evaluate in advance. The problem is that, at times, couples remain on their initial impressions and don’t move: it happened, for example, with Marco and Ambra, who were really compatible but who didn’t go on because Ambra didn’t feel attraction for him “.
M.A.: “A few couple of the first editions have survived, the recent ones a little less. It is not a question of experts: of all the couples we had, 10% remained together, we must not stop at the last ones, also because we also show the “what happens next” which is not part of the original format, but which we have inserted because we are curious. For the matches we consider different psychological and sexual profiles, without losing sight of the social contexts. A radical change of context, in fact, can be decisive in the layout of the experience. The most important thing to remember, however, is that relationships evolve and, often, even those who seemed very much in love then change. The television effect also plays a fundamental role: once the cameras are turned off, the experiment continues because that’s where real life begins ».
N.A.: “Putting the blame on the experts is too easy, even if I feel the responsibility, especially when I read Twitter when the episode is broadcast. There are two factors that we do not dwell on enough: the presence of television, which has its influence, and the fact that candidates have an expectation that, on time, is disappointed. Many of them come to us and ask to have what they want, but we cannot neglect the mutual compatibility that must exist in the couple. Wilma, for example, said she wanted the alpha male, but the problem was that the alpha male didn’t want her: we’re not in the supermarket. Our matching criteria follow precise lines, but we certainly cannot predict what can happen when meeting the other person: many have an idea of ​​love based on the famous butterflies in the stomach, but it is something misleading because the couples who stopped at this did not go on ”.

You to Wedding at first sight would you ever register as a participant?
F.Q.: «I don’t think so, also because breaking away from one’s studies is very complex. I would have done, however, other types of format experiences like X Factor, since I have always sung and, before becoming a sexologist and psychotherapist, I studied music, and MasterChef, because I’ve always liked cooking ».
M.A.: «If they had proposed it to me 50 years ago, probably yes, above all because I am very interested in the mechanism of recognizing oneself through the relationship with the other. I am a curious person, I like to explore, so why not? ».
N.L.: “Not today. We live in a society where the idea is that we should never stop and where it is very rare to take on such a great responsibility as the one we ask of candidates. Maybe 30 years ago I would have done a little thought: I would have liked the idea of ​​relying on experts because they would not have given me what I wanted, otherwise I might as well have contacted a marriage agency “.

Do you think we’ll ever see a Wedding at first sight with people of the same sex in Italy?
F.Q.: “It’s something I’ve always advocated because it seems right to me. We talked about it with the authors and, of course, it would mean working a lot on it and it’s not easy: the format was created for a very heterosexual reality and must be studied ad hoc so as not to disappoint those who have always seen the program in a certain way. I believe that sooner or later there will be, I just don’t know when ».
M.A.: «It would be very interesting because, for a job in the area of ​​homosexuality, we would have to assume different tools. This would allow us to go deeper, to understand more precisely how authentic one is and how false one is. The problem is the objective conditions: if we are ready, if we are in order to do so. But, from the point of view of the experiment, absolutely yes. I am a possibility ».
N.L.: «Everyone gets a little thought and, probably, it will happen. However, it will be necessary to have some more foresight: I do not know, for example, how powerful the mechanism of public identification will be, the possibility of recognizing oneself in certain dynamics. We should modify many aspects of the evaluation, not to mention that the children, facing greater difficulties, would rely more on us and there would be aspects that could add something new to an already strong experience in itself “.