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Married at First Sight first look: Supersized reality drama

Ebony Bowden

Getting married to a complete stranger is a strange enough experience.

But if the conditions on Married at First Sight weren't tough already, the stakes have been taken to an all new level in 2017.

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Trailer: Married at First Sight Australia 2017

Married at First Sight takes twenty singles, makes them ten couples and has them meeting for the first time at the altar.

For the first time, couples will live together under the one roof and spend eight weeks, not four, living as husband and wife.

This year, twenty singles will also be looking for love - twice the amount in any other season. Viewers can expect twice the amount of drama too, with anxious brides clashing in scenes reminiscent of a cocktail party on The Bachelor.

But for all the talk of expert matches based on neuroscience and psychology, only two relationships (and a new baby) out of 13 arranged marriages remain.

And despite million-plus ratings,  the reality romance series' credibility in recent times had started to slip. Last year, disgruntled ex-contestant Clare Verrall claimed all five couples had split before the finale.

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In 2015, Verrall was matched with Jono Pitman, a man who had a history of assault, while she was suffering from PTSD. She later claimed producers deliberately matched them and failed their duty of care.

While Married at First Sight expert psychologist Melanie Schiling told Fairfax Media the incident was overblown - Pitman was only charged with assault, meaning it didn't show up on his police check - it's clear producers wanted to freshen up the format heading into season 4.

Premiering on January 30, this year's couples will live together in a Sydney compound and endure weekly dinner parties with their fellow contestants.

The experiment has been extended to two months and couples will have weekly check-ins - dubbed "commitment ceremonies" - with the panel of experts, unlike previous seasons where they were left to their own devices.

Schiling disagrees the show has been unsuccessful at pairing lonely singles.

"You've got remember this is an experiment and we're putting people under some enormous pressure and speeding up of what might take 12 months in a relationship and squishing that up into eight weeks," she says, calling the show's success "on par" with the real world.

"The pressure is so intense that it can actually bring all sorts of things to the surface. I think you would quite reasonably predict that all 10 couples wouldn't make it over the finish line."

Without question, the biggest change to watch out for is the new group dynamic, which Schiling says caught all three experts by surprise.

"We didn't really anticipate the strength of that. It takes on a life of its own and in some cases it's more important and influential than the couple relationships."

Can we expect some partner swapping? Naturally, Schiling is tight-lipped.

For relationship psychologist John Aiken, the new supersized format puts the couples under greater pressure.

"The home moves are very exciting but when it really starts to change is when they move into a complex together. They will be in an apartment where we bring in a group dynamic because we wanted to see what happens to the couples when they're put under great pressure."

So is it all just entertainment? Not so, says Schiling. Eight weeks is more realistic than four, and weekly check-ins serve as mini therapy sessions.

"There's more opportunity for the masks to come down and for people to actually just come out as their own authentic self and they get to see more of how their partner behaves under enormous pressure or normal mundane life."

For Aiken, Married at First Sight still leads the way in a crowded pack of romance reality shows.

"What you're going to see each week is couples that are struggling at times asking us very direct, sometimes very aggressive and angry questions, and we have to be held accountable."

"They have to bond together and work with their partner to get through it, and this is why this show is different to anything else out there."

"It's the frontrunner in the relationship genre and we are really proud to be a part of it."

Married at First Sight season 4 premieres Monday, January 30, at 7.30pm on Channel Nine.