Married at First Sight (Australian season 8)

The eighth season of Married at First Sight premiered on 22 February 2021 on the Nine Network.^[1] Relationship experts John Aiken and Mel Schilling returned from the previous season, and were joined by sexologist Alessandra Rampolla to match 9 brides and 9 grooms together.^[2][3] Halfway through the experiment, the experts matched another 3 brides and 3 grooms together.^[4][5]

Married at First Sight
Season 8
Country of origin	Australia
No. of episodes	32
Release
Original network	Nine Network
Original release	22 February (2021-02-22) – 18 April 2021 (2021-04-18)
Season chronology
← Previous Season 7 Next → Season 9

Couple profiles

No.	Couple	Age	Home	Occupation	Honeymoon	Final Decision	Status
1	Melissa Rawson	31	Melbourne, Victoria	Workplace Trainer	Edith, New South Wales	Yes	Married with children^[6]^[7]
	Bryce Ruthven	31	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory	Radio Announcer
2	Rebecca Zemek	27	Perth, Western Australia	Business Manager	Hunter Valley, New South Wales	Yes	Separated^[8]
	Jake Edwards	32	Melbourne, Victoria	Charity CEO
3	Samantha Harvey	31	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory	Property Developer	Casuarina, New South Wales	Broke up before final decision	Separated
	Cameron Dunne	32	Melbourne, Victoria	Crane Operator
4	Booka Nile	31	Perth, Western Australia	Musician/Mental Health Worker	South Coast, New South Wales	Broke up before final decision	Separated
	Brett Helling	31	Melbourne, Victoria	Psychology Student/Electrician
5	Coco Stedman	30	Sydney, New South Wales	Pilates Studio Owner	South Coast, New South Wales	Broke up before final decision	Separated
	Sam Carraro	32	Melbourne, Victoria	Clothing Brand Owner
6	Alana Lister	30	Brisbane, Queensland	Teacher	South Coast, New South Wales	Yes	Separated^[9]
	Jason Engler	35	Brisbane, Queensland	Construction Estimator
7	Joanne Todd	39	Melbourne, Victoria	Barber	Shoalhaven, New South Wales	Broke up before final decision	Separated
	James Susler	44	Melbourne, Victoria	Prestige Car Company Owner
8	Belinda Vickers	29	Melbourne, Victoria	Door-to-Door Sales	Caves Beach, New South Wales	Yes	Separated^[10]
	Patrick Hayes Dwyer	27	Melbourne, Victoria	Personal Trainer
9	Beth Moore	39	Perth, Western Australia	Retail Worker/Student	Mimosa Rocks, New South Wales	Broke up before final decision	Separated
	Russell Duance	37	Adelaide, South Australia	Diesel Mechanic
10	Georgia Fairweather	25	Brisbane, Queensland	Entrepreneur	Hunter Valley, New South Wales	No	Separated
	Liam Cooper	29	Brisbane, Queensland	Prison Case Officer
11	Kerry Knight	30	Sunshine Coast, Queensland	Occupation Therapist	Cabarita, New South Wales	Yes	Married^[11]
	Johnny Balbuziente	30	Brisbane, Queensland	Theatre Producer
12	Jaimie Gardner	35	Sydney, New South Wales	Brand Manager	Adelaide, South Australia	Broke up before final decision	Separated
	Chris Jensen	32	Sunshine Coast, Queensland	FIFO Driller

Commitment ceremony history

Episode:	9	13	17	21	25	29/30
Ceremony:	1	2	3	4	5	Final Decision
Melissa	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Yes
Bryce	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Yes
Rebecca	Stay	Leave	Stay	Stay	Leave	Yes
Jake	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Yes
Alana	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Yes
Jason	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Yes
Belinda	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Yes
Patrick	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Yes
Kerry	Not in Experiment		Stay	Stay	Stay	Yes
Johnny			Stay	Stay	Stay	Yes
Georgia	Not in Experiment		Stay	Stay	Stay	Yes
Liam			Stay	Stay	Stay	No
Booka	Stay	Stay	Stay	Leave	Leave	Left
Brett	Stay	Stay	Stay	Stay	Leave
Jaimie	Not in Experiment		Stay	Left
Chris			Stay
Joanne	Stay	Stay	Leave	Left
James	Stay	Leave	Leave
Beth	Stay	Leave	Left
Russell	Leave	Leave
Coco	Leave	Leave	Left
Sam	Stay	Leave
Samantha	Leave	Leave	Left
Cameron	Stay	Leave
Notes	none	none	1	2	none	3, 4
Left	none	Beth & Russell	Joanne & James	Jaimie & Chris	Booka & Brett	Georgia & Liam
		Coco & Sam
		Samantha & Cameron

  This couple left the experiment outside of commitment ceremony.

  This couple elected to leave the experiment during the commitment ceremony.

• ^1 : Three new couples were introduced into the experiment.
• ^2 : Chris left the experiment on his own. Due to this Jaimie also had to leave the experiment.
• ^3 : Alana originally decided to leave, but changed her mind to stay after hearing Jason's vows.
• ^4 : Liam originally decided to stay, but changed his mind to leave after hearing Georgia's vows.

Controversy

The season was heavily criticised by media outlets and fans of the show due to the lack of diversity in casting.^[12][13] The series also saw accusations of misogyny against a number of the male participants.^[14] In June the Australian Communications and Media Authority revealed they were looking into the season after receiving 54 complaints from viewers about the show. Several of the complaints alleged the series had aired abusive interactions between participants through "gaslighting, social, verbal and mental abuse".^[15] The Network was later cleared of any breaches.^[16]

Ratings

No.	Title	Air date	Timeslot	Overnight ratings		Consolidated ratings		Total viewers	Ref(s)
				Viewers	Rank	Viewers	Rank
1	Episode 1	22 February 2021	Monday 7:30pm	964,000	1	110,000	1	1,074,000	^[17]^[18]
2	Episode 2	23 February 2021	Tuesday 7:30pm	992,000	1	105,000	1	1,097,000	^[19]^[20]
3	Episode 3	24 February 2021	Wednesday 7:30pm	891,000	2	128,000	1	1,019,000	^[21]^[22]
4	Episode 4	25 February 2021	Thursday 7:30pm	773,000	5	151,000	1	924,000	^[23]^[24]
5	Episode 5	28 February 2021	Sunday 7:00pm	898,000	1	114,000	1	1,012,000	^[25]^[26]
6	Episode 6	1 March 2021	Monday 7:30pm	1,020,000	1	110,000	1	1,130,000	^[27]^[28]
7	Episode 7	2 March 2021	Tuesday 7:30pm	944,000	1	115,000	1	1,059,000	^[29]^[30]
8	Episode 8	3 March 2021	Wednesday 7:30pm	932,000	1	111,000	1	1,043,000	^[31]^[32]
9	Episode 9	7 March 2021	Sunday 7:00pm	945,000	1	131,000	1	1,076,000	^[33]^[34]
10	Episode 10	8 March 2021	Monday 7:30pm	804,000	7	97,000	6	901,000	^[35]^[36]
11	Episode 11	9 March 2021	Tuesday 7:30pm	945,000	2	89,000	1	1,034,000	^[37]^[38]
12	Episode 12	10 March 2021	Wednesday 7:30pm	969,000	1	104,000	1	1,073,000	^[39]^[40]
13	Episode 13	14 March 2021	Sunday 7:00pm	1,096,000	1	92,000	1	1,188,000	^[41]^[42]
14	Episode 14	15 March 2021	Monday 7:30pm	979,000	1	106,000	1	1,085,000	^[43]^[44]
15	Episode 15	16 March 2021	Tuesday 7:30pm	1,026,000	1	108,000	1	1,134,000	^[45]^[46]
16	Episode 16	17 March 2021	Wednesday 7:30pm	1,030,000	1	121,000	1	1,151,000	^[47]^[48]
17	Episode 17	21 March 2021	Sunday 7:00pm	1,116,000	1	86,000	1	1,202,000	^[49]^[50]
18	Episode 18	22 March 2021	Monday 7:30pm	1,068,000	3	75,000	1	1,143,000	^[51]^[52]
19	Episode 19	23 March 2021	Tuesday 7:30pm	1,040,000	2	92,000	1	1,132,000	^[53]^[54]
20	Episode 20	24 March 2021	Wednesday 7:30pm	1,017,000	1	107,000	1	1,124,000	^[55]^[56]
21	Episode 21	28 March 2021	Sunday 7:30pm	1,106,000	1	85,000	1	1,191,000	^[57]^[58]
22	Episode 22	29 March 2021	Monday 7:30pm	1,065,000	1	94,000	1	1,159,000	^[59]^[60]
23	Episode 23	30 March 2021	Tuesday 7:30pm	1,031,000	1	99,000	1	1,130,000	^[61]^[62]
24	Episode 24	31 March 2021	Wednesday 7:30pm	1,003,000	1	126,000	1	1,129,000	^[63]^[64]
25	Episode 25	5 April 2021	Monday 7:30pm	1,121,000	2	94,000	1	1,215,000	^[65]^[66]
26	Episode 26	6 April 2021	Tuesday 7:30pm	1,009,000	1	65,000	1	1,074,000	^[67]^[68]
27	Episode 27	7 April 2021	Wednesday 7:30pm	1,100,000	1	86,000	1	1,186,000	^[69]^[70]
28	Episode 28	11 April 2021	Sunday 7:00pm	1,127,000	1	82,000	1	1,209,000	^[71]^[72]
29	Final Vows - Part 1	12 April 2021	Monday 7:30pm	1,093,000	1	79,000	1	1,172,000	^[73]^[74]
30	Final Vows - Part 2	13 April 2021	Tuesday 7:30pm	1,032,000	1	69,000	1	1,101,000	^[75]^[76]
31	Reunion Dinner Party	14 April 2021	Wednesday 7:30pm	1,134,000	1	112,000	1	1,246,000	^[77]^[78]
32	Finale	18 April 2021	Sunday 7:00pm	1,398,000	1	93,000	1	1,481,000	^[79]^[80]

References

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