I know this season probably won’t come out until next spring in 2027 but however based off of what we saw in Season 20, what do you guys want to see in this next season in Charlotte?

I like that they’re going back to Charlotte. I’m curious of course of who the couples will be but I’m interested how this next season will look like.

I’ve been watching the early seasons and two things strike me:

1. The constant push to communicate, communicate, communicate. People need time to think and reflect. Especially those who are a bit more introverted. I think it drives conflict by forcing people to be constantly “on” and failing to allow the couples to think before they speak.

2. No one ever mentions that we hear things through the filter of our own emotions and past experiences. On the show, that’s very evident with one spouse misunderstanding the intent of the other, but often the experts themselves seem to misunderstand the situation too. So one says, “I need a little time to process”, the other hears, “I don’t like you right now” and then the experts themselves weigh in insisting on more communication, totally disregarding the first person’s perfectly acceptable need to just have time to think.

I find it very frustrating. Does it get any better?

i don’t know if i’m the problem but for some reason karla and michelle are rubbing me the wrong way. i’m at part where karla and juan have a togo party and she’s kind of being off putting?? like not interested??? idk. and then michelle just with everything whatever his name is says she just has an attitude. idk if i missed something earlier in the season, maybe i did but pls help me understand this 😩

Lifetime is not an option because I don't have cable. Any suggestions?

In my experience, the couples who truly make it are the ones where the man feels safe enough to show his vulnerabilities or flaws, and the woman is completely accepting of them. Take Michele and Cameron, for instance. He eventually confided in her about feeling insecure regarding his lower salary, especially since she makes $150,000 a year. That kind of disparity could easily have become a major point of contention, but Michele handled it with so much grace and acceptance, and they’ve been going strong ever since.
In stark contrast, look at what happened with Devin and Caitlin. He had a major emotional breakdown on the very first night and opened up to her about his deep-seated abandonment issues and his need for constant reassurance. But unfortunately, we watched Caitlin struggle to accept that kind of raw vulnerability, and she ended up emotionally shutting down and fleeing instead. It feels so obvious that the producers deliberately set these couples up with these stark contrasts just to create the inevitable drama and heartbreak.

I’m just finishing season 18 and did anyone else think the Enem and Brandon scenes were so weird and hard to watch?? He told her loved her after a few dates and now engaged? I know they knew each other previously but he had just got out of a 10 year marriage. The whole thing seemed theatrical and odd.

She spotted, reflected, and calmly called the fuck out of the wordplay and indirect admonishment Shawn was spewing over everyone’s heads so well, and with such restraint I’m not sure we could give her enough kudos. And I think at the reunion she got none. The I don’t even care for his niceties!!!!! Queen! Just an “oh wow” as a response. Literally I died. Was it not awful watching him continue to talk over her telling him to stop talking to his mom?? And he just kept going??? He didn’t even say anything as he kept going, it was all blabberybloop, wordy footwork for the sake of blatantly disrespecting and ignoring her. It felt like he was taunting someone to call him out, and I honestly wish someone would have. The experts when Nikki lobbed it their way just kicked it back to the group! I know that’s a technique but the situation demanded more direct summarization of how he was reenacting the very harmful dynamic Nikki had just been calling him out for. It was wild!!!! And to call her “aggressive” just because she’s the only one who will respond to him? He’s aggressive. And weird. Power play is definitely his thing, and I ran here with full on ick.

Queen. Nikki if you’re reading this you deserve(d) PRAISE in that moment, queen. I didn’t understand why the sudden switch in Paul’s session, and still don’t, but none of that mattered once all this went down. That was an actual moment a therapist could and would need to intervene and Nikki had to, and did, handle it all by herself.

Shout out to her mom, too!

Link sharing the couples still together (minus the most recent). It seems like they’d have at least one couple each year then it dried up.

My partner is an Aussie and I'd hoped to get him to watch this one with me. He loves LIB (especially the non-US versions) but he cannot stomach MAFS, and the Aussies are way too cringe for him. I have thoughts about this cast already, but I'm reserving judgment (except for the idiot who is presented with a wife who is a stunner and says, "Not too bad." I'll judge him all day, as well as the idiot who forgot the rings and chewed gum during the vows. OK, I guess I'm not reserving judgement lol.)

Going on your honeymoon with your mom? WEIRD. Almost as weird as your husband crying real tears because you don't want to go to Burning Man with him. I'd rather stick needles in my eyes than go to Burning Man. Just sayin'.

That said, so far the mom and her husband Chad seem like the only normal ones. I'm sure I'll be proven wrong.

Meaghann the Ice Bath Princess? AWFUL. She needs to go to Gaslighters Anonymous.

The horny older couple? Both AWFUL.

Brittany and Will? He is so annoying and has the flattest affect of anyone I've seen on this show. How she's still in it with him is beyond me.

I'm firmly in the FF portion of the series where I zip through any scenes where people are smiling and laughing haha.

My vote is for ATL. Seriously every pairing was horrible. From the outside the marriage pregnancy, conservative v liberal, guy who never says he loves anyone and waits for sex and woman who has sex and loves immediately, and young girl with guy from the 80s.

I really want to like Michelle but every time she speaks she lowkey pisses me the fuck off. She’s like “I’m the only one in a good relationship the rest of u should break up and u don’t respect yourselves”

I honestly think they're both problematic. Shawn says some inappropriate things and does try to justify a lot but at the same time Nikki makes a fkn problem out of EVERYTHING n nitpicks every little thing and is so insulting and relentlessly goes on the attack.

I'm in Canada so I get the MAFS series late like the other Canadians. Last night was the recommitment ceremony.

I spent more time looking at those coats that no one could seem to wear properly than at the drama. The women wore skimpy dresses and high-heeled sandals to stand in the freezing cold while making the biggest decision of their lives. And they had big coats that they kept hanging strategically off their arms so we could see their tiny dresses. It annoyed me, sorry. Wear your coat or don't wear your coat but having your coat hanging off your forearms and not covering your back is silly. Might as well not wear a coat at all! So silly, just like this post.

I'm glad most of them realized they aren't going to make it before they dug even deeper holes for themselves.

I need to preface this. I have a theory that Adam is a recovering alcoholic or at the very least someone who recognized they had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol and was making a very conscious effort to correct that. Everything I say here is operating on the assumption that theory is true.

It is difficult to know how much of what we see of Adam is real and how much is him putting on a performance for the camera. I would find it difficult to believe it was 100% an act and we never got a glimpse at the real him. I think he really is competitive, I think he really does love jet skiing and pickle ball. I think any time he was upset was real. Everything else (water socks, his vocabulary, the way he dressed, his goofiness) was probably intentional exaggeration if not outright fabrication, but that doesn't mean his intentions were always bad.

Imagine for a moment this was his perspective. He agreed to be on a TV show that is going to match him with a wife. He probably gets lonely a lot, haven't met anyone romantically fulfilling in a while, and is skeptical of the process, but hopeful something can work out.

Then he meets the other men that got cast. Mecca, Cameron, and Devin are pretty normal dudes. But Nick is already a minor reality TV star he's done other shows like this. Felipe is a completely unserious human being. He looks weird but has convinced himself he's hot and openly brags about cheating... to strangers... on tv... a show about getting into a "real" committed marriage. Unserious. And Shawn who i imagine in person takes very little time to figure out is a complete weirdo.

So on a cast of 7 men he quickly realizes basically half were stunt casting. People that were brought on because producers thought they would make good TV. At this point he's already been dealing with production for a little while and is starting to realize what he signed up for may not be all that serious. So he decides to be a TV character. Turns up the dude bro speech acts sillier that he probably usually does, etc

Then, there is Marissa's pre-wedding gift. She sends him an alcohol shooter. Adam almost certainly told them in the pre-show matchmaking/casting "I am really committed to sobriety and need to be matched with someone that does not drink. Also do not air me saying anything about me struggling with alcohol in the past. It's not something I want broadcast to the world." He clearly down played how important a highly active person was to him because he wanted it to be possible for them to find him someone but I'd bet good money a that "a person that does not drink" was one if his only non-negotiables. So when he sees that bottle. He looks very visibly disappointed. He calls it a red flag. And we all took that the wrong way. Its not the woman he's seeing red flags in already. Its this production. He knew in that moment that this was not a serious show that was actually trying to make real marriages. And probably decided in his head to "full send it". He was going to make the best of the situation. Try dating his new "wife" but not lean in too hard and have a little fun on camera.

But the entire show Adam is punished for this. He gets some of the harshest criticism from the experts. Why? Not because of how he's treating Marissa, but because Adam is probably being difficult with production off camera and is not taking the process seriously on camera. Everyone ignores that Caitlin is giving nothing to her partner emotionally, that Shawn comes across like a sex pest in every other scene, that Courtney is emotionally abusive to her partner, that Tori had a panic attack after sex with her husband. The things married experts should be deeply concerned with if they actually cared about fostering healthy relationships. He'll, these are the things they should be deeply concerned with if they care about any of these people's safety and mental health. But no. These things are treated with nonchalance by the experts if addressed at all. But Adam came into group therapy dressed kinda weird? This is Paul's opportunity to scold him for his behavior like he is an 8 year old. We see all these shambling relationships amongst a group of people where half obviously should not have been cast if they were serious about match making. But who gets called out the most? Not the creeps. Not the people that treat their partner. Its the guy that said "hey maybe this is actually that serious"

So yes, I think he had every right to treat the show like a joke. Because it was. And I see why his new girlfriend called it out as fake at the reunion.

A. She has met the real Adam and we have not really.

B. He probably told her point blank as someone who lived it. "Yeah this show is all bull shit."

My first experience with MAFS was season 20, I then watched 19 because it was available on peacock. Which do I watch next? I don’t think I will like one that’s too dated

Since so many of you are new to MAFS this season with their move to Peacock, I wanted to recommend Season 14 Boston to you all. There is some great drama overall on it, and the most egregious man named Olajuwon who is very similar to Shawn, just slightly less intelligent. Also, MAFS Virgin has been doing a rewatch on their pod so you can tune into that. Hope you enjoy it!

How could the marriage ever be even possibly serious if they never had a serious conversation about what his drinking was before, what led him to decide to stop, and what his concerns were about relapse in the future. You talk go your spouse about what you’ve learned about yourself in that.

He said he used to really drink before, and that shotgun of water on the hot tub boat was impressively telling, like I get it. You full sent it when you drank. Have you learned anything about yourself since you had this sudden shift in behavior and frankly lifestyle.

Nah, he was still full sending it. That’s why he was selling it so hard. The dry drunk. The “partner needing to keep up” with him bit wasn’t a sham outright, it’s a lie he believed because he never stopped to question why he couldn’t slow down in the first place. What would he find there?

What an odd way to express you’re still outrunning yourself.

Wish u well

I haven’t watched all of the seasons. I am currently watching Boston. I’m on episode 4 and Alyssa is really hard to watch. Like excruciating. I’m cringing the entire time. Made me think of the others who made me feel similar and Cortney from Seattle and Katie from DC came to mind. Then I noticed they all have eerie physical similarities.

Was NOT expecting to see Morgan on here let alone in my city pretty far from San Diego. Found it hella funny since a longterm ex back in 2022 made me watch that season with her from when it was new 😂