On Tuesday night’s premiere of FYI’s new reality show “Married at First Sight” — in which six brave singles agreed to legally wed a complete stranger — the show’s four experts revealed their three scientifically matched couples.
The extreme social experiment used personality profiles, psychological assessments, sexology sessions and spiritual counseling to narrow 625 possible matches down to three ideal pairs — with the spouses not even knowing each other’s names until they met at the altar.
Naturally, there were a lot of nerves on the big day — and even some second thoughts. The premiere ends on a cliffhanger after groom Doug Hehner says “I do” and bride Jamie Otis — who isn’t immediately attracted to her future husband — says in voiceover, “I’m thinking I just made the worst decision of my life.”
Here’s a look at what the “Married at First Sight” participants hoped was awaiting them at the end of the aisle, and a few even dish to The Post about what was really going through their heads when they first laid eyes on their future mates.
Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner
He said: “Jamie is someone that you notice as soon as she walks into the room,” Hehner tells The Post. “She’s kind of everything that I could hope for when we spoke about what type of girl [I was] looking for as far as physical appearance. She’s gorgeous. It was really nice — I gave this whole description of what I had in my head and it was just translated perfectly.
“When I saw her cry, as much as you never want to see a woman cry, I appreciated it because it was real, it was a real moment. You could tell she was really affected by this where she’s not just looking to be another person that’s on TV, she is really in the moment of being married and she wasn’t putting on a show. It sets the tone for how you’re going to approach the rest of the wedding.”
She said: “Walking down the aisle, I am so scared,” Otis says in the premiere. “This is the worst feeling. Obviously I wasn’t like, ‘What a knockout!’ I couldn’t help but look at his family because they were like beaming, huge smiles looking at me, and I just happened to not be attracted to the guy.”
“I just freaked out,” she now tells The Post. “I opened the door and started walking down the aisle and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I doing?’ Looking at him, a complete stranger, I just lost it. I’m really embarrassed. I was trying so hard to stay so composed … and he’s holding my hands and rubbing me, trying to comfort me, and I was like, ‘Don’t rub my hands, it’s awkward!’”
Monet Bell and Vaughn Copeland
He said: “I like a girl who likes to play the wife-y role, as we say,” Copeland says in the premiere. “Hopefully she’s cute. Hopefully she can cook.”
She said: “I glanced up for a moment and then, to be honest, I think I was in the middle of a panic attack walking down the aisle,” Bell tells The Post. “I don’t think I really officially looked at him until the officiant said, ‘Monet, do you take this man to be your husband?’ and when I said ‘Yes’ is when I actually looked at him.
“I thought he was handsome, he was tall, which I really thought was great because that was one of the few things I asked for. For me, it wasn’t as much visual that I was really asking for. It was more about character and the personality which clearly I don’t get to know when I get to the end of the aisle.
“First impressions I was totally open. I was like, ‘This could work, this could be a good match.’”
Cortney Hendrix and Jason Carrion
He said: “The doors open and I’m like, ‘This is my wife — and she’s hot as all hell,’” Carrion says in the premiere.
“She walked out and I relaxed,” he tells The Post. “I told them what I wanted and I feel like they brought that to the table.”
She said: “I see Jason at the end of the aisle and I was so excited and he looked terrified,” Hendrix tells The Post. “I grabbed his hand and told him to breathe. And we just smiled at each other and it was great.
“One hundred percent I was attracted to him. I was very happy he was at the end of the aisle. … I don’t have one specific type. I remember one of the questions when I was being interviewed was, ‘Do you want a Southern guy or do you want a Northern guy?’ And I was like, ‘Of course I want a Northern guy.’ So as soon as I heard Jason talk, I was like, ‘Yeah, Brooklyn!’
“At that point I did not have any second thoughts. I was really happy with what Jason looked like from the outside, and I was very excited to get to know what he was like on the inside.”