Married At First Sight expert rumoured to be replaced by a ‘sex therapist’

Couples on Married At First Sight don’t have the highest success rate, but will a change to the expert panel next season make it better or worse?

Channel 9’s Married At First Sight experts haven’t had the best track record in matching the right couples together.

Now, it’s reported that the show’s ‘relationship expert’ Dr Trisha Stratford will be replaced with a ‘sex therapist’.

Nine has released a statement from Dr Stratford, confirming her stepping down from the role.

“After seven seasons of Married At First Sight I have decided to step back from the television series to focus on my writing, research and neuropsychotherapy,” she said in a statement to 9Entertainment .

Married At First Sight 2021 will look different without Dr Trisha Stratford on the expert panel. Picture: Nine

“I’ve been involved right from the beginning in the challenge of bringing this social experiment to television. The program provides a platform for an ongoing conversation on relationships and I wish the program continued success and hope future participants find everlasting love,” she said.

Nine also thanked the psychotherapist for the role she played on MAFS.

“We want to thank Trisha for the extraordinary contribution she has made to the success of Married At First Sight. She showed great courage joining this very unconventional social experiment in its first short series and helped transform it into the hugely successful franchise it is today. We wish her all the best as she redirects her energies back into her professional career.”

Participants on the show have already met with an ‘American female sex therapist’ who quizzed each applicant on what they were hoping to find in a potential partner, the Daily Mail reported.

During the past season, some viewers were left mad with the little involvement experts Trisha Stratford, John Aiken and Mel Schilling had in finding the right match for each person.

For Dr Stratford, her involvement usually meant asking one or two questions about intimacy before letting the other experts take over.

Seriously can someone tell me why Trisha is still even here??? #mafs

— Jess Wardrop (@jessiejamesMAFS) March 17, 2019

Shit Trisha spoke!!! #mafs I hope she doesn’t get paid per word

— Jess Wardrop (@jessiejamesMAFS) March 17, 2019

“Someone needs to change Dr Trisha’s batteries. She hasn’t moved for over a week,” another viewer tweeted.

“Why is Trisha Stratford on the show? Haven’t heard her talk for weeks – sure that isn’t a cardboard cut-out?”

Experts Mel Schilling, Trisha Stratford and John Aiken. Picture: Nine

This isn’t the only big change coming to the show. For the first time, the experts will meet with participants via Zoom, due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

Earlier this month producers also made the decision to not cast any Victorian residents, after the state suffered from a second wave in coronavirus cases and went into stage 4 lockdown.