‘Married at First Sight’: Stacia and Mitch Reveal the Toughest Part of Their ‘Intense’ Experience (Exclusive)

Married at First Sight stars Stacia and Mitch are sharing the most difficult part of their marriage journey with husband Nate and wife Krysten. Prior to Wednesday’s all-new episode of the Lifetime show, the newlyweds opened up to PopCulture.com about how the “intense” experience of marrying a stranger on camera affected them. 

Stacia told PopCulture that she first signed up for MAFS because she was tired of dating men who weren’t serious about settling down. “I’m getting older and I want a family,” she explained. “I had been in quarantine for two years and felt like I was wasting time. I don’t date online and I don’t like dating friends of friends. I also work a lot and don’t go out to be able to even meet men.”

Stacia also holds “very high standards” for herself and her partner, which is why she was hoping the experts would be able to find her someone “faithful, reliable, responsible, ambitious, financially sound” with a “great sense of humor” and plenty of integrity. “If I can’t trust you I don’t want it,” she noted. Being matched with Nate, Stacia has seemed smitten so far on this season of Married at First Sight, despite her concerns about his female friends. 

The toughest aspect of her MAFS journey actually came more from the logistics behind filming the show than her relationship. “The most difficult part of Married at First Sight was really just having someone – production – being in control of my schedule,” she told PopCulture. “This was truly a commitment that took up a lot of my time for filming. I am used to being able to take off whenever I want and I wasn’t able to do that for two months.” She added, “I also think it was difficult for me to discuss disagreements, especially at points when we were both ready to move on.”

Mitch had a similar answer when it came to his experience marrying his wife Krysten. “Marrying a stranger is intense, and so is the constant production schedule – five days a week,” he told PopCulture. “Put the two together and it’s a pressure cooker. Add my career responsibilities on top of that, and it’s an insane couple months. I felt like I was barely treading water the entire time.”

While the fears of not being attracted to his wife, repeating his parents’ “failed” marriage and “not providing [his] kids with an ideal family upbringing” lingered in his mind, Mitch said he walked away with a whole new lease on relationships. “Find the strength to be vulnerable and in doing so, your vulnerabilities actually become an asset to the marriage,” he shared of his biggest lesson learned during filming. “[It’s] hard to explain, but I think you’ll see what I mean as you watch my journey with Krysten.” Married at First Sight (produced by Kinetic Content) airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime.