There's a lot to be said about the flaws of the show. 3 things standing out is poor casting, poor match making, and inauthentic/set-up scenes.
Poor casting:
Paul and Charlene seem genuine, however, Mel Schilling needs to be exchanged. She indeed comes across as a biased feminist and it's infuriating to see how she jumps to the defence of several female candidates, especially before getting the whole story. A couple of examples:
1) Luke and Morag. Morag tells after the commitment ceremony that Luke didn't call her a single time since they left the show. Before hearing Lukes side of the story, Mel doesn't seem to question Morag and immediately calls Luke 'disrespectful for ghosting Morag'. After hearing Lukes side of the story, it seems they together decided that he'd give her her space. AND he supposedly texted her morning and evening. Embarrassing to watch Mel jump to conclusions so fast.
2) Ant and Alexis. For some reason Mel seemed to think it was appropriate to assume and call out to Ant that he was leading Alexis on when both had asked to re-enter the experiment as a couple, solely based on what Alexis has said on the couch, as if it was the truth. Again, very quick to conclusions and defence.
This is only from the 2 seasons I've actually seen, but have also read about incidents from the Australia version. How is such a biased expert casted? It must be really uncomfortable for the male contestants, being in such a vulnerable position and having to defend themselves to someone who should, unbiasedly, have their best interest at heart. If she does, Mel has some work to do as it doesn't come across.
A few notes on the participants. Many are emotionally and mentally unstable, emotionally unavailable, emotionally unintelligent, and simply not ready for commitment, let alone marriage. It's sad to see.
Poor match making:
MAFS claims to have a very extensive match making process. A couple of examples of issues with the results of this extensive process:
1) Luke and Morag. Morag didn't want children - ever. Luke always did and basically told his friend at the wedding that this was a deal breaker. How did they get matched? He was great for her, but she certainly wasn't great for him, and we could all see this. The only positive for Luke might be the amount of great women wanting to date him after the show.
2) Nikita. This also ties into poor casting as she ended up having to leave very early on. How on earth could the experts and psychologists not identify her toxic behaviour before putting her on the show? Alternatively, it was a production decision for entertaining TV? In either case - embarrassing, and Ant deserved a real shot at this.
Inauthentic/set-up scenes:
A couple of examples:
1) There's a longing for authenticity in content, especially among the newer generations. Instead of asking contestants to fiddle with their rings, giving them templates for their vow renewals to cast doubt on the relationship, editing to cast doubt on the relationship and so on, just display the actual feelings and truths of the contestants. That'd be way more interesting.
2) The coming back of Matt and Whitney. The experts, in this case Paul, made it seem like they weren't gonna take them back, when they clearly were. Paul said "I can't let you back in. So what can you tell me to change my mind?", which was followed by literally ANY answer, followed by the experts taking them back in. We all knew. Just be real.
Final words:
It's an interesting concept, well could be. The fact that the marriages aren't legally binding is a huge downer and actually makes the title and concept wildly incorrect.