‘Married at First Sight’: Dr. Viviana Coles Claims the Experts Were ‘Duped’ by Chris Williams
The Married at First Sight experts have faced plenty of backlash on Lifetime’s Married at First Sight Season 12 in Atlanta – mainly due to one controversial match. From suddenly announcing that his ex was just six weeks pregnant to complaining about his wife’s looks, Chris Williams has led many fans to stand up for Paige Banks online.
One of the experts, licensed marriage and family therapist Dr. Viviana Coles, recently cleared the air about the controversy on an episode of The Bald and the Beautiful, hosted by YouTubers MrsKevOnStage (Melissa Fredericks), KevOnStage (Kevin Fredericks), Marcus Tanksley, and Angel Tanksley. In the revealing interview, she claimed that Chris’ manipulative behavior wasn’t exclusive to his wife.
Dr. Viviana said Chris was always ‘a frontrunner’ among the experts
Naturally, Dr. Viviana was immediately bombarded with questions about why she and the other experts selected Chris and Paige to tie the knot. Many Married at First Sight fans immediately pegged him as “self-centered” and “shallow.”
But the therapist told her interviewers on The Bald and the Beautiful that the experts saw nothing of the sort during the casting process.
“I know this might make your skin crawl now, after the fact, but he was a frontrunner from the beginning,” Dr. Viviana declared. In fact, this was true not just among the experts, but also among production and “anyone who had anything to do with him,” she revealed.
“Chris was not on our radar for anything negative,” she explained.
She claimed Chris Williams was ‘a completely different person’ on the show
Dr. Viviana went on to admit that she now saw all the flaws others did in Chris as they watched Married at First Sight episodes play out. But, at the beginning, he seemed to be anything but dishonest or shallow.
“What we found out about him through this process was that he is – we thought, at the time – he was upstanding, he was smart, he was funny, he was nice,” the Married at First Sight expert said. “He was charming, but not in an arrogant way.”
She agreed that it might be “hard to believe that” now. Many viewers have expressed frustration over Paige and Chris’ match, with some even accusing the experts of hand-picking him for the purposes of drama and ratings.
But Dr. Viviana thought the problem was more about how Chris presented himself.
“I think, unfortunately, he showed us what we wanted to see,” she argued, “and what all three of us picked up on was a totally different person than who we’re seeing on our screens right now.”
The ‘Married at First Sight’ expert said she felt ‘duped’ by Chris
Dr. Viviana also wasn’t shy about admitting that she felt all the “audacity” and “disgust” that viewers were now processing during Married at First Sight Season 12. She and her fellow experts – Pastor Cal Roberson and Dr. Pepper Schwartz – had hashed out similar feelings in group chats and Zoom calls.
“I feel like I got duped,” she exclaimed. “I feel like someone pulled one over on me…Every week, it’s really hard to see who he’s become as a husband – because before he said ‘I do,’ this guy was a different person altogether.”
Ultimately, the Lifetime matchmaker felt that Chris deceived the Married at First Sight experts, producers, and crew in order to get on the show. As for why, she wasn’t quite sure, but she confessed that it frustrated her often.
