‘Married at First Sight’ Season 8 Cast Member Says She Has PTSD From the Show: ‘Took Years to Heal’
A former Married at First Sight participant is speaking out about her time on the show, and what she has to say isn’t pretty. Kate Sisk, who married Luke Cuccurullo in season 8, says she was traumatized by her time on the Lifetime reality series, describing it as “emotional warfare and psychological torture.”
Kate Sisk speaks out about her ‘Married at First Sight’ experience amid ‘Love Is Blind’ controversy
Sisk’s marriage to Cuccurullo was one of the least successful in Married at First Sight history. Like many couples on the show, a lack of mutual attraction was an issue in their relationship from the start. But that didn’t stop Cuccurullo from having sex with Sisk, even though he told her that kissing her made him feel “repulsed and dead inside.” The couple clashed repeatedly during their eight weeks together, and no one was surprised when they split on Decision Day. Then, things got really ugly at the MAFS Season 8 reunion. Sisk came armed with a 40-item list of reasons she thought her ex was gay. He denied being interested in men.
Sisk clearly didn’t have a great experience on Married at First Sight, and she’s voiced her disappointment in the show and the experts in the past. Now, with fresh controversy swirling over the way contestants are treated on Love Is Blind, she’s speaking up again.
Both Love Is Blind and Married at First Sight are produced by Kinetic Content. Some participants in Netflix’s hit reality dating show have accused producers of denying them food and sleep and refusing to let them quit filming even as their mental health deteriorated, according to a recent report from Insider. Sisk doesn’t doubt their allegations.
“I believe it,” she wrote in a comment on the MAFSfan Instagram account. “It was emotional warfare and psychological torture.”
The ‘Married at First Sight’ Season 8 cast member says she developed PTSD after doing the show
Sisk said her time on Married at First Sight took a serious toll on her mental health.
“I got PTSD and a panic disorder from MAFS – took years to heal, and still am,” she wrote. “I feel terrible for the contestants I’m sure it was even worse on Love is Blind. At least we ate well on MAFS lol.”
Married at First Sight and Love Is Blind have some key differences. The former is filmed over several months, and participants aren’t isolated from their families and friends. In contrast, Love Is Blind filming happens over an intense, 10-day period. Contestants are also largely confined to windowless pods on a set. But whatever the format, Sisk said participating in such shows can be damaging and that more attention needs to be paid to cast members’ well-being.
“I hope something is done,” she wrote. “There have been too many suicides from reality tv show participation and these shows keep getting worse.”
Sisk says ‘Married at First Sight’ producers ‘tried to push me to my breaking point’
Sisk also revealed that if she’d realized what going on Married at First Sight would be like, she’d never have agreed to do the show. She said producers recruited her on social media and “told me they found the perfect match for me.” After watching a few seasons, she decided to sign up.
Producers told Sisk they were making a “dating documentary,” she said, and that they would use her “history and psychological results to find a perfect match like they said they would.”
What happened was exactly the opposite, she claimed.
“They used it against me, and paired me with someone who was a lot like my abusive narcissistic father and ex-boyfriend. It was triggering,” she wrote. “They tried to push me to my breaking point. Every single day.”
How to get help: To connect with mental health resources near you, visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) website.
For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s YouTube channel.
