Madison and Allen From ‘Married at First Sight’ Learned From Their Parents’ Mistakes

Both Madison and Allen were tired of the dating scene when they were cast on Married at First Sight for Season 18. And in an exclusive interview with Distractify, they both opened up about what prepared them for the experiment, including the relationships they had with their parents and what they each learned from their parents about relationships.

For Allen, learning from past relationships goes even further than learning from his parents, because, according to him, he took something away from each of his serious connections with romantic partners.

Thanks to those experiences, he felt he was ready to find love and get married on MAFS. And after being single for almost three years, Madison was also ready to embrace the show’s process.

For some MAFS couples, seeing their parents’ marriage as a solid example of what life can be like is an inspiration. For others, it’s a reminder of what they want to do differently. For Allen, the latter is the case, as he explained to Distractify that he learned from his parents’ marriage what he doesn’t want from his own.

“My parents were never married while I was alive and there were a lot of unhealthy situations growing up,” Allen shared. “But seeing the pain everyone had and went through from my parents to my sisters, I never wanted to be like that and knew I had to change my paradigm and stick to the core values that meant something to me.”

For Madison, entering the experiment and getting married wasn’t about doing things differently than her parents, but her strained relationship with her mother did play a role in her past romantic relationships. She recognizes that now.

“I think the lack of relationship with my mom more so indirectly affected my relationships with men,” she said. “Since I was required to become more independent at a young age, I’ve held onto that my whole life, which makes it difficult to give some of that independence up when going into a relationship with someone.”

As much as couples on MAFS might say that outward appearance isn’t everything, for many, it’s still something. Madison shared on MAFS that she feels attraction is important for a couple, and she went a little further with her explanation when we asked her what it means to her.

Madison shared that, while “attraction can grow to an extent,” she also feels that “there needs to be an immediate attraction in order to grow from that.”

Before joining the MAFS experiment, Allen had only been in a few serious long-term relationships. But, according to him, each one taught him something valuable and “life-changing.”

From moving too fast in one relationship, to developing different life goals in another, to lacking self-worth in a third relationship, Allen was forced to look inward to make changes.

“Part of it was a need to be valued by others and validation by women, however there was never any cheating,” Allen said. “It did cross a line of propriety given that I already had a woman who loved and treasured me. I learned a huge lesson and the trust that we had was slowly being whittled away beyond repair.”