Thomas McDonald and Camille Parsons are the only true success story from Season 18 of Married at First Sight, but how did they get cast on the show?
Sometimes casting agents will reach out to single men and women on social media and encourage them to apply.
That was the case in this situation, at least for Thomas, who recently revealed that he was scouted online.
That process has been a point of contention for MAFS viewers who believe many participants join the show for fame, not marriage.
The dismal success rate of MAFS didn’t do much to quell that theory.
However, Thomas proves that the process can work whether you’re scouted or respond to the casting call without being prompted.
The 42-year-old recently sat down for a joint interview along with his wife Camille, and they opened up about how everything started.
How did Camille and Thomas get cast on Season 18 of MAFS?
Thomas and Camille are the only couple from Season 18 that stayed married on Decision Day, and a year after filming the show, the duo is still going strong.
In a recent appearance on A Perfect Match, the duo revealed how their paths led them to MAFS.
Interestingly, Camille signed up for the show, but it was a scouting agent who reached out to Thomas and encouraged him to apply.
“I had never watched the show before,” Thomas confessed. “My twin brother and his wife watched.”
The Season 18 groom said the couple heard the show was heading to Chicago and suggested he apply, but he didn’t at the time.
“Ironically enough, there was a recruiter that reached out to me on LinkedIn,” said Thomas. “And I’m like, okay, this has to be a sign because my brother just talked to me about it.”
Meanwhile, Camille and her sister were already fans of the show, and her sister planned to apply.
However, they realized the show was casting in Camille’s city, Chicago, so she took the plunge instead, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Thomas and Camille explain the rigorous MAFS process
After signing up, the road to getting cast was rigorous, as the couple explained.
Thomas said the process starts with a phone interview and a follow-up conversation with producers. Then, they have to fill out three questionnaires with “a couple hundred questions.”
“They do a really good job of asking a ton of questions and doing multiple interviews before you even get to a process where you even talk to an expert,” he shared.
“Yeah,” Camille chimed in. “Psych evals… they really do their due diligence, criminal background checks, all of that stuff. It was months long.”
The couple made it through all the rounds and were eventually matched by the experts. Now they’re ready to live happily ever after.
