Seven years after taking part in season 1 of
"Married at first sight"
,
Benoit Michaut
has agreed to come back to this experience.
Estimated compatible with Nathalie at the level of 87% by the experts of the program produced by Studio 89 for M6, his marriage had lasted only a few months.
Since then, this 37-year-old entrepreneur quickly found true love in the person of Anaïs, with whom he had two children.
Read alsoShooting, editing, consequences … Do the former candidates of “Married at first sight” have good memories of their experience?
LE FIGARO. – Looking back, how do you view your experience in “Married at First Sight”?
Benoît MICHAUT.
-
I keep a lot of positive, I had a great time and learned a lot.
Overall, it was very rewarding to experience.
It was one of the best seasons of the program because we were totally spontaneous.
This is the only season where the contestants participated in casting and personality tests without knowing the concept.
We only knew at the last moment that we would have to get married to meet our other half.
Afterwards, on the choice of the person I met on the show, I do not agree at all with the compatibility.
Did you easily digest the filming and broadcasting of the show?
It was very difficult because throughout the experience you have to isolate yourself a lot.
You have a duty of discretion and confidentiality from the beginning of the tests until the end of the broadcast on M6.
During filming, we had to leave without being able to explain the reasons to everyone.
So you had to lie and I don't like that.
There were four of us couples going through this experience at the same time, but we didn't have the opportunity to get to know each other and talk to each other to get us out of our isolation.
Only Tiffany and Justin had managed to find each other and get closer before the broadcast and after the breakdown of their respective marriages.
But their couple does
How difficult was it psychologically speaking?
It's very complicated, you have a thousand and one reasons to give up along the way.
Other than self-convincing that the experts are going to make the right choice, there is very little reason to believe it.
If we had been able to share between candidates the way of living our experience, it would have been beneficial.
Personally, I have a very high resilience and an important ability to confront difficulties.
During my season, a couple gave up on meeting, another said no to the town hall and a third went into a tailspin a few days after the wedding.
“We had no psychological support at the time”
Benoit Michaut
Your couple with Nathalie had been the only one in season 1 to go through with the experience…
And it had been very complicated.
I had to hang on.
I had been invited to meet and marry a person who did not want to be there.
She had a very bad image of men in general.
I had talked a lot with her to try to understand her state of mind and her problems.
During the broadcast of "Married at first sight" on M6, we had not been together for a long time (the tests had taken place in December 2015, the wedding in March 2016 and the broadcast in November 2016, editor's note).
Were you satisfied with the editing of your story broadcast on M6?
Yes, my profile was very benevolent, I was seen to be attentive and attentive.
At my side, we saw someone very demanding who complained a lot about me, I was not enough this and not enough that.
She struggled to live the broadcast because she had been bullied on social media, people were criticizing her physique and her attitude.
It was a very bad experience for her.
What did you think of the show's three experts?
They never intervened, we had no psychological support at the time.
We felt like the experts were there to embody and bring scientific legitimacy to the show in the eyes of the viewers.
I found that Stéphane Édouard was the most involved.
He was the one who helped and supported me the most.
He didn't hesitate to hear from me outside of the filming phases, whereas the other two (Catherine Solano and Pascal De Sutter, editor's note) never intervened.
Stéphane Édouard called spontaneously, in addition to what his contract provided for, because he felt it was necessary to do so.
He was the fairest in his analyses, he said things as he really meant them.
"If I hadn't been on the show, we never would have met"
Benoit Michaut about his partner Anaïs
Your compatibility with Nathalie, estimated by the experts, was considerable, 87%...
For me, the figures of the compatibility percentages are invented, it's marketing.
On the other hand, the various tests that we carried out were able to guide the choices to form the best couples.
The olfactory test of the t-shirts was eliminatory, if you did not like a smell, it automatically eliminated a compatibility.
The same goes for the voice hearing test.
During the first season, we were only 50 guys on one side and 50 girls on the other.
Between those who turned down the idea of getting married at first sight, because we didn't know it at the time at the time of the tests, and those who lied, there wasn't much choice left.
You had a great meeting in January 2017, shortly after the broadcast of your season of "Married at first sight" on M6...
If I hadn't participated in the show, we would never have met.
During the broadcast, I received a lot of requests.
With Anaïs, we had started to exchange via social networks before meeting.
Today, we are not married but we have an even stronger bond that unites us forever, namely our two children, Mathis, 2 years old, and Maxim, 3 years old.
Psychologically, "Married at First Sight" was a good experience, emotionally incredible, but you have to be mentally strong to deal with it.
I don't have the slightest regret.
If I could redo it, I would.
Benoit Michaut and Anaïs with their two children Personal collection Benoit Michaut