After five weeks of marriage documented over 10 episodes, Tuesday night’s finale of the FYI reality series “Married at First Sight” finally revealed which couples chose to stay together and which called it quits.
The extreme social experiment had complete strangers meet at the altar and marry without knowing anything about their spouses — only that they had been matched together by a panel of experts.
In the end, two marriages — Doug Hehner and Jamie Otis’ as well as Jason Carrion and Cortney Hendrix’s — had a happy ending, while Monet Bell and Vaughn Copeland opted for a divorce.
Surprisingly, immediate physical attraction at the altar didn’t necessarily determine wedded bliss. Otis, who was openly not attracted to her groom on their wedding day, is now deeply in love with Hehner, while Bell and Copeland, who consummated their marriage on their wedding night, found that sparks didn’t equal lasting chemistry.
In advance of the two-hour reunion special, “Married at First Sight: Six Months Later,” airing Sept. 16 at 9 p.m., the three couples open up to The Post about their experience on the reality series and their lives since the cameras stopped rolling.
Jamie Otis & Doug Hehner
Jamie Otis, 27, a labor and delivery nurse from Harlem, had a rough upbringing in trailer parks and found herself dating the wrong men. Doug Hehner, 31, a commercial sales rep, was living with his parents in New Jersey and was tired of being the last single guy in his group of friends. But after getting off to a rocky start — Otis initially rejected him as unattractive and Hehner lied to her about his smoking habit — there was nowhere to go but up.
The experiment forced the couple to confront difficult issues — from tackling housing and finances to articulating their values — early on.
And that, they say, was the key to their eventual success.
“We got a chance to really figure each other out mentally and emotionally, and the physical part, it obviously comes around,” Hehner tells The Post. “Between the experts and the experiment, we took care of two years of getting to know each other [in five weeks].”
“We already knew the worst of each other,” adds Otis. “Now we’re absolutely in love and definitely going to be staying together, and I couldn’t be happier.”
Though the two still hadn’t had sex by the end of the experiment, Otis said Hehner’s patience made him more attractive. (The two have since consummated the relationship.) “The fact that Doug never, ever pressured me . . . that was by far the hottest trait,” she says.
Otis has also been accepted by Hehner’s family, who were initially skeptical of the former “Bachelor” contestant’s reality-show past.
The couple is living in Washington Heights but looking for a place in New Jersey closer to Hehner’s job and family, as they think about starting a family of their own. “We both envision children in the future — possibly in the near future,” Hehner says.
Cortney Hendrix & Jason Carrion
Jason Carrion, 27, an EMT from Brooklyn, was a relationship guy but dating women he knew weren’t a good match for him. Cortney Hendrix, 26, moved to Manhattan from North Carolina and was working as a makeup artist, but was unlucky in love, dating a string of boyfriends who cheated on her. The youngest couple on the show, they had immediate chemistry — and still do.
“We’ve gotten a lot closer,” says Carrion, who told his wife he loved her a few weeks after filming ended. “I gave her my heart, and since then everything has been perfect.”
The newlyweds moved into an apartment in Park Slope, and Hendrix’s parents — who refused to attend the wedding — have grown to accept the marriage, and are planning a couple’s shower in North Carolina for them.
“They call him their son-in-law,” she says. “He’s 100 percent part of my family.”
While Carrion’s mother — who had terminal cancer during the filming — passed away a few months ago, his wife did get to meet her the night before she died. “She was able to leave peacefully because she knew her son was going to be taken care of,” Hendrix says.
Their biggest challenge during the show was meshing their hectic schedules, which have only intensified now that Carrion is in the Fire Academy. But the two have cut back on their extracurriculars — she took a break from burlesque, he wrestles less often — to focus on spending time together.
“When everything is over with Fire Academy . . . we want to go on vacation and just be together,” says Carrion.
Monet Bell & Vaughn Copeland
Monet Bell, 33, a fashion product development manager from Harlem, had been single for five years despite her online dating efforts. Vaughn Copeland, 30, an industrial technician from New Jersey, was ready to settle down after spending 11 years in the military and five years in a long-distance relationship. Though they instantly hit it off, the couple are now filing for divorce.
The pair had immediate physical chemistry, but communication problems plagued them from the start — even on their honeymoon. When Copeland felt like Bell wasn’t paying enough attention to him on their Puerto Rican getaway, he withdrew his affection, refusing to hold her hand and putting her on the defensive.
“Behind the scenes, when cameras were not on . . . we had a major disconnect,” Copeland says. “We really didn’t even end up getting to like each other as friends.”
The two didn’t talk much after breaking up at the end of the five-week experiment, but finally apologized for their roles in the failure of their marriage after filming the reunion special last month. For instance, Bell admitted she could have made more of an effort to fulfill Copeland’s wish to have a wife who cooks, instead of just being angry about it.
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“Since [then], there really aren’t hard feelings, we just weren’t a good match,” Copeland says. “We squashed the beef, hugged it out and we’re friends.”
Neither has started dating (they couldn’t begin the divorce process until the show finished airing), and while both want to get married again, they realize this experience will follow them.
“It’s sad. I didn’t sign up to get a divorce,” Bell says.
Copeland, too, admits his failed TV marriage could make future relationships more challenging. Still, he’s optimistic.
“The person I settle down with, when they really hear my side of it, they’ll know that I did this for pure intentions — to find love and find somebody I could be married to,” he says.
And both husband and wife say they have no regrets.
“It taught me some aspects about myself that I don’t think I would have learned if the social experiment wasn’t so extreme,” Bell tells The Post. “I think I’m a better woman and, in the future, will be a better wife.”
Since the split, Copeland is back living in New Jersey, and going to school part-time for a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering technology, while Bell is writing a book — a humorous take on her dating experiences in New York.