In what is surely a first for Australian television, Married at First Sight has forced a desperate-to-leave couple to stay on the show even though there appears no chance of their "scientific" match working out.

The move raises some serious questions. Like, how could the "experts" get it so outrageously wrong, yet again (or is that the point)? How binding are the rules that say even if just one party wants to stay both must? Most pressing of all, when did incarceration become the stuff of entertainment?

It was obvious from the moment Adelaide publican Sean clapped eyes on his instabride Jo that theirs would not be a match made in heaven. "Oh s---," he muttered at the altar, a response so awful it garnered headlines on the other side of the planet.

Luckily, she didn't hear that. She was too busy being utterly consumed by the fabulousness of it all. As she said on Sunday night's episode, "The wedding was my fairytale come true".

The couples were facing their first commitment ceremony, and while Davina and Dean were clearly plotting to cheat with each other just as soon as it was over, Jo was gung-ho about the prospects of finding love with her man.

Asked by the relationship gurus if she was feeling anything romantic, she replied: "Oh definitely, yeah yeah definitely. It's developing for sure."

Then they turned their attention to Sean. What did you think when you first saw Jo, they wondered.

"I was like, 'What the hell am I doing?' Not because of Jo, obviously" – oh no, obviously – "but because s--- just got real."

But have you been able to connect with her since that moment? "Um, no, not particularly ... it's hard to explain why there's no spark, because we get along like a house on fire."

"We just can't ignite that fire," added Jo.

Still, she was perfectly happy to invest in some Little Lucifers and a can of kero, because she had faith in this marriage. Hell, she'd spent a week and a half in it, and you don't just throw away that sort of investment when things get tough.

But when decision time came along, her Prince Not So Charming had shocking news. He wanted out.

Then it was her turn. "I actually said 'stay', which is going to be really hard," she said, tearing up. "Can I change my decision, because I'd love to go."

By now she was properly crying. "If I knew that was his decision I'd have said the same thing and I'd be home with my kids tomorrow. Now I've got to sit here for another week with someone that doesn't want to be here with me."

To her husband-cum-cellmate, she added: "You're a douchebag." Oddly, that didn't prompt him to reconsider.

Earlier, the experts had said the couples would experience in six weeks what would normally transpire over a year. But here was Jo being forced to stay in a loveless marriage because there was no way out, a scenario that normally takes a little longer to develop.

It was left to relationship counsellor John Aiken to try to make this awful and utterly pointless situation seem reasonable.

"This experiment really gets you out of your comfort zone," he said. "It is extremely stressful but you've learnt more about each other in this commitment ceremony … hopefully as a result of this as a couple you will come to greater realisations. We wish you all the best."

He might as well have said "you are hereby sentenced to one more week of public humiliation, without parole". I wonder if the Geneva Convention applies to reality shows.

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