Here, Johnny shares his thoughts on his “MAFS” adventures.
Oh, it is really funny.
Somebody who didn’t follow me or I didn’t follow them.
They reached out to me and just asked me three easy questions.
And they said, “One, are you single?
Two, do you want to get married?
And three, are you okay being filmed?”
And so I said, “Yes,” to each one in order.
And they were like, “Great!
I want you to fill out this questionnaire.”
And that’s how everything started.
Did you know exactly what the show was about when you started?
What made you want to sign up?
Actually, I probably should have done some research before I responded back.
And then they pay for the wedding.
I was like, “Wow, they really appeal to the practical, logical side of you.”
If dating apps was like a sport, I’d be like a pro bowler.
I’d be a veteran of seven, eight years.
I was around when dating apps first started.
Can you tell me what was challenging about the dating scene?
What was the hardest thing about it for you?
Well, I would say one, it’s actually kind of hard for guys to get matches.
So that’s already one struggle for guys.
And so it’s kind of hard, especially if you’re not like model-looking.
I feel like I’m pretty normal … A normal guy.
And so I don’t get tons of matches in my inbox.
And so numbers are part of the problem.
But what I did do is I kind of tried to be witty.
I venture to look for something in their profile that they said, and I do the openers.
And all of those 10 to 20 are not like shotgun-blast template one-liners.
Back in the day when I was on the dating apps, I tried to be creative.
I’ll be like, “That’s who I am.”
And I want that to come across on a first impression.
So what was the matchmaking process like?
Oh, it was great.
There was a really long questionnaire that asked some super personal questions.
I want to say it was like 259 questions.
And they’re not yes or no, either, by the way.
They’re all short answer or ranking.
I was like, “They’re asking me personal stuff.”
Like let’s say morals, ethical questions.
And then on top of that, things that you’re looking for physically for your partner.
They ask you how much money you make.
They ask you if you’ve been cheated on.
And then the second step of it is …
I could tell they’re asking me questions based on what I had answered in the questionnaire.
So was this anything like you expected it to be?
It’s funny because I had never watched the show before, “Married at First Sight.”
The only reality TV I had ever watched prior to this was “Love Is Blind.”
I thought that was a really cool show.
Because everybody’s talking about it.
I had to see what it was all about.
And I dated a couple girls in the past that were really into “The Bachelor.”
So Monday date night was reserved for that.
I mean, these shows kind of draw you in.
So I didn’t know what this was all about.
I didn’t know who the relationship experts were.
I didn’t realize that you actually had to get married.
A lot of it was really shocking when I started the process.
I was like, “Really?
We have to do this?”
So looking back at your experience, would you go through this matchmaking process again?
I would recommend everyone that is looking for a long-term committed marriage, like not just dating for fun.
I mean, I think that a certain personality fits this better than others.
I think that’s what made me commit to this and sign up.
I was like, “Wow.”
They get real personal.
When they visit your house, I saw they were digging through like underwear drawers.
And I think it’s my personality.
You haven’t put yourself out there."
Like I’m on dating apps, but I’m not getting matches because nobody knows who I am.
I’m just like a face and I’m a statistic.
They see my profile, but they don’t know who I am.
That’s really what it is.
But just nobody knows.
Did you learn anything about yourself?
Anything surprise you that you found out about yourself?
It even asks you, like, for example, “Is there an age limit for your match?
Like family background, is it okay if they had divorced parents?”
Which is, explain your relationship with your parents and how has that impacted your relationship life.
And I’ve always known that coming from a house that split when I was pretty young.
My mom, my dad divorced.
And I was like, “Oh, easy question.”
Answered, “Yes.
They are divorced.”
And then it says, “Describe your relationship with your mom.”
And I was like, “Okay, that’s a little weird.”
And I was like, “Whoa, hold on.
We’re getting a little deep here.”
I love the process.
I also am a big believer in processes.
I believe in science, I believe in psychology, sociology, behavioral testing, and all that.
We also had to go through a psych eval.
That was a big thing.
There’s just so much to it and they’re doing it all for free.
I was like, “Yeah, sign me up.
I want to go.”
So could you tell me a bit about that?
So my family is kind of a weird mix between Chinese and Vietnamese.
Both my parents were born in Vietnam.
However, all four of my grandparents are Chinese from different parts of China.
… We consider ourselves Chinese.
So I had actually … asked for a Chinese tea ceremony in my wedding.
And we ended up doing Vietnamese tea ceremony, which is not that far off.
It’s just a little bit more glam.
I’d asked for it and the producers asked for special wedding requests.
And I definitely put that in there.
I wanted something to showcase how my family handles weddings.
But it’s still a huge part of my family in the cultural aspect of it.
So I listed out every detail.
I even put the person to contact.
One of my cousins Brian, he just got married.
He was at my wedding.
He and his wife did a tea ceremony, really chill.
It’s like maybe like 15 minutes.
It honored all of our traditions, but it wasn’t super extravagant or anything.
It’s more the meaning behind it.
The whole idea of the tea ceremony bringing a new person into the family.
And then vice versa.
We accept this tea from you, and we accept you as our son-in-law."
It’s really important for that to happen in our family.
And I made sure I wrote that.
Usually they do the eldest male first and then they go by age after that.
Well, that sounds really nice.
Anything else you’d like to share?
I would just say this has been a really great experience.
I loved every minute of it.
It was something I never thought I would ever … And this has obviously worked for people in the past.
I Googled it before I agreed to it.
People have been happily married on this show before.
I don’t know how anyone could pass it up.
Season 13 of “Married at First Sight” launches July 21 on Lifetime.
