Perfect Matches on MTV’s ‘Are You the One?’
‘Are You the One’ is an MTV reality TV series in which 20 young singles must find the group’s “perfect matching.” Throughout the casting process, producers, psychologists, and marriage/family counselors work to pair potential couples based on interviews, questionnaires, and relationship histories. The cast is then placed under one roof, where each contestant tries to find their predetermined ideal mate. At the end of each episode, all contestants attend a matching ceremony in which they pair up to guess the group’s perfect matching. The group splits a prize of $1 million if they determine every correct pair combination before the end of the 10-episode season.
As defined in class, a perfect matching occurs when all nodes of the graph are paired with one other node of the opposite group. On every season, we are told that there exists one “perfect match”. If this match has been predetermined thoroughly, what makes it so hard for the group to find the proper pairings?
First and foremost, the matching algorithm is not based on the contestants’ perceived preferences but on what experts believe “should” be their preferences. The show’s host states that the contestants were chosen for the show because they are failures at finding ideal mates in real life, and as such, it is assumed that the contestants will have difficulties identifying perfect matching after pursuing typical dating rituals. This contradicts the idea that people are rational decision-makers, a central assumption for many game theory concepts.
Aside from the problems in the contestants’ relationship match-making skills, several other issues arise throughout a season that can be explained by matching market concepts. Arguably the most apparent problem that occurs is because one graph may have multiple perfect match combinations. In addition, though all matching ceremonies have perfect matches by definition, the winning and optimal “perfect match” is harder to find. Thus, although we may be able to create a stable matching in which all contestants are paired with someone they would pursue relationships with, the matches may not be optimal from a viewer’s perspective.
So if the producers are picking irrational decision makers, how can they expect them to win?
In each episode, the cast is allowed to nominate one pairing to send to the “truth booth”, through which they can confirm whether or not the pairing is part of the correct “perfect matching”. When a nominated couple is found to be an unstable match, the producers are essentially decreasing the valuation the individuals have towards each other, thus eliminating their pairing as a potentially optimal option. Additionally, though it is true that the contestants are relatively incompetent in the realm of love, they are typically smart enough to agree to collaborate. Once they ignore their typical personal preferences and flawed dating skills, they can rely on advice from other contestants. As a season progresses and people add more input regarding other people’s pairings, contestants tend to be more successful at deducing their perfect match.
https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a28399722/are-you-the-one-math-interview/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are_You_the_One%3F