Twist in reality TV wars that are about to explode

The spark is gone and the conversation is getting repetitive. The social experiment has gotten too comfortable. Complacent! It’s resting on its laurels.

If this were a relationship, it’s around now the show would start going to the bathroom with the door open. Actually, it probably would’ve done that all along.

Tomorrow night marks the premiere of Married At First Sight’s ninth season — and it’s going head-to-head with some hot new young offerings.

Nine’s two enemies have put twists on their proven formulas in a bid to supercharge interest and make us cheat on the show that held our gaze for so long.

It’s the right time. What else does Married At First Sight have to offer us? We’re not scandalised by affairs anymore. And the C-bombs are no longer shocking — in fact, they’ve become so commonplace on Australian TV we’re half expecting Natalie Barr to hurl the word at Kochie next time he goes off script.

Throwing the first punch is Channel 10. After stumbling with The Bachelor franchises last year, the network is trying to woo us with Survivor: Blood V Water by putting a spin on the original format. Contestants enter as duos — siblings, couples, in-laws — and then turn on each other.

Great concept. Starts off sweet, then gets a tinge of bitterness. After years of MAFS, we can’t go cold turkey off the drama. So this is a good way to wean yourself off it.

Survivor always had one thing going for it: hot people wearing barely any clothes. And now it may have stumbled onto a secret weapon. Two of the “in-laws” signed up are the brother and ex-boyfriend of former Home And Away star Sam Frost.

The series was filmed in Queensland last year, before Frost and personal trainer Jay Bruno split (and pre vaccine rant on Instagram).

It’s a wonderful surprise. Now the series has hot naked people fighting as well as tabloid flashiness. Tick, tick.

Over on Seven, the network is going hard with a world-first one-week only special event — The Voice: Generations. Ooh ahh! Sounds exclusive and flashy.

Only a three-night run across Monday to Wednesday? Better get in quick. This isn’t like a Myer sale — it won’t run every day for every week of the year. It’s a limited time only, folks.

But what is it? All the press around it trumpets the show will present the nation’s greatest performers from different generations as they hit the stage together.

Now, those details somehow sound specific and vague at the same time. Maybe that’s the point. We’ll have to tune in to see what it actually is.

And it could be a winner. The Voice had been getting lacklustre ratings when it was on the air over at Nine, but then it jumped to Seven last year and numbers skyrocketed.

Its success was somewhat of a surprise. Could it really be that viewers don’t actually want to watch toxic negativity play out in their living rooms four nights a week? It sounded too crazy to be true.

Putting a twist on The Voice franchise and making it a limited run during Married At First Sight’s premiere week could be a power move. And execs are no doubt hoping family-friendly fare trumps affairs and C-word scandals. Still, it wouldn’t hurt if producers just allowed a hint of negativity.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: bring back the mean judge. That’s what made TV talent shows so fun when they first started.

The Voice’s judging panel is made up of Keith Urban, Jessica Mauboy, Rita Ora and Guy Sebastian and they’re all very lovely but maybe they could bring over that bitchy soldier Ant Middleton from SAS Australia and have him rip into some of the kids.

We don’t need to go full-on MAFS — but there’s no harm in just one or two expletive-laden insult sprays.

So will we be cheating on Married At First Sight? If we do, we learnt from the best.

Twitter, Facebook: @hellojamesweir

Originally published as James Weir recaps the reality TV wars that are about to explode