A novelist has revealed how appearing on the hit documentary series Couples Therapy nearly wrecked his marriage, after he became public enemy number one online. The man, who appeared with his wife Jessica on the Showtime series, said he received a torrent of abuse from viewers, with one commenter writing: 'You are the reason women hate men.'
The couple applied for the show, which features couples undergoing therapy with renowned psychoanalyst Dr Orna Guralnik, hoping to save their relationship. They had been arguing since they began dating in 2015 and had two young children. The man said they were 'desperate for help' and could not afford private counselling, which costs up to $700 an hour.
However, the therapy proved 'so unhelpful, only increasing our conflict, that we quit after four sessions'. The novelist said the show created a 'shallow, confusing story of reductive characterisations and disappointing omissions'. He added that it was 'surreal to have reams of strangers discussing your marriage with a certainty that has eluded you despite a decade of effort'.
The series, which airs on the BBC in the UK, is unscripted and participants are not paid, except for a modest stipend. The man said he had naively expected nuance from a TV show, but instead became the target of online hate, with tens of thousands of viewers debating his relationship with 'the intensity and detail that they do'.
