FYI orders relationship series

FYI has ordered The Seven Year Switch, a reality series in which couples leave their spouses to enter a two-week experimental relationship with a new partner.

The US cable net has enjoyed success with another edgy relationship format, Married at First Sight (pictured), which hails from the Red Arrow stable. Red Arrow US prodco Kinetic Content makes the US version of Married at First Sight and is making The Seven Year Switch.

The eight-episode series will follow couples as their marriages hit the seven-year mark, and they ask whether they made the right decision. Under the guidance of two experts, they then live with a complete stranger for two weeks in an experimental marriage, in an effort to better understand themselves and their existing relationship.

At the end of the experiment, the couples return to their original partner and decide whether to renew their wedding vows or get divorced.

“FYI is continuing to pioneer social experiments with this innovative new series that follows the journey of couples who have hit a breaking point in their marriage,” said Gena McCarthy, senior VP of programming and development at FYI. “This experiment will allow them to determine whether absence really does make the heart grow fonder.”