Channel 4, the UK home of hit social experiment Married at First Sight, has ordered a new, super-sized version of the format for 2021.

Produced by CPL Productions, the show will move to Channel 4’s E4, and take inspiration from the hugely successful Australian version of the show. Season 6 will consist of 20 x 1 hour episodes, and follow couples looking for love as they meet for the very first time at the altar.

Following the Australian format, rather than legal marriages the couples will make a lifelong commitment to one another at a glamorous ceremony, overseen by a wedding celebrant, that includes guests, bridal gowns, dancing, speeches and cake.

Red Arrow Studios International, who hold worldwide distribution rights to the show, sold the Australian version to Channel 4 this summer, and the show proved a huge ratings winner for the network. It was the biggest non-scripted show for E4 since 2018 and the most watched show on All 4 this summer. On E4 it saw more than double the slot average for share and consolidated with an average of 820k and a 11.10% 16-34 share.

Lee McMurray, Commissioning Editor, Factual Entertainment at Channel 4, said: “I’m thrilled to be refreshing one of the portfolio’s most popular brands for E4, bringing extra scale and ambition to what is already one of the most audacious and provocative experiments on television, and delivering what we hope will be the most exciting series yet.”

Murray Boland, Executive Producer for CPL said: “It is so exciting to be starting afresh on a supersized version of such a pioneering and successful series.”

Last month Channel 4 successfully aired the fifth season of Married at First Sight, produced by CPL Productions, with the premiere episode attracting the best overnight share for a launch episode of Married at First Sight UK ever.

The Married at First Sight format is created and produced by Snowman Productions in Denmark for DR3/DR1, and is distributed by Red Arrow Studios International, with local productions in over 29 territories worldwide including Lifetime in the US and Nine in Australia.