So that means that the production team picks the contestants and the 'experts' are not involved.I thought this was the case too! But after reading an AMA thread on reddit from a former Mafs producer (not sure if i can post the link here) it was an eye opener! Sounds like the ixperts aren't really involved in that until the producers have picked them?!
The experts then have to match them up based on the pool of candidates available. No wonder they're so bloody hopeless then