Married at First Sight UK will not return, Channel 4 has said, following a BBC Panorama investigation into the hit reality TV show.
The show’s budget will be reinvested in “distinctive new programming”, the broadcaster’s chief executive Priya Dogra said on Thursday, and she repeated her apology to the women involved in the investigation, for the “distress they have clearly felt”.
The Channel 4 show was plunged into crisis earlier this year, after a Panorama programme which revealed rape allegations from two female cast members on the show, while a third woman alleged a non-consensual sex act. The men involved have denied all the allegations against them.
A review was commissioned by Channel 4 shortly after the BBC first contacted the broadcaster, with details of the allegations we had heard.
The show was left reeling after the Panorama investigation in May, in which three women made allegations about the men they were partnered with — claims the men deny.
One woman said her onscreen husband raped her and threatened her with an acid attack.
A second woman told both Channel 4 and CPL, before broadcast, about being allegedly raped by her onscreen husband. Her episodes were still aired.
A third woman — Shona Manderson, the only woman who was identified —accused her onscreen husband of sexual misconduct.
All three women accused the show of not doing enough to protect them.
Lawyers for CPL, the independent production company that makes the UK version of the show, previously said its welfare system is “gold standard” and industry-leading, and that it acted appropriately in all these cases.
Channel 4 had initially told Panorama that all the allegations were “wholly uncorroborated”.
The review into the show was divided into two parts: one led by a legal firm into how Channel 4 handled the allegations, and a second one into welfare protocols on MAFS UK.
Only “a summary of findings and recommendations” has been released, rather than the full report.
The first part of the review, by law firm Clyde & Co, found that Channel 4 and CPL’s welfare protocols were compliant with Ofcom’s broadcasting code, but noted that there were times when the welfare framework was not “fully implemented”.
It added that Channel 4 and CPL could have undertaken a more structured longer-term review over multiple series.
The review also made recommendations for areas where the contributor welfare framework could be “further strengthened”. —Online
