{"id":685791,"date":"2026-05-21T19:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T19:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/685791\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T19:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T19:46:15","slug":"tui-ends-sponsorship-of-married-at-first-sight-after-sexual-misconduct-allegations-channel-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/685791\/","title":{"rendered":"Tui ends sponsorship of Married at First Sight after sexual misconduct allegations | Channel 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

The travel operator Tui has ended its sponsorship of the UK and Australian versions of Married at First Sight on Channel 4<\/a> after contestants on the former made allegations of rape and sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n

An edition of the BBC\u2019s Panorama<\/a> programme this week revealed allegations by two anonymous women that they had been raped by their on-screen husbands on the show. A third woman, Shona Manderson, accused her on-screen husband of sexual misconduct. All three men deny the claims.<\/p>\n

Married at First Sight is a reality show where single contestants are matched by experts before \u201cmarrying\u201d. The couples meet for the first time on their \u201cwedding day\u201d.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Tui UK and Ireland said: \u201cFollowing the broadcast of the Panorama programme and discussion with Channel 4<\/a>, we have taken the decision to end our sponsorship of Married at First Sight.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Channel 4 spokesperson said: \u201cWe\u2019d like to thank Tui for being a valued sponsor of the programme. We look forward to discussing future partnerships.\u201d<\/p>\n

The broadcaster also said on Thursday that a Married at First Sight spin-off show remained in pre-production. It announced the launch of Second Marriage at First Sight in February, aiming to bring together contestants from the UK and Australian versions of the show for a second chance at love.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst we\u2019re in pre-production, we\u2019ve not yet begun filming on Second Marriage at First Sight,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cAny findings from our review will be incorporated into the production.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melanie Dawes, the chief executive of Ofcom, said the allegations raised \u201creally serious concerns\u201d and that the regulator was willing to tighten guidance around reality shows<\/a> if needed.<\/p>\n

Appearing on ITV\u2019s Good Morning Britain on Thursday, Dawes faced questions about the responsibility on Ofcom after the allegations.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cWhat we always try to avoid is being really specific about \u2018you can do this and you can\u2019t do that\u2019, because fundamentally the responsibility is with Channel 4 and its production company, or with ITV or BBC or whoever is producing these shows, to get this right.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they have not got right, this is going to be a serious issue. It\u2019s very live, but it does raise really serious concerns. If we need to tighten our guidance then we absolutely will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Channel 4\u2019s chief executive, Priya Dogra, has said she is \u201cdeeply sorry\u201d<\/a> for the women\u2019s distress. Speaking at the launch of the channel\u2019s annual report, she said: \u201cI have watched the programme and heard the women\u2019s accounts, which are very troubling. Their distress is clear and for that I am, of course, deeply sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cWelfare across all our programmes is hugely important to us, and is a primary concern. However, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll appreciate that Channel 4 cannot investigate the specific allegations against the men \u2013 which they have denied \u2013 nor can I comment on them in any way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a broadcaster, not an adjudicator, and allegations of this type are investigated by other bodies, including when complaints are raised by the police. I do believe that a handling of concerns raised at the time was appropriate, but as I took up the role only recently, I wanted this looked at again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The travel operator Tui has ended its sponsorship of the UK and Australian versions of Married at First…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-685791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}